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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

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Old 26th Jan 2017, 3:02 pm   #1
G4BZI Roger
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Default Courier Communications CTR-1 transceiver

I'm looking for any info on the above as I've acquired an example which I hope to restore. The company was based in Pentonville Road, London in the 1960s.

The CTR-1 is an SSB/CW amateur band hf transceiver using 24 valves and having 200kHz band segments. It was introduced in 1964 at the Radio Show and was advertised during 1965 in the RSGB Bulletin. Google has been unhelpful in not revealing anything at all and posts on other amateur radio-related Forums have revealed only a little additional information.

Any / all help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Roger
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Old 26th Jan 2017, 3:31 pm   #2
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Default Re: Any info on Courier Communications CTR1 transceiver

A picture (as always) may help to jigger the old brain cells.
 
Old 26th Jan 2017, 3:59 pm   #3
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Default Re: Any info on Courier Communications CTR1 transceiver

Photo of txcvr front panel herewith:
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Old 27th Jan 2017, 7:28 pm   #4
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Default Re: Any info on Courier Communications CTR1 transceiver

That must be quite a rarity.
If you restore it, a detailed written and photographic record your work would be very interesting. I'm sure it would make a good article for "Signal" magazine.
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Old 27th Jan 2017, 9:02 pm   #5
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Default Re: Any info on Courier Communications CTR1 transceiver

Roger

There was some discussion about that set when it came up for auction on the "KW_Radios" Yahoo group so you can look in the archives

Congrats on getting a one of a kind. I spoke to the vendor who was somewhat abrupt on the phone and thought he had the "Crown Jewels"

GL in getting it going

73 Fred
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Old 10th Feb 2017, 6:10 pm   #6
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Default Re: Any info on Courier Communications CTR1 transceiver

Still no further information forthcoming; however I've managed to trace the circuitry and am currently drawing up a circuit diagram (will run to 3 x A2 sheets which I hope to have scanned and saved as pdfs). I'll certainly write up the details for publication. Various stages have been tested - the only faults found to date were a dud pilot lamp and a low/no emission ECL82. Even the VFO calibration is still spot-on.

Q to Mods - should this thread be moved out of "info wanted" to "vintage amateur radio" so that I can continue post info on my findings ?
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 11:10 am   #7
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Default Courier Communications CTR-1 Transceiver

Further to the thread started in early 2017, I have now heard from Laurie Margolis, G3UML, who has given permission for his comments to be reproduced here.

"I don’t have a circuit or handbook but I did know this transceiver very well. It was the result of a very small scale British development. The designer was Norman Fitch, G3FPK, for many years the Radcom VHF Editor and only quite recently deceased. Norman was a structural engineer but also a brilliant radio designer, and he built the transceiver that became the CTR1. It was in the early days of small SSB transceivers. It came out about the same time as the famous KW2000 and was a sophisticated 100 watt 160-10 metre design built around the Collins mechanical filter.

Courier was a two man operation involving Norman and a young Canadian engineer who became G3TEA. I’ve no idea what became of Larry who I think was from Vancouver. The transceivers were built on the floor above the clothing business run by my father, Maurice G3NMR, and his father-in-law/my grandfather, at 182 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London N1. It was a rough area then, pretty trendy nowadays.

My dad and Norman were close friends and behind the formation of the Amateur Radio Mobile Society, a lively group in the sixties. Dad had spare space in his building and let Norman set up there.

I’m not sure how many they made, probably only a few dozen. We had one used mobile for some years. The last time I saw a CTR1 was in 1970 when I used one at my student house in Balham, SW London, making a few contacts into a low dipole. I think it originally belonged to Dr Sid Lazarus, G3TUA, from near our home in Ilford, and only generating about 30 watts. Did get out though.

I think in the end Norman needed to concentrate on the day job, and couldn’t profitably produce small numbers of a complex transceiver. Certainly fascinating to see it rise from the grave like this!"

I'd still welcome any related information from anyone on this curiosity!

Thanks

Roger
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Old 10th Jul 2018, 9:52 pm   #8
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Default Re: Courier Communications CTR-1 transceiver

Members of the KW-Radios group on Groups.io can access a previous discussion on this transceiver, search for "A failed competitor" in Messages.

73

Roger/G3VKM
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