Thank you for your fascinating set of 5 videos on the Marconi R1155. I particularly enjoyed the forensic way in which you explained how you restored the receiver. Too many similar videos are superficial and skip interesting parts. You proceeded logically and it was a joy to watch you bring the receiver back to life.
Great set of videos. Rebuilt several BC-348s. keeping one which is all original. Same with HRO"s keeping one of those which was modified by a workshop in Montreal to be one of 200 special units. Just picked up an R1155 with DF section complete, opened it to find, it was made on Jan 1st 1941, according to the plate on the chassis,the wiring done by Marconi. almost 100% of the wiring covering just crumbled away wherever I touched it. To me that means a total rewiring job, I intend to restuff all caps etc. But my heart started fluttering when I looked at the coil box and all those wire connections, I figured this is a 12 month job at the time I want to devote to this task. When I get fed up I will look at your video and say there is light at the end of the tunnel David
I listened to the five episodes of your repair and test of the R1155. I didn't think I could suffer some of your patronising of the "alien" equipment, but happy that you realised that the multi-function R1155 and its counterpart R1154, were a set of equipment that was well thought through and worked. However, one thing you should remember, if demeaning RAF equipment in future; for Lancaster operations 50 percent of aircraft and their crews were lost by their 15th mission. That means that a radio set would work for 130 hours before loss and the loss of the 55,500 crew in Bomber Command. Only 10 percent of crews reached their full tour (30 missions in the RAF). These aliens with their alien equipment, achieved a lot with off the shelf equipment. Thanks anyway.
David you should also take a look at my WS-19 video and see if I made any gaffs there as well. I remember when I stumbled on my first Wireless Set 19 and I literally stumbled over it because the Canadian was using it to hold down a tent rope! That thing was my first piece of British Kit, well actually the second because I was familiar with the SCR-522.
You do a great job of repair i love all this type of receivers in the 60s i had a R 107 receiver when i was a young lad i thought it was great but very heavy
The R1155 was my first receiver in 1961, along with a Geloso VFO feeding my homebuilt transmitter with a pair of 811's. Have a few projects waiting, Super Pro RaCal RA17 etc. VA6JP Joe.
i like your videos on theR1155 and the BC348 i've had both receiver 's in the past and i like very much the way you got the R1155 working ! the quality on the 1155 is because england was being bombed by the germans so ethere was not time to build the receiver with the engineering quality that was on the BC348 bombs and Hitlers V1 and later the V2 rockets were also a problem. my mom and dad told me about the bombing we had a lot to deal with!! i am 67years old now i was born 12/52 i did not see any of the war . my dad was in the eighth army under montgomery glad he got back home in one piece.
Greatly enjoyed the series; saw a lot of "modern" caps and a good number of resistors and wondered if the absence of those wax-covered devils meant they had all been changed out or if the 1953 date was a factor.
It may be that there was a depot refurb at one point. The radio had been messed with by a former conversion artist. So a lot of unmods before replacement work started.
Excellent wrap up and comparison, I am partial to the R1155 both in looks and somewhat in performance. I have to say the use of the Radio Handbook method of fixing the drift was far superior!
Very interesting, as usual. Thank you. What I can't easily find (and I guess will be pretty difficult to establish) is the cost to manufacture each of these sets. Bearing in mind that Great Britain had been in economic nosedive since WW1 and that a huge amount of the military's equipment was lost at Dunkirk thus needing urgent, massive replacement, I would expect the R1155 to have been designed for the lowest possible manufacturing cost. The BC-348 looks like the 'absolute best possible' design philosophy and the R1155 the 'good enough' alternative. That said, I haven't encountered reports of unreliability or inadequacy from British, Empire and Commonwealth aviators so I guess the R1155 was indeed 'good enough'.
Nice series OM! I am glad your mentioning substitutes for the VR types. I am restauring right now a 1155, with help of other surplus-interested hams. 73 pe1jas Anton
Terrific work Michael. I've just rewatched the series again as have recently acquired a BC348. Having quite a bit more knowledge of these radios since the first time I watched the series I've gleamed so much more info second time around. Could you let me know please Michael which higher gain valve you used in the BFO on the 1155 to improve stability? I may have one and would love to experiment. Out of interest did you try a q-multiplier on the R1155? Thanks to your other videos I've just acquired a Codar model to have a play with and could easily tweak to raise the frequency for the R1155. Vy 73 de M0IDF
@Jack O'Bean Hello Jack - you perhaps conflate my q re improving the BFO performance with improved VFO stability. My Q is about the former...not the latter. BFO stability is as essential for decent CW performance as VFO stability. I've a lot of experience using period from the 40s and 50s portable or in the intended installations...from warships to Jeeps. I own around 60 such sets and tons of accessories so know exactly what these sets are capable of. I'm also well read from the original sources as have an extensive library of publications from the 20s thro' to the 60s....
Do you no anything about those world war 2 radios the used for the G.I.,s for recreation ,I was someone.repairing on of those ,I been trying to. Find one.if anyone.no ,s what I am talking about please help if you can.with a model type of the year and info would be wonderful.nice video guy
Terrific stuff Michael - i now not only have an 1155 to restore but also a 342. Will make a very interesting pair to compare. Which do you think is the better of the two?
ok, im new subscriber, thanks for your great vids, Im starting with the basic crystal build, but in the video it looks like u wired the example build differently than the wiring diagram....or maybe these eyes are playing tricks on me. any help appreciated, 73 BOB KD9GRP
I can answer this question without watching the video or having ever seen a BC348. BC348 has to be better than R1155 in every respect I can say this because I decided to restore an R1155, actually to make 1 good one out of 3 parts ones. The R1155 is a British made constructional nightmare, this thing is impossible to work on, near enough impossible to disassemble and impossible to put back together again. Perhaps it was to stop the Germans from reverse engineering it, then again I doubt they would ever want to. How they were originally constructed is beyond belief or comprehension, someone , somewhere just decided to make it as difficult as possible to build, it makes working on Japanese monster receivers seem like child's play. I couldn't decide if I wanted it just to look original, or if I wanted it fully working, I decided to go for both at the same time, and also restore the DF section and add all the filter mods that were later officially done by the Air Ministry. and just for laughs, i thought it a good idea to start with a bare chassis and gradually add bits from the other 2 radios. Quite an ambitious project I thought, only to soon realize it's bordering on the impossible. You are either an electrical genius with the dexterity of a contortionist or a sadistic psychopath that set out to deliberately make the impossible seem relatively easy. needless to say I haven't finished my project yet, not even close. however I haven't given up on it totally either. each rainy day it get's a little closer to completion.
I am worn out after the R1155 - so now some guy just gave me an RBA to restore. Just moving it took 2 men. Designed by RCA but built by National. Appears to be LOW frequency only.
Speaking of low frequency - I just was given a monster - the RBA Navy Receiver designed by RCA and this one was built in Malden, Mass. by National Radio Company. Took two of us to move the beast.
Regarding LF receivers I find the HRO is very good on the lower frequency coils sets (50 to 100 kc/s). I also renovated a Royal Navy B41 for HMS Belfast - that went down to 15kc/s! It was excellent for NDBs and Navtex reception.
Thank you for your fascinating set of 5 videos on the Marconi R1155. I particularly enjoyed the forensic way in which you explained how you restored the receiver. Too many similar videos are superficial and skip interesting parts. You proceeded logically and it was a joy to watch you bring the receiver back to life.
Nice series, very much enjoyed it and all your careful and insightful explanations. Thanks & 73...
Loved watching all of this series. I learned a lot, realised I need to learn more but encouraged me to do so. Thanks Mike.
Great set of videos. Rebuilt several BC-348s. keeping one which is all original.
Same with HRO"s keeping one of those which was modified by a workshop in Montreal to be one of 200 special units.
Just picked up an R1155 with DF section complete, opened it to find, it was made on Jan 1st 1941, according to the plate on the chassis,the wiring done by Marconi. almost 100% of the wiring covering just crumbled away wherever I touched it. To me that means a total rewiring job, I intend to restuff all caps etc. But my heart started fluttering when I looked at the coil box and all those wire connections, I figured this is a 12 month job at the time I want to devote to this task. When I get fed up I will look at your video and say there is light at the end of the tunnel
David
Stick with it, there really is light at the end on the tunnel...
I listened to the five episodes of your repair and test of the R1155. I didn't think I could suffer some of your patronising of the "alien" equipment, but happy that you realised that the multi-function R1155 and its counterpart R1154, were a set of equipment that was well thought through and worked. However, one thing you should remember, if demeaning RAF equipment in future; for Lancaster operations 50 percent of aircraft and their crews were lost by their 15th mission. That means that a radio set would work for 130 hours before loss and the loss of the 55,500 crew in Bomber Command. Only 10 percent of crews reached their full tour (30 missions in the RAF). These aliens with their alien equipment, achieved a lot with off the shelf equipment. Thanks anyway.
David you should also take a look at my WS-19 video and see if I made any gaffs there as well. I remember when I stumbled on my first Wireless Set 19 and I literally stumbled over it because the Canadian was using it to hold down a tent rope! That thing was my first piece of British Kit, well actually the second because I was familiar with the SCR-522.
Well done with the difficult restoration, the military boat anchors are hardest to work on in my opinion - Bravo and what a nice old receiver.
Any time you can weave Benny Hill and his beauties into a video, you've got my thumbs-up. Nice radios, too, BTW.
Ha. Thanks for watching these! Check out my D DAY coms videos.
You do a great job of repair i love all this type of receivers in the 60s i had a R 107 receiver when i was a young lad i thought it was great but very heavy
The R1155 was my first receiver in 1961, along with a Geloso VFO feeding my homebuilt transmitter with a pair of 811's. Have a few projects waiting, Super Pro RaCal RA17 etc.
VA6JP Joe.
It was quite an adventure, working on that set!
A really useful video series thanks for taking the time.
I was out of my element on this one and had to assume that all would be well in the end!
i like your videos on theR1155 and the BC348 i've had both receiver 's in the past and i like very much the way you got the R1155 working ! the quality on the 1155 is because england was being bombed by the germans so ethere was not time to build the receiver with the engineering quality that was on the BC348 bombs and Hitlers V1 and later the V2 rockets were also a problem.
my mom and dad told me about the bombing we had a lot to deal with!! i am 67years old now i was born 12/52 i did not see any of the war . my dad was in the eighth army under montgomery glad he got back home in one piece.
One of my favorite books, William Orr! Enjoyed your videos .
That series was well done. Thank you.
73
Carl KD8SKG
Love the quote. Thanks for videos, you SIR are my new favorite source for retro-technical radio! 73, de W1ADE k
Greatly enjoyed the series; saw a lot of "modern" caps and a good number of resistors and wondered if the absence of those wax-covered devils meant they had all been changed out or if the 1953 date was a factor.
It may be that there was a depot refurb at one point. The radio had been messed with by a former conversion artist. So a lot of unmods before replacement work started.
Excellent wrap up and comparison, I am partial to the R1155 both in looks and somewhat in performance. I have to say the use of the Radio Handbook method of fixing the drift was far superior!
After watching this 2 years ago I finally obtained an 1155 myself in decent condion and look forward to bring one back to life myself.
Outstanding! Great series. Thank you.
Very interesting, as usual. Thank you.
What I can't easily find (and I guess will be pretty difficult to establish) is the cost to manufacture each of these sets. Bearing in mind that Great Britain had been in economic nosedive since WW1 and that a huge amount of the military's equipment was lost at Dunkirk thus needing urgent, massive replacement, I would expect the R1155 to have been designed for the lowest possible manufacturing cost. The BC-348 looks like the 'absolute best possible' design philosophy and the R1155 the 'good enough' alternative. That said, I haven't encountered reports of unreliability or inadequacy from British, Empire and Commonwealth aviators so I guess the R1155 was indeed 'good enough'.
Nice series OM!
I am glad your mentioning substitutes for the VR types. I am restauring right now a 1155, with help of other surplus-interested hams.
73 pe1jas Anton
Terrific work Michael. I've just rewatched the series again as have recently acquired a BC348. Having quite a bit more knowledge of these radios since the first time I watched the series I've gleamed so much more info second time around. Could you let me know please Michael which higher gain valve you used in the BFO on the 1155 to improve stability? I may have one and would love to experiment. Out of interest did you try a q-multiplier on the R1155? Thanks to your other videos I've just acquired a Codar model to have a play with and could easily tweak to raise the frequency for the R1155. Vy 73 de M0IDF
@Jack O'Bean Hello Jack - you perhaps conflate my q re improving the BFO performance with improved VFO stability. My Q is about the former...not the latter. BFO stability is as essential for decent CW performance as VFO stability. I've a lot of experience using period from the 40s and 50s portable or in the intended installations...from warships to Jeeps. I own around 60 such sets and tons of accessories so know exactly what these sets are capable of. I'm also well read from the original sources as have an extensive library of publications from the 20s thro' to the 60s....
Interesting video! are you going to do any more retro QRP projects?
You must be worn out after restoring the R1155!
Do you no anything about those world war 2 radios the used for the G.I.,s for recreation ,I was someone.repairing on of those ,I been trying to. Find one.if anyone.no ,s what I am talking about please help if you can.with a model type of the year and info would be wonderful.nice video guy
Terrific stuff Michael - i now not only have an 1155 to restore but also a 342. Will make a very interesting pair to compare. Which do you think is the better of the two?
The 342 is my guess but I have no direct knowledge of that radio as I have not restored one - yet.
very good 5 video from ON4KMC
ok, im new subscriber, thanks for your great vids, Im starting with the basic crystal build, but in the video it looks like u wired the example build differently than the wiring diagram....or maybe these eyes are playing tricks on me. any help appreciated, 73 BOB KD9GRP
if had r1155 it was as you said.
I can answer this question without watching the video or having ever seen a BC348.
BC348 has to be better than R1155 in every respect
I can say this because I decided to restore an R1155, actually to make 1 good one out of 3 parts ones.
The R1155 is a British made constructional nightmare, this thing is impossible to work on, near enough impossible to disassemble and impossible to put back together again. Perhaps it was to stop the Germans from reverse engineering it, then again I doubt they would ever want to.
How they were originally constructed is beyond belief or comprehension, someone , somewhere just decided to make it as difficult as possible to build, it makes working on Japanese monster receivers seem like child's play.
I couldn't decide if I wanted it just to look original, or if I wanted it fully working, I decided to go for both at the same time, and also restore the DF section and add all the filter mods that were later officially done by the Air Ministry.
and just for laughs, i thought it a good idea to start with a bare chassis and gradually add bits from the other 2 radios.
Quite an ambitious project I thought, only to soon realize it's bordering on the impossible.
You are either an electrical genius with the dexterity of a contortionist or a sadistic psychopath that set out to deliberately make the impossible seem relatively easy.
needless to say I haven't finished my project yet, not even close.
however I haven't given up on it totally either.
each rainy day it get's a little closer to completion.
Ha! Just my luck to have stumbled on a rat infested model to bring back. I didn't know mate - so it was a journey of discovery at every step.
2 versions of the 1155 actually covered 160 meters...
Lee, WA8QFE
I am worn out after the R1155 - so now some guy just gave me an RBA to restore. Just moving it took 2 men. Designed by RCA but built by National. Appears to be LOW frequency only.
Speaking of low frequency - I just was given a monster - the RBA Navy Receiver designed by RCA and this one was built in Malden, Mass. by National Radio Company. Took two of us to move the beast.
I’ll be looking forward to your restoration of the RBA, they have a nice write up about one that was restored on radioblvd
Regarding LF receivers I find the HRO is very good on the lower frequency coils sets (50 to 100 kc/s). I also renovated a Royal Navy B41 for HMS Belfast - that went down to 15kc/s! It was excellent for NDBs and Navtex reception.
bfo side use odd switch
Tosser ? Is that not a Kiwi Wanker?
The Brits use the term that way too. I think it's old hat now.