Wireless sets No. 19 MK ll - 1942

[Mike K]

Hanno ,

This web site has everything you will ever want to know about 19 sets ....

http://www.qsl.net/ve3bdb/

It is a Canadian based web site that you will enjoy .

Your set is worth saving , 19 sets were ubiquitous , they were manufactured in UK, USA, Canada and Australia during WW2 . The sets are rather common , but the big problem is finding all of the accessories for them e.g., control box, leads, headphones .

Primarily a AFV set . The set has three systems in one box .

A set .... HF set used for 10-15 mile range with rod antenna
B set ..... short range VHF set , range 500 yards if your lucky , used for inter squadron chatting .
Crew intercom , a telephone system that enabled the tank crew to speak , e.g., driver to commander .

The sets were mass produced and they were barely adequate for the job . Quite often the A set would jump off frequency as the tank gun was fired . The VHF B set was pretty well useless in actual field conditions, it was a crude super regen thing based on a single valve . The A set tuning was very coarse and you never really knew what frequency you were on . After the war many hams used them , but in a stable location with a standard freq. meter in hand . In a moving , jolting environment like a tank , the set must have been limited in its effectiveness .

I have owned around six of them over the years . If you look at a contemporary German WW2 tank radio , its like comparing a Morris Minor to a Rolls Royce ....

Mike