Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

...

The other thing I did was take a look at some modern electrical components I thought would be suitable replacements for fittings needed to eventually replicate the AERIALS, Horizontal, 4-Section used with the Wireless Set No. 52.

The 14 gauge 7/22 Hard Drawn stranded copper aerial wire is still readily available in the United States, but seems to have disappeared out of the usual Amateur Radio markets here in Canada. I am not about to order any at the moment though. I realized I now have 13 parcels sitting at my local US Border Mail Depot I cannot retrieve because the border is still closed. No need to be adding to that right now.

Geoff Turcott sent me a couple of detail photos of his 52-Set aerial and it looked like some modern items would be good fits.

The two attached photos from Geoff show the Section quick connect/disconnect fittings, and the splice fitting between the end of the aerial and the Feeder Cable to the Set.

The third photo shows the modern substitutes I found, They are all MARR 14 gauge crimp connectors. The photo shows the packaging, the fitting with blue insulation attached and with the insulation peeled off. The Male/Female Bullets will work nicely for the Section Connections and the Butt Splice Connector for the Aerial to Feeder Splice. I will crimp them all as well as solder the fittings, when I get to that part of the project.

One other fitting to look into locally and that part of the project should be good to go.

David

Do you need the wire clips for the chain-link insulators? I think I have some insulators with them fitted in the "bits box"...

I'll also see if I can get decent photographs (and measurements) of the multi-section WS19 aerial I've got (6 sections + two insulator strings) which I think was an early attempt at replacing the Truck & Ground station set of 6 wire aerials. (Except that the manufacturer Got It Wrong and the first section is 10 feet too long....)

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris.

If you mean the 1/2 to 3/4-inch, copper, double barrel, wire crimp clips securing the aerial wire around the insulator links, they are apparently still in use in Tackle Shops for securing fishing line. Go figure! Will be looking into their availability locally. On line at the moment shows just 100+ bags of them listed, which is a bit of overkill for this project.

If you mean the heavy, chain link fence type wire, oval split ring clips used to secure the ends of the aerial assembly to the top plates of the masts, I can indeed use a pair of those. That looks like a form of clip which has gone completely obsolete these days.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Hi Chris.

If you mean the heavy, chain link fence type wire, oval split ring clips used to secure the ends of the aerial assembly to the top plates of the masts, I can indeed use a pair of those. That looks like a form of clip which has gone completely obsolete these days.

David

Yes, the insulator to mast plate split rings.

I'm fairly sure I've got spares (fitted to 3-link insulators).

They have been known to be brittle in the past - I had one shatter when I tried to open it up far enough to fit to a mast plate, and the break was crystalline.

I'll drop a couple into the box.

Cheers,

Chris.
(That WS52 panel is looking wonderful, by the way.)

[David Dunlop]

Thank you Chris for the comments and aerial bits. All are very much appreciated!

I was able to get one more section polished back this morning. Timed it well, as the overcast is just now starting to roll in for the day. I think two more good polishing mornings should do it for this piece of the project. Then I can concentrate on touch up paint needed for the panel.

David

[David Dunlop]

Finally, after 18 days of polishing, the Sender panel of this 52-Set, once again has a consistent, close to original, coat of Gloss Navy Grey visible on it.

Only fitting I compare this to a photo of what I started out with on the first day of this task.

It got a little dicy in the last 45 minutes of todays session when the clouds started rolling in and out, but its done now.

Next step will be to pick up a can of grey oxide primer and get ready for the paint touch up work.

David

[David Dunlop]

There has been a bit of a gap here, but things are back on track now.

I was having a very hard time finding my 'go to' KRYLON Flat Grey Primer anywhere in town. All the usual places were either turning up as, out of stock, discontinued, or both. a check of the KRYLON Canada site gave no real clues as to why, but did seem a lot thinner on product choices than its American counterpart now for some reason.

When I switched to my second choice, TREMCLAD Flat Grey Primer, it was just out of stock in all the usual places. I did, however, find four cans still in stock at the RONA in Portage la Prairie, on Sunday, so bought two on line and drove out this morning to pick them up. I now just have to pick up a bottle of alcohol from the corner pharmacy to use to wipe the polish off the bare metal bits on the Sender Front panel, and the slow process of paint touch up can begin.

Hopefully, tomorrow.

David

[David Dunlop]

Well, I have finally started the phase of this project I dislike the most: touch up painting. I have cleaned the polish residue from the bare metal chipped bits with alcohol and applied a coat of flat, grey primer by hand to said areas.

The first photo is right after the alcohol cleaning and frankly looks no different than the last photo I posted. The second photo, however, shows the bits of bare metal now covered in a coat of the required primer. I will let that sit and cure until early next week, before attempting the fun stuff.

Going to be interesting to see how close a colour match I get to the original Gloss Navy Grey, how close a match there is to the original gloss, and how steady my hand it throughout the process. I have never been good at this sort of detail work, so it should be interesting.

David