11 Set stuff

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Euan McDonald

Mike, the other one I have looks more like a ground mount.

Yes I have a couple of those, it is part of the golf bag kit . It is a ground base .

Does anyone actually have a pic of the LP carrier with a antenna base fitted. I have searched everywhere and never seem to find anything . The 11 set is apparently the correct set but what did they use for a base ? I did find this .

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00399.004/

[Mrs Vampire]

Euan

I would be staggered to learn that No 19s were not fitted. The 11 was a bit of a limited radio and certainly not a standard post 1942
I cant imagine carriers were not fitted with 19s after 1942 say mid to late 1942 .
I know the first batch of Stuarts were around 1941 were fitted 40/60 11s and 19s because of production delays but buy the end of 1942 they were solid 19s .

My impression was the 11s went on to serve as base sets etc and the 19 was the standard.

http://www.qsl.net/ve3bdb/pics8.html

i am not sure when 11 production ceased in australia but I had suposed early on and the 19 was the standard as soon as stocks allowed.

[cletrac (RIP)]

This will be for an 11 set but is it in the right time frame? Here's the video.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by cletrac

This will be for an 11 set but is it in the right time frame? Here's the video.

That's the British base David with its rubber watershed , different to the LP type .

[Mrs Vampire]

Less than ten in the world Mike??? do you mean Pommy sets or Ozzie sets??

I have seem with my own eyes more than ten Ozzie sets . Last year at Corowa there was someone selling three. He had one on display that went in a second and two more in stock in Melbourne.,

And I have one of my own for the Blitz .

Euan the reason I am wondering about your choice of an 11 is that 19s are far far easier to get ...I even have a few bits I could help you with. But if you are trying for a 1941/42 set up I guess you need an 11.
I am not sure if they used 11s in the carriers during the Buna campaign. The evidence from the wrecks was the Stuarts had 19s .

Mike some of my 19s have PVC wire. I am not sure when AWA adopted it but PVC wire had been around since 1928 or so . I will have a look inside my No 11 and see what it uses.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Gina Vampire

Less than ten in the world Mike??? do you mean Pommy sets or Ozzie sets??

I have seem with my own eyes more than ten Ozzie sets . Last year at Corowa there was someone selling three. He had one on display that went in a second and two more in stock in Melbourne.,

And I have one of my own for the Blitz .

Euan the reason I am wondering about your choice of an 11 is that 19s are far far easier to get ...I even have a few bits I could help you with. But if you are trying for a 1941/42 set up I guess you need an 11.
I am not sure if they used 11s in the carriers during the Buna campaign. The evidence from the wrecks was the Stuarts had 19s .

Mike some of my 19s have PVC wire. I am not sure when AWA adopted it but PVC wire had been around since 1928 or so . I will have a look inside my No 11 and see what it uses.

Hi Gina

The UK made 11 sets are super rare . EK Cole made them . The theory is most of them were left behind as the BEF retreated .

re the insulation . Ive never seen PVC insulation on pre war equipment . I know that PVC was invented pre war . The post war rebuilt 19 sets did use PVC wire . As far as I am aware AWA used cotton insulation on everything . Some of the Uk built WW2 sets had a low quality rubber insulation, it falls of the wire leaving the conductor exposed , horrible stuff . The Uk 22 sets had that horrible stuff .

AWA was busily making radios for the RAAF in large numbers. The AT5/AR8 was ubiquitous , the US forces used them too .

The 19 set must have been in short supply here in Aust. because AWA made some in 1943 ( with cotton wiring ) . If overseas procurement was available, then why did AWA make the 19 set ?

BTW the AWA 19 set was a case of improvisation, just about nothing from it will fit a US British Canadian 19 set - even the valves were AWV brand , made here .

The AIF forces overseas did have 19 sets issued early on, late 1941 maybe . The book TANKS in the EAST , a story of the 7th div calvalry regiment, shows a 19 set in use with that unit in Egypt

[Mrs Vampire]

If overseas procurement was available, then why did AWA make the 19 set ?

My understanding is that overseas procurement was not available and that is why AWA made 19s.

My Australian archives search indicates the first batch of Stuart M3 were occasionally fitted with No 11 sets as there were insufficient No 19s available. Though on line histories indicates AWA production starting in Feb 1943 the Archives speak to AWA having trouble getting up sufficient production numbers of No 19 sets in August of 1942 . So far as I am aware all of the Stuarts that went to Buna were fitted with No19 and remnant artifacts support that.

I have Canadian and Australian dials watch holders power supplies etc etc and they all seem to be interchangeable as do the distribution boxes of which I also have a few of both.

So far as the valves are concerned. My Australian manual lists the same valves as those used in the Canadian and US production models .
6K7, 6V6 6D6 6H6 and so on and those are the valves in the spare valve boxes I have .
I don't recall AWA "inventing" different standard vacuum tubes to those that were bog standard in everything from mantle radios early T.Vs to radars and Tank radios . I think the ol 6v6 was in everything that was ever
invented.
Mind you its a few years since I had the 19 out on the bench .

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Gina Vampire

Euan



i am not sure when 11 production ceased in australia but I had suposed early on and the 19 was the standard as soon as stocks allowed.

The AWA production of the 11 ( Aust ) went well into 1942 . We think the production began late 1941 . It took AWA a long time to tool up and get the set into production, a huge effort that was wasted because they did not do any proper testing of the sets in a humid moist environment , how the set stood up to the tropical climates turned out to be less than ideal . Being on the other side of the globe , all kinds of improvisation was put into place , it all took time . Imagine drawing up the blue prints, making the dies, jigs and small gears and making the nuts and tiny screws etc.

It was only by 1944 that the then new PVC coated wiring and other water proofing solutions began to have an effect. The local 22 set ( Aust. ) was an example of this new approach . I have an audio tape of a chap who was in the army radio testing branch. His unit took over an old toy factory in Burwood Melbourne, they ran all kinds of water proofing tests on the 22 set ( Aust.) Even immersing the whole chassis in a water tank and then switching it on .

The little Australian made mk 2 108 infantry sets turned out to be a waste of time, the sets broke down during the Kokoda track campaign . The Mk3 version of 1944 did have the PVC wiring , but too late .

What was the first radio they got rid of onto the surplus market after the war ? The AWA 11 set , most of them probably unused .

Lou Meulstee reckons just under twenty thousand 11 sets were built in the UK. There are less than ten known surviving in the whole world now. What happened to them all ?