WS19 guide for dummies?

[Tim Bell]

Try - Wireless for the Warrior Vol 2 - this has a wealth of info about the WS19 and others.

http://www.wftw.nl/

Tim

[Bruce MacMillan]

As Tim said, WftW 2 has become the defacto source for wireless set info. It's not cheap but worth it.

As to quickly telling a MK II from a MK III just look at the row of toggle switches bottom front. Two switches is a MK II and three switches is a MK III.

For WW2 vehicles check and make sure there is a black thumbwheel beside the left hand handle. Many sets were modded by REME post war and had bits removed so wouldn't be period correct.

[universalgrl]

My third WS-19 set was reconditioned by 202 b/wkshp RCEME in 1959. and it looks like the only thing done to it was a new faceplate in English only and non radioactive luminous compound.
So what does that do to the story of the Canadians showing up with Russian marked radios during the Cuban missile crisis???
My other 2 MK IIIs are an RCA Victor and a Northern electric, all three are marked RCA-107127-202.
I have EMER's (electrical and mechanical engineering regulations) for the MK II first echelon work, and the MK III 1st to 4th echelon work.
These can all be downloaded from the british WS-19 web site.

[Tim Bell]

Also consider Rob Van Meel in the Netherlands for reprint manuals:

http://www.robvanmeel.nl/

I've known Rob for years and can vouch for the quality of his product.

Cheers


Tim

[Alex van de Wetering]

Tim, Bruce, Roberta,

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. Wireless for the warrior does indeed sound like the book series to have. 2.9kilo's for the second volume sounds like a huge amount of info, but for me the WTFW series is something for the future. For now I am just trying to get some pointers what to look for...
the basic principles on WS19's.
Thanks Bruce for your comments on the difference between mk2 and mk3 19 sets and the comments on post-war vs wartime configurations. That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for!

p.s. I have seen this subject come by on the forum from time to time. Vehicle owners want a WS19 to finish off their truck or carrier restorations.....often just for visual purposes, but it's hard to find answers to some of the basic questions if you are not familar with Wireless sets or the technical side of radios.

Alex

[universalgrl]

If You are going to have a fully operational WS-19 set as a base station or operate it in a restored vehicle it is highly recommended that you take a ham course mainly for legal reasons, fortunately you no longer have to do CW, MCW (that's Morse code) to pass the test.
The radio transmitters can be temperately or permanently disabled if you just need it for the intercom function, highly recommended in a noisy vehicle.
Word of warning DO NOT apply power to an untested radio / power supply that has been sitting in storage for a long time. The capacitors are the paper type and will dry out over time, applying power will result in a direct short.
This problem can be fixed by slowly applying power over a set time period to renew the electrolyte in the capacitors, or replace the caps with a modern equivalent.
Failure to do this procedure can cause all the smoke to leak out of the caps all at once sometimes referred to as the Big Bang. The large cap in the power supply is similar to a small grenade[ BOOM, shrapnel, concussion, shock] etc. etc.

[Bruce MacMillan]

Some 19 set (and other wireless sets) manuals are free to download from the VMARS group. Document 800 gives a basic view of the set.

http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/archive/files_index.htm

The thing to remember is the 19 set is not just a radio but a system with many components. The set was issued as a basic setup with some ancillaries but the end user had to order the mounting kit separately for which ever vehicle it was destined for. These kits contained unique hardware, control boxes, cables, etc.

Sets mounted in CMPs were often fitted with the ground mount (big wooden board) so it could be relocated away from the truck.