Call The Midwife and the PCR

[G4YVM David]

You might have seen it...the Christmas special
In a lighthouse the keeper uses a pair of separates, tx and rx, to call the coastguard but it's not a pair I recognise. I wonder if anyone clocked and identified them?

[M0FYA Andy]

The receiver is one of the PCR series. The built-in loudspeaker identifies which variant, but I can't remember which without checking.
I don't think it is at all authentic in a lighthouse in the mid-sixties!
Andy

[HamishBoxer]

Yes ,I got the PCR but not the other and of course the RAF mike.

No,it was not authentic Andy you are 100% correct.

[G4YVM David]

Thanks guys.

Not authentic because...

[M0FYA Andy]

The PCR was a wartime HF receiver, not really a comms receiver as it didn't have a BFO, although better built than a domestic radio. It requires an external power supply.
It's not entirely clear what its purpose was back then was, there are two theories, one that they were shipped to France after D-day and issued to the civilian population to listen to the BBC, the other being that it was for use in the NAAFI as an 'entertainment receiver'. I don't think there is a definitive answer.

Andy

[M0FYA Andy]

There's plenty on the web about the PCR, here's a one-page summary article -
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/pcr/index.htm
There has also been quite a bit of discussion on here in the past.

Andy

[G4YVM David]

Thanks.

I did see a pcr once a year or so ago. It was at the beaulieu auto jumble and the bloke wanted about 300 quid. I thought it looks like a 1155, sounds like a 1155 and therefore ought to cost like a 1155...and 300 isnt it!!

I'm sure it had NAAFI on the grille but I might be wrong.

[paulsherwin]

They were an odd set, and as Andy says the original design objective isn't obvious. Most of them finished up as NAAFI sets before being disposed of in the 60s. Underneath the military style enclosure they are just a conventional 4 valve superhet with an additional tuned RF stage. They certainly wouldn't have been used in a lighthouse in the manner suggested, least of all in the mid 60s.

It's hard to find one in good original condition now, as they were usually bought by young enthusiastic hobbyists without much money and 'modified' in questionable taste. The hobby mags had lots of articles describing possible mods - adding a PSU, BFO, RF gain control, S meter etc. You could also replace the LW band with the SW tropical bands.

[M0FYA Andy]

I listened to the Apollo 11 landing on a PCR, Voice of America on shortwave, back in 1969! BBC TV picture, but the TV sound turned right down to avoid the interrupting drivel of the BBC reporters. Voice of America simply broadcast the raw comms between Houston and the Apollo spacecraft.

A good solid basic conventional receiver, perhaps worth up to £100 if in good working order, unmodified, complete with an original power supply.

[dave walsh]

That's right Andy and the ongoing speculation about it's useage! I recall them on the surplus market and conversion articles in PW. There can't have been that many around, in a way, otherwise [with an added BFO] they would perhaps have been an attractive proposition as a ready made pseudo comms set? The similar looking R1155 was expensive and a complex set [floating negative line and cramped interior] whilst the PCR's are relatively open like a domestic radio.

I've got two. One of them [obtained from an Oldham Rally bring and buy twenty years ago] has the attached PSU [which I'd only ever seen in print] making it heavier still. I'd never come across one of those before but they seemed to have been on sale through the Wireless World mag for a short while. I was able to contact the seller who said that it had been in his business premises but couldn't give me any other info re the origin. The Crypto Museum seems confident about the Resistance/NAAFI explanation but even on the estimated production figures given there, it seem like a lot of sets.

Maybe it was a "lend-lease" mistake and the bulk went down a mine shaft somewhere under the war time pact with the US - a process that has also had a few threads of it's own and was conclusively shown to have actually happened. Chas Miller was one of the first people to mention this war time agreement, in a Radiophile article.

Dave W

PS. I see David G4YVM also brought up the 1155 in a slightly different context. As Paul comments, they seem to be rare now which might support my "where are the others ? theory". When there was a sort of 1155 mania a decade or so ago these went up to £150 plus [unheard of then]. Maybe not £300 but a clean PCR might fetch a high price these days, more with a PSU but that would be an unlikely find. It's all a bit like the Dutch Tulip or South Sea Island bubble in a way!

[paulsherwin]

The surplus dealers were awash with the things in the late 60s. You could buy one for a few quid, though the PSUs weren't so common.

[dave walsh]

That's true enough as well Paul and may suggest that many just got broken down. Anything with a decent half moon dial was a bit rare though! The very high value of a No 19 set these days is a bit of a mystery to me [and others]. Some people seem to like recreating all the accessories eg the Variometer etc You could get a full chassis [minus valves] for shillings and with them for not much more but the crude dials and the set itself didn't justify the amount of work involved to me although PW had a long series of articles about putting them into use. The big problem was they were designed to be used in the dark interior of a Tank-if the crew survived that is!

Dave

[dave walsh]

I took a look at the Lighthouse [43m-30 secs in]. I don't recognise the "TX" either but it looks a lot more modern. I suspect that from a set design point of view, the fact that it has a dual band of light around the dial, matching the PCR in a way, was the desired effect. Anything exactly in period would probably be "Admiralty Chunky" hefty and gloomy whilst they wanted the Christmas soft background lighting mood there. I'm always very interested in what turns up in films etc but [a bit like test meters used as full panel instruments in Fireball XL5 etc] artistic license applies in most dramas. I'm still wondering what that other set is though-I wish they'd move that chair .

Dave

[paulsherwin]

CTM is basically a medical soap, so precise period accuracy won't be a priority. The designers just want a particular look and feel. I guess a PCR is close enough to an 'olden days professional radio' to be acceptable.

[turretslug]

I haven't a clue on lighthouse equipment/purchasing policy, but you could almost understand something like a PCR receiver, i.e. straighforward but a cut above typical consumer stuff with its RF and 2 IF stages and sturdy build, justifying a place as a monitor set for the likes of the shipping forecast if nothing else.

There were a few US professional sets of the era that similarly are an awkward fit between basic "morale" sturdy transportable (often with universal-type PSU) and full-blown "communications spec. I suspect that in the haste and waste of war, quite a few projects that seem a good idea to some committee or another get put into quantity production and in hindsight seem more like answers to questions that had never been posed in the first place.

[ms660]

That Jasonkit AG10 AF sig gen looks out of place to me.....amongst other things.

Lawrence.

[ms660]

Originally Posted by ms660

That Jasonkit AG10 AF sig gen looks out of place to me.....amongst other things.

Lawrence.

Picture of the said in here:

https://www.effectrode.com/knowledge...ng-the-future/

Lawrence.

[dave walsh]

Thanks Lawrence. Hadn't thought of a Sig Gen and it was just a little bit too far away to work it out. Not a problem for me, except [in period] it should be bigger whether a representation or an attempt at the "real" thing.

Dave W

[its ur aerial]

Just a fly in the ointment to the PCR for French Civilians theory, how widespread was the 230/240 Volts AC 50HZ supply in France during the War ?
I think probably the NAAFI was its main intention.
In the 60`s I vaguely remember seeing them for sale in Proops, Tottenham Court Rd.

Ken G6HZG

[M0FYA Andy]

There is also a 12 volt vibrator power supply for the PCR, this might have been more common in war-torn France?

Andy