Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Well I never said I was the smartest person on the planet and waiting over 30 years to even consider starting a project like this definitely pushes me rather firmly to the other end of the spectrum, but…here we go.

The goal of this project is to assemble a complete basic Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian, restore all the bits to working order and then get it back on the air.
The attached photo shows quite clearly what I am starting with in my Wireless Room... nearly nothing. I say nearly, because the observant among you will notice there is a canvas bag hanging on the wall that I only learned recently is actually the Aerial Bag for the 52-Set that holds it's F Rods. It currently holds the two sets of said rods for my two 19-Sets so will soon need a No. 2 Brown set of F Rods added for a 52-Set. In any event, this little canvas bag, for better or worse, is my starting point.

Clearly, updates on this thread have the potential to be few and far between, but it is what it is. May the Wireless God smile upon me!

David

[David Dunlop]

Well a quick look in the canvas Aerial Bag revealed three 'F' rod Sets. One green and two in No. 2 Brown, so both my 19-Sets and any future WS-Set No. 52 are covered.

I was feeling pretty good about that, and then this arrived in the mail. Yes, it is a Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian Main Receiver.Serial Number on the Data Plate is 8349. I didn't realized they had run that high.

Initial observations show the Slow Motion Drive assembly for the Frequency Dial is missing. I think this item is identical to the one used on the 19-Set Mk III, so I should be able to track down a complete one with mounting screw. Also noticed the PHONES decal that should run vertically to the right of the two phone sockets in the lower right corner was 'missing', but when shining a torch along the face of the panel, I can see it has simply been very professionally painted over.

There is no sign the three pocket watch holder screw holes have ever held a watch holder, front or back of the panel.

The only truly odd thing about the panel at the moment is that it has three chassis pull knobs, rather than the usual two. What appears to be the third pull knob has been mounted between the meter and frequency dial assembly. Further investigation will be needed on that one.

A quick internal look shows the usual amount of dust accumulation, no noticible rust anywhere and all valves are in place, though as yet untested.

The other thing that popped out was I am going to have to identify the correct type of hardware used in the four mounting brackets when the receiver is secured into the Carriers No. 4. The few sketchy photos I have seen suggest that some form of low profile hex headed bolt was used. the heads look about half as thick as a standard hex bolt.

So I guess the adventure has now officially begun.


David

[David Dunlop]

The two Zuss fasteners that hold the upper access panel of the receiver in place are made by a company called 'Airloc'. interestingly, the two on this receiver panel are the same shape, but one has the company name stamped into it in capital, block letters, with the number 160. the other one has the company name stamped in a written script style, with the number 150.

David

[David Dunlop]

I took a closer look at the crystal calibrator setup in the 52-Set Receiver this morning and compared it to the crystal calibrator Marconi developed for the Wireless Set No. 19. As you can see, a very similar appearance between them, although the one for the 19-Set is much more compact.

Since, as I recall, the Mk I and Mk II 19-Sets lacked a slow motion drive for their tuning, and this finally showed up with the Canadian Mk III production, I wonder if this slow motion drive was adopted directly from the 52-Set design from Marconi, and pushing this curiosity back a bit further, did any of the Wireless Set No.9 series have a built in crystal calibrator and slow motion tuning drive? Just thinking these two items might have been part of the upgrades Marconi had developed for their Wireless Set No. 9 Mk III that became the 52-Set.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Initial observations show the Slow Motion Drive assembly for the Frequency Dial is missing. I think this item is identical to the one used on the 19-Set Mk III, so I should be able to track down a complete one with mounting screw.

The drive assembly is in multiple parts, and semi-common to a number of sets.

The spring and its mounting bracket is the same as used on the WS18 and WS19 - one of those "multi-purpose part" items.

Either of the drive assemblies (single knob as used on WS19 Mk.I or Mk.II, or the later "dual knob with reduction drive" as fitted to the Mk.III) will fit.

It's somewhat of a fiddle to fit the drive assembly (possibly why yours is missing - once removed it's awkward to re-fit), as there's a actuator rod that is part of the Flick mechanism that needs to engage with the drive mechanism to force it downwards when the flick lever is set to FLICK, thereby disengaging it from the rim of the dial plate.

The "Condenser Drive Assembly" is something of a bugger to work on, and usually was supplied already attached to the replacement condenser to save time, effort, and a lot of swearing on the part of the wireless mechanics.

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Thanks for jogging my memory about those Flick systems, Chris. It has been a long while since I swapped out a 19-Set front panel and I had forgotten about how integrated the tuning drive and flick linkage is behind the panel. Also very hard to see everything in back.

I checked the linkage and noticed the lack of tension in the flick lever, as well as the fact the two frequency indicator flags were not moving fully back and forth. Hopefully, everything behind the scenes is still there and just missing the drive assembly properly installed. Will know for sure once I disassemble the complete dial assembly and get a better look. Hopefully, if anything is found missing, it will match up with 19-Set bits.

Hope Father Christmas was good to you.

Cheers,

David

[David Dunlop]

Chris. I took a quick look behind the panel and discovered both Arms, Flick Control No. 1 and No.2, with all their related hardware are there and intact.

It is the Arms, Flick Control No. 2 that travels down to engage the dial drive assembly. When the drive assembly is removed, the No. 2 Arm is under tension from it’s Hair Spring which causes it to swing up to the left (looking at the front of the panel) up behind the large dial wheel. If you are not aware of the No. 2 Arm being there in the first place, it is hard to find.

You are correct, it is a bit of a trained octopus job getting the No. 2 Arm back down to the bottom right side of the Drive mounting hole and keeping it there while you get the stud on the drive to engage its slot on the Arm, engage and apply tension to the Drive Spring and keep all of that in place while running the mounting screw home.

Worth at least two pints when you’re all done!

David

[David Dunlop]

I have started to notice the vast majority, if not all, of the wiring in this receiver is white loomed, with or without tracers. I have also noticed the circuit diagrams I have so far, show little or no loom identification on them, as compared to the 19-Set circuit diagrams. By comparison as well, the 19-Set wiring was very much multicoloured, with or without traces.

Where colour references show up so far appears to be limited to the terminal layouts for the various switch wafers, and I am assuming these colour references simply mean the tracer colour. Am I correct in this analysis?

There is a lacquer coating over much of the wiring which has yellowed somewhat over time. And of course, some of the wiring has yellow tracers on it. Gets a bit challenging in some locations identifying plain white wiring and white with yellow tracer. Yikes!

David

[cmp truck]

David, I see you have the leather Bags, Aerial Gear on one of the shelves. I found one in Edmonton at an antique store. I didn't know what it was for, so I posted to the no19 site making a folder called "19 set bag". If you get a chance to check my photo, is it a No. 52CDN aerial bag? I wasn't interested in acquiring it, but someone may be interested.
Ian

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by cmp truck

David, I see you have the leather Bags, Aerial Gear on one of the shelves. I found one in Edmonton at an antique store. I didn't know what it was for, so I posted to the no19 site making a folder called "19 set bag". If you get a chance to check my photo, is it a No. 52CDN aerial bag? I wasn't interested in acquiring it, but someone may be interested.
Ian

It was issued with the 20-ft and 34-ft masts for the Truck & Ground Station, so can be a common item for WS19, WS29, WS52 and possibly the WS43 as well.

The contents are the same, but vary by manufacturer - guy rope insulators can be ceramic egg type, glass shells, or bakelite chain link!

The original insulator may have been ebonite, which is very "lossy" at high power and only really suitable for the WS19 - though I have a ceramic version that has an earlier part number than the ebonite one - a later ceramic insulator (of apparently different design) was issued for the WS52.

(Oddly, the Racal MA638 mast insulator (used on the post-WW2 27-ft mast) is clearly based on the early ceramic type that I have, and not the later one!)

Chris.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Ian.

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with me regarding the BAGS, Aerial Gear you found. You have some excellent information from Chris that pretty much cover off where this item comes from and how its ‘Kit’ relates to a number of wireless sets during and after the Second World War.

Since the late 1970’s, I have put together two complete such kits and then moved them on. I did indeed recently own a third new BAGS, but have now also moved it on, not wanting to dive down that particular rabbit hole yet a third time. The components of the kit are quite heavy, and a pair of the masts a bugger to store/display in a small area.

One huge piece of advise for you. As a new item, these BAGS were designed and made from thick, stiff leather for a reason. The main pieces of kit it holds are all cast iron, large and as noted earlier…HEAVY. The BAGS were designed to be stiff in order to evenly distribute this weight for the person lugging it about. I have seen too many of these BAGS over the years fall into the hands of well meaning owners who think the leather has dried out and ‘needs to be fixed’, so out comes the Saddle Soap, Neat’s Foot Oil and any other number of leather softeners and after several hours of hard work they proclaim the newly softened bag’ fixed’. Sadly, in the process they usually notice the markings are now looking a bit faded.

The next issue, and eventually fatal for the BAGS is that if they actually have all the kit that goes in the bag, they stuff it in and secure the straps. As soon as then try picking the BAGS up, it collapses in the middle, transferring all the weight to the two straps and handle. The BAGS starts to pucker open in the middle and gape open and the straps and handles start to stretch. The stiffness of the leather that helped distribute the weight has been lost forever at that point.

So resist fixing the BAGS, Ian. It is as it should be by looks of the photo and deserves to live out its years staying that way.

Thanks again for thinking of me.

Best regards,


David

[David Dunlop]

Last weekend, Debbie wanted to visit a local Thrift Shop to look for some items to do a craft project with, so I tagged along, initially to soak up the air-conditioning, rather than sit in the car waiting.

While she grabbed a cart and went foraging, I decided to explore the electronics section where most of the electrical stuff hides. I have actually lost track of the number of wartime wireless equipment bits that have turned up in these shops over the years. I was also hoping to find an old lamp or electrical appliance with a vintage 2-prong cord I could use to replace one on a piece of test gear, as the original is starting to show signed of the rubber crystallizing.

No such luck for either items this time around, but as I was passing a shelf full of old tools, a couple of hammers caught my eye. I needed to find the right size and style of ball pane hammer for the 52-Set tool kit. Bull Dog Tools, a British company that still makes garden tools, made the wartime originals. One hammer was clearly far too large and the wrong shaped head. The second, smaller one looked very close to what was needed and although the head was covered in surface rust, the hickory handle was in excellent shape, so for $3.99, I tracked Debbie down in the shop and added it to her pile of treasures.

It took about an hour to clean nearly all of the rust off the head, oil and rub it down, and clean the handle. The trace of the name on the handle appears to be ‘Benchmate’ or ‘Benchmark’, either of which start with the correct letter, so I was quite pleased with the find overall.

Once cleaned, the next step, of course, was to see how well the hammer fits the toolbox. The hammer can really only fit in the tool box with the head to the right side and the handle resting on top of the wooden partition to the left, and when you look at the spacing around the two metal support brackets fitted on the right side, the head of the hammer best fits with the pane end towards the front of the box. The leaves a nice long area across the front of the box to store the three screw drivers and if you want to avoid accidentally discharging your flashlight by resting it switch side down. It best fits switch up and lens to the partition.

With the hammer in this position, notice how the handle, resting on the partition, keeps the handle of the soldering iron in place and how it would also help keep the hydrometer box in place when it is resting on its larger metal bracket and the partition.

I have not yet figured out how the rest of the tools were packed in the toolbox at the factory, but the various pliers likely went in the middle of the floor of the box, between the screwdrivers and flashlight.

It’s a pity that packing instructions for so much of the wartime wireless instructions have not yet turned up. Apart from the ones for the three wooden boxes/cases for the 52-Set, I would love to find the instructions for packing the small Spare Parts Box for the Wireless Set No. 19 at the factory.

David

[David Dunlop]

I am continuing to work through the Operational Check List a few times a week with the 52-Set, up to the point where I need to tune the set to 10 Mc, insert the Morse Key No. 9, and go into a full blown, key down transmit mode. Up to this point, the set is producing all the positive results it is supposed to on the Check List. The two dynamotors speed up and slow down where they are required to and the relays activate to isolate the Receiver on queue, taking it off line as they are intended.

I have noticed that he MG2A Dynamotor is not as grindy on start up as it initially was a few weeks ago. This could be the grease in the front bearings is finally getting back to lubricating things a bit better, but more likely, the Brushes are starting to seat better with the commutater.

All voltages settle into the generally acceptable ranges provided for them, once the overall set has warmed up for about 10 minutes or so and I am even getting test readings on the Meter for the Sender Valves, indicating they are operating within stated specifications. Still a bit nerve wracking, however. At the end of the month, I still plan to pull the Sender, remove all the valves and redo the resistance tests for it that were suspect initially, to see if any have improved at all. Then I will start digging deeper as required.

In the meantime, I still want to try and get some spray painting done on the outside of the Tool Box, while the weather still holds outside. I have started stripping the old paint off the metal fittings on the right side of the lid, cleaning the accumulated dirt and paint out of the various slot-head screws and cleaning away the numerous runs and ridges of NATO Green paint. Once that is all done, I can start sanding and filling the various screw holes where the original Glazing Putty has fallen out or shrunk.


David