ATR2 wireless

[Mike Kelly]

I had a few of these sets years ago. I never had the original power supply.

Unusual scene of a US reg. jeep and the Aust. built RAAF ATR2 radio set.

There were at least three different versions of the set made, A B and C models.

The manual describes the set as being a 'mobile' set but the antenna they describe in the manual is a single wire fed aerial ( Windom ? ) or a 30 to 50 feet length of wire. Depends on your definition of mobile !

The case of these sets was finished in a weird light-mid pastel green colour that seems to be peculiar to RAAF equipment. The case is not particularly robust or waterproof, can't imagine these sets performing well in a tropical environment. From memory there is a screw on lid that is fixed with chromed knurled screws.

A relatively scarce set today but they do turn up now and then. A ham friend of mine owns a very rare 'A' model, the B or C versions are the most numerous survivors. A rough guess of numbers produced would be around 1000 units but that is going by the number of surviving sets that I have seen or heard of. This is a less common set compared to other WW2 era Aust. made radios i.e. the W.S.11.

Think these sets were popular with Australian hams because of the xtal locked oscillator function in the transmitter, you could select any of four frequencies.

Manual is online http://www.tuberadio.com/robinson/Manuals/ATR2B.pdf