Wireless of the Week - week 23
 

Let’s go back to the dark days at the very start of the Second World War when the B.E.F was dashing about France standing off the Germans and Matilda tanks were clanking about North Africa looking for Italians and finding the Afrika Korps instead. In the bustle of every British tank, rear of every wireless truck and in battalion headquarters was inevitably a Wireless Set No.11.

The Wireless Set No.11 was state of the art for its time. Unlike previous sets in development before the war, the 11 set was of a modular design allowing it to be adapted to many applications from tanks to mules, and had power supply units that needed nothing more than vehicle batteries to operate them and provide the correct voltages the set required. Multiple aerial systems and the ability to operate remotely with RCU’s (Remote Control Units) added to the versatility.

Originally a British set introduced in 1938, the set shown here is a Canadian one made by Canadian Marconi Company in 1941. It differs from its British cousin by having a green wrinkle finish instead of black. As shown, the set has a sender receiver on the left, a low power supply unit to its right and a high power supply unit beside that; however the set could be operated with just the low power unit. The set and supply units fit into an aluminum frame that could be adjusted for either configuration. The frame, if in a vehicle, was mounted with rubber shock mounts similar to 19 set ones. When used on the ground, the set came with a clip on face cover, often stenciled with “WIRELESS SET No.11” which, when removed, had two fold our legs and the cover became a table to put the set on and keep it out of the mud. Like many lids and covers, this one too had a metal plate with working instructions attached on the inside.

Connection between the units was with cables that plugged into sockets on the face of the components. A replaceable ammeter on the sender/receiver was protected by a quick release clear plastic cover. Aerial connections from the set went through a Condenser No.5 on the top of the sender receiver to either an aerial base or a Coupler Unit C which allowed the aerial to be remote from the set. A remote Control Unit A could link the set to other sets, field phones or a switchboard. Like most early British radios, changing between ‘send’ and ‘receive’ was accomplished by operating a large switch on the set (the big white one) rather than a pressel switch on the microphone.

Size was 8-1/2” tall, by 12” deep by 19-1/2” for the set and each of the LP and HP units added another 4-1/2” each to the width. Weight for the complete station was 216 lbs. (or 180 lbs. with just the Low Power unit), Frequency coverage was 4.2 to 7.5 MHz, range from 3 miles R/T voice on low power up to 20 miles CW (Morse) on high power. Power supply was most commonly 6 volt lead acid batteries, however 240 volt dry batteries or a rotary converter could also be used.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the famous Wireless Set No.11.

Additinal
 

Face cover, Coupler C and Remote Control Unit A

Bravo
 

fantastic series Bruce...great synopsis' and brilliant images.... your WS 11 is the pinnacle for me, thus far.

11 set
 

The WS11 would have been considered a big leap forward when it first came into service .

In terms of rarity , the most elusive version these days is the British set.

1. British....Most of these were lost with the BEF
2. Canadian.......... How many are known of ?
3. Australian.......... Fairly common .

I feel that the AWA set was built to a tight budget . it fell down in many respects. Cheap components , the paper capacitors and the low quality genemotor castings plus the heavy steel cabinets. The Aust. army didn't think much of them either , because they were declared surplus and disposed of as the last bullets were being fired

I know of three privately held Canadian 11 sets and two more in museums. Not exactly awash with them like 19 sets!!

I had two but have passed them on to a Western Command member.

One was an early s/n and lime green in colour. This was the original paint. When pulled from the case the chipped corners showed no other paint colour.

The second s/n was in the 600 range but below yours Bruce. It was a dark grey colour. Both made by Canadian Marconi.

I wonder if the Germans ever put any of them to use. Certainly not all of them would have been destroyed before the collapse of the BEF.

David

Bruce, any chance for pics of those sets? I really wonder at so many colours with such a small production run. Given that all the sets I've seen are green wrinkle finish I assume we can add two more known 11 sets to the list.

I'm going to offer up one more pic and a mystery.

This is another face cover/table with "WIRELESS SET No.11" marked on it and slightly different than the one in my first photos. Note how the lettering is upside down. If you look carefully on the left you'll see a notch on the bottom and clip and stud at the top which align and hold the cover to the face of the sender receiver. The stud and clip dictate that the cover can only go on one way and if you put it on that way the stenciling is upside down. A 75 yer old screw-up that nobody ever fixed? Do British sets have the stud and clip reversed to those on Canadian sets? Is this a cover from an Australian 11 set?

yes
 

I believe the Germans published a 11 set manual in German :thup2:

steel
 

Is it steel ? if it is then its a Aust. example

Both of the ones I've shown are aluminum, and differ in detail (rivets vs. screws for the leg mounts, embossed vs. printed letters for the instruction plates) and one (the one without the Wireless No.11 stencil) has a small 'CMC" in a circle stamp that I think is Canadian Marconi Company.

Given what you say about steel Australian ones, I probably have one Brit. and one Canadian cover. I can't imagine British and Canadian sets would be so close in almost every respect yet have a silly thing like the stud and clip for the cover reversed (a look at some pics of British sets will settle that pretty quick) so I think that may suggest a 75 year old error.

This is one of only two British sets that I've ever seen. It's in the Signals Museum at Blandford Camp (20 miles from me). It's in a glass case, so it's the best I could get.

I'm surprised at the weight given. I've had to move mine of course (Aust) and just can't remember that it weighed that much? That's nearly 2 cwt which is like picking up two of the old fashioned bags of cement in one lift. I must be stronger than I think!! Ron

The weight given would be for the entire station including aerial gear and batteries, not just the set in its carrier. I can post weights of the set components from the manual if you'd like though I rather think you may prefer I don't if weight lifting cement bags works for you!!

That puts my mind at rest Bruce. I wouldn't mind £1 for every cwt bag of cement I've lifted or even 2cwt sacks of animal feed. But those days are gone now. I'm just happy to still be doing what I do :thup2: Ron

British
 

I have laid eyes on another UK 11 set , at a hamfest in the 1980's. Displayed on a table and not FS , the chap said it had been 'got at' and it was highly modified .

The Aust. 11 set manual mentions the UK built sets . I have at least three British power supplies , McMichael radio was a manufacturer of these.

This British set I just acquired looks to be in the best shape of any of them. In the end view you can see the markings on the carrying straps with the ZA number. Would these be original? They're in pristine condition. Note there's no corrosion on the pins in the connector sockets on the set. The lid has rivets on the hinges too.

Find
 

That British 11 set is an amazing find considering how rare they are :thup2: It has gone to a good home .

I do have a few UK made power supplies . One brand is McMichael . I will keep these for my EK Cole set.

They certainly look like it. ZA.8403 dates back to the original numbering of the VAOS, and is earlier than 1940 (since there are higher numbers in the 1940 VAOS - which pre-dates the WS 11 (it has WS1 and WS9, etc. plus much earlier stuff listed)). I assume it was an existing item when the WS11 came along.

That set is in astonishing condition!

Chris

Power s
 

The LP Power unit

Newton brothers Derby LTD the genemotor itself

WOW!
I took the case off and look what I found! It's immaculate! No dust, no crud, nothing! The dealer I got it from never touched it. He got it from an old time collector in Calgary who had it for many years. He likely got it from the military as the second owner.
That list of components is on the inside back of the case.
The ZA number on the carrying strap is listed in the Australian 11 set manual.

I finally found a photo of the lime green set. It was repainted at some time as all the engraved lettering was painted over. The interesting thing is when pulled from the case areas where paint has been chipped shows only the green colour. It has a low s/n of C95 so maybe used for training or cadets?