Purchasing an R1155 receiver

[Radio Wrangler]

There are steel R1155s which mostly wound up in small ships, and aluminium ones which were intended for planes.

Back in the fifties, the dealers knew they could flog the receivers, but no-one wanted the aircraft-related cables, intercom, switches and other accessories. Consequently these bits are harder to find than the receivers. There are collectors wanting to assemble realistic aircraft installations and they compete for anything that turns up. The star of the show is the 'J-Switch' accessory box.

David

[cmjones01]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

There are steel R1155s which mostly wound up in small ships, and aluminium ones which were intended for planes.

My R1155 has 'STEEL' stencilled on the outside of the case, and that case is indeed steel, but the receiver within it is all aluminium as far as I can see. That includes the chassis and the front panel. Of course, it may not be the original pairing of receiver and case, but I found this curious.

Chris

[ex seismic]

I believe late war aircraft ones were steel as by then the extra weight was not a problem.

[zoomer1]

I have started to look for an R1155 radio but as noted in the replies many have been modified to some extent, Would anyone be able to supply a picture of an original condition radio so that at least I know what I am looking for?

[rambo1152]

Here's a well restored one, probably better looking than when it left the factory if I'm honest, but everything on the front panel is where it's supposed to be with nothing added.




Those ugly & dangerous looking Jones connectors have often been removed by previous owners, and a blanking plate fitted.

There is at least one other style of original tuning knob that sticks out more and somehow "looks wrong".

As for more realistic specimens in "found" condition, just ask Mr Google
https://www.google.com/search?q=r115...jexWCLek4juPeM

[M0AFJ, Tim]

There’s one on eBay with PSU, working in Sittingbourne. Do a search

[zoomer1]

Rambo 1152 thank you for the picture. I have searched eBay and google but since I am in no hurry I am still gathering information to make sure I get the right one.

[G6Tanuki]

The big tuning knob with extra reduction gear was introduced because wireless operators wearing gloves (as needed when you were doing a high altitude bombing raid in an unheated aircraft in the winter...) couldn't easily / accurately adjust the original small knob.

[turretslug]

I did wonder how much attention the designers had paid to end-user ergonomics, both with that original co-axial tuning knob arrangement (more suited to one of those big pre-war Marconi domestic sets in a comfortable middle-class 'drawing room....) and a distinctly un-stealthy and night-vision-destroying tuning scale design. The BC348 arrangement with narrow-sector, masked and dimly-lit white-on-black looks far better suited.

The later tuning knob/drive set-up may be bulky and obtrusive-looking, but gives the set a purposeful edge.

[M0FYA Andy]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'distinctly un-stealthy and night-vision-destroying tuning scale design' - there is no internal scale illumination!

[turretslug]

I just find that the dark-characters-on-light-background dial presentation is puzzlingly at odds with the general aircraft instrumentation trend of light-on-dark. Even an un-illuminated relatively large pale area affects the low-contrast perception of items around it in dark conditions. When cockpit/operational area detail gets prescribed even down to the use of screw-heads of dark matt finish, the R1155 scale seems a glaring exception- even if only carefully and briefly illuminated by the use of a torch/gooseneck etc. when needed, something in the style of the PCR's light-on-dark scale would surely be less of a reflective liability. The radio designer couldn't be certain that every installation would be "under the hood" or "down below"- in the end, it seems to have been decided/realised that exhaust flare put any other source of illumination literally in the shade, but when there's a philosophy of "if it can be controlled, it should be controlled" (hence apocryphal tales of ARP wardens telling folk to extinguish cigarettes and so on!), the R1155's scale does seem contradictory.