Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

74 years on from the introduction of the 52-Set, a key piece of missing documentation to those of us now attempting to restore one of these sets today, is the detailed repair and rebuild information typically found in the Second to Fourth Echelon Work Instructions published by the military. An Issue 1 Canadian Army EME Manual, dated February, 1945, does exist for this document, but it is only 84 pages long, and apart from a dozen or so pages dealing with a general inspection and alignment procedures for the set, the bulk of this document deals with building and specifications for all the coils and chokes used throughout the Wireless Set No. 52. Unlike the 300 plus pages of the similar document for the 19-Set Mk III, nothing at all on repair and rebuild of any of the components for the 52-Set. Odd, considering this wireless set served into the early 1960’s in Canada. Maybe there were enough spare components in stores that broken sets were simply replaced and the duff ones tossed.

The EMER set is almost certainly complete, and is all there ever was. Fourth echelon maintenance was "Base Workshops" who would have had the full complement of spare parts (as listed in the Identification List) available and were entirely capable of reducing the set to its component parts and rebuilding it from scratch. (This was done, post-WW2 when sets were rewired with PVC insulation, tropicalised, and reissued - particularly 19 sets that came out of Newark (near Nottingham, UK) with new paint and "NEW/mmyy" date markings on the (refinished) front panels.)

The lack of detail in the WS52 EMER is most likely because it used parts (such as the Condenser Drive assembly) common to the WS19 so there was no point in duplicating that - workshops would be completely familiar with it.

Various components were also supplied as sub-assemblies, e,g. the WS19 PA tuning mechanism as a complete unit from the flick mechanism back to the mica capacitors mounted to the rear of the tuning capacitor. That would save a lot of time if one had to be changed due to severe damage.

The coil winding details are in the 2nd-4th echelon repair EMER because that was a relatively simple repair job, and they had the equipment to do it. (They also had the equipment for rebuilding dynamotor armatures (rewinding and varnish impregnating), though I suspect that was an "only when there's nothing else going on" task.

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Well now that I have calmed down after all the Edmonton excitement, I can return once again to my real little world. Sigh,

I popped the back cover off the Aerial Coil box to compare the No. 2 Brown paint inside to two other examples I have available: a 1944 Northern Electric Variometer for the 19-Set and an unknown 19-Set Spare Parts Case. Interestingly, although the two 19-Set items look more of a semi-gloss original finish than the interior of the 52-Set Aerial Coil box, all three samples seem to have aged similarly.

One can definitely rule out UV damage to the inside of the aerial box, so the generally universal fading of the paint pigments over time must be a result of oxidation breakdown of the pigments.

I wet down a small patch on each piece and it would appear all three actually come quite close to one another in the wet state. My thought process at this point is to use the wooden back plate from the Aerial Coil box for my matching sample when it comes to getting the paint and to have the match done to the paint when it is wetted down. My logic, and it may very well be flawed, is that the newly made up can of paint will be wet and will typically dry a tone or so lighter. If I match to a dry paint sample, the end result will dry even lighter.

David

[David Dunlop]

Been communicating recently with the Canadian Army Directorate of History (DHH) in Ottawa about the 52-Set. They can find nothing in their archives at all by way of a comprehensive set of repair and rebuild instructions. Nor is there anything suggesting work of such nature was or was not carried out by Canadian Marconi.

However, they did discover a great deal of 52-Set information is scattered around the LAC files that takes a bit of creative searching to track down. Topics like 'wireless' and '52' and anything else you can think of are worth trying. On line that can get you to files which one can then order copies of from the LAC.

A couple found are as follows:

"Standardization - Materiel - Ground Radios - Cdn Wireless Set 52 - United States Radio Set AN-GRC-19, - United Kingdom Wireless Set C-11"

Not sure what those three sets have in common, but an interesting grouping.

The other item was:

"Equipment and stores - Design Development and Research Project 1958 - Truck utility 1/4-ton M38 Canadian - installation of Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian and Ground Station"

Yikes! The poor ass end on that jeep would have been dragging like an overloaded classic VW Beetle!


David

[David Dunlop]

Been looking through the manual to try and identify the single conductor cable that runs from the Receiver, up through a series of eyebolts along the top of the three main components and into the Sender, to allow these two items to play well together.

Can anyone confirm that I have got it right with the above title? Probably going to have to track one of these cables down, sooner or later.

David

[Colin Alford]

David,

Here is a link to the CMHQ London files that were compiled on the Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian.

This link should get you to the first page and then you will have a lot of clicking to do to get through the hundreds of pages. Hopefully you will find some interesting information.

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...7/1063?r=0&s=1

Regards,
Colin

[cmp truck]

Colin,
You have to buy a subscription to these archives.
Do you have a subscription and do you find it valuable?
The obvious usage would be material on vehicles and radios especially manuals and technical orders.
Regards,
Ian
VA6SSV

[Bruce MacMillan]

You don't need a subscription to browse the files. The subscription gives you a search function. I did buy a month's worth of time to see if was worth it but their indexing isn't very good. Colin's link has a lot of wireless info and if you're insomniac there's almost 6000 pages in that file to go through. That is only one of several hundred files. Some of it is interesting.

There is also info in these files on military vehicle design & procurement.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Been looking through the manual to try and identify the single conductor cable that runs from the Receiver, up through a series of eyebolts along the top of the three main components and into the Sender, to allow these two items to play well together.

Can anyone confirm that I have got it right with the above title? Probably going to have to track one of these cables down, sooner or later.

David

Ah, now I was R-ing TFM in an idle moment and thought "that will be in the Identification List", and so it is. (It also gives you enough description to make one up if you so desire.)

-----------------------------------------

LEADS, Aerial, 25.3/4-in lg, No.C1

No.16 B&S stranded wire, rubber covered to 7mm dia; metal sleeve and tip on each end; early parts were wrongly labelled "LEADS, Aerial, No. C7 -- ZA/C 00105"; this label should be ignored.

NOTE: Spares are available for this item although not shown in station spare parts list.

ZA/CAN 4703

-----------------------------------------

(Page 5 of FZ526, which has an illustration of the item - showing the incorrect label!)

Best regards,
Chris. (Still looking for valveholders - but there's a radio rally on Sunday so I might have more luck there. I have found two B7 sockets but they're the fragile Paxolin type, I'd prefer the moulded variety.)

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

A couple found are as follows:

"Standardization - Materiel - Ground Radios - Cdn Wireless Set 52 - United States Radio Set AN-GRC-19, - United Kingdom Wireless Set C-11"

Not sure what those three sets have in common, but an interesting grouping.
David

Those are the "Role" sets for "Rear Link" operation by Signals personnel, I think:

Canada - WS52
USA - AN/GRC-19
UK - C11/R210 (replacing the WS19HP and/or WS52)

Chris.