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Old 8th Aug 2022, 8:34 pm   #21
Radio Wrangler
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.

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Old 8th Aug 2022, 9:41 pm   #22
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
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.

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Old 8th Aug 2022, 10:06 pm   #23
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

I believe late war aircraft ones were steel as by then the extra weight was not a problem.
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Old 9th Aug 2022, 10:55 pm   #24
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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?
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 3:04 am   #25
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.


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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
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 5:51 am   #26
M0AFJ, Tim
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

There’s one on eBay with PSU, working in Sittingbourne. Do a search
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 9:39 am   #27
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 9:48 am   #28
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 12:43 pm   #29
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 4:17 pm   #30
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

I'm not sure what you mean by 'distinctly un-stealthy and night-vision-destroying tuning scale design' - there is no internal scale illumination!
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Old 10th Aug 2022, 9:35 pm   #31
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

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.
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Old 12th Aug 2022, 9:31 pm   #32
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

G6Tanuki said:
Quote:
The big tuning knob with extra reduction gear was introduced because wireless operators wearing gloves couldn't easily / accurately adjust the original small knob.
I guess that was the idea behind the 'click-stop' knobs on the companion T1154. Three different frequency bands and three sets of tuning knobs which were probably set up on the ground before a mission. Set the required letter from the table for a particular frequency on the small knob then rotate the bigger coloured knob until it clicks into the stop. Same procedure used on the "Oceanspan" transmitter when I was at sea in the 60's.
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Old 13th Aug 2022, 12:02 pm   #33
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

Quote:
Originally Posted by turretslug View Post
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.
What about the green light coming off the magic eye given the human eye is most sensitive to green frequency?

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Old 13th Aug 2022, 6:21 pm   #34
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

Hi Zoomer

Probably the most difficult item is, as previously mentioned, the wiring, definitely not for the faint hearted.

The next item is the capacitors in what I call "cigar tubes" there 6-7 mounted in various positions around the chassis, all are fairly easy to get to apart from the one mounted directly behind the frequency changer, these capacitor tubes have 3 capacitors mounted inside sealed in with black pitch, I find these quite easy, first I cut the wires then undo the large nut and remove the tube from the receiver, look carefully at the tube at the end where the wires come out of the tube there is an indentation that goes around the tube and the metal is peened over the end of the can, with a small pair of wire cutters, such as a pair of Linstrom cutters gently start going around the edge of the can unsealing the end cap, when the cap is removed you can see the pitch inside, this is where you need to be a little careful, you will need a hair dryer or heat gun to melt the pitch, "DO NOT GET IT ON YOUR CLOTHES OR SKIN THE PITCH IS VERY HOT", If you have a vice secure the wires in the vice and when the pitch has suitably melted holding the can in a piece of rag pull the can away from the capacitor innards, try to get as much of the pitch from inside the tube as you can.

The new .1uf can be bought from EBay or Farnell or you may have some other supplier in mind, the working voltage of the old capacitors is 250 Volts working but the new capacitors the working voltage is 630 volts working so the rating of the capacitors is far better that the old ones, you should be able mount 2 of the 3 capacitors side by side, wrap the mounting wires of 2 of the capacitors around each other at one end only then as three capacitors will not fit side by side I get the 3rd capacitor and put some heat shrink sleeving on it and wind the end with the sleeving on with the other 2 capacitors and solder the ends together and lay the 3rd capacitor below the other 2, what you should have now is 3 capacitors joined at one end and at the other end 3 wires with nothing on them, on the 3 open ends of the capacitors solder a piece of red wire to each open approx. 150mm long end at the other end where the three capacitors are joined together solder a piece black wire on, again 150mm long, now push the 4 wires through where the original wires came out and push the mounting piece back down until it fits back from where it came from, with a small tack hammer gent repeen the metal back of the tube over the the mounting bush until the tube metal is over the mounting bush, if done carefully when mounted back in the receiver nobody can see what you have done.

The above job is a must as if one of the original capacitors goes S/C and they do, it burns out the feed resistors to the circuits that they work to and the only way forward is to split open the IF transformer to change the resistors inside the IF transformers, and then you still have job to do with changing the capacitor, the job also maintains the original look look of the receiver

The 2 capacitor tubes that are mounted between the 2 DF valves that are most likely to have been removed are not used if you are not going to reinstate the DF equipment so do those first do not bother to refit them and after you have done those you can get on with doing other jobs on the set but as other forum members have pointed out WATCH THE WIRING
Good luck with your efforts.

Again as other members have said the book made by Peter Holtham is a must and a good read, but as he lives in Australia the postage is high but worth getting, you can sometimes find the book on EBay but not very often.

Regards

Bill

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Old 15th Aug 2022, 5:12 pm   #35
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

A lot of very good information guys. At the moment my search for an R1155 hasn't turned up anything other than eBay items. I also have not been able to make contact with any 1155 owners/restorers who are close by. Without the latter I think a full restoration may be a step too far but I will decide once I find a suitable set. With regard to cost, and in particular the eBay items, are they considered over priced?
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Old 15th Aug 2022, 5:36 pm   #36
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

I think so, but then I’m biased by the 2 I bought! I thought the amount I paid for the first one was pushing the boundaries of sensibility, particularly as it was in a bit of a state! The £25 one turned out to be a gem, and goes to show that good ones do still turn up for low prices, and that was at the NVCF (now RetroTech). I was offered one at a vintage fair once, it had been well and truly butchered, and painted grey, looked a right pig, and the seller wanted £350 for it! He was adamant it was all original and untouched, and I wouldn’t find a better one cheaper… Typical antiques dealer!

All I’d say is keep looking, do lots of research, then on any potential purchase check it at least has all the correct knobs and switches in the right places, no extra holes drilled, and the Jones connectors are present, even if hidden behind a plate. Also look over any internal photos to check against other photos of ones that haven’t been fiddled with, you can soon begin to spot anything missing, or extra bits where there shouldn’t be, look for missing valves and missing covers, there will likely be 3 valves missing from the DF section, 2 are easy to get hold of cheaply, but one particular valve has gotten expensive.

I’m sure I saw an R1155 at the NVCF a good few years back in its wooden box, and it was only £99! I should have snapped that one up, but stupidly went to look at something else first, it had gone when I got back!

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Ps, here’s a before and after shot of my first R1155! And yes, those pictures are of the same set there’s a thread on the forum about it somewhere.
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Old 15th Aug 2022, 6:34 pm   #37
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

ZOOMER 1, we cannot discuss Ebay prices what so ever, against the forum rules. The most that can be said is that there such a wanted item on Ebay.

Prices of course vary from anywhere , at the end of the day it is down to what one is prepared to pay. VMARS auctions are very fair but I realise you are not near to Bagginton.

I have 3 R1155,s but as yet I need to overhaul same. You also need a suitable power supply, normally external unless you are happy with a working one that has had a built in put in. For a decent looking one as a guess £150---£200 may well be fair.
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Old 15th Aug 2022, 7:16 pm   #38
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

HamishBoxer. Sorry about breaking the rules and thanks for the info on price. I am not in a hurry and don't want one bad enough to pay over the odds. To a newbie its helpful to know what is considered fair.
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Old 15th Aug 2022, 7:23 pm   #39
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

These do turn up at general auctions from time to time and it's often possible to bid online. Condition varies from original to modified, prices vary from reasonable to rather expensive...! Googling R1155 plus Auction threw up a few. If there is an auction house within travelling distance and you can register interest online it might be worth doing that.
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Old 16th Aug 2022, 3:45 pm   #40
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Default Re: Purchasing an R1155 receiver

Quote:
Unless you want a museum exhibit, you aren't going to get much fun out of restoring the DF parts of the circuit since it won't do anything useful on the ground.
It is possible to get the DF circuitry to work on the ground - it makes a great demonstration. You will need to get hold of a L/R indicator, but these do come up from time to time at auctions, etc. There is a short video of mine operating at http://www.tibblestone.com/oldradios...20demo%202.mp4



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