Purchasing an R1155 receiver

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Zoomer, there are simple designs on the web for the DF aerials that will operate with an 1155

Ed

[zoomer1]

Many thanks to all those who replied to this thread. After considering all the responses and a lot of research I have come to the conclusion that restoring an 1155 without suitable support is not a realistic proposition and the problems are far more complex than I first imagined. The only way that I could possibly attempt it would be to find someone happy to mentor me through the project and that would be dependant on finding someone local which at the moment is proving unsuccessful. Maybe contacting a local radio club when I relocate might find a suitable and sympathetic individual.
Carrying out the work myself has a significant attraction but I have to be realistic. Purchasing a working set therefore continues to be the sensible option but since it must be as near original condition as possible and the fact that no one has replied to my wanted advert on this forum, it may be a long wait. I am extremely cautious of buying a "working" set from eBay.

In the meantime I am considering purchasing an 1155 and removing some of the internal components to allow a small "modern" radio to be fitted internally and connected to the tuning dial to give the impression of a working radio. While this may be an anathema to you guys it would provide a temporary solution while I wait. In the meantime and in order to progress the learning process I am going to attempt to get a small domestic valve radio working and see how I get on. Thank you all for your help and I am sure you will hear more from me.

[HamishBoxer]

Unless a very rough 1155 please don't waste a restorable one. I realise of course it is totally your choice. Shame I am not nearer as I would give my help freely.

By all means have a go at restoring a domestic set, preferably AC only for safety, or make sure you use an Isolation Transformer, possibly either way.

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by zoomer1

In the meantime I am considering purchasing an 1155 and removing some of the internal components to allow a small "modern" radio to be fitted internally and connected to the tuning dial to give the impression of a working radio. While this may be an anathema to you guys it would provide a temporary solution while I wait. In the meantime and in order to progress the learning process I am going to attempt to get a small domestic valve radio working and see how I get on. Thank you all for your help and I am sure you will hear more from me.

From this, I deduce that you really want the 'looks' of the R1155 and not really any other aspect. There are many many WWII receivers with military looks of the period which are less historic, less treasured. The R1155 is pretty well known, and has quite a following, which pushes prices up and makes good ones and good bits rather scarce. If you did modify one this way and showed it to people, you'd soon run into folk who'r treat you as if you'd turned a Spitfire into a hen-house.

Have a look at some other sets if you fancy such changes. There are large half-moon dials on a number of things like the R107. Have you considered the 19 set tank transceiver. We made them also to ship to Russia, so there are ones around with Cyrillic labelling on their panels (with english alongside) No half-moon scale but oozing in military presence. The Murphy B40 is just post war and has a lot of presence. A Racal RA17 is a lot later in styling and very 'cold war'

The R1155 isn't that much use nowadays as an HF receiver, if you actually wanted to use it, so most are display items, often along with the T1154 and their accessory items and cables.

I was looking only last week at a few 1155s in a museum display and as spares in their back-up store. The local amateur radio club has lost its premises and had a clear out of equipment. There had long been an unrestored 1155 on a shelf in the clubhouse along with a few other sets. They went by internet auction. a couple of months ago. They are about, but will cost you the going rate and you take risks on the condition.

For learning restoration, it's best to start with something simpler, have a look at what's available. I'd suggest an AC only set, avoiding AC/DC models without transformer isolation. If you see what's available and pick from amongst it there are bargains and you don't risk much money. If you decide on a specific model and try to find one, it gets expensive.

David

[zoomer1]

Radio Wrangler. If you look at my original post on this thread I did explain my original requirement which was for an original specification R1155A in working order so that I could switch it on and "listen to something" rather than just have it sit on a shelf. My biggest problem is that I do not possess the necessary skills to get one working and finding an original spec working radio is going to be really difficult due to vast majority having been modified to suit a specific purpose.
My plan is to carefully disassemble an !!55 and fit a small radio inside and connect the tuning control to the 1155 tuning dial. The connection will be done mechanically using custom made parts. I am hoping that a simple volume control can be installed in a similar way. All of the parts taken out will be kept and no original parts will be modified so the radio can be returned to original condition at a later date if required. In effect I will be making a conversion kit. I see this as a much better option than a lot of working sets that have non reversible modifications. I hope this pacifies your understandable concerns.

[CambridgeWorks]

"Carefully disassemble" is easier said than done. From previous comments, I don't think you have ever tried working on one. The pleasure of how difficult and cramped they are to work on together with locking varnish on threads is something to behold.
Parts for R1155 can be quite expensive as well as say, the purchase of a receiver needing restoration, repair and alignment.
Your suggestion does at least bypass restoring something nearly 80 years old. Just restore something maybe 60 years old with more common parts and adapt to fit.
A scrap R1155 would do to fit it into. Trouble is, it will almost certainly have a very butchered front panel.
Just so you know, I am speaking as someone who owns three and has done work in the past
One looks immaculate but someone previously decided to modify circuitry with transistors and veroboard! Doesnt help you as they are stashed away and not for sale.
So, there are all sorts of condition out there.
At a radio rally around 3 or 4 years ago a gent had several for sale, nicely restored but istr around £600 to £800 each. There was a lot of interest.
It was said the market was for people wanting a bit of WW2 Lancaster bomber command history.
One here almost £1000. No connection, don't know them at all.
http://spitfirespares.co.uk/radio.html
I also saw just now there is also a TR9D there, " the ultimate" Unfortunately I only have a TR9F.

Rob

[mickm3for]

Hi two on ebay at the moment 6 day to go at £25 but sure to go up not in best condition Mick

[Lloyd 1985]

I actually think it could be possible to fit the PCB from a small transistor radio into the R1155 without having to take much of it apart, maybe one of those Chinese kits, there is easily enough room for one under the chassis, the hardest part would be linking the original tuning control and dial to the ‘imposter’ chassis.

Regards
Lloyd

[zoomer1]

Robinshack you are correct, I have no hands on experience with these radios which is why I appreciate the info. It is something I had not considered but must be more within my capability than restoring a radio. The fact you have 3 of these radios and don't want to part with any confirms my problem. Its a common theme amongst you guys but understandable. Yes an incomplete radio, as on eBay at the moment, would seem an ideal proposition but then I would need to find the missing front panel components which would lead to another costly headache. I have more or less made up my mind to buy a complete non working set and give it a go.

[zoomer1]

I like the idea of a small transistor radio and this is more inline with my thinking. There must be a small radio with a tuning knob that could be connected with a shaft or belt to the original 1155 tuning.

[CambridgeWorks]

To be honest, just what is the point of connecting a small transistor radio (probably made in China) to such a receiver that is admired , honoured and respected by maybe thousands of enthusiasts?
Just a fake wannabe box in the end. At least using valves carries some merit in my opinion. The more that old technology is embodied in this project, surely the more enjoyment and respect it carries.
God forbid a bluetooth installation across the volume control!
Rob

[zoomer1]

"A fake wannabe box" is probably a correct description but you seemed to have missed the main point. I set out with the intention of investigating the feasibility of a mechanical engineer being able to bring an original spec R1155 radio back to working order. This was and still is my goal. The majority of opinion was that it is beyond my ability which after careful consideration I have to agree with. Purchasing a working set that has not been modified was also considered unlikely and probably outside my budget anyway. This leaves me with the option of buying an original spec non working radio and keeping it as a purely visual display item. A fake wannabe box is simply the same thing but with a desirable added benefit to keep me amused while I find someone willing to help me or learn the necessary skills to get the original radio working safely.

[Radio Wrangler]

The R1155 is complicated and will confuse you during your learning phase. So it isn't a good thing to start with. An R1155 is an expensive piece of kit and beginner's restorations don't always turn out well, so the logical thing is to start with something which is cheap, basic and not seen as a national treasure.

It's likely that someone on here will have a fixer-upper you can have to cut your teeth on for a tiny fraction of the cost of an R1155 in any condition.

It's a free world, you can do what you like, but you've asked for help, and this is the best help we know how to give you. We'd like to see you get going and eventually do a stunner of an R1155 restoration. The quickest way to that goal, if you can't find anyone to do it for you, is to not try to get there directly, but to take a few educational steps along the way. Setbacks can eat a lot of time.

David

[stuarth]

Are the David Winter FM converter modules still available?

These are tiny boards which tune the fm broadcast band using one section of an AM tuning cap — such as the one in an 1155.

You could hook the module to the 1155 tuning cap, feed the audio output into a computer active speaker, and you’d be able to listen to anything on the fm band using the 1155 dial, with hardly any changes to the 1155 innards. You might want to power the 1155 dial lamps from the low voltage supply for the DW module, you don’t need a high voltage supply at this stage

You could then bring the 1155 circuitry into a working condition, step by step, with the skills you pick up restoring a simpler radio as advised here.

Stuart

[lesmw0sec]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

The R1155 is complicated and will confuse you during your learning phase. So it isn't a good thing to start with. An R1155 is an expensive piece of kit and beginner's restorations don't always turn out well, so the logical thing is to start with something which is cheap, basic and not seen as a national treasure.

It's likely that someone on here will have a fixer-upper you can have to cut your teeth on for a tiny fraction of the cost of an R1155 in any condition.

It's a free world, you can do what you like, but you've asked for help, and this is the best help we know how to give you. We'd like to see you get going and eventually do a stunner of an R1155 restoration. The quickest way to that goal, if you can't find anyone to do it for you, is to not try to get there directly, but to take a few educational steps along the way. Setbacks can eat a lot of time.

David

Quite agree. My suggestion would be to look up an old design for say, a simple regenerative pentode tuner/detector, followed by an audio stage. The construction of that as a stand-alone project would give a good deal of basic experience in construction and operation of valve receivers. Then move on to the more complicated stuff.

[zoomer1]

My original thinking on this project was in hindsight obviously rather ambitious but the advise given on this forum has been excellent and exactly what I was hoping for. A forum member has kindly offered to let me have a look at his working 1155 which will help enormously. I agree that learning the basics on a small simple radio is essential and sensible and I think it will also be an enjoyable hobby rather than just a means to an end. It will also allow a greater technical understanding of my interest in the history of military AI radar and electronic development. YouTube videos are proving to be another source of information. What is also becoming obvious is that even after having gained a sufficient basic understanding of radio principles it would still be advantageous to do only the minimum required to an 1155 to get it working. The suggestion of hooking an AM tuning module to an 1155 tuning cap would appear therefore to offer several advantages. Am I correct in saying that it would "only" require damaged wiring and components to be identified and replaced to produce a suitable basic set to allow the modification to be installed? Or once again is there much more involved?

[turretslug]

Back in the '50s or '60s, there were so many R1155s around that no-one would have batted an eyelid over the idea of fitting a miniature transistor radio in an R1155 shell as they were so plentiful and, to be honest, the circuit and capability is more akin to a good-quality domestic set (apart from the DF circuitry) than one of the bigger, high-performance ground-based comms receivers of the time that were more desirable. As a result, many fell by the wayside as amateurs and SWLs moved on to better radios or other pursuits and they were discarded in a less historically- and environmentally-conscious era. I wonder what the proportion of half-decent survivors is now?- 1%? The pendulum has swung in the other direction, people are aware that the few left have the historical significance and "Lancaster cachet" and even rather sorry examples attract interest, with suggestions of Chinese module etc. "upgrades" getting understandable short shrift from vintage enthusiasts.

All the same, your idea of a "theme" set with some sort of functional innards is an appealing one in that it would attract the interest of those who would otherwise be uninterested in a mute piece of metal. This forum would be as good a place as any to find someone who maybe has a mechanically useable but electrically stripped shell lurking under a bench from long ago. Good luck in your quest anyway, one way or another.

The first radio I rebuilt was a CR100, also a Marconi WW2-era comms receiver. A bit more inside, but being a strictly earth-bound device, somewhat bigger and more spacious inside. In retrospect, it was quite straightforward though painstaking work, but even now with many years of intricate electronics work behind me that I found enjoyable and satisfying, I still look at the inside of an R1155 and quail at the thought of rebuilding one!

[stuarth]

To use one of the David Winter modules, you only need the dial drive and one section of the tuning cap to be functional. The rest of the innards are not needed, and can be anything from a stripped out shell to a fully working set. You don’t have to make any changes to the 1155 other than disconnecting the wire to the tuning cap. You don’t have to strip anything out or drill holes. You don’t even need a ht power supply.

As you progress with the restoration of the 1155 (starting with the audio stages?), then you need a suitable power supply, and to worry about crumbling wiring, leaky caps etc. But just to tune across the FM band with the 1155 dial you need very little from the 1155, nothing irreversible, and it would be pretty simple to keep the FM feature on the restored set, making it much more useable as a broadcast receiver.

Stuart

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Zoomer, have you considered a PCR (personal communications receiver)?
One of my friends has a restored and working one he wants to move on for not much.

These have a suitable military look and were intended for officers use in the field. They could easily have a module added and are simple to work on. A manual etc is with the set

PM me your email address if you are interested and I can put you in touch with him when he returns from holiday and can send you pictures

Ed

[Radio Wrangler]

This is what a PCR receiver looks like:

https://www.electronics-notes.com/ar...ions-radio.php

Black, metal, and that half-moon tuning scale. Has an audio amp and even a speaker, but still needs an external power supply.

David