11 Set stuff

[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

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 .

Gina I have owned 3 or 4 of the AWA wartime 19 sets . The front end valves are 6U7G's from memory , not 6K7's as in the overseas sets . AWA also did a strange thing, they dropped a IF amplifier stage and added a second audio amp stage . Sounds to me you have never owned one of these sets or seen a manual for one .

The knobs are different , AWA used the 11 set knobs , probably as they already had the dies for these . Yes the headphones and control boxes will interchange with overseas 19 sets , but the heart of the set, the circuit is totally different, believe me

Another thing, the AWA 19 set has a rectangular shaped meter escutcheon , this is unique .

What is the manual you have ?

Don't be confused by the post war 1952 rebuilt sets - these have a Aust. plate on them . The rebuilt sets are actually British sets and were rebuilt here in Aust. 1952 , using PVC wiring , I've also owned a few of these . The front panel is typically a light duck egg blue colour .

The vacuum tube industry here was always trying to keep up with new developments, they had to improvise on a grand scale . For example you will often see 6U7g's in the front end and IF amps of wartime sets made in Aust. Probably as these tubes were easier to manufacture , that's my guess . I've seen them in amenities sets and the Phillips no.4 receiver as well.

BTW the 3 AWA 19 sets I had, are now at the AWM in Canberra, along with my coast watcher sets and lots of my other wartime wireless sets . Mike Cecil came here in the AWM van and took them away !

Found this pic of a AWA 19 set ( note the square meter and the No. 11 set style knobs) , sitting above the AWA built AT5/AR8 set ,primarily a RAAF set but the army also used it and also used a 6U7g in the front end I believe

Radiotron was a AWA brand

[Mrs Vampire]

sorry mike . I don't mean to offend. I have around twenty No 19s and a fair stack of spares. Like I said its a while since I had one on the bench and I am more than happy to doff me lid to your greater experience.
i have run a few and have a few running . I have the Ozstrralian manual and use Ozrstralian valves with an Ozstralian valve set with some hundreds of spares.
My experience of them, as an engineer, is a bit distant but don't recall the differences you refer to and I have not from memory had the problems you are making me aware off .

My 19s look just like those in the Canadian manual and my bits seem to be interchangeable ...

[Mrs Vampire]

Me 19 in me tank.

My main reason for pushing the 19 is that I have more
hope of assisting Ewan with one of them than with a No 11
I have sets with different colored front panels and different shaped meters that seem to cover the whole period . I purchased my sets from the late sixties until the late seventies from all over. I havnt had problems with different arrangements of different valves.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Gina Vampire

Me 19 in me tank.

My main reason for pushing the 19 is that I have more
hope of assisting Ewan with one of them than with a No 11
I have sets with different colored front panels and different shaped meters that seem to cover the whole period . I purchased my sets from the late sixties until the late seventies from all over. I havnt had problems with different arrangements of different valves.

That 19 set in your tank appears to have the post war leads fitted .The wartime leads had a heavy braided sleeve .

I believe the 19 set was kept in production after the war . I have unboxed a brand new 19 set , never issued , what is interesting is, the B set was never fitted to this new set . The B set section was just blanked off .

I do have a Royal Armoured Corps manual dated 1963. The 19 set is detailed in the manual along with the C42 set . Mike