Wireless Equipment
 

While searching for info on the wireless setup for my C8 it dawned on me that there aren't any threads dedicated to the subject of the use of wireless equipment in the field. To start I'll attach a few stills I captured off the Canada at War series I have on DVD. The first is in a wireless truck but what version?

This is a dug in installation. It looks like the same type of mike as the first pic.

I'm not sure what this mobile set is. Is that a battery pack? These three pix were taken in Italy.

This one isn't in the field. Instead it's a manufacturing shot.

Here's one from Mike Kelly of an installation in a Morris.

The box with a strap is made of wood and it contains a battery. Normally the top is hinged and there is a notched out place on the side in case multiple batteries are needed to be connected together to booster amp hours or to jump the combined battery from 6v to 12v (or whatever the application).

Some have a fitting in the front that is hard wired to the terminals on the battery inside the box so you can plug in and unplug easily without having to so anything inside the box.

Bottom line of the photo before my reply shows where the box would have indicated voltage (blocked in the shot) and then the amp hours the battery would provide. That one is also a post war box which is a surprise to me as I thought this system was only WWII and early postwar. Not well into the 1950s as this box looks like 1959.

The box with a strap is made of wood and it contains a battery. Normally the top is hinged and there is a notched out place on the side in case multiple batteries are needed to be connected together to booster amp hours or to jump the combined battery from 6v to 12v (or whatever the application).

Some have a fitting in the front that is hard wired to the terminals on the battery inside the box so you can plug in and unplug easily without having to so anything inside the box.

wyless id
 

top photo looks like a 19 set MK II, next the headset/mic #7, the battery rig is a wireless set 21 with a 1943 dated battery box, the manufacturing shot is a 19 set MK III, and the last with the 1959 dated battery box looks like a wireless set 11. That one is odd as they were phased out in about 1941/42 when the 19 set was introduced. I have seen other pictures of a WS11 with a 1959 dated box, maybe cadets or something.

Lieutenant L.W. Spurr directing the fire of the 25-pounder guns of the 4th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (R.C.A.), near Antwerp, Belgium, 30 September 1944

Date(s): September 30, 1944 , Place of publication: Antwerp, Belgium (vicinity)

Copy negative) PA-145559

Infantrymen of "D" Company, Régiment de Maisonneuve, with a No.18 wireless set, Cuyk, Netherlands, 23 January 1945

Date(s): January 23, 1945 , Place of publication: Cuyk, Netherlands

(L-R): Private Harvey Lalonde, Signalman Raymond Gosselin.

(Copy negative) PA-190099

Personnel of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa buying 7th Victory Loan bonds, Maldegem, Belgium, 7 October 1944

Date(s): October 7, 1944 , Place of publication: Maldegem, Belgium,

(L-R): Sergeant S.L. Shaw, Lieutenant H.L. Adams, Private R. Shea

(Copy negative) PA-191997

Command post, 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (R.C.A.), during a training exercise, Shoreham-by-Sea, England, 27 March 1942

Date(s): March 27, 1942 , Place of publication: Shoreham-by-Sea, England,

(L-R facing camera): Lieutenant D. Jupp, Gunners R. McVeeters and S. Pereira

(Copy negative) PA-197137

Unidentified corporal and signaller of Le Régiment de Maisonneuve operating a No.18 Wireless set while on guard duty somewhere on the southeast coast of England, 13 January 1942

Date(s): January 13, 1942 , Place of publication: England (vicinity)

(Copy negative) PA-211472

The next 3 pictures were pulled from the British Pathe site. if you do an advanced seach under film ID 1957 you will get a number of hits. There are 3 films with these trucks in them. 2 have no sound but the 3rd was made into a short film.

next one

Hard at work for the camera

Interesting pic. Why is the RCCS Lt wearing a Highland headdress with tartan backed Sigs hat badge?

Just goofing around, perhaps?

Charging batteries
 

Here's a shot where the batteries are being recharged. Would most of the wireless trucks have used this type of battery box?

genuine thing
 

many years back , a friend and I spotted some original 1942 dated batteries in Hughes old warehouse in Coburg. We bought two each , left a pile of about six more .

They are British made dated 1942 , 6 volt , with Niphan connectors . they are the same type sen in the Morris pic I posted

Mike

Here's the back of a signals truck in Oz. It looks like some type of Ute but it'll take one of you down under types to be more specific.

This must be the same type of Ute.

This is another Australian shot.

Looks like a Ford 1 ton by the moulding around the edge.

Cheers
Cliff :)

Aerial length
 

I am doing a 1/35 scale model of a Bren carrier which has 3 aerial mounts.

What are the normal true 1/1 scale lengths of these aerials? I want to scale the model ones to the right scale length.

Cheers
Cliff :)

Ford ute
 

It's a Ford ute David. A lot of these radio installations were AD HOC , that is , done by the units themselves . I've seen so many different tables and the antenna base is mounted anywhere they felt like it . The seat looks like garden seat from a back yard . its not a military item . this is typical of Aussie radio trucks of the time .

It looks like a 12 cwt car based ute cos its looks pretty short in side , not long .

I have one of those bases , they are rare as rocking horse S**T .

Mike

base
 

Cliff

I did start to draw up the base , only got this far .....

Mike

another
 

here is another setup in a 1 Ton Ford ute . The operators seat is facing the antenna base . I have also seen the radio mounted on a plain wood board and the spare tyre used as the seat !

Re: base
 

Mike thank You for that. Details like this often really make a model unique.

Cheers
Cliff :)

Re: another
 

Mike I notice that this one has a roadster cab. This is one I am going to model sooner rather then later.

Cheers
Cliff :)

tyre
 

Inside a Ford ute/van with AD HOC 109 set back

Mike