[David Dunlop]

A number of learning curves for the 52-Set are converging in my head at the moment and I am not certain I like it.

I have chatted with a couple of current users for the 52-Set and a former operator to learn what they have experienced and have been going through the manuals a number of times to wrap my head around it all. Interesting times.

One thing I have discovered is that there is apparently quite latitude in HT1 voltages displayed on the set for the Sender. The nominal voltage appears to be 285 Volts DC and one current operator with a Mains AC Supply has his running constantly at 285 and the set is quite happy. The manuals give a test range from roughly 260 to 310 Volts DC with a 10 to 15 percent variance for any given value as quite acceptable. Virtually all of my readings for HT1 fall into this range, which is challenging when trying to use the values for serious faultfinding.

Pin 4 circuits on the V7A (813) are still too high when the Sender is in RT Mode, but just fine in MCW or CW. Pins 1, 4 and 6 on V1J (ARP-3) in the Sender have a similar performance, so I am mapping these circuits out to identify all the connected components for a closer look.

In the meantime I have taken the Operational Tests as far as I could and so far and everything that is supposed to work and check out is doing so. I have also decided to run the NET and SEND Tests for a minute each, a couple of times a week. The NET gives MG1A, the 300 Volt HT1 Dynamotor a workout and sends electrons through those circuits. The SEND Test fires up both the MG1A and the MG2A Dynamotors thereby activating both the HT1 circuits and the 1,200 Volt circuits. So far, no loud noises, smoke or flames.

By the end of July, I will pull the Sender from the Carriers No. 4 again, pull all the valves, again, and retest the three odd circuits. I am curious to see if any of the bad readings will change, one way or the other. In the meantime I get a chance to do more reading and thinking.

In order to continue with the Operational Tests for the Sender, I need a Dummy Load to feed the 52-Set into. Turns out the 2nd to 4th Echelon Work Instructions provided a very nice diagram for constructing such a Dummy Load. The only risk was being able to find a 150 Watt Incandescent light bulb in todays world, but as luck would have it, the local Lowes still carries them I picked one up first thing this morning and now have an appropriate Dummy Load on hand to continue the Operational Testing. A good friend advised me his house still has several porcelain socket fixtures identical to the one in the original Canadian Army illustration but his wife nixed the idea of removing one and giving it to me, so I also picked up a modern, porcelain equivalent at Lowes.


David