Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Bruce MacMillan]

I have a 1/2" set of brass stencils which work well. They don't tear or warp.
They are available in other sizes and I've seen some on the auction place.
I used an airbrush and stencils cleaned up with spirits (using enamel).

[David Dunlop]

After starting at the tool box for a few days, I decided to focus on the half dozen or so really bad characters for some careful touch up work and leave the rest as they ended up.

With that all done, I now feel a lot better about the over all look of this stencil. I think the biggest improvement is in the second line “ZA Number” where all the zeros are finally consistent in appearance. The same for the letters D, W, S and B.

As far as markings on this box go now, the only thing left to sort out is the size of the C-Broad Arrow Stamp on the right side of the lid from a surviving example in a photograph of a 52-Set wooden case and the one on my Aerial Reel, the colour of choice seems to have been black. The reel shows a 1/4-inch stamp but the wooden case could either be 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch. Time will tell I guess.

Thanks for all the posts on wartime military markings. Clearly quite a variety of methods were used. It boggles the mind really!


David

[David Dunlop]

General Motors of Canada was struggling to get the newly developed C15TA Armoured Truck delivered to the Canadian Army about the same time as Canadian Marconi was working on initial deliveries of the Wireless Set No. 52. There was no hope of getting an Installation Kit developed for the 52-Set into the C15TA, which was replacing the White Scout Car FFW, so the Canadian Army developed a set of Field Installation Instructions for fitting pairs of the 52-Set and the 19-Set HP into the C15TA from metal stocks available in workshops overseas. These instructions were developed early on in the 52-Set production run and it was surprising to notice that the Lift the Dot fasteners used across the top of the Curtains, Waterproof on the 52-Set were nickel plated, not Matt Black as I suspected they would be.

The first photo today shows these nickel plated fasteners clearly on the right half of the curtain, the one dead centre below the Coil, Aerial Tuning in particular. Somewhere, I have another photo showing quite a bit of reflection off all five of these fasteners but cannot find it at the moment. The price I pay for having several thousand photos scattered across three computers, two large memory sticks, a digital camera and two camera memory cards. Consolidation is ongoing but nowhere near complete.

In any event, the nickel plated hardware did not make much sense, and I wondered if the name change in production from Curtain, Waterproof to Covers, Waterproof might have been done when CMC realized the mistake in hardware and switched production to Matt black. I got in touch with known 52-Set owners in Canada to see if they had these canvas items and asked for photos of the front markings and hardware to see what might turn up. Only three survivors so far, all the early marked ‘Curtain’ issue. Two down in Southern Ontario both have nickel plated fasteners. What was really interesting, however, was a third original curtain showed up in Alberta with Matt Black fasteners. So it may turn out that if any Covers have survived, they should all be equipped with Matt black fasteners.

I will let you know what turns up.



David

[David Dunlop]

And the Matt black version.

David

[David Dunlop]

It could prove to be an interesting four days coming up.

I was giving the 52-Set a routine workup two nights ago, running the receiver for about 20 minutes with the Sender Heaters active. Then switched on the Netting to run the 300 Volt Dyno for 3 or four minutes. I then switch Netting off and switch the set from Reeceive to Send. This turns the 300 Volt Dyno back on with the 1200 Volt Dyno. I normally let this pairing run a couple of minutes and power fully off. Done this several times a week for nearly three months.

This time...not 5 seconds from switching to Send, I could smell burnt varnish/wax coming from the Sender Blower Door so switched off immediately. So this weekend the Sender comes out of the Carriers No. 4 again for a close inspection.

David

[David Dunlop]

With an even mix of curiosity and trepidation, I decided on a simple test of the 52-Set this evening.

I warmed up the Receiver and Sender Heater circuits for nine minutes, took a deep breath and switched on the Netting circuit for the Sender. This activates only the MG1A (300 Volt Dynamotor).

A constant sniffing of the air at the Sender Blower Door showed no sign of a smoke smell and a nice subtle ozone smell from the Supply Unit Blower was evident. After two minutes running, all was still well.

This at least tells me the problem is somewhere in the 1200 Volt circuits of the Sender.

Every little bit of information helps.

David

[David Dunlop]

I pulled the Sender out of the Carriers No. 4 this afternoon and got it on the bench. 20 minutes later, after a careful visual examination, I could see, or smell, no trace anywhere of recent overheating.

Next step will be removal of all the valves and a complete redo of the three resistance tests for the Sender using the same VTVM I did the original tests with earlier this year. This was something I had planned to do anyway after carefully cycling the 300 and 1200 Volt power feeds from the Supply Unit though the Sender over a period of time.

There were a cluster of unusually high resistance readings in the first tests I am curious to see any possible changes in. Also, I may now find an earlier, normal resistance value that has suddenly gone south, which might point to the potential new problem. It will take a few days to complete, since access to a few of the test points required temporary unfastening and moving of some components.

David