Wireless of the Week - week 3

[David Dunlop]

Here are some photos of the satchel my 27-Set came with, showing the chunkier design, as opposed to the standard Satchel Signals. That is an Operator's Instructions Card tucked into the vinyl sleeve inside the cover. I bought this set at the Tail Gate Sale at the Vancouver MVPA Convention a few years ago. It came from a local Scout Troop that had been using a bunch of them at field events for years.

The last photo is battery related information. Inside the battery case should be a linen reinforced, waxed cardboard sleeve, with a green cotton strap fitted all the way around it. The part number on the face of this sleeve is "P 13029 N". The Eveready Battery slips snugly into this sleeve and the whole assembly is lowered into the battery case. The top of the battery has a four pin socket fitted that the power feed plug connects to. The sleeve assembly allows for easy removal of the battery. This particular battery is dated 1 SEPT 43. The socket and internal battery wiring are on the right end of the photo.

Filament voltage went to the two closer spaced pins (1.5 Volts). 90 Volts went to the two outer pins to drive the set. Interestingly, this identical voltage setup was used in the American Mine Detector Set SCR-625 Series. In it, a D-Cell provided the 1.5 Volts and a stick battery provided the 90 Volts. When you take apart one of these stick batteries, you find four 22 Volt Photoflash batteries connected in series.

For those of you not familiar with the 22-Volt Photoflash battery, it is dimensionally and visually identical to a standard 9-Volt battery. However, it does not have two terminals at one end. There is one spring style strip terminal across each end. You DO NOT want to be holding these things in your hand! If you have a camera shop in town that has been around since the 70's, that is your best starting point to find these batteries. They probably run the high side of $15 to $20 each these days, but four of them, and a good AA Cell will get your 27-Set back on the air with no problem.

David