21 February 2024 - Eleven R1155 receivers at auction

[60136 Alcazar]

11 R1155 receivers at Richard Winterton Auctions this 21st February, also other military and other equipment. Radio lots start at Lot 359.

https://www.easyliveauction.com/cata...ria-sale-tamw/

..but why in a sale for toys? Maybe says something?!!

[Lloyd 1985]

I’ve never seen that many in one go before! And they all look in really good condition too, might have to stick a bid or 2 in…

[trh01uk]

Presumably a relative of a deceased collector trying to offload them all in one go. Having chosen a quite unsuitable auction its just possible that they will go for the very low prices suggested!

Richard

[Sideband]

You can get the matching transmitter as well......

[ex seismic]

I do so wish I hadn't followed that link! Good job I'm nowhere near Tamworth.

gmb

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by trh01uk

Presumably a relative of a deceased collector trying to offload them all in one go. Having chosen a quite unsuitable auction its just possible that they will go for the very low prices suggested!

Richard

If you are doing a house clearance, you will not always be that fussed about getting the best price for "Uncle Bert's collection of junk" if it would delay getting the house on the market or the landlord has a new tenant wanting to move in next week.

[trh01uk]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

If you are doing a house clearance, you will not always be that fussed about getting the best price for "Uncle Bert's collection of junk" if it would delay getting the house on the market or the landlord has a new tenant wanting to move in next week.

With an estimated £5000 worth of military electronics there (at least!) if normal prices are realised, I would be surprised if the above is true. Just the quickest of checks on ebay will show the astonishing amounts that "vintage wreckage" is selling for, and these ones are a very long way from that description. We can't see the innards, but cosmetically a lot of these items are about as nice as you are ever likely to see.....

Lets hope the deceased's family (if there is one) are pleasantly surprised!

Richard

[Vintage Engr]

Well that was an interesting auction. As I already have a couple of R1155's I wasn't going to bid for any of them. In the end the average was £140 to £160. I wonder how many of those will be gradually sold on at top prices!

I was after one of the WS 19's. One had been badly '1960's butchered' & the other which was in fair condition went for around £140, which, when adding on the comission & VAT etc, was outside of the limit that I had set myself.

I think that the sheer number of radios was the factor that kept the prices much lower than we anticipated.

David.

[David G4EBT]

Originally Posted by Vintage Engr

Well that was an interesting auction. As I already have a couple of R1155's I wasn't going to bid for any of them. In the end the average was £140 to £160. I wonder how many of those will be gradually sold on at top prices!

I think that the sheer number of radios was the factor that kept the prices much lower than we anticipated.

David.

I'd have thought that the prices were about right when you add it commission and VAT.

As to the sheer number, whether it's one or a dozen, access to the auction is open to anyone, anywhere who wants an 1155, so there will always be many more potential buyers than auction lots. Ultimately the price paid will be the market price for the item, for what is, after all, a 'dust gatherer' which has no utilitarian value in it' original state, yet has a much lower intrinsic value if modified to be a functional radio.

It's commonplace to see all sorts of radios offered for sale on auction sites at fanciful 'buy it now' prices. Same item gets listed over and over again in the vain hope that someone will bite. Asking is one thing - buying is quite another.

If they did all belong to one person, it's yet another sad example of someone not having the discernment to understand the difference between 'collecting' and 'hoarding', but it all made sense to them.

[trh01uk]

David,

I am surprised by your "......if modified to be a functional radio." comment!

There's absolutely no need to make one jot of modification to a R1155 to make it a functional radio - indeed part of a functional amateur station if partnered up with an equally original T1154 transmitter. Naturally you need supporting infrastructure around it - namely power supplies and headset/mic plus morse key - to make it fully functional.

I'm just one of many who have made such "functional" stations, and indeed its been a popular activity for around 30 years I would say, with such stations regularly appearing on the well known AM spots on the 80m amateur band.


Richard

[trh01uk]

I'd be interested to hear whether anyone from the forum did buy one of these R1155s, and whether there was an opportunity to check out the innards before buying? Notably the photos show lots of external detail, but nothing about what might be going on inside - and thus what any restorer would face in trying to get one of these operational.

If you did buy one, what did you find inside?


Richard

[dave walsh]

Several sets were described as Post War possibly indicating no specialist knowledge. The B29/CR200 was relatively unusual. I got one a long time ago and puzzled over it's odd Superhet cicuitry [unlike the CR100 and others in the series]. I finally realised that it was a TRF

Dave W

[m0cemdave]

I've always considered the CR200 to be like a vintage verson of a direct conversion receiver, with its tracking VFO and variable offset. The difference is that modern implementations always use a product detector, but that means they can't reliably receive AM.

[dave walsh]

That's very interesting Dave. Nobody has ever suggested that before-as far as I know [but then I don't know very much] I tend to associate Direct Conversion with QRP for example not the "heavy end" but I know it can be very efficient. Maybe someone else can comment?

Dave W

[Station X]

This thread is going off topic. Please start a new one if you want to discuss direct conversion receivers.

[David G4EBT]

Originally Posted by trh01uk

David,

I am surprised by your "......if modified to be a functional radio." comment!

There's absolutely no need to make one jot of modification to a R1155 to make it a functional radio - indeed part of a functional amateur station if partnered up with an equally original T1154 transmitter. Naturally you need supporting infrastructure around it - namely power supplies and headset/mic plus morse key - to make it fully functional.

I'm just one of many who have made such "functional" stations, and indeed its been a popular activity for around 30 years I would say, with such stations regularly appearing on the well known AM spots on the 80m amateur band.


Richard

Good to know that there are enthusiasts who use the 1155 paired with an 1154 in their original condition. I'm out of touch, but I think that's more the exception than the rule. I hark back to the mid 50 - late 60s, when - apart from those who just wanted to have one in their collection, the norm, as with 19 sets and the like, was to modify them to make them more functional and better suited for SWL/amateur use. Functionality came higher up the list than originality.

Typically, with the 1155, that meant removing the redundant DF stuff, tidying up the front panel, fitting an internal PSU, output stage and speaker. For those that didn't want to go to those lengths, dealers who sold 1155s often offered an external PSU/Output stage. Looked at through todays eyes, they seemed cheap 'back in the day' but they weren't, given that the surplus market was awash with them.

In Sept 1954, I left school. Laskey's advert it Practical Wireless that month offered new 1155s at £11.19s.6d which today, equates to £437. 'Aerial tested second-hand ones were £7.19s.6d = £290 today. P&P was 65p = £23,50, but if the packing was returned (at the buyer's expense, a 10 shilling refund - £18.00. They could supply an external power pack/audio amp with 6" speaker for £5.10s = £190 today, plus 5 shillings P&P (=£9.00).

So all in all, not a 'bargain buy' for impecunious SWLs/Amateurs.

But then nothing was cheap by today's standards.

The same magazine heralded the launch of Vidor's 'My Lady Margaret' 4-valve battery portable at £11.11s (=£420 today) plus batteries - the lowest price in the Vidor range, and a similar price to an R1155.

Practical Wireless and other magazines had countless articles on adapting and improving the performance of 1155 for civilian use, many no doubt written by ex armed services personnel who knew the radio inside out.

I only ever owned one, donated to me in the early 1970s, which I 'repurposed' based on a two-part article in Short Wave magazine. That involved removing all the valve bases and wiring, the DF stuff, magic eye, more or less just retaining the tuned circuit and IFTs, and fitting adaptor plated over the original valve-base holes to use (I think) B9A valves. A new front panel sprayed light grey, built-in PSU, audio stage, speaker and 'S' meter.

It worked well and was more in keeping in a domestic setting, but it was no longer an 1155 of course. Only the tuning dial gave it away. After a few years, I sold it in a clear out. I must try to find the SWM articles on World Radio History.

Every success with your fully functional 1155/1154 set-up Richard.

(I wonder if any of those in the recent sale were every used, or ever will be?)

[trh01uk]

David,

you are quite right that the number of people owning and operating working T1154/R1155 stations is tiny - compared to the amateur radio fraternity as a whole. However, its easy to see from the amateur radio section of this forum (and many other groups) that interest in reversing what amateurs of the 50s/60s did to military surplus equipment is ongoing. The myriad "extra holes", additional controls, and changes to circuitry are frequently referred to as "butchery". Indeed there is still interest in the old PW, SWM etc articles to see exactly what mods were done - so they can be undone! This does seem to be peculiar to military surplus equipment - the numbers of domestic receivers so modified must be absolutely tiny, making their restoration to original working condition relatively simple.

The interest is of course to recapture the original functionality that the designer's intended, which of course for the R1155 was very different for a bomber crew, needing navigational and comms facilities in equal measure, from the average amateur operator sitting in the ground in his shack!

Having said all that, and noting that values now of these receivers goes up according to how much "butchery" has not been done to them, I still think the buyer here paying an average £150 got a bargain. After a buyers premium of 22% and then VAT on top, that equates to £220. Prices elsewhere can easily reach £300 plus for nice examples like these appear to be.


Richard

[Paul Stenning]

Originally Posted by Station X

This thread is going off topic. Please start a new one if you want to discuss direct conversion receivers.

This request was completely ignored by two posts immediately after it, so thread closed.