Help with MK II No. 19 complete set to sell

[Vintagebob]

I am helping an elderly gent sell of his items before going to a car
facility.

He has a Signal Corp MK II No. 19 wireless set dated Sept 1944 fro
Philadelphia which he purchased in 1951 and was new then. It seems t
have every conceivable piece of equipment it could have come with
Including the spares box with a Morse Key, variometer, signal generator
amplifier, grill cover two sets of unused 50' cloth-covered wire, tw
microphone marked #7, a power unit, head phones, brackets and much more
It appears almost mint. NO damage or rust stored ina dry environment.

He did tell me he converted it to 120V in 1951, listened then los
interest and put it away.

What can or should I do to sell it? Yes, I have pics of everythin


--
Vintagebob

[Scott Dorsey]

I am helping an elderly gent sell of his items before going to a care
facility.
He has a Signal Corp MK II No. 19 wireless set dated Sept 1944 from
Philadelphia which he purchased in 1951 and was new then. It seems to
have every conceivable piece of equipment it could have come with.
Including the spares box with a Morse Key, variometer, signal generator,
amplifier, grill cover two sets of unused 50' cloth-covered wire, two
microphone marked #7, a power unit, head phones, brackets and much more.
It appears almost mint. NO damage or rust stored ina dry environment.
He did tell me he converted it to 120V in 1951, listened then lost
interest and put it away.
What can or should I do to sell it? Yes, I have pics of everything

There is a Wireless No. 19 set mailing list on Yahoo, where a lot of the
users of those things hang out. That's the first place I would try.

If it's a complete set you might consider Ebay as well.

These radios were a British design, but a lot of them were made in the US
and in Canada for lend-lease to the UK and Russia at the beginning of the
war. They are, actually, pretty godawful radios. Receive IF wide as a barn.
Thousands of the things flooded the market after the war; there were ads in
QST for the complete system including the dynamotor for $50.

Because there were so many of them made, I don't think you'll get a lot of
money for the set even if it's in very good condition. But a lot of people
used them until they could afford something better, so you might find some
nostalgic folks out there.

If yours is anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region, I would like to take a look
at it. Not to buy it, but I have a No. 19 that has been badly butchered and
I'd like to see the filament wiring layout on a good one.
--scott

[coffelt2]

OMG, What a wonderful time we had with a complete set in the late
'40's. We called
it a "Tank set". Ours had English and Russian panel markings. The headsets,
keys, and
microphones were used on all sorts of home brew (surplus conversions) It
included a
VHF transceiver, which we actually were able to make a two way contact
between two
"tank sets". I don't recall if the frequencies were even on a Ham band.

What a wonderful whine the dynamotors emitted until the car battery
died. Had to be
sure to park on a hill to get the car started after half an hour operating
"mobile" with the included
whip antennas. W7KGV, W7MGG, W7LAN, W7FXD, W7LTQ.

Old Chief Lynn

I am helping an elderly gent sell of his items before going to a care
facility.
He has a Signal Corp MK II No. 19 wireless set dated Sept 1944 from
Philadelphia which he purchased in 1951 and was new then. It seems to
have every conceivable piece of equipment it could have come with.
Including the spares box with a Morse Key, variometer, signal generator,
amplifier, grill cover two sets of unused 50' cloth-covered wire, two
microphone marked #7, a power unit, head phones, brackets and much more.
It appears almost mint. NO damage or rust stored ina dry environment.
He did tell me he converted it to 120V in 1951, listened then lost
interest and put it away.
What can or should I do to sell it? Yes, I have pics of everything
--
Vintagebob

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by coffelt2
OMG, What a wonderful time we had with a complete set in the late
'40's. We called
it a "Tank set". Ours had English and Russian panel markings. The headsets,
keys, and
microphones were used on all sorts of home brew (surplus conversions) It
included a
VHF transceiver, which we actually were able to make a two way contact
between two
"tank sets". I don't recall if the frequencies were even on a Ham band.

The VHF transceiver fundamental can be set for the 220 Mhz ham band, but
because of the drifting and the AM modulation, they take up pretty much the
whole band. Also the spectral purity is... not exactly good. I would not
not recommend firing one up today.
--scott

[Michael Black]

Post by Scott Dorsey
The VHF transceiver fundamental can be set for the 220 Mhz ham band, but
because of the drifting and the AM modulation, they take up pretty much the
whole band. Also the spectral purity is... not exactly good. I would not
not recommend firing one up today.

But that's not really unique to the Model 19.

Assuming it's a superregen receiver and modulated oscillator, that sort of
thing homesteaded the vhf and uhf bands. They were great when there was
little use, they were simple to build and cheap, it got people on the air.
And then "civilization" would come along, fancier equipment and a desire
for DX. So they were banished from six metres (maybe when it was still 5
metres?) and moved to 112MHz or if after the war, 144MHz, made an impact
and then were banished from there. 220 next, to the extent that 220 was
ever used, then 420MHz. Those APX-6 radar transponders were more
complicated (but had the advantage of being cheap surplus) but did the
same thing for 1215MHz, a simple transmitter with a broad receiver to
match.

Decades later, all those cheap doppler radar gizmos converted for use on
the 10,000MHz band was similar.

One could even argue that the Heathkit Lunchboxes were in a similar vein,
simple and cheap, yet more civilized since the transmitters were crystal
controlled. Though of course, there never was a Heathkit produced
"220'er" (I'm sure I've seen a modification article where someone put one
on 220MHz) or a "420'er" (but there were early CB sets that had similar
innards, and one article in "73" about 1968 that was a fairly cheap and
easy transverter made out of juice cans that was intended for a Sixer or
Twoer.

Michael VE2BVW