Military Wireless in the Midlands Museum Virtual Site

British Military Sets

Pye or Reece Mace British Navy set Type 619 HF transmitter. Should prove quite good when I get around to sorting a power unit for it.

Recent item, a variation on the T1154, the Admiralty 8D transmitter. Little is know at the moment, more later as its discovered.
type8dtx

This is a transmitter 5G, type was used at the Antarctic.
5gtx

Interesting find for the collection, WS21, nearing completion of restoration.Just the lettering to re-install.
ws21 ws21x

Another recent find for the collection, WS11, also nearing completion of restoration.
ws11x

Larkspur C13 now, recent addition. Its very strange though, this range of sets used the most difficult set of plugs and sockets ever seen on radios. Anyway, hf, AM/CW, about 15w on CW if lucky.
c13
Along the same lines, the C42 station, VHF this time.
c42

A real unusual find now, one I'm very pleased to have acquired. The Airborne life boat receiver, used in conjunction with the Gibson Girl transmitter, R-1545, 500 Khz receiver, battery powered of course. Before and after restoration pictures along with original pics of its deployment.
R-1545 before
restoration
R-1545 after
restoration

Airborne L.B.
during trials
another drop
from a Lanc
Life Boat
in use



[Left] The TR9 fighter set, tx on left, rx on right, used in such as the Spit and Hurri. HF, AM. [Right] The TR1196, another fighter set, HF, AM, both replaced by the SCR522 vhf set during the war.

WS32 before
restoration
WS32 after
restoration

A rather rare little set, is it a 19, is it a 22, is it a 62, no, its a 32 set !!. First picture is how it arrived here. Now as the set looks after restoration.


Old soldiers now, the Wireless Sets No 19 and No 22. Probably the best known sets of WWII.

The British Spy set, Mk 123. This 60's era set is very compact, runs about 20 watt or so, 2 to 20 Mhz, runs of any ac voltage from 100 to 250, or with a small unit, off a 12 volt battery. The aerial can be a bit of wire thrown into a tree or out of a window. In amateur use its quite good on the lower bands but the tight tuning at higher frequencies makes it tough going. Similar use to the US made RS-6 and GRC-109 sets. Also, the British War time B2 in use !! well, not quite.


The British SAS receiver R301, small and compact. The band changing is done by unplugging the coil pack and rversing or rotating it. Set runs off 65v ht battery and 1.5v htr battery.
R-301
R103
Fig 2

The British R103 receiver, used in staff cars and the like..before restoration


r1082The pre WWII receiver, R1082 with unusual DF unit...



Left: A Marconi receiver, believed to be an experimental model with a noval insides, two panels open out like a book to facilitate servicing. The set has a matching power unit.
hr110 cr300-2

Right: Marconi CR300 receiver, hf, in very nice condition.

The Type 53 transmitter and Type 78 receiver in it's aircraft rack, interesting little set, tx runs two 807 in the pa.
T78_53
RT-351
transceiver
Mini Cal
by Racal


RT-351 VHF transceiver with vehicle mounted amplifier etc.

This has been here for some time, just got around to photographing it, hi.
The Racal Minical transceiver, 2 to 7 Mhz, 1 watt ssb.

TRA-967/3
3W VHF transceiver
Compak 8
8 ch hf set


TRA-967 36 to 76 MHz, /1 is 1Watt, this is /3 the 3W version. The Compak 8, hf, 8 ch set, ssb,cw, manpak.

A replacement for the R1155/T1154 seen before, this is the Standard Radio STR18 set and was a replacement in both RAF and civilian aircraft around mid 50's. More compact and robust but electrically far more complex the STR18 is a nice set, modular, the receiver and tx driver are in one unit, the tx pa in another, the atu and modulator are in other units. The only problem with getting these sets into operation is the lack of plugs and sockets. The picture shows these at the rear of the units, if anyone has any I would welcome the chance to acquire them.

before
after


This is the before and after shots of a restored IFF set, the R3090. As it arrived it was very rusty but a bit of TLC later and it really looks nice.

Now a small transmitter, used inside the CR100 or B28 Navy receiver. It was afixed to the lid, thats why the lettering on the plates is upside down and was used for training the Navy Reserve Operators.
B-28 tx
R-109 rx

The British R-109 receiver, used with the WS 76 Sender, used by airborne forces, in Arnhem etc, very compact but note, no rf control ? so reception of cw must have been hard. Some models do have army fitted rf gain pot in one of the case securing holes, after the shaft is removed.


WS53 The mighty Wireless Set No 53. This monster of a transmitter was carried in the back of a three tonner, along with the R107 receiver. 500 Watt tx, and is over 600 lbs in weight ! top to bottom: ATU (feeds either 34 ft mast, long wire or dipole aerials), High Power RF Amplifier (2 x 813 ), ( Driver & VFO unit plug into the RF deck ), Modulator, mains Power Supply Unit. (In the field the 3 tonner towed a generator trailer behind to power this station).

This one has slight mods around the pa output stage but I hope to restore it to its origonal state in the near future.


r107

A restored R107, looking nice but its lost that touch of originality I guess.




LEFT: Something a little more modern now, the PRC-320 manpack set ( or UK/RT320), hf, 1.6 to 30 Mhz, CW (wide or narrow with a very good filter), AM, USB, [ the 320/1 version is CW wide only and replaces the CW narrow position with LSB], 15/20W on high power, 24v battery powered, whip or wire aerial.

PRC-320
PRM-4031

RIGHT: Again, another modern'ish set. The Racal PRM4031 hf manpack. 1.6 to 30 Mhz in 100 Hz steps, 10W PEP SSB, CW or AM. 12v operation, 3kg in weight.

prm4090vhf
The PRM-4090 VHF transceiver, 20 to 80MHz with a host of clever features. I had to fit a new whip to this, the mount had been removed, or not fitted in the first place.

Another Racal set, the receiver RA1772, very nice set, digital readout, various filters and a joy to use.
ra1772
This is the GEC made BRT-400 receiver, 150 Khz to 30 Mhz in 6 bands. A nice set, a bit heavy but a good performer. This one has an A^M plate on the side, obviously used in some form of monitoring role by the military.
brt400
Two views of the Marconi CNY-2 naval set now, believed to have been used in landing craft etc.
CNY-2
by Marconi


A modern Naval Set, the R551N receiver. Synth, with second vfo, and tuner unit builtin.
r551n
The R1147 (left) early Aircraft receiver, used in Swordfish, very compact indeed.
R-1147
PRC-361E

This is a PRC-361E, small military set, 12 channel, around the 50 Mhz range. It's 100mw or 1w output, single xtal for rx and tx, IF is 15.7Mhz so this is added to the desired freq to obtain the xtal freq.

Transmitter TX SR and RX SR. The SR is Sound Ranging, used to plot position of enemy guns by sound detection.
modern
old

The left SR set is the new one, the war time version is right, the SROS (Out Station) set

Wireless set No 68, the low frequency version of the 18 set....................
ws68




This is an HF-156 made by BCC (left), interesting set to work on and now operational. Right, the BCC32V, info needed if you have it
hf156 bcc32v




Now ! whats this ? This is an aircraft panel. Its from a twin engined plane, the two round things just above the central comms cutout are Eng Fire No1 and No2 warning lights. On the extreme right there are three indicators bulbs, marked top to bottom, Oxygen warning Navigator, Bomb Aimer and Bomb Aimer Prone. So, its a twin engined plane with a pilot, navigator and Bomb Aimer, it has a glass nose (hence the Prone indicator). So, anyone any ideas ?

Recent suggestions are its out of a Canberra.
aircraft

Send an e-mail to: Ben Nock, G4BXD



********* Pictures by G4BXD are G4BXD copyright ********