Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris.

It would not be surprising to find a surge of none cork gaskets during and shortly after the war. Cork was a common supply in the greater Mediterranean area before the war but Portugal soon became the only supplier for the Allies and this likely forced exploration of other products. Cork trade probably remained limited until the last of the wartime rationing disappeared in the late 1940s or early 1950's.


David

[David Dunlop]

I was able to track down a 13/32-inch hole punch for leather work on the internet once I figured out how to describe what I was looking for more effectively.

McMaster-Carr carry them in many sizes for a good price and it was delivered in two days. This will make cutting the eight mounting holes in the cork gasket so much easier.


David

[David Dunlop]

The eight. perimeter. mounting holes in the cork gasket for the Aerial Base C2 Mounting Plate have now been punched out.

Next step will be cutting out the central 6-inch square to finish the gasket.


David

[David Dunlop]

There are several ways to make the final cut on the cork gasket for the Aerial Base C2 mounting plate and I have decided to use a cutting template for removing the central 6-inch square, since I have a pile of heavy card stock at my disposal.

I have now cut the 6-inch square template and the second photo today illustrates roughly how it will work. I will use some small pieces of double sided sticky tape to get the template correctly centred and then cut along its perimeter with a sharp blade to get the finished result.



David

[Chris Suslowicz]

I've fished out the British equivalent (it's a Monster) and noticed some string through the insulator mounting holes. Turning it over, there's a cork gasket there, to seal the joint between the aerial base (Insulator W/T H) and the Tufnol plate. There's then a cardboard (I assume grease or varnish impregnated) square laminated gasket with only 4 holes (at the corners) to seal the joint between the Tufnol and the vehicle roof.

You'll need a circular cork washer between the top half of the C2 insulator and your square plate to prevent water ingress, as well as the square gasket under the plate.

The British plate only had four bolt holes holding it on the vehicle because the base insulator flange is 8.5 inches in diameter, with 6 holes to bolt that down.

I need to photograph it (and all its related parts), if only to frighten people, but I'm still missing some of the 'F' rod adapters for use on the move.

The drawings in Wireless for the Warrior Volume 2 really don't do it justice.

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Good to know all the extra bits are still with your mounting assembly, Chris.

The big cork gasket on the Aerial Base C2 mount is shown in the exploded diagram in the manual, complete with its CMC Part Number but does not show up anywhere else in any of the documentation. Maybe the assumption was it was a "set and forget" item that never needed replacing once installed.

I got the 6-inch centre cutout finished on mine this morning. All that is left on the Aerial Base C2 now is to strip the remains of the NATO Green from the upper and lower metal bits on the top section and redo them in SCC-2, or No. 2 Brown if one prefers. Finding a small rattle can of model SCC-2 would be a perfect amount. Must remember to check my Edmonton hobby store to see what they might have in stock.

The rubber flex section of my Aerial Base has a slight curve in it that I an hoping will slowly recover out of it. The poor thing spent about 10 years mounted on the back of a Dodge Command Car pretending to be a US Army Signal Corp aerial mount with the whip arced over the vehicle and lashed down somewhere at the front.


David

[David Dunlop]

I forgot to mention for Chris earlier that I do have the two Insulator Gaskets, CMC 114-069, alive and well and in full working order. Unlike the Mounting Plate Gasket I replicated, CMC 114-071, the Insulator Gaskets get a lot of mention in the manual.

The only bit I am missing at this point now is the Extension Assembly, CMC 114-083, which came in a cotton bag with its hardware. This was apparently only used when the Aerial Base C2 installation was on a vehicle with a very thick roof, or narrow aerial chimneys, to make hooking up the Connector Cable to the 52-Set easier. Those cotton bags were probably popular items for kids to lose their marbles in so not much chance of ever finding one and its original contents today.


David

[David Dunlop]

Searching for the correct sized brass flat washers to replace the missing ones on some of the Switchboard terminals has been an interesting exercise and I have had a lot of great help from a number of people here in Canada and the UK.

Finding 0BA brass hardware seemed a simple enough thing to do initially, until it came to the required flat washers. It is something not typically spec’d by a lot of suppliers, beyond the given BA size. What the Switchboard, Charging 5C Parts List stated was a 0BA nickel plated brass flat washer with an inside diameter of 11/16-inch, an outside diameter of 17/64-inch and a thickness of 3/64-inch. What you find today are a lot of Imperial, or Metric sized, flat washers being sold as 0BA, but not dimensionally correct.

Adding to the excitement was the discovery of several old specification charts for BA hardware that indicated there were two sizes of 0BA flat washers, a “Small” and a “Large”. Both had the same thickness and inside diameters, but the large one was the one with the 17/64-inch outer diameter, as used on the Switchboard, Charging 5C and 5C Mk I terminals.

Last weekend, Jacques Fortin contacted me to check out a supplier on Amazon, based out of China. The description of the item was very misleading at first, until I realized it was basically a string of ‘Hit Words” designed to grab the attention of pretty much any search engine combing the web for washers. Having got passed that hurdle, the required flat washers were found with correct dimensions and available in a package of 38 for less than $15.00 Cdn with free shipping. I ordered a package Sunday and they arrived Tuesday.

In the attached photos, these new brass ones seem a bit bigger, but that is just the colour differential at play between the brass new ones and the nickel played originals. I will be starting to plate these new ones later today.

I have also placed an order with BA Bolts in the UK for a 6-inch 0BA threaded brass stud to cut the two missing terminals from, and the necessary amount of standard thickness brass hex nuts and half thick ones.

Just one more brass hardware item to track down for the Switchboard now.



David

[David Dunlop]

Work on the Vibrator Supply section of the 52-Set Supply Unit is slowly moving forward.

I pulled it from the Supply Unit for some bench testing and while it was out of the Supply Unit, I decided to turn the set on to see what sort of reading I got from the meter on the Receiver, with regards to the 12 Volt LT input. This should be a straight pass through from the batteries, but with the Vibrator Supply in place, this value has always come up about 2 Volts DC too low. My CPP 2 Supply was providing 12.75 Volts DC to the Set. When I turned the Receiver on, the meter on the Receiver showed exactly 12.75 Volts DC coming in. Good to know, so I got curious and reinstalled the Vibrator Supply, and turned the set back on to see what happened. The meter was back down at 10.0 Volts input. What was different this time, however, was when I checked the HT Input to the Receiver on its meter, zero volts were coming in. Prior to this, it had always been 147 Volts DC from the expected 150 Volts. So onto the bench for a further look.

I am rusty with the electronics analysis these days, so I do a lot of triple checking and thinking, but have been able to determine the Vibrator and 0Z4A are both in good working order. The T7A transformer is providing correct input voltages to the plates on the 0Z4A to fire it up and I have continuity from the start to finish on the 150 Volt circuit. But one or more unhappy components exist in the circuit that will need ionvestigating in more detail.

This Vibrator Supply is a compact little sucker as noted in the two photos, so a very careful unbolting and moving of components will be needed to access suitable test points as the work progresses.


David

[David Dunlop]

The first pair of flat brass washers I prepped and plated this evening worked out very well. A nice even plating with a shine that matched the originals very well. So on I went to the second pair, doing everything just the same. Not so good this time.

The plating looked burnt black and was not at all complete. I did a little bit of research on line and the likely culprits are copper or zinc in the solution. I am leaning towards this because the 2 Amp trickle current at 12 Volts DC did not show up as a concern.

I was using solid copper wire for all of my electroplating and the first set of washers worked, so in theory, so should the second set. I will look for some steel wire to fabricate another Cathode fitting and try again on the weekend.


David

[David Dunlop]

Interesting find today. The "Nickel" electrode I was working with turned black and fell apart in heavy flakes to the bottom of the 1-Gallon jar of solution. That never happened with the Zinc plating I have done for the past several years.

I now suspect these plates were not the pure nickel they were claimed to be. Probably nickel plated junk metal and once the nickel plate was transferred off the Anode on the first two washers, all the scrap metal came to the surface. So I will have to dump this jar of solution, clean the jar and start over with the purchase on new Nickel Electrodes...hopefully more reputable.

Worst case scenario, I will simply zinc plate the brass hardware for the Switchboard Charging.


David

[David Dunlop]

The remaining 0BA Brass hardware I needed to replace what was missing on my Switchboard arrived in this mornings Post from BA Bolts in the UK.

I now have a section of 0BA threaded stud to cut the two missing terminals from. a large supply of the half thick brass hex nuts and the standard hex nuts to go along with the washers purchased earlier.

I just have to start over with new Nickel plates and a fresh batch of solution and I will be good to go a few steps further on this part of the project.


David

[David Dunlop]

Backtracking to the Vibrator Supply section of the Supply Unit once more, sorry, I decided to take a long shot at testing its 150 Volt circuit, which I had confirmed earlier had continuity. I was curious to see if any of the Electrolytic Caps in the circuit which had likely shut down over time, might respond to being reformed.

I put the Vibratory Supply back on the bench and pulled the 0Z4A and Vibrator. The positive side of my Heathkit Model PS-3 Variable Voltage Regulated Power Supply was connected to Pin 3 of PL9A and the Negative side to Pin 2. This supply is capable of running 0 to 500 Volts DC and monitoring 0 to 300 Milliamps.

Over the course of about an hour and a half, I slowly increased the voltage level in about 25 volt stages while watching the amperage readings to see if and when they would stabilize. They finally did at the 175 Volt mark.

After reinstalling the 0Z4A and Vibrator, I reinserted the Vibrator Supply in the Supply Unit in the 52-Set and turned on my CPP-2 Power Supply. This supply has a seven stop rotary switch that increased the output voltage in steps. Interestingly, the first three steps are: (1) 12.0 Volts DC, (2) 12.75 Volts DC and (3) 13.75 Volts DC. I set the CPP-2 to the third position and switched on the 52-Set. The LT reading on the Receiver Meter went straight to 12 Volts. As I was changing the Meter reading to the HT Option, the Receiver came on to WWV Colorado at 5.00 MC and the HT reading was setting in at 155 Volts. Slightly high but a lot nicer to see than the earlier zero value.

I did not bother checking any higher CPP-2 outputs. 12 Volts DC is the rated voltage level for all the valve filaments in the set. Positions (4) to (7), increase regularly to 20 Volts and I do not want to risk damage to my limited supply of spare vales at this point in time.

Suffice it to say, I am quite happy the Vibrator Supply is back up and running again and it has reminded me to be certain to firw up the Remote Receiver and its Supply this weekend to keep it operating and happy.


David

[David Dunlop]

I was able to cut the first of two missing 2-1/4 inch 0BA Terminal Studs for my switchboard today and fit all the related hardware on it.

When mounted on the Switchboard it is centered in the Bakelite panel assembly so that one inch extends either side and the remaining quarter inch is occupied by the Bakelite board.



David

[David Dunlop]

Since obtaining my Switchboard, Charging No. 5C Mk I Canadian, I have been picking away at researching the Rogers Majestic Company in hopes they still have some form of surviving history archive. The company is connected historically to the current Rogers Communications through a common founder, Edward Rogers, but finding any useful information was proving elusive until this weekend.

By complete fluke, I stumbled across a history of Rogers Majestic on a radio museum website while researching something completely unrelated.

As it turns out, Edward Rogers founded the Standard Radio Manufacturing Company in 1925. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to the Rogers Radio Tube Company. In 1928 Edward purchased a Chicago based electronics company and in the merger of the two companies, the Rogers Majestic Company was formed.

Edward Rogers died in 1939 and Small Electric Motors Limited bought Rogers Majestic in 1941 and changed the name to Standard Radio Limited. Small Electric Motors then became the Canadian division of Royal Philips Electronics who continued to use the Rogers Majestic brand name. If I am not mistaken, the parent company for Royal Philips Electronics is based in the Netherlands.



David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Edward Rogers died in 1939 and Small Electric Motors Limited bought Rogers Majestic in 1941 and changed the name to Standard Radio Limited. Small Electric Motors then became the Canadian division of Royal Philips Electronics who continued to use the Rogers Majestic brand name. If I am not mistaken, the parent company for Royal Philips Electronics is based in the Netherlands.

Hello David, interesting find!

The parent company for Royal Philips Electronics is indeed based in the Netherlands. Philips & Co was founded in 1891 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and it still thriving today. Read more about its history here: https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/our-history.htm

[David Dunlop]

The second replacement Terminal Stud has now been cut and the related compliment of hardware added to it.


David

[Jordan Baker]

Great attention to detail David. I’m always amazed at just how many individually manufactured components went into all these items.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Jordan.

The complexity of some of this equipment is staggering at times, isn't it!

While I think of it again, the surviving documentation for various wireless vehicle installations provides two options for installation/storage of these Switchboards: either vertically mounted with its four brackets on a wall of the given wireless vehicle, or horizontally, under the wireless table.

Now being in possession of one of these switchboards, the actual size and weight is clearly evident and I cannot help but think that the under table installation must have been very uncomfortable on the Wireless Operators knees, not to mention risky for the Bakelite switch covers, or the simple challenge of holding the switchboard in place under the table while installing it/removing it from its four mounting posts, without dropping it, or losing any of the four retaining wing nuts. And for the final bit of excitement, imagine the stress on Battle Pants and thighs for anyone sitting at the wireless table who did not realize the switchboard was gone and just its four exposed mounting posts were there waiting to say 'Surprise'.

I now realize why in all the dozens of WIRE-5 bodies Princess Auto had in their Winnipeg compound years ago, less than a handful had under table mounting traces for the switchboard. There was pretty much an even split between a wall mount installation, or it was never mounted anywhere inside the WIRE-5 body at all.


David

[David Dunlop]

While waiting for replacement nickel electrodes to redo my electroplating solutions, and No. 2 Brown flat paint to finish the Aerial Base for my 52-Set, I have been killing time by taking a closer look at my Switchboards, Charging No. 5C Mk I. A bit of a dangerous move because I start noticing things that do not make sense. And I have, already. Once again.

The reasons why this family of switchboards came into being, are very likely filed in all the wartime design and production documents still store in England, as that is where the original Switchboards, Charging No. 5 came from. RCA Canada merely built the Canadian version of this item long after the developmental efforts were completed in England. My guess about all this was these switchboards were meant to standardize what was probably a very diverse collection of different equipments and processes, that had evolved over time, into a much more manageable system.

A couple of things with the Canadian Switchboards have caught my eye when I consider production line efficiency and how the wooden battens (frames) for them were manufactured. Take a look at the upper and lower row of holes drilled into the plywood backing board. They do not follow the centreline of the battens. A simple row of stops set up on a drill table has been made more complicated, even if you are working with a gang drill. If you have only one drilling station on your line for this work, you have now slowed that worker down because of two drilling standards being created. Your other option is to set up two drilling stations to deal with this variation. That adds more to production costs and adds an additional step to the line. Why?

The other thing I now notice is the 2-1/4 inch long by 3/8-inch wide notch milled dead centre through both battens. Why was this step necessary for production? When the plywood back board is screwed in place, it is interesting to note that a clear pathway is visible from top to bottom at these two notches.

What I am wondering now, is if there was anything in the 1937 Pattern Webbing Kit that could have been easily slipped through these two notches that would have formed a set of pack handles such that the Switchboards, Charging could be carried like a Back Pack? If you have ever taken a close look at all the equipment needed to take a 19-Set, or Heaven forbid, a 52-Set out of a vehicle to operate remotely, that is one. very, heavy, pile of equipment. Even if it is just a short distance to a penthouse tent beside the Signals vehicle, or Wireless Tent nearby, you would want to get everything moved, and set up as quickly and easily as possible. If one person could ‘back pack’ the Switchboard, they have two hands free to assist in the move of other equipment. Batteries are not light. Chorehorses are not light. Every bit of efficiency would help.

I have no idea just how extensive the complete 1937 Pattern webbing system actually was, and it probably evolved as the war progressed, so I am putting the idea out there.

Photos of what I have been nattering about, from Canadian switchboards No. 5C and No. 5C Mk I are attached for reference.


David

[David Dunlop]

Nickel plating issues still not resolved, however, the two new terminals have now been installed on the switchboard, along with the missing hardware inside.



David

[David Dunlop]

A supply of NOS Connectors, Flexible, 5-Point, No. 2 ZA/CAN/BR 10339 arrived yesterday. These are the Drop Leads used on the front of the 52-Set Supply Unit and one of the two on my 52-Set is mangled beyond use. The rubber on all three of these has hardened like most do but it will just have to go through one more head set connection and it can stay put on the front of the Supply Unit in that mode for all eternity.

As compared to the ones installed originally on the 52-Set, they were not made by RCA Canada, so do not have the red RCA logo stamped on them just below the 5-Point fitting. I am still thinking about a repro of that stamp to match the replacement up to the left hand original still on the Supply Unit with its RCA stamp.


David

[David Dunlop]

Two more items arrived today that will finally make finishing the Aerial Base C2 restoration possible.

The first was two 10ml jars of AK Interactives SCC 2 Brown, Acrylic Paint (RC 035).

The rubber flex assembly of the Aerial Base C2 has a long metal section at the top of it, which is the socket assembly for the sectional whip antenna. At the bottom of the rubber flex assembly is a smaller metal seat that anchors this assembly to the top of the upper porcalin insulator. Just a few flecks of NATO green are left on the essentially bare metal upper socket and slightly more is still clinging to the lower metal seat.

I have no confirming evidence of what paint was used originally on these two pieces of the Aerial Base C2. However, rather than just leaving it unfinished, or spinning the giant Guess Wheel, a fairly logical assumption can be made.

The Aerial Base C2 was manufactured for the Canadian Marconi Company by Campbell Manufacturing Company Ltd. here in Canada. This company is known for production of the 20 ft and 34 ft Telescopic Steel Aerial Mast kits used for erecting horizontal antenna systems for quite a number of Commonwealth wireless sets during World War Two, including the 52-Set. Quite a number of these telescopic masts have survived to this day in NOS condition and it appears they were only ever produced in two colours: a Light Flat Green, and, SCC 2 Flat Brown.

The Light Flat Green is not used on anything on the 52-Set, but SCC 2 Brown is the paint applied to the Carriers No. 4 and a host of wireless fittings like microphones and head gear. Further, the Flat Olive Drab CMC used on all the boxes, cases and Coils, Aerial Tuning case colour shifts in sunlight between Olive Green and a brown very close to SCC 2. So, on that basis, it is more likely Campbell Manufacturing used SCC 2 on the Aerial Base C2 for the 52-Set, and not the Flat Light Green. Having committed to that now, the Fates will very likely have me tripping over a case of NOS Aerial Base C2 assemblies in the not too distant future, that mystery Flat Light Green.

David

[David Dunlop]

The other item now on hand is a large rattle can of Gorilla Splay Adhesive.I have been debating this for quite some time.

Originally, the cork gasket used to seal the Aerial Base C2 to an Aerial Chimney on the top of a wireless vehicle, was simply tied to the brown, phenolic base plate of the Aerial Base C2 through. pair of the eight perimeter mounting holes. Easy enough to do, but with no real plans to actually mount this Aerial Base C2 to a vehicle, the risk of accidentally damaging the cork gasket I made is very real if it is all just sitting around. Gluing the gasket to the base plate came to mind early on and I had considered using rubber cement. However, over extended periods of time applied to hard surfaces, rubber cement has a tendency to degrade and fail, so I shred away from using it.

When looking as possible spray glues I quickly found it to be a very complex product, with a major focus on construction uses and a smaller hobby/craft market. The key difference between these two groups seems to be that the hobby/craft group prefers a spray glue product that allows a period of adjustment for the pieces you want to glue together. An opportunity to get things lined up correctly before it is too late and the glue has set. So that was the group of spray adhesive products I started to focus on. This Gorilla product got quite a few good comments for the ability to adjust ones work and get things right before it is too late, easy cleanup and fairly easy later removal, if needed.

It shows up at our local Home Hardware in half price sale this week and I scampered over to purchase a can first thing this morning. Good thing I did. There was only one can left.


David

[David Dunlop]

The gasket was successfully glued to the Base Plate this morning.

I feel pretty good about is finally being where it is supposed to be and should be a lot safer down the road than it might otherwise have been, stored on its own. It also worked out well as the Aerial Base C2 had to be disassembled anyway to get the paint off the Flex Assembly cleaned off and get it prepped for priming and final top coat application. I can now essentially get both things done at the same time.


David

[David Dunlop]

My original thought once the Aerial Base C2 had been removed from its Base Plate was to completely disassemble it to avoid getting any paint on the rubber flex section, but something about that assembly bothered me so I went back to Figure 10 on Page 42 of the Operators Manual for another detailed look at the Aerial Base C2.

And there it was, a small comment that this flex unit is actually filled with a special anti-freeze grease which would need to be replaced if the assembly was opened up for any reason. The second discovery was that nowhere in the manuals can I find any references to identify the name of this anti-freeze grease. Not good omens for the disassembly route I had planned.

So after cleaning off all the residual old paint from the upper and lower fittings on the Flex Assembly, I carefully masked off the rubber section and lower mounting shaft. At the bottom of the rubber Flex Assembly the rubber has a rather deep groove cast into it, about an eighth of an inch deep that was very difficult to mask off with any size of tape I had on hand. My solution was to mask to about one eighth inch away from the bottom of this groove and then tightly wind about three turns of cotton Butchers Twine into the groove to mask the last bit of rubber. Once all that was done I was able to apply a spray coat of grey primer and set the assembly on the bench to dry for 24 hours.



David

[Bob Carriere]

.... ever thought of becoming a dentist????? Pay grade is usually very good.

Love following your postings ........... from the comfort of my heated computer room.....

Don't remember reading how you decide on which capacitor to replace....they all look old, are there some that are particularly vulnerable and done first.....how important to match the cap's value or is it safe to go to a higher value....... are the replacement caps usually smaller for the same value ........the un-soldering tricks.....how crucial is the metal wire length of the new one...... how critical is the heat factor on the soldering gun...??? do you use any clip on heat sinks??? do you use/recycle the old spaghetti loose fitting insulation tubing on pig tails ....... it is a big radio by today's standards but it sure gets cramped when working underneath......

Cheers

[David Dunlop]

Well, a routine painting of the SCC 2 top coat this morning got real interesting in about 30 seconds.

This new to me AK Interactive Acrylic paint stripped the grey primer I have used for nearly 30 years faster than any paint stripper I have ever used. I ended up having to wipe the metal clean on the entire aerial assembly to redo it, paint directly onto the metal. Not my favourite approach by a long shot.

Not that I did not have warning signs. After giving the paint a real good shake, I had dipped my brush into it to specifically confirm what product on hand was the best clean up solution. First check was water which beaded right off the brush. Next into alcohol. to get rid of the water. Nothing there either. Next was mineral spirts with no effect and lastly Tamiya Thinner which did nothing either.

So when I was finished, the brush got tossed.

On the bright side, it has been an hour since I finished painting and removed the masking tape and so far, there have been no further signs of this paint misbehaving. The aerial will sit for 24 hours before I attempt cleaning off the masking tape residue on the rubber flex assembly and reassembling the Aerial Base C2 to its Base Plate assembly. I am giving it 24 hours as that was another issue I had with the AK Interactive website. In addition to no clear cleanup information, nothing was easily found regarding cure times.


David

[David Dunlop]

Well this is about as close to looking original as this poor thing has probably been in decades.

The rubber flex assembly has been given a wipe with "Blue Sapphire", a commercial rubber detailing cleaner in the automotive industry. It does not eat rubber and gives a surface shine more consistent to the look of new rubber, without getting overly shiny.



David

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bob.

Thanks for your kind words.

Generally, I start by looking at the circuit diagrams top ID electrolytic caps first. After prolonged inactivity, they lose these ability to hold a charge and become “resistors” shutting down the circuits they are in. If I find any such circuits in the diagrams, a resistance test will show an abnormally high reading and voltage flow will be limited. Might even got no continuity.

Then I try a Variable DC Power Supply on the circuit and monitor milliamp responses to a slow series of voltage increases to see if the electrolytic cap can be reformed and get the circuit back to normal. I will then check the resistors to see what ones might be off tolerances enough to be impacting function. Replacing these today usually means going up in value. a 300 Ohm resistor with 10% tolerance may mean having to use a 330 Ohm modern replacement, which would be at the upper working limits of the original. That is OK. Also might have to move from a 1/2-Watt rating to a 1-Watt rating only to keep the replacement looking close in size to the originals in the set.

I have not done much cap replacement yet, but it is coming. I hope to “stuff” the original carbord sleeves with modern equivalent axial caps, again, so the originl look of the chassis guts stays the same. Seems to be several ways of doing this out there right now that I need to explore more closely.

A common big problem today is overall axial length, end to end of leads, for both caps and resistors. They have all gotten a lot shorter. Tag Board terminals in the 52-Set are 2.5 inches or 3.0 inches apart. Wartime components had overall lengths of 4.0 inches. The leads were fitted to the Tag Board terminals, (either threaded in, or wrapped), soldered in place, and then excess leads trimmed. This line work usually took place on the Tag Boards alone. Any required wiring loo,s would then be added and the finished items would later be fitted to the chassis down the line. A lot more accessible to work on than the finished products todays. However, most of these Tag Boards can be carefully unmounted from their chassis locations and made more accessible to work on.

Modern components seem to be just 2.75 inches overall length. Not good.

I have never worried about heat sinks. Solder has an effective working temperature range. I set my iron to the midpoint and have never had a problem with the quality of the finished solder work. If original leads have factory spaggetti, I always transfer it to replacement parts. The factory team at Canadian Marconi Company knew more about putting these sets together than I ever will, so I just follow their lead in that regard.

Also, I rarely use modern test equipment. Most is 80 to 50 year old tube driven equipment, consistent with the technical era of the wireless sets I work on. That test equipment told the designers of these sets they worked very well, and they did. That is good enough for me and I have no interest in chasing “faults” modern test equipment might identify.

I also have a number of friends across the country with far more electronics and amateur radio experience that I will ever be able to achieve. Whenever I hit a wall working on this equipment, I reach out to consult, and that help is always very much appreciated.

Anyway, Bob, I natter. Hope this helps a bit with your questions.


Cheers,


David