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trh01uk · 28th Oct 2020, 9:09 am

Also of interest is the fact the R209 is one of the earliest sets to include FM at HF. The earlier set is of course the WS42, and although 1,000 of these were made (according to WftW) I think nearly all went off to Burma or similar where its hermetic sealing could be used (and no doubt) tested in anger. None seems to have come back.

Walter Farrar told me an amusing story about how FM got introduced into the Army. He was on the team that did the very early experimental work on this mode during WWII while he worked for SRDE as a young graduate. He said they got the kit (sorry no idea what this was) together and laid a demo on for the Army "top brass". The trouble was that FM was so vastly superior to the AM systems they compared it with, that the Army top bods were convinced that it was a spoof, a con, just to get more money for further development work!!

Obviously they got over that one, as FM (or PM) became an additional mode on at least the following sets: WS42, R209, C13, A13, A14 - the latter sets belonging to the later Larkspur era. There was clearly ambivalence about FM though - as the R209 went from Mk.I to Mk.II with some sort of "downgrading" of the FM circuitry - I haven't studied the details to know precisely what they did.

I suspect the problem was that there were no FM transmitters available at the time to pair up with the R209 Mk.I, and possibly squaddies were switching to FM when working AM stations and getting duff results (squelch in VHF sets seems to have been removed for a while for similar reasons). The R209 was of course designed when the WS42 would have been the latest and greatest thing, so of course it had to have FM to keep up with that set. The WS42 got cancelled around 1946, when money was in very short supply, and the WS62 was bought instead, as no doubt a very much cheaper, and significantly poorer replacement.

Richard

28th Oct 2020, 9:09 am	#7
trh01uk Octode Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 1,654	Re: History of the Reception Set R. 209 MkI Also of interest is the fact the R209 is one of the earliest sets to include FM at HF. The earlier set is of course the WS42, and although 1,000 of these were made (according to WftW) I think nearly all went off to Burma or similar where its hermetic sealing could be used (and no doubt) tested in anger. None seems to have come back. Walter Farrar told me an amusing story about how FM got introduced into the Army. He was on the team that did the very early experimental work on this mode during WWII while he worked for SRDE as a young graduate. He said they got the kit (sorry no idea what this was) together and laid a demo on for the Army "top brass". The trouble was that FM was so vastly superior to the AM systems they compared it with, that the Army top bods were convinced that it was a spoof, a con, just to get more money for further development work!! Obviously they got over that one, as FM (or PM) became an additional mode on at least the following sets: WS42, R209, C13, A13, A14 - the latter sets belonging to the later Larkspur era. There was clearly ambivalence about FM though - as the R209 went from Mk.I to Mk.II with some sort of "downgrading" of the FM circuitry - I haven't studied the details to know precisely what they did. I suspect the problem was that there were no FM transmitters available at the time to pair up with the R209 Mk.I, and possibly squaddies were switching to FM when working AM stations and getting duff results (squelch in VHF sets seems to have been removed for a while for similar reasons). The R209 was of course designed when the WS42 would have been the latest and greatest thing, so of course it had to have FM to keep up with that set. The WS42 got cancelled around 1946, when money was in very short supply, and the WS62 was bought instead, as no doubt a very much cheaper, and significantly poorer replacement. Richard