Wireless of the Week - week 2

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Week two is hopefully more to Mike Kelly's taste. The Wireless Set No.62 has a wartime history, is associated with airborne troops and is perhaps one of the prettiest radios out there.

Developed in 1944, 62 sets saw service at the end of the war in Europe and the Far East with army, airborne and SAS troops. It was a replacement for the earlier No.22 set and was generally intended as a vehicle mounted radio but was also used as a man pack, carried by mules and in aircraft. Early sets had a web harness similar to that on the No.18 set but later ones had a revised harness system when it was discovered the early one was too bulky to fit in parachute jump bags. The set served for a long time post war and a version was sold to the civilian market.

Frequency range was a little wider than the 19 set, being from 1.6 to 10 megahertz. Range was 15 miles voice and 25 miles on CW. The set ran on 12 volts and had an internal power supply unit unlike the earlier No.22 set which had a separate one. The 62 set floated and could be immersed in water for up to 5 minutes.

A Crystal Calibrator No.10 was used to accurately set the frequency.

The first photo shows a No.62 Mk.II set with the 'airborne' harness and the second a No.62 (no mark) set with the earlier harness (that is being repaired after Bubba decided to flatten it).