Wireless set 101

[Mike Kelly]

An interesting early WW2 Australian designed radio , which appears to be based on the UK No. 1 set , is the WS 101 made by AWA in NSW . The late Neil Wain , put together this article . Neil restored a rare 1941 ex RAAF Dodge sedan in his days as a VMVC member ( he decided to paint it white, much to the annoyance of the club members ! ) . He was a volunteer at the Watsonia army signals museum for years.

The 101 set saw service with the AIF in the M.E and Malaya. This pic depicts a scene in Palestine. One of my fav sets because everything is so easy to get at for maintenance plus the historical interest. A simple but good performing receiver , I used to listen to the old Telecom outback radio telephone service with a 101 set , the conversations were often most interesting , pubs and so on , the telecom operator asking at each three minutes "do u want another 3 minutes" . Cattle stations in QLD with people discussing the latest cow prices ! Bee keepers in Tasmania had their own HF frequency . Sometimes fishing boats out in Bass strait came through.

Those fun listening days are long gone , all replaced with digital stuff. While playing with a B2 suitcase set , I recall listening to a passenger cruise ship between NZ and Sydney , the teenage passengers ringing home and asking for more funds ! Another time I tuned in to a US army base in Korea, the soldiers ringing home .