Wireless of the Week - week 23

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I know of three privately held Canadian 11 sets and two more in museums. Not exactly awash with them like 19 sets!!

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

The WS11 would have been considered a big leap forward when it first came into service .

In terms of rarity , the most elusive version these days is the British set.

1. British....Most of these were lost with the BEF
2. Canadian.......... How many are known of ?
3. Australian.......... Fairly common .

I feel that the AWA set was built to a tight budget . it fell down in many respects. Cheap components , the paper capacitors and the low quality genemotor castings plus the heavy steel cabinets. The Aust. army didn't think much of them either , because they were declared surplus and disposed of as the last bullets were being fired

[Bruce MacMillan]

I had two but have passed them on to a Western Command member.

One was an early s/n and lime green in colour. This was the original paint. When pulled from the case the chipped corners showed no other paint colour.

The second s/n was in the 600 range but below yours Bruce. It was a dark grey colour. Both made by Canadian Marconi.

[David Dunlop]

I wonder if the Germans ever put any of them to use. Certainly not all of them would have been destroyed before the collapse of the BEF.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Bruce, any chance for pics of those sets? I really wonder at so many colours with such a small production run. Given that all the sets I've seen are green wrinkle finish I assume we can add two more known 11 sets to the list.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I'm going to offer up one more pic and a mystery.

This is another face cover/table with "WIRELESS SET No.11" marked on it and slightly different than the one in my first photos. Note how the lettering is upside down. If you look carefully on the left you'll see a notch on the bottom and clip and stud at the top which align and hold the cover to the face of the sender receiver. The stud and clip dictate that the cover can only go on one way and if you put it on that way the stenciling is upside down. A 75 yer old screw-up that nobody ever fixed? Do British sets have the stud and clip reversed to those on Canadian sets? Is this a cover from an Australian 11 set?

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

I'm going to offer up one more pic and a mystery.

Is this a cover from an Australian 11 set?

Is it steel ? if it is then its a Aust. example

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Is it steel ? if it is then its a Aust. example

Both of the ones I've shown are aluminum, and differ in detail (rivets vs. screws for the leg mounts, embossed vs. printed letters for the instruction plates) and one (the one without the Wireless No.11 stencil) has a small 'CMC" in a circle stamp that I think is Canadian Marconi Company.

Given what you say about steel Australian ones, I probably have one Brit. and one Canadian cover. I can't imagine British and Canadian sets would be so close in almost every respect yet have a silly thing like the stud and clip for the cover reversed (a look at some pics of British sets will settle that pretty quick) so I think that may suggest a 75 year old error.

[Bruce MacMillan]

I finally found a photo of the lime green set. It was repainted at some time as all the engraved lettering was painted over. The interesting thing is when pulled from the case areas where paint has been chipped shows only the green colour. It has a low s/n of C95 so maybe used for training or cadets?

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Bruce, any chance for pics of those sets? I really wonder at so many colours with such a small production run. Given that all the sets I've seen are green wrinkle finish I assume we can add two more known 11 sets to the list.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I wonder if the Germans ever put any of them to use. Certainly not all of them would have been destroyed before the collapse of the BEF.

David

I believe the Germans published a 11 set manual in German