Chris Suslowicz

Stencil would have said FUZ117 and apparently they were for 25pdr shells. (I just put M104 Ammunition into DuckDuckGo and it brought up several examples.) The catches are complete, the plate above them takes a wire that goes around the lid clip (under the 'hump') and has a crimped on lead seal applied at the factory after filling and final inspection as an anti-tampering/theft measure. Chris.

A43R (A43M is unlikely) or the Clansman replacement UK/PRC344? I've certainly seen A43R blade antennas for sale in the recent past. Chris.

The insulator is the standard "rocket" that comes with the 27-ft mast kit. The bumperette mount is two steel plates with an offset socket and (I think) rubber shock absorber insert to protect the insulator, secured to the bumperette with through bolts. The "side arm" clamps to the tilt hoop at a suitable height and (I assume) has an insulating sleeve in the clamp for the mast to allow it to be used as a vertical antenna. (Other options would be the elevated VHF antenna or the BE-1C vertical dipole (all of which are only really usable in a static role because you need the guys for stability (HF) and electrical properties (VHF)). Chris. (G8KGS) (The VHF aerials are pointless for radio amateur use as they only cover the 6m (51MHz) band, are lossy, and a fiddle to set up correctly. The BE-1C will cover 30-60MHz without lowering for re-tuning, but is still only usable on 51MHz.)

I'm missing the clamp for the ATU tray, there appear to be a couple of variants: this one (which covers most of the lower panel edge), and a short "chisel/scraper blade" block that's much narrower (about 50mm wide). Chris (G8KGS)

27-ft Telescopic Mast. NSN: 5985-99-102-8303 RACAL MA638 Lightweight(*) telescopic mast. * - This is an outright lie. (Also, the rigging kit is heavier than the mast.) I'm just wondering how deeply my masts are buried, they may require emptying the shed. I don't have the vehicle mounting kit unfortunately. Chris.

That variometer doesn't look right: the access hole for tightening the aerial feeder clamping screw should definitely NOT be on top where water could drip into it. I suspect the backplate has been fitted incorrectly, but will have to check where the locating peg is normally - should be simple enough to remove the endplate, rotate it to the required position, and re-fit the screws as there's nothing connected to it electrically.

That was an RAF generator/charging set, from the Air Ministry Stores Code: 42 Generating Sets and Searchlights. Chris.

Now I've confused everyone (including myself) I'll go away and hide again. Apologies. Chris.

That (Onan) one is for central charging of batteries, and not for a wireless truck. To avoid giving positions away near the front, freshly charged batteries would be delivered (along with mail, rations and ammunition, etc.) and the used batteries taken back to a central location for recharging, probably on a daily basis. The recharging was done by specialist troops as the charge current and battery temperature had to be regularly monitored to avoid overcharging and damage to the batteries. The wireless truck would have a generator providing either AC mains (240 volts, 50c/s) for sets like the WS12, 33, 53 and R107, or 12 volts DC for the WS19 and WS52, etc. Wireless for the Warrior Volume 2 mentions the ONAN 1260 Watt charging set No.2 as being used in the 3-ton Command Vehicles, but I don't think it would use the charging switchboard shown in that eBay listing, and the generator is probably too large for a 15 cwt vehicle. I'd expect the standard 300 Watt BSA or Chore Horse in the cupboard, and for it to be taken outside when charging batteries - or at least have the exhaust pipe run away from the vehicle for safety reasons.

The oblong frames behind the set are probably intended for the previous set, a W.S.No.11 and would have held a pair of 250V primary battery boxes for the receiver. (Roughly the same as the W.S.18 Static Battery Box.) See Ron Pier's restoration for the WS11 version. (Also, the WS11 didn't have a carrier, I think, so the individual cases would have been bolted to the table.) Chris.

Er, no. That's nonsense. The variometer is fitted with Aerial Feeder No.4 and an inch-long 'bush' by the look of things. That feeder is intended for a 'through the turret roof (or vehicle side in an armoured car)' (there's a No.5 for thicker armour with a longer threaded tube), and would be fitted with Aerial Base No.8, Mounting No.1, and a pigtail lead. For this setup, the variometer is screwed (with a packing piece) to a mounting fixed to the supply unit and is positioned over the control unit. The aerial feeder (No.2) has a small screw terminal and a copper strip connector to the rigid Tufnol aerial base that is part of the mounting. (The feeder is very flimsy and the later (2A) version was protected by a bakelite "castle" around a central screw and probably used a wire lead (I can't remember the details, but certainly a screw terminal riveted to a piece of paxolin circuit board was a seriously bad idea). )

No, that's Aerial Lead-In No.12 which goes inside the 'black-out box' on the front wall of the vehicle body. Lead-In No.16 is the assembly that goes on the vehicle roof or the external bracket on the front wall of the body at roof level. I have an unissued complete one in the collection, together with the extension rod and the "Plates, Adaptor, No.5" to mount it on the bracket. In terms of "available spares", there's possibly a damaged No.16 - I took it apart to try and remove a corroded-in aluminium stub from the socket for the aerial rod and managed to bruise the thread on the socket, I definitely have two of the "Plates, Adapter No.5" though, and the extension rod is a simple matter of cutting some threads on a steel rod and painting it green (plus a threaded coupler). The adapters for 'F' rods were in use fora long time, and the "sloping twin 16-ft V" should be fairly easy to obtain. (Wireless For The Warrior shows a single sloping rod adapter with the Canadian Laport adapter used to make the 'V'. I don't think the rods would stay in place on the move, the later "all in one" adapter had a screw clamp that operated on both rods.. Best regards, Chris.

Hmmm... I'm still not convinced by the "Variometer Mount" theory - it looks more like the anchor frame for Aerial Base No.2 used with W.S. No.11 which was made of Ebonite (hard vulcanized rubber) and essentially rigid. The other possibility is a hand guard if a high power set was fitted and Aerial Lead-in No.16 (a large ceramic insulator with Aerial Base No.3 mounted on top, and an extension piece to get the feeder cable lower than the roof) was used. I need to photograph some bits of my radio collection. The second aerial mount maybe from a postwar 2-set installation, with WS19 on the left and C42 on the right... or they may have switched to a standard Base No.10 - it depends on the vehicle's history and intended usage. I can probably find you a spare "doughnut" (Aerial Base No.8, mounting No.3) - these exist in rubber, plywood (Canadian), or pressed steel, seam welded from two half "dishes" (post-WW2, I think), Plates, Connector, No.2, and an Aerial Feeder No.9 (which is fairly easy to copy - just a length of P.11 cable with a brass plug on one end and a ring terminal on the other. Other bits: you were asking somewhere about charging switchboard cables - I have a box full of those, and probably some duplicates (also battery link cables) that are unissued (Connectors, Single, No.23 (A-D), all suitably labelled up. (At least I have now unearthed the box they are in as part of a tidy-up!) I'll let you know what's available. (They will not be expensive, a friend was clearing them out and didn't want them to got to the scrap-man, some years ago.)

There are rubber cones that fit over the studs and square 'gaskets' that act as spacers. I think you need four of each per unit. The same fixing method applied to the Clansman TUAAM, so they are probably still available on the surplus market. Chris.

I think it's more a case of the RCV being a specialist office vehicle, with multiple desks inside, and a "penthouse" tent either side. The actual "Radio Village" vehicles would contain relatively high power sets for communications to adjacent units (WS53/R107), plus normal combat net radio (WS22, WS19 & WS19HP) for local forces. Line communication would be used wherever possible to avoid disclosing the HQ position, and there is a TEV full of teleprinters for cipher traffic to other major offices. The remote control units would possibly be issued to the RCV rather than the comms vehicles. It's not really my area of interest, though I foresee a visit to Kew in my future to get a copy of that document, and a need to resume scouring the internet for manuals I don't have in the Signal Training series. :-)> It is probably worth joining the WS19 group for access to the manuals we do have... I'd recommend the Royal Signals Pocket Book "Wireless Diagrams" for the network diagrams and allocation of sets to units, and possibly Signal Training Volume V "Signal Office Organization and Procedure" or the later "Signal Centre Organization" publications. https://royalsignals.org.uk/signals.htm#UK ...and I have some more scanning to do - maybe when I retire next year. Best regards Chris. (Junior Password Gnome)

The "Radio Village" would have multiple vehicles, each with one or two radios fitted and would be dispersed well away from the headquarters for safety from direction finding. The "Royal Signals Pocket Book" section "Wireless Diagrams" shows the large number of communication links required at this kind of level. (Note that the Terminal Equipment Vehicle carries a 100-line telephone exchange - probably three 40 & 60 line F&F Switchboards linked together.) The actual "Remote Control" units for the radio trucks were not much larger than the "Telephone Set 'F'" used at headquarters and provided R/T and Morse facilities over telephone lines in addition to being usable as a telephone by themselves. Chris.

There was also a WS31 AFV version, and the Canadians used the PRC510 (Improved PRC10) as an infantry communication "C Set" in AFVs.

Hi Robin, They're basically the evolving "Aerial Rods 'F'" introduced before/during WW2, and will actually all fit Clansman bases. The earliest (British) ones are 48" long, slightly tapered and with cylindrical ends: ZA.0894 Aerial (Antenna) Rod 'F' No.1 - this is the bottom rod, fitting Aerial Base No.8, 10 & 11, etc ZA0895 is No.2 (the centre rod) the bottom is necked down to enter the top of the No.1 and the No.2, allowing 3 and 4 sections to be used. ZA0896 is No.3 (the top rod) this tapers to a closed end. (The WS38 "battle aerial" is a variation of this using spring steel rod welded into a plug and sometimes known as No.3B, I think.) Up to four rods can be joined together, though the 16-foot (1+2+2+3) antenna is only really safe for static use. The next version was a Canadian improvement, with a rolled-in thread added to the top of the rods and the base of rods 2 & 3 to prevent them shaking apart and being lost from moving vehicles. These are 1.5" longer (49.5" or 1.2 metres overall). Post-WW2 saw the tropicalised version: ZA.44684 No.1 Mk.1/1 ZA.44683 No.2 Mk.1/1 ZA.44682 No.3 Mk.1/1 which were given NATO Stock Numbers (and a Domestic Management Code of Z42): Z42/5820-99-949-1166 Antenna Rods, F. Mk.2 - Bottom (equal to ZA.44684) Z42/5820-99-949-0985 Antenna Rods, F. Mk.2 - Middle (equal to ZA.44683) Z42/5820-99-949-0986 Antenna Rods, F. Mk.2 - Top (equal to ZA.44682) Enter Clansman, and the rods were shortened to a standard 1 metre length. The 1986 Racal Antenna Catalogue still lists the earlier version, of course, and they will interchange with the metric ones. Section. Steel Racal #. Fibreglass/GRP. Racal # No.1 (Bottom). 5985-99-630-8455 (MA681). 5985-99-649-8138. (RA746) No.2 (Middle). 5985-99-630-8456 (MA682). 5985-99-649-8139. (RA747) No.3 (Top). 5985-99-630-8457 (MA683). 5985-99-649-8140. (RA748) (Hopefully this doesn't get reformatted once I hit "Send"! Best regards, Chris.

Half a century is well beyond any Government specification for a headset cable, since the headsets were introduced in the 1970s (I think). It certainly outperforms the commercial Jabra rubbish on my work laptop - in worse condition than any of my Clansman headsets after a mere 5 years. PTS Norfolk were selling "Refurb Kits" for various headsets - mainly the Infantry Lightweight in the early days of Clansman disposal, and they were almost the same cost as an unissued headset. Sadly they are all gone now. You might be able to disconnect the cable at the headset end and slide heat-shrink sleeving over it, but the result would probably be much too stiff for comfortable use.

Yes, and it sits on Insulator W/T 'H' with an extension bar to get the central feed below the mounting bracket, then there's a cable to the pyrex insulator in the blackout box for feedthrough to the vehicle. The straps are to bypass the (not very good at high power) Pendulastic insulator, and leave the ceramic mushroom to do that bit and the rubber to absorb jolts and swaying. I probably have some spare parts of this assembly, or bits in the collection that can be used as a pattern. Best regards, Chris. Wireless for the Warrior Volume 1, page W.S.19 - 74 shows the layout. I may have a sample of everything except the vehicle mounting bracket. The connector 20D should be listed in the Parts Identification List in enough detail to fabricate one.

If it's the one I think it is (that takes 'D' rods from the 34-ft steel vertical aerial - the 'golf bag'), then it's an "Aerial lead in No.16" which is built up from "Insulator W/T 'H'", Aerial Base No.3, four tinned copper braid straps, and an adapter plate. I've got some of the bits somewhere, is your vehicle fitted with a "House Type" wireless body, and is the aerial base mounted through the roof or on the centre line of the body behind the cab, because the mount requirements are different. Chris.

That was always a problem with the WS19 Mk.3 - the 12-way power connector reduced the clearance for the watch stem to the point that a lot of them simply wouldn't fit in the holder. Chris.

Hi Simon, it's the 34-ft Steel Vertical Aerial of WW2 vintage (also the 32-ft aerial if used with the Wireless Set No.62), and uses 6 x 'D' sections and either 4 x 'F' sections (1,2,2&3) making 34-ft or 6 x 'D' sections plus the WS62's 14-ft whip. It can also be split to make two masts if you need to support a (low) wire aerial (bases are not used in that case and you assemble two lots of 4 x 'D' rods to make a pair of 12-ft masts). The full kit should contain 10 x 'D' rods and lots of the fragile chain-link insulators, plus other spares. I found a 'single-handed' drill for erecting the 34-ft aerial in an "Artillery Training' publication, but haven't (yet) dared try it out. There's a Wireless Set 11 training film on the Australian War Memorial website with a short clip of the aerial being erected - both correctly and by a team of idiots, as I recall. Without further ado: 34-FT (32-FT) Steel Vertical Aerial - one man drill for erecting the aerial. Required: (a) Six 3ft. D sections (b) Four 4ft. F sections (one No.1, two No.2, one No.3). (or 14-ft whip) (c) One Adaptor No.1 (d) One stay-plate with four chain insulators and guys (e) Four pegs (f) One Insulator W/T 'B' (g) One ground spike (h) Hammer Drill: (a) Drive in ground spike (make sure it is vertical) (b) Screw on the Insulator W/T 'B'. (c) Screw tightly together five D sections. (d) Place stay-plate over the male end of the fifth D section and then screw on the sixth section. (e) Place the aerial on the ground with the stay-plate about twelve inches from the ground spike and insulator. (f) Screw the Adaptor No.1 on to the sixth D section. (g) Assemble a 16-ft F section aerial (or the 14-ft whip), insert it into the top of the adaptor and tighten the clamping screw. (h) Knock in four pegs, ninety degrees apart 5 paces (12.5 feet) from the ground spike. The pegs should be inclined approximately thirty degrees off vertical, away from the ground spike. (i) Untie the guy rope and slide the wooden or metal tensioner up the rope for about six feet. (j) place the guy ropes on their correct pegs, ensuring that they are not twisted on the stay-plate. (k) lift the aerial into position, insert it unto the insulator, and tighten the clamp. (l) Adjust each stay tightener until the aerial is vertical and firmly supported. Notes: The supplied hammer is an 8 oz. ball-pane engineers type, and fairly useless for driving in the base spike, but not too bad for the pegs (which always struck me as being far too small). A trick for ensuring the spike stays vertical is to use the sixth 'D' section as a handle (and if the ground is reasonably soft, stamp the spike in rather than trying to use a hammer), then unscrew it and replace it with the insulator in step (b) and continuing the assembly. ------ The Canadian Telescopic masts (issued as a 20-ft and 34-ft pair with wireless vehicles) are rather more robust though a great deal heavier. After WW2 they were redesigned into the 27-ft Mast, Telescopic (marketed by Racal as the MA638, I think, and where the rigging kit is heavier than the actual mast), later metricated into 8 metre. Best regards, Chris. (G8KGS) p.s. The "Mast, Lightweight, 36/48-ft" is a whole other thing and "lightweight" is an outright lie. Those were used for Radio Relay and required at least a crew of three for erection. You do NOT want one of those.

Yes, they're the later (tropicalised) version of the HT1 dynamotor for the British WS19 power unit. Certainly of interest to me.:-D Chris.