My first radio too. Bought surplus in England in the mid '60s. You couldn't give them away then - I got mine for the equivalent of about $3, fully working. I was fortunate enough to have as a radio mentor a guy who had worked on the assembly and test of the WS 19 Mk III (has anyone ever seen any other model?) and was a font of knowledge including that after the war tens of thousands of these sets were dumped in landfill so as not to overwhelm the second hand parts and vacuum tube market. It was a good set and I never heard any complaints from the soldiers using it. Nor was it unrugged in military use - it was considered pretty bomb proof. Mine had a lot of metal work in the case(screened oscillator, rigid cabinet etc) and weighed about 50lb. It was powered from a 2 stage (noisy!) mechanical rotary transformer 250v on receive, 500v for that 807 PA anode on 'send'. As people have commented, it had a 'variometer' ATU - pretty essential for the short ground or vehicle mounted whips the soldiers used. It was soldiers, too, neither the Royal Navy or the RAF used the 19 set. There was also a external linear amp option which increased the output of the 'A' set from about 10w to 50w for HQ use. Sure, the selectivity was pretty wide and there was minimal receiver filtering but, what the heck, there weren't many other stations around back then! This is a truly iconic set - always associated with the British desert actions in N. Africa, Rommel and co, about 1942. My set had sand in it when I first got it. I wonder what tales the radio could tell.. As you say, the set was made elsewhere (and the British ones not only by Pye) - most particularly Canada. The Canadian sets have dual English/Russian Cyrillic markings for use by the Red Army. Finally, did you know that the empty Bakelite 'socket' thing on the left hand side between the two i/o plugs was supposed to hold a large chronometer? These were almost invariably 'lost' by the tank crews and I've only ever seen pictures of them, never the real thing. A very nice clock apparently. Sorry to go on, this was a real trip down memory lane! Thanks for the video. Only just found your channel and really like it. Regards Al M0GTK.
My first ever radio. bought at age 16, 42 years ago. Had the variometer too plus a couple other things for it that i don't remember. I love this radio. Jeff M1BCM
That's nice. I remember these being advertised in radio magazines in the 1970's when I was a SWL and wanted one. It took a lot longer, I got a British Mark III in 2017 which was extremely deaf and needed much work. It's pretty lively now and I just replaced all R's and C's in the c.w. filter which had also been deaf. What an improvement. The meter says 1944. It's tatty and for stability I made it xtal on 3.560, 5.262 and 7.030 MHz on tx. Only 250 Volts on all stages so run QRP about 2.5 Watts out. Best so far about 280 miles into Mallaig on 5.262 MHz. G4GHB
Great presentation! Just the right pace: easy going but with all the salient points👍. Only trouble is, that's yet another sizeable radio for my wish list... 73s from "across the Pond"!
This is a WS-19 Mark II built by RCA SERNO 7030 built in 1942. This set is one of the early, likely the first run of American builds of the set. I have added a small metal plate which holds an RF gain control and a phone jack as well as the original band switch. All lettering is in English. I paid 5 dollars for it in 2008 and it was missing a cover, several tubes and was very dirty.
This inspires me to work harder on my Morse Code now, hearing other people going so slow. I thought there was no hope for me at 5-10 wpm, and hearing so many people at 20 wpm and faster. This inspires me to actually try CW on the air sooner, rather than later…
There are many folks who use vintage equipment and many QRP stations, who routinely operate at very slow CW speeds now. Generally above the 25-50 kHz at the low end of the bands. And there are slow nets now.
@@MIKROWAVE1 … I just passed my Amateur Extra this past Saturday (a week ago today; June 24th) during Field Day in Tallahassee Florida, and made the (eye-opening) “mistake” of going to the CW camper, and watched for a good long time, their “contesting”, and my mind was blown; a total BLUR; one guy keying, and another guy logging, and, for my ear, it was all so fast (receiving being infinitely harder than sending for me) that it might have just as well all dissolved into a steady sine wave. To be sure, I’m a beginner with ALL of it still, in my mind, and an “EXTRA”-beginner-beginner when it comes to CW, but these guys were FLYING. A LOT of memory keys being used, spitting out stuff at, I’m guessing, about 40 wpm or so, and I don’t think anything I heard was slower, even manually with paddles, than about 20-25 wpm. The memory keys though; that seemed so much like “cheating” to me. I could hear/copy only a tiny handful of letters and words out of bazillions it seemed, and I sat there long enough to witness approximately 100 contest contacts… I know it will get better, but WHAT a mountain to climb; what a sheer vertical CLIFF. Plus I deeply admire your electronics knowledge, and so much want to understand the electronics; the “nuts and bolts” of it all, rather than just buying off the shelf radios. I want to be knowledgeable enough to be able to BUILD my own radios out of “scrap parts” laying around, but I’m so afraid that the powers that be are going to make radio as we presently know it, go away at right about the same time that I “arrive” with my knowledge and skill set. Looking at what’s happening to broadcast AM, I fear they will eventually take it all away from us…
Thanks for the WS19 lesson! I need to make up a cable to go between the dynamotor and the txcvr and I can begin to try to get mine going. Please do a similar video for your TCS set when you have the time!
I really like the WS19...I would love to have a set..if anyone has an extra set and is travelling through Big Sur California, please stop by the town of Gorda and please bring it and I will buy it. Having that rig would definitely give me some incentive to come out of 'expired ham license mode' and get another ticket and use and enjoy that radio. I am also skilled at restoring radios that glow in the dark, so I would definitely be able to repair/maintain it too :) :)
Great video, thanks. Will jog me to get mine on the air. I would argue, however, that the BC-222/322 walkie talkies were the first true military transceivers - no, wait, there was a US Army radio of around 1920 with 2 or 3 tubes that used the oscillating tube as both low power transmitter and oscillating detector. -Hue
I recapped all of the higher value capacitors and the 25 or so 0.1 uF paper caps. Almost all of the replaced caps (Sprague USA) were still testing perfect at 600V test for leakage so I wasted my time. Two resistors did need to be replaced. Mike
+AnthonyL Anthony, these sets were considered junk stateside to the point that you could get the entire setup new in the box for 75 bucks in the 1950's. I got mine for 10 dollars in 2005 after tripping over it at a hamfest with no cover, tubes missing and needing a lot of work. A clean set will run you $150-200 today. A museum grade set? Who knows?
This is the A set in CW mode. The WS19 has an A set and a B set. The UHF AM only B set or "troop set" provided short range communication between tanks in a troop. The A Set provided the long range Liaison CW and short range AM at HF.
Thank you, I’ve since learned that my question was sort of misguided.. I’ve recently come into possession of one of these sets, it’s a WS-19 mk. II with both English and Cyrillic. It’s in fantastic condition and also came with a Power Supply Unit No. 1, with both units strapped onto a solid piece of steel. It also came with 3 cables, the “dogbone,” a 12 point, and one that connects to the aerial connectors. How are you powering the WS-19 in this video? Thanks again, I appreciate your generous patience with such an obvious noob.
Wow Sean, you are a fortunate guy to get the entire setup. There are some great and far more knowledge folks that will help you get it ready for operation. I made an AC power supply for mine.
MIKROWAVE1 Thanks for your response! What I’m worried about most is the 500v section. I have an idea for an AC power supply, could you maybe tell me if I’m way off base? I have a Dewalt battery charger, one of the large ones with wheels and a handle. It has several settings, from trickle charge to quick charge to jump-start. Could I use a deep-cell marine battery to smoothly power the WS-19, while using the Dewalt charger to keep it charged? And if so, would a setup like this enable me to eliminate the need for a variometer?
My Farther used No19 wireless sets in British Sigs in Burma WW2,I remember him saying the UHF section was useless in operation in the field,often this would be removed. May of been the jungle environments,with heat,moisture and foliage didn't help,out in flat open maybe yes being VHF its all line of sight. HF worked great in Voice and morse mode he said in tanks and jeeps,he did say however the "yank" kit was far more refined and quality built and did get to operate such kit. He did mention the usa FM tank transceivers kit usa used was far superior voice quality to AM and of coarse a new thing "squelch" mute The USA BC-611 WT were also popular in his outfit and could be used with the No19 set in voice mode,I was gutted when he told me he tossed a pair of them overboard (dead weight)coming home after the war,a lot of "prizes"were brought home by soldiers,always wished he kept them! That's what go me into 2 way radio in the end. Great Vid nice to see one working! Rob
I recapped all of the higher value capacitors and the 25 or so 0.1 uF paper caps. Almost all of the replaced caps (Sprague USA) were still testing perfect at 600V test for leakage so I wasted my time. Two resistors did need to be replaced. Mike
My first radio too. Bought surplus in England in the mid '60s. You couldn't give them away then - I got mine for the equivalent of about $3, fully working. I was fortunate enough to have as a radio mentor a guy who had worked on the assembly and test of the WS 19 Mk III (has anyone ever seen any other model?) and was a font of knowledge including that after the war tens of thousands of these sets were dumped in landfill so as not to overwhelm the second hand parts and vacuum tube market.
It was a good set and I never heard any complaints from the soldiers using it. Nor was it unrugged in military use - it was considered pretty bomb proof. Mine had a lot of metal work in the case(screened oscillator, rigid cabinet etc) and weighed about 50lb.
It was powered from a 2 stage (noisy!) mechanical rotary transformer 250v on receive, 500v for that 807 PA anode on 'send'. As people have commented, it had a 'variometer' ATU - pretty essential for the short ground or vehicle mounted whips the soldiers used. It was soldiers, too, neither the Royal Navy or the RAF used the 19 set. There was also a external linear amp option which increased the output of the 'A' set from about 10w to 50w for HQ use.
Sure, the selectivity was pretty wide and there was minimal receiver filtering but, what the heck, there weren't many other stations around back then!
This is a truly iconic set - always associated with the British desert actions in N. Africa, Rommel and co, about 1942. My set had sand in it when I first got it. I wonder what tales the radio could tell..
As you say, the set was made elsewhere (and the British ones not only by Pye) - most particularly Canada. The Canadian sets have dual English/Russian Cyrillic markings for use by the Red Army.
Finally, did you know that the empty Bakelite 'socket' thing on the left hand side between the two i/o plugs was supposed to hold a large chronometer? These were almost invariably 'lost' by the tank crews and I've only ever seen pictures of them, never the real thing. A very nice clock apparently.
Sorry to go on, this was a real trip down memory lane! Thanks for the video. Only just found your channel and really like it. Regards Al M0GTK.
My first ever radio. bought at age 16, 42 years ago. Had the variometer too plus a couple other things for it that i don't remember. I love this radio.
Jeff M1BCM
That's nice.
I remember these being advertised in radio magazines in the 1970's when I was a SWL and wanted one.
It took a lot longer, I got a British Mark III in 2017 which was extremely deaf and needed much work. It's pretty lively now and I just replaced all R's and C's in the c.w. filter which had also been deaf. What an improvement. The meter says 1944.
It's tatty and for stability I made it xtal on 3.560, 5.262 and 7.030 MHz on tx. Only 250 Volts on all stages so run QRP about 2.5 Watts out.
Best so far about 280 miles into Mallaig on 5.262 MHz.
G4GHB
Great presentation! Just the right pace: easy going but with all the salient points👍. Only trouble is, that's yet another sizeable radio for my wish list... 73s from "across the Pond"!
Great video, its nice to see these old sets in operation. Happy New year from England. 73 M0DAD
Nice demo I had the whole set up once that looks in great condition thanks for posting...
This is a WS-19 Mark II built by RCA SERNO 7030 built in 1942. This set is one of the early, likely the first run of American builds of the set. I have added a small metal plate which holds an RF gain control and a phone jack as well as the original band switch. All lettering is in English. I paid 5 dollars for it in 2008 and it was missing a cover, several tubes and was very dirty.
I have a No 19 MK11 Canadian . Used it to win the AWA AM QSO party this year. Fun radio. As a teen I had a No 11 the 19s forerunner. Good videos BTW.
This inspires me to work harder on my Morse Code now, hearing other people going so slow. I thought there was no hope for me at 5-10 wpm, and hearing so many people at 20 wpm and faster. This inspires me to actually try CW on the air sooner, rather than later…
There are many folks who use vintage equipment and many QRP stations, who routinely operate at very slow CW speeds now. Generally above the 25-50 kHz at the low end of the bands. And there are slow nets now.
@@MIKROWAVE1 … I just passed my Amateur Extra this past Saturday (a week ago today; June 24th) during Field Day in Tallahassee Florida, and made the (eye-opening) “mistake” of going to the CW camper, and watched for a good long time, their “contesting”, and my mind was blown; a total BLUR; one guy keying, and another guy logging, and, for my ear, it was all so fast (receiving being infinitely harder than sending for me) that it might have just as well all dissolved into a steady sine wave. To be sure, I’m a beginner with ALL of it still, in my mind, and an “EXTRA”-beginner-beginner when it comes to CW, but these guys were FLYING. A LOT of memory keys being used, spitting out stuff at, I’m guessing, about 40 wpm or so, and I don’t think anything I heard was slower, even manually with paddles, than about 20-25 wpm. The memory keys though; that seemed so much like “cheating” to me. I could hear/copy only a tiny handful of letters and words out of bazillions it seemed, and I sat there long enough to witness approximately 100 contest contacts… I know it will get better, but WHAT a mountain to climb; what a sheer vertical CLIFF. Plus I deeply admire your electronics knowledge, and so much want to understand the electronics; the “nuts and bolts” of it all, rather than just buying off the shelf radios. I want to be knowledgeable enough to be able to BUILD my own radios out of “scrap parts” laying around, but I’m so afraid that the powers that be are going to make radio as we presently know it, go away at right about the same time that I “arrive” with my knowledge and skill set. Looking at what’s happening to broadcast AM, I fear they will eventually take it all away from us…
Thanks for the WS19 lesson! I need to make up a cable to go between the dynamotor and the txcvr and I can begin to try to get mine going.
Please do a similar video for your TCS set when you have the time!
Very cool looking set. Wouldn't mind having one of those.
I really like the WS19...I would love to have a set..if anyone has an extra set and is travelling through Big Sur California, please stop by the town of Gorda and please bring it and I will buy it. Having that rig would definitely give me some incentive to come out of 'expired ham license mode' and get another ticket and use and enjoy that radio. I am also skilled at restoring radios that glow in the dark, so I would definitely be able to repair/maintain it too :) :)
So can you buy these for cheap as junk surplus military surplus somewhere?
Very nice Mike, I hear you and Dave in there. Very good video demo.
cheers David ve3bbn
Wow. Did he say 250 to 500 volts?
Great video, thanks. Will jog me to get mine on the air. I would argue, however, that the BC-222/322 walkie talkies were the first true military transceivers - no, wait, there was a US Army radio of around 1920 with 2 or 3 tubes that used the oscillating tube as both low power transmitter and oscillating detector. -Hue
Used to have one, even had the variometer, weird antenna matching.
Great set, thanks, de VE2KXD
I recapped all of the higher value capacitors and the 25 or so 0.1 uF paper caps. Almost all of the replaced caps (Sprague USA) were still testing perfect at 600V test for leakage so I wasted my time. Two resistors did need to be replaced.
Mike
Hello!! how much is this radio? More or less :)
+AnthonyL Anthony, these sets were considered junk stateside to the point that you could get the entire setup new in the box for 75 bucks in the 1950's. I got mine for 10 dollars in 2005 after tripping over it at a hamfest with no cover, tubes missing and needing a lot of work. A clean set will run you $150-200 today. A museum grade set? Who knows?
Is this an A Set or a B Set?
This is the A set in CW mode. The WS19 has an A set and a B set. The UHF AM only B set or "troop set" provided short range communication between tanks in a troop. The A Set provided the long range Liaison CW and short range AM at HF.
Thank you, I’ve since learned that my question was sort of misguided.. I’ve recently come into possession of one of these sets, it’s a WS-19 mk. II with both English and Cyrillic. It’s in fantastic condition and also came with a Power Supply Unit No. 1, with both units strapped onto a solid piece of steel. It also came with 3 cables, the “dogbone,” a 12 point, and one that connects to the aerial connectors. How are you powering the WS-19 in this video? Thanks again, I appreciate your generous patience with such an obvious noob.
Wow Sean, you are a fortunate guy to get the entire setup. There are some great and far more knowledge folks that will help you get it ready for operation. I made an AC power supply for mine.
MIKROWAVE1 Thanks for your response! What I’m worried about most is the 500v section. I have an idea for an AC power supply, could you maybe tell me if I’m way off base? I have a Dewalt battery charger, one of the large ones with wheels and a handle. It has several settings, from trickle charge to quick charge to jump-start. Could I use a deep-cell marine battery to smoothly power the WS-19, while using the Dewalt charger to keep it charged? And if so, would a setup like this enable me to eliminate the need for a variometer?
How cool.
My Farther used No19 wireless sets in British Sigs in Burma WW2,I remember him saying the UHF section was useless in operation in the field,often this would be removed.
May of been the jungle environments,with heat,moisture and foliage didn't help,out in flat open maybe yes being VHF its all line of sight.
HF worked great in Voice and morse mode he said in tanks and jeeps,he did say however the "yank" kit was far more refined and quality built and did get to operate such kit.
He did mention the usa FM tank transceivers kit usa used was far superior voice quality to AM and of coarse a new thing "squelch" mute
The USA BC-611 WT were also popular in his outfit and could be used with the No19 set in voice mode,I was gutted when he told me he tossed a pair of them overboard (dead weight)coming home after the war,a lot of "prizes"were brought home by soldiers,always wished he kept them!
That's what go me into 2 way radio in the end.
Great Vid nice to see one working!
Rob
I bet those ops cursed the lack of selectivity. :^) de k9rzz
My 19 had the front panel silk screened in Russian.
Lee, WA8QFE
Some were made for supply to Russia who were our allies.
Heard myself calling CQ at 5:00
N4LQ
Cool! It's so wide it likely can still hear you. Ha.
Yi1hra "73
I recapped all of the higher value capacitors and the 25 or so 0.1 uF paper caps. Almost all of the replaced caps (Sprague USA) were still testing perfect at 600V test for leakage so I wasted my time. Two resistors did need to be replaced.
Mike