Broadcast - 20 August 2023
It’s amazing how quickly the Club Technical Nights seem to come around, this week was certainly no exception…
Hot on the heels of the Tregear transceiver from last Tech Night session Peter VK7KPC latest “old” acquisition was displayed. It was in the form of a Wireless Set 22/122 or as it was more commonly known as WS22/122. Yes you guessed it…… yet another ex-military transceiver! This one is described as “A General-purpose low-power vehicle and ground station with facilities for man pack use”. It was manufactured circa 1944 for the Australian army by Radio Corporation Pty.
This version is the combination of two front inserted modules into one larger case. The vibrator power unit is located on the left hand side with the transceiver located on the right side. The transceiver covers two bands: 2 to 4 MHz and 4 to 8 MHz. This means it covers the 80 and 40 metre bands without any modifications. Could this be why it was evidently so popular with amateur radio operators post Second World War? These sets were VFO and crystal controlled with an output power of about 1.5 Watts and utilised an 807 valve in the output stage.
It’s nominally operated from a 12 volt battery and featured, for its time, one of the lowest current drains on receive of any similar transceiver, this alone made it a very popular unit and helped it out last its original design criteria. The unit was initially designed as an interim solution until a light-weight and waterproof replacement was designed and built. The replacement ended up being the Wireless Set No. 62 and was introduced by Pye in the later part of World War II.
However the WS22/122 lived on and was still widely used in Victoria by rural fire services into the 1980’s.
Internally the transceiver exhibits an intricate array of structural rods strategically placed to protect the delicate innards when the module was removed from the main unit. The power supply even comes standard with a spare plug in replacement vibrator. Peter fired the power supply vibrator up and it happily produced an output. Now starts the testing of all the capacitors etc. in the main transceiver before applying power. Internally it looks pretty good but externally it will require a serious amount of tender loving care. I assume it will line up behind last Tech Nights offering, the Tregear, for refurbishing.
There is an interesting article on this model of transceiver in Silicon Chip, October 2002. It was written by Rodney Champness VK3UG. Unfortunately Rodney became a silent key in October last year.
His name and callsign will be familiar to many of us as he contributed many articles to Silicon Chip, Amateur Radio and other publications. After reading the following line in the silicon Chip introduction it did explain why Peter brought the transceiver in with a hand trolley.
Rodney wrote: “This was a much more portable set, requiring only three men to carry it!”
On a much lighter note, Lewis VK7IT brought along his latest acquisition, a very colourful bright yellow whip antenna. It was attached to his previously purchased hand held transceiver. After watching Hayden VK7HH demonstrating a very flexible antenna on his YouTube channel he decided he needed one. The antenna is called a “Signal Stick” and this particular one was a ¼ wave length on 2 metres. Lewis demonstrated the robustness of the antenna and that he could indeed tie it into a knot! I am accustomed to “centre loaded” antennas but this is the first time, and I have no idea what the radiation pattern will be, of a “centre knotted” antenna. HiHi
Equipment pictures are available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. Now back to the house keeping.
Once again we would like to thank Phil VK7ZPD for taking over the hosting of the Wednesday night TechNet sessions for the previous few weeks, due to Nic having prior commitments. Not only did he host the nights but he was still able to provide an audio feed for those that don’t have the equipment or are not able to receive all sides of the conversations during the Net. This is especially true now there are quite a few mainland operators joining in on the Net. Speaking of mainland Net contributors, Jordan VK3ACU posted a picture of his rather cute 3D printed Morse key, literally hot of the 3D printer a few hour earlier. There is a visible interconnect cable coming out of it so one can assume it is well on the way for the addition of the electrical contacts being fitted. It will be interesting to see if it gets trialled in next week’s slow Morse section. Evidently there was even a guest appearance from Nic VK7WW, in New Zealand and he was successfully receiving the Net!
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Club Technical Night - The next session will be on Wednesday the 23rd of August and will commence at the winter time of 6.30 pm through to about 10.00 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. Why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
The TestNet and TechNet session - Wednesday the 30th of August. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will be Phil VK7ZPD. Or maybe Nic if he is back.
FINALLY - A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial, then please email them to the Secretary at the following address news@ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73 from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC Inc.
