No. 19 Set Horizontal Aerials

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Jon Skagfeld

If the radium hazard was such, then why didn't all the No 19s, etc etc etc get buried?

I love to turn on my 19 sets, turn off the lights, listen to the dynamotor hum, and watch the dials glow.

I'm still alive.

19 sets had radium in the lettering on the face and the glass beads at the tips of the toggle switches. 29 A sets had the entire dial wheels coated so is a little more potent. If you look at the two windows on the face of this set you'll see the orange/brown radium paint. The dials were originally white but time has caused them to react and change colour.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Geoff.

That drawing of the short circuiting straps on the sectional aerial is an exact match for the short wire I have and the other pieces with the single insulators now make sense to me. What I think I must have, are the scrap remains of a cut up 4-Section aerial. At some point somebody must have used an empty reel for the 185 ft aerial to store the bits on. So I guess I am right back at square one for finding a complete horizontal aerial.

Now where did I put my 649 ticket?!?…


David

[Bob Carriere]

A counter poise Mk 2 or ground wire.....

Can someone explain in plain English what it is and what it does...?

I am trying to read and understand the jargon.

From what I have read and seen in the posting it seems to serve a some kind of horizontal signal reflector......ground plane..???? so a bunch of leads who are laid out radiating from the mast on the surface of the ground or use a deep rod stuck in the dirt as a ground...???

Thanks for the edification.

Bob
...I should have paid attention when Jon gave us a WS 19 lecture at one of the CC bash !!!!

[David Dunlop]

Bob.

The counterpoise is intended to provide an effective grounding (earth) for the set during operation. This helps with the efficiency of the signal being sent out over the aerial. One could accomplish this by pounding a steel grounding stake into the ground and connecting the set to that, however, in a combat zone that action would have been as popular as having to go out in no-man's land during World War One and pounding barbed wire stakes into the ground. The counterpoise was used as a quiet alternative to all the noise making a hammer produced.

The Working Instructions for the No. 19 Mk III explain the counterpoise as follows:

" The use of an elaborate earth e.g. a radial earth, with the spokes not less than half the wave-length being used, will improve radiation markedly. Even a simple earth-pin near the vehicle will effect some improvement in radiation, and will avoid the noticeable drop in aerial current which would occur through people near the truck touching the parts of its chassis to which the set is earthed. An earth will also, in many cases, improve the signal-to-noise ratio on receive."

Hope that helps.


David

[Bob Carriere]

Every little bit helps me understand better.

Bob

[David Dunlop]

Geoff.

Further to your post here on Feb 17th and the Figure 22-15 Aerial Set Up. Are you familiar with that particular aerial system at all?

The reason I ask is that many years back, I acquired a bag of aerial stuff, primarily because it contained a ground stake for the 20 and 34 ft masts, along with the associated mast base plate. When I got the bag of treasures home, I also discovered a set of steel guy stakes at the bottom of it and the PC numbers on the stakes matched those for the same item in the 19-Set Ground kit. I could not identify any other PC or ZA numbers on the other items in the bag and assumed they had nothing to do with the 19-Set at all so passed them on to another chap in town.

The bag was a soft OD green canvas, somewhat tubular in shape about 4 feet long. Sort of a skinny duffle bag, held closed by either two or three canvas straps and buckles. The other items in the bag were a set of wooden, green poles about 2 inches in diameter, three or four feet long, each with a steel pin in one end and a corresponding socket hole in the other end. There was also two pairs of those square steel plates, each with four insulator/guy rope assemblies attached. The guy rope cords were not white like the ones seen in the 19-Set Kit, but were OD green.

I could not for the life of me, figure out how the poles were anchored to the ground and if I split the pole sections up evenly, the entire thing seemed rather low, so I assumed there were some parts missing. Also, the bag was rather floppy when closed, with bits sticking out. Ended up swapping it for an NOS leather Aerial Bag for the 19 Set stuff I had and forgot about it.

Guess I got rid of something special after all. So many toys for the 19-Set! So little space!

[Johnny Canuck]

Hello David
Sounds more like improvised Post War tent poles.

I'm no expert but I've not heard of wooden aeriel masts........... yet. Tent poles yes.

The diagram you refer too mentions 'D' Rods which were about 3' in length, 7/8 diameter, threaded male/female. 'D' Rods were originally British and used to make up horizontal aerials and vertical antennae.
The diagram explains it so I won't reiterate it here.

This is a nearly complete 'D' Rod aerial set.

The actual mast kit. Many of the items were still in their original wrappings or what is left of them.


Guys, pin bag and pins.


Misc parts in boxes, guys, ground spike and the insulated base mount.


An F Rod adaptor; this is not the one included with the kit, the one in the kit has the spring clamp at the top and a wing nut on the bottom both are threaded for the D Rod. This one can not be mounted directly above a stay plate as it would interfer with tightening the clamp. F rods were then added to make a 34' antennae.


The Canadians developed the 34' telescoping antennae and 20' mast to replace the D Rod set-up. circa 1944.

20' mast on the left, 34' antennae on right.






Geoff