Golf Bag 36’ Sectional Antenna

[simon king]

Is there an “operating instructions” manual available anywhere on-line for the “golf bag” 36’ sectional antenna - if that’s its height..

If the antenna is comprised of 8 x 3’ D Sections, plus 3 x 4’ F Sections, plus a bit more for the insulator and adapter between D and F sections, my simple O Level maths suggests that the height is 36’ plus. 
 

Is the telescopic aerial mast the 34’ example?

Thanks

Edited May 28, 2023 by simon king
Clarity

[Chris Suslowicz]

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.