This is the famous "Pipsqueak" that was used in aircraft during the Battle of Britain to identify British aircraft to the controllers. Radar at the time only looked out to sea, hence aircraft inland did not appear. The unit issued a "beep" on the RT, hence its nickname of "Pipsqueak". The unit is clockwork, so it had to be rewound by the ground crew between missions. On the left the switch for putting it on the intercomeline to navigator, airgunner, pilot or let it function as a speechamplifier for the radio transmitter T A small user manuel for using the amplifier on the forward side of it.
The amplifier is fed for the filement from a lead battery and for the HT from a small vibrator psu unit. This is the direction finder loop antenna on the roof of the cage.
It is a replica of the original one. This is the navigator office. Above the well known Gee set indicator type Above in the mid the compass corrector. A view of the Air positioning Indicator left. On the right side on the front 2 mechanical counters for the longitude and latitude in degrees and minutes. A mileage unit, fitted below the navigator bench, converts the forward air pressure from the pitot tube an open ended tube facing forward in the air flow into a rotary speed such that this speed is proportional to the airspeed of the aircraft.
A flexible cable couples this rotary output to the API and together with an electrical signal compass bearing from the master gyro compass, produces an output on the 2 counters on the front, that read directly in degrees and minutes. On the back panel several instruments. Also the IFF buttons for destruction the inside parts of the indicator and IFF unit in case of a crash behind enemy lines.
The radio operator also has such a call lamp. He noticed that the lamp is burning, so the he connects the intercom amplifier A , which acted at that time as a speech amplifier for the radio transmitter, to the intercom line. So also the air gunner or the pilot has a call button with lamp. Normally it is not placed below the nav.
By this communication they could find there way back home when other communication equipment failed. Also visible is the control box withe the 5 red knobs on it. One for putting the set on upper one the other 4 for the choice of the 4 channels. Just below the switch for putting on the transmitter. When nothing is working in the navigation installation, they could use the so called Bubble sextant at the right side of the table for determine the position of the airplane.
The homemade tuning scale of the direction finder loop. The wheel is an original one. These things are built like tanks! Very nice rebuild, a lot of patience to test each capacitor multiple ways. It was stated that an 80 m AM net was monitored but 80 meter band is outside of 1.
Maybe meter AM net? Those old radios are fun. I used to have a transceiver built in the U. Of course, it had a dynamotor power supply, which we used to only half jokingly refer to as a rotating short.
I did make one modification to it: I added a pot to dial in some positive feedback around 2 of the IF stages. That increased both the gain and the selectivity of the radio.
I wish I still had it, but the car it was in was stolen from me, and when I got the car back, the radio was no longer in it. Nice restoration. The only exception for me is that historical books and papers should be preserve, so we can know what has preceded us. For example In regards to this topic any service manual or schematics, hopefully that have been hopefully digitized along the way.
Yeah, I try to scan whatever manuals I can but I have yet to figure out how to scan the manual for my old military generator since it is bound. Most places cant scan books without destroying the original unless you pay a fortune. Macona: I have a Book Scanner that can do bound books. Which Gen Set Manual do you have? Drop me a note off line and I may be able to help with the scan.
The results were actually quite nice. Nice work. If only more kit of that vintage was restored and demonstrated, then some of the static aircraft exhibits would at least sound like they were still usable. Even if it was just the dial lights in some! The museum ships often have fully operational radio rooms wherein folks make the old radio gear work again.
Very nice restoration! I like old military shortwave radios. I used to be all about modding things to unrecognizability but that was when new gear was so much more expensive. Now there are so many easily modifiable kits and open source designs the remaining historical items are better off as museum pieces.
If one fails and the failure results in burning up some much harder to replace part was it worth it? At least replacement capacitors can be hidden on the underside of the chassis. Besides if you really want the original experience..
It is probably more authentic after a good re-capping and re-alignment. Cool project, and congratulations to this great device! Excellent posting and thanks for the dynamotor rebuild info. I have a couple stock R-2x series receivers navy version and BC series Army version. I built capacitor packs that fit in the space and attached to the chassis with a solder lug.
I kept the flower pots to reverse the mod. No replacement of any components whatsoever. If a capacitor failed, then it must be re-stuffed. Unit must be made fully operational to original specification.
If I have to restuff a capacitor because its failed, in my book that means I am fitting a new component. So rule 1 fails immediately.
Yes, its good to get a radio operational to its original specification. Most radios need every paper capacitor replacing, otherwise the leakage in them just destroys the resistor droppers, or blows up something else. Its very rare that resistors are all in tolerance as here , but it could happen German resistors are excellent in this regard. Most times a good proportion of resistors have to be replaced….. Rule 3.
A compromise has to be made — you can either leave a radio totally original, OR you can have it working to its original specification. Not both. Great write up. I have a 7mhz version of this receiver black navy that I used in my novice days in It needs some work too. The audio amp tube socket is a problem. Will have to replace it. But now with what you have done, I will go thru the receiver completely. It was a fine radio for use on cw. I made a lot of contacts on it.
Unfortunately, I did modify the chassis to accommodate some kind of tuning knob and vernier in an attempt to slow down the tuning rate for cw. Not reversible. And I used an external home brew power supply and soldered directly to pins. It wont be factory original but will represent the era. The Caledon turning gear permits continuous rotation at speeds of 1. The region over the sea in front of the station can thus be swept.
The aerials are mounted on a wooden gantry 20 feet high. The aerial system which provides beaming in the horizontal plane and limited height finding facilities consists of two pairs of Yagi arrays one mounted above the other. The radiation is horizontally polarised and the aerial system is rotatable by power about a vertical axis. The display comprises a range-height tube and a P. The maximum range is about 50 m iles. The purpose of the equipment is to provide rapid coverage around a new site such as an aerodrome or camp, and also to provide radar coverage at sites which are inaccessible to the heavier radar equipments.
The station can be made operational in two hours from the time of arrival. This type of equipment is growing in importance. The heights of their aerials are so arranged that the vertical polar diagram is similar to that of a CH station. Stations of this kind have been used instead of CH stations on inaccessible sites where it would be difficult to install a CH station. Its masts, feet in height, are readily demountable. The station comprises a convoy of motor vehicles which carry all technical and barrack equipment and personnel.
The maximum range on an aircraft at the optimum height is about miles. It can be made operational in two days after the arrival of the convoy. These stations proved extremely useful in the North African campaigns. Although stations of the CH type give maximum ranges which exceed those obtained by other radar equipments, yet the CH systems have inherent limitations. More serious however is the fact that CH stations give only short range warning of the approach of low flying aircraft aircraft below feet.
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