Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Keep us posted, James.

You might want to try putting the headset on first and get it adjusted for a good fit. Let your ears adapt to them for a few minutes and then fire up your 19-Set and listen to it warm up. Max your RF Gain but make sure the AF Gain is backed off to a comfortable level. Let the Set warm up a few minutes and when you feel your ears are ready, try out a wee transmit to yourself.

Best regards,

David

[David Dunlop]

This item is also known as COVERS, Waterproof No. C2 ZA/CAN 4764, and fastens to the top front of the Carriers No. 4 on the 52-Set when not in use. Should wet weather require it can be unrolled and lowered down the front of the set. A metal bar sewn into the lower edge provides enough weight to keep it in place.

If anyone has one at hand, can you tell me the length and width of the Lift the Dot fasteners across the top of the curtain and the diameter of the heads on the two stud fasteners on the straps? I am guessing the stud fasteners are probably truss head, but they might be flat head.

I may end up having to replicate this item so would like to do a little planning ahead, if an available original does not turn up.

Some years ago I bought some Lift the Dot fasteners for a webbing project I was working on but these are probably about half the size of what is needed for the CURTAIN.

Thanks,

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Stand by....

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

This item is also known as COVERS, Waterproof No. C2 ZA/CAN 4764, and fastens to the top front of the Carriers No. 4 on the 52-Set when not in use. Should wet weather require it can be unrolled and lowered down the front of the set. A metal bar sewn into the lower edge provides enough weight to keep it in place.

If anyone has one at hand, can you tell me the length and width of the Lift the Dot fasteners across the top of the curtain and the diameter of the heads on the two stud fasteners on the straps? I am guessing the stud fasteners are probably truss head, but they might be flat head.

I may end up having to replicate this item so would like to do a little planning ahead, if an available original does not turn up.

Some years ago I bought some Lift the Dot fasteners for a webbing project I was working on but these are probably about half the size of what is needed for the CURTAIN.

Thanks,

David

[David Dunlop]

I am not at all certain if the Type 10 Cdn Headgear pre-existed the Wireless Set No. 52 and was merely adopted for use with it By Canadian Marconi, or was developed in conjunction with the evolution of the Wireless Set No. 9 Cdn and 52-Set, and spread out from there to other, contemporary wireless sets. RCA Canada, and Philco, certainly advertised their involvement with the ones issued with the 52-Set, but I do have other similar headgear at hand that are original, with No. 2 Brown paint on the microphone with just a yellow C-Broad Arrow on the back and no sign of RCA, or Philco, stamps anywhere. Having restored two of these headgear for the 52-Set Project, I was going to consider that phase completed, but a few oddities popped up with the Type 10 Headgear that I thought might best be dealt with here as they would cover all such headgear, regardless of the wireless sets with which they are used.

The first and simplest item is the black, leather Sleeve Assemblies that cover the adjustable, spring steel headbands of the Type 10, and other headgear. These sleeves are correctly mounted on the headband when the stitched seam is running along the bottom of the headband, with the smooth loop of leather over the top of the metal to avoid chafing the back of the Operator’s neck.

Most of the ones I have on hand look like neglected work boots these days, being pretty much scuffed up. I got curious about that this morning and decided to see what a bit of cleaning might accomplish.

The first photo shows the Sleeve after several minutes of cleaning with a tin of Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish. This is the pale waxy looking colourless shoe polish. All the dirt and grime cleans off nicely, but it does not do much at all for the scuffs, other than soften them up a bit.

The second photo shows the same Sleeve after good rub in of Kiwi Black Shoe Polish, a couple of minutes of waiting and then a good buffing with a shoe brush. The history of wear can still be seen and appreciated up close, but the overall improvement to the look and texture of the leather cannot be denied. I think I will be cleaning up all my other ones in a similar manner now.


David

[Bruce MacMillan]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I am not at all certain if the Type 10 Cdn Headgear pre-existed the Wireless Set No. 52 and was merely adopted for use with it By Canadian Marconi,

David

In WftW the #10, ZA21514, was for use with WS19,22 & 62. It is similar to headgear #8 but uses microphone #13 ZA17605 (the small brown fist size). I currently use a #10 on my MKIII with the #10 control box.
The only marking is a small black acceptance stamp. I have a few mics in the junk bin I'll look at.

[David Dunlop]

It was these two assemblies that suddenly grabbed my attention with the Type 10 Headgear, and even then, this only happened after my looking at them in the Master Parts Lists for the 52-Set countless numbers of times, but the information only now sinking in.

For close to 40 years, I have blissfully assumed these two Stirrups, one on each side of several types of wartime wireless headgear, were identical each side. As long as the side slot and locating pin for the headband were at the front half of the Stirrup, everything was OK.

It was only last week, while working on the Type 10 Headgear for my 52-Set, that I suddenly realized two of these Stirrups are illustrated in the Master Parts List and both have different names and ZA-Numbers. Even reading the descriptions was not enough to understand what was different between them. So I dug out an intact Headband and Stirrup assembly to have a closer look at the real thing.

After making certain I had the assembly correctly oriented, I marked an ‘L’ and an ‘R’ on the inner face of each and carefully removed them from the Headband. I then placed them in the same orientation, side by side on the page illustrating them from the Master Parts List. With this visual check in front of me, what the designers were saying in the two descriptions finally made perfect sense. The key to it all is being able to clearly see the pivot ball location on the side of each Stirrup, as in the first photo. I have now marked ‘LEFT and ‘RIGHT’ on the page in the Master Parts List to avoid any future confusion. So to summarize the descriptions:

STIRRUPS, Receivers Headgear, No. C1 ZA/CAN 0696, is the Left Side Stirrup.

STIRRUPS, Receivers Headgear, No. C2 ZA/CAN 0695, is the Right Side Stirrup.

When they are both properly installed on the Spring Steel Headband, as in Photo 2, the top edges of the Stirrups are at and parallel to the top edge of the Headband and about 3/16-inch of headband is visible below the Stirrup.

Lastly, I have found these Headbands are formed from a very tough spring steel. The easiest way I have found to remove the Stirrups is to slide a slot head screwdriver blade slowly into the gap behind the Stirrup Ball until the two leaves of the Headband are nearly parallel. The Stirrup can then either be pulled out, or popped back in, very easily, and the screwdriver blade withdrawn.


David

[David Dunlop]

Probably a bit of a crap shoot with this item, when it comes to any correct orientation for it, but I will stick my neck out and suggest that at the factory, these Headbands were assembled with the stitched end facing up, to keep the smooth web face against the Operator’s head when in use, and with the closed loop located at the right hand Receiver assembly. I suggest this side for three reasons.

First, of all such web headbands I have available to look at, two thirds are oriented this way. Second, the photograph of the Type 10 Headgear in the 52-Set Operator’s Manual shows the web headband oriented this way. Third, the 1940’s world was very much a Dexter centric World. My parents (Dad from Winnipeg and Mum from Wigan) both regaled me with stories from their school days wherein classmates who tried using their left hands to do anything, had their hands wrapped with a ruler and told in no uncertain terms to use their right hand. To this last statement, I will refer you to the next Post covering the next Type 10 Headgear item.


David

[David Dunlop]

This one made me smile when I finally found it in the 19-Set Mk III Illustrated Parts Listings.

I had been searching for the information regarding the ‘buckle’ found on the Headbands, Web of the Type 10 Headgear. Turns out it is not a simple buckle after all. It sports quite a fancy name for a very simple nickel-plated steel stamping.

In the attached photo, it shows up positioned slightly to the right side of the Headband, Web, but notice how, when the headband is fed through the Slide and then on over to the left hand Clip, up through the Clip and back through the Slide a second time, the open end of the Headband is now oriented to the right side of the Operator’s head: exactly where a right handed person of the day would need it to be located. Picky perhaps, but quite logical for the thinking of the day 80 years ago.


David