Wireless Remote Control Unit No. 1 (Canadian)

[David Dunlop]

I thought there was an existing thread for this but could not find it, so if this turns out to be a duplicate, my apologies.

I have dusted off one of these units, which although virtually complete and little used, underwent the postwar NATO refurbishment that completely removed the original factory markings on the top of the wooden case. I popped open the chassis this afternoon during a dedusting cleanup of it and discovered it is a product of Northern Electric.

The down side to that discovery, is that I have no existing information on file for the Northern Electric markings for these remote controls, only RCA Canada and Dominion Electrohome. So, the call goes out. If anyone has a Northern Electric Wireless Remote Control Unit No. 1 (Canadian) with nice original factory markings on the lid, can they take a good detail photo of these markings and email to me. This set has the later version headset, not the early version shown in the manual, so I will likely date it as a 1944 product, only to tie in with my Mk III 19-Set which is a Northern Electric product. Should anyone have a 1944 dated NE remote control unit with a surviving serial number, can you let me know what it is so I can also extrapolate an appropriate serial number?

Looking through my notes, it seems I have crossed paths with three RCA units in the past: 1942 C 03061, 1943 C 25113 and a 1944 C 33237. Along the way, I have also met up with three units built by Dominion Electrohome Industries Limited. All of these were built in 1945 with serial numbers C 60633, C 62404 and C 65020.

Interestingly, on the RCA units, they are identified as: WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL UNIT NO. 1 (CANADIAN), whereas on the Dominion Electrohome ones they are identified as: WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL UNITS CANADIAN NO. 1 ZA/CAN 1332.

The only manual I have seen issued with any make of RCU has been an RCA publication dated 5 January, 1943.


David