I still have one from the late '50s. Bought it from Z and I Aero services in Tottenham Court Road for £8. Father took me into London to collect it. Made an external power supply audio amplifier. and had some years of enthusiastic listening a long wire up to a nearby tree. You could whizz the outer tuning dial and the radio would respond with a sweeping noise telling you what was there to listen to. It was almost like today's internet! Years later, in adulthood after house moves, the power supply got lost. Then I tried to build an internal supply which wouldn't work. I suspected failed capacitors and having no test equipment, I left the project. Further many years later, with these so helpful videos, I realise that with their help I could tackle the job, so I'll have a go. Thanks MIKROWAVE1.
I had one when I was a kid back in the 1960's, and it worked well until it stopped one day. My dad said he'd pay for me to fix it (due to nostalgia from his time in the RAAF). But a lot of the rubber insulation on many wires was perished, and it was beyond my skills at the time anyway, so nothing came of that. I don't know what happened to it, but certainly wish I'd kept track of it - would love to have a go at fixing it now.
Back in the 60s when I was a little boy it was very usual to see those radio receivers in Spain. Marconi had a big factory in Madrid and had modified and refinished them to be sold to the genersl public. The frecuency range was the same but they were not provided with FM. I remember to se them on shops, pubs, schools, work centres, restaurant, in the home of my friends.
Problably you are right. Ham radio were equipped with Collins, RCA, Keenwood, Hammarlund, Hallicrafters .... cos obtain the real transmitter for the R1155 was very difficult.
Interestingly the last of the Lancaster RAF bombers was retired in 1953/54 so that date code could possibly be a depot tag as to when the unit was removed from service. I would imagine the receivers were still serviceable and maybe were put to other uses. Britain was in dire financial straights after the war and I don't imagine that anything that was at all useful in the military warehouses was discarded.
@@MIKROWAVE1: as war surplus, they were pretty common in the UK as ham radio receivers, some were even converted to home entertainment radios by DIY types. There's a few TH-cam videos around
lubie Twoje filmy,tego typu/nie znam angelskiego ale,wzrokowo ,patrzanc,domyslam sie o co sie rozchodzi,a patrzanc sie ucze.pozdrawiam Krzysztof z Warszawy.
A bloke I used to work with had an R1155 when he was a 16year old(a very long time ago!!!). He didnt have a licence and was taking part in in a pirate net using a home made transmitter when he was busted by the GPO (who dealt with radio licensing in the UK at that time). The GPO seized and destroyed it. My friend got fined a weeks wages for his sins--destroying the radio was a far worse crime.
I had one when I was 15 or so...(Also,a very long time ago!)...but I lacked the knowledge and the equipment to do anything with it. I made a PSU and got it to light up...but that was the sum of my endeavours! Sadly, I eventually sold it for a fiver (five pounds)..... Yeah, the GPO took a very dim view of people messing with "their" airwaves. As you say, the equipment's destruction was a far greater crime. They should have put it into storage and returned it to the lad when he got licensed. Besides, the Rx was not the offending item...that would be the Tx. Very draconian!
@@patagualianmostly7437 I went on holidays to Spain last year. The owner of the place we stayed had one up on the shelf in the dining room, it belonged to his dad and worked up until a few years ago when the PSU died. He hadnt got around to fixing it yet but now its probably a major job to get it working again changing all the capacitors etc as they are seventy years old
My dad's late cousin was in the RAF 625 Boomer command as a wireless radio operator I love to own one in full working order and along with the transmitter I am in the North West UK
I just found my 'WPE' certificate from the early 60s, when I was 12 or so, using an R1155A and a McMurdo Silver 802 superhet with the brown bakelite plug-in coils in yellow boxes. Dennis VE3BPJ / VE2IZ, my Elmer then LARC later MARC, had a stack of R1155 and visitors to his shack would grab a few to sit on. I always remember the fascinating magic-eye tuning indicator. My power supply was in a small coffee tin. When I left home I put it all on the road side and a local ham in Beaurepaire QC asked if he could take it, nice man. Even more fun than my old Icom PCR-1000. Finding all of this has sparked my interest again but I know I will never master code. Playing with SDRplay now and RTL dongles. Roy VE3PE1ZO / VE2PE1KE
@@MIKROWAVE1 This reminds me as a pre-teen disassembling the R1155A tuning dials and learning about planetary drives. Even the McMurdo-Silver had two tuning gears connected by springs that eliminated backlash. All of this technology is now lost when an infant can program an 8-pin ARM 32 bit microcontroller for £0.50 and emulate the whole thing. I would take a plane load of old geezers with their servos and resolvers and vacuum tubes and tell them not to auger a 737 into the sea by building a real autopilot. We are seriously doomed but I at least have a memory of when computers could not make a mistake.
Thank You for the interesting point with regards to the metal jacketed valves, has in the example with the 6K8 there. The fact that the lower base of the valve there is not going to fit into the chassis mounted base with a raised shoulder. It is years and years ago since I have played about with valve radios and I had either forgot about that or just did not realise the fact. 73 de John - G0WXU
The date marked internally is the refurbish date. Post WW2 they were re manufactured depending how much work they needed. The receivers were not manufactured post WW2, they were considered obsolete when they entered service, but during war a bad design is considered good, if you know how it performs. A lot of them have a number on the front in the format R1/54 which means rebuild January 1954.
That's good information...Thanks. As Mikrowave acknowledged, he now agrees it was definitely wartime...not "Made in 1954" Your post clarifies that. Cheers.
After the war R1155's were constantly offered for sale and also other ex WD surplus radio equipment as advertised in the pages of the Exchange and Mart . I was tempted to buy one but as a boy hadn't the technical knowledge to link the set up with any other equipment possibly needed. Cant remember the price but were possibly available for about £20 . Brian Phillips.
is there anyway that Mallard Vacuum tubes could be adapted to replace non-obtainable vacuum tubes or if it is not possible to get it working what about replacing all parts except the tuning parts and go with a Nuvistor tube for the RF preamplifier and a solid state Tayloe Mixer and vacuum tube operational-amps driving an analogue phasing combiner which drives a pre-driver stage created with Raytheon Wire-Ended vacuum tubes for the output stage to drive a 300R speaker.
I would probably have removed the tube supports (or enlarged the holes in them), rewired the sockets, and used either the metal or GT versions of the tubes. Nothing wrong with the G versions, but they can be as rare as hen's teeth today. I would also opt to keep the 6V6 output tube (it can be replaced by a 6F6, 6K6, or 6G6G (lower power) to drive a speaker.
You missed a big clue as to this sets history when you held up one of the original valves to the camera - "Made in Canada". Lancs and R1155s were also made in Canada during and after the War so I would guess it was Canadian made for the RCAF Regards and good luck with the restoration. 73 GW4WOV
+Kevin Williams All of the valves are UK except for the added 6V6 output stage which is Canada. As I start to dig around I am finding 0.1 uF caps marked made in England 1940. Also Air Ministry Reference Number 1003028. So I am changing my tune and think this is early and the date is more likely early wartime.
Actually I tripped over a Wireless Set 19 which was holding up a tent as a guy wire anchor. True story. I gave the guy 5 dollars for it as I limped away with it.
I still have one from the late '50s. Bought it from Z and I Aero services in Tottenham Court Road for £8. Father took me into London to collect it. Made an external power supply audio amplifier. and had some years of enthusiastic listening a long wire up to a nearby tree. You could whizz the outer tuning dial and the radio would respond with a sweeping noise telling you what was there to listen to. It was almost like today's internet! Years later, in adulthood after house moves, the power supply got lost. Then I tried to build an internal supply which wouldn't work. I suspected failed capacitors and having no test equipment, I left the project. Further many years later, with these so helpful videos, I realise that with their help I could tackle the job, so I'll have a go. Thanks MIKROWAVE1.
I love the look of this unit. The dial looks so much like my first receiver, a Marconi CSR5 from WW2. My all time favourite boat anchor.
That tuti fruiti dial is very cool. But the dial and Vernier sysrem took a while to figure out and restore.
I had one when I was a kid back in the 1960's, and it worked well until it stopped one day. My dad said he'd pay for me to fix it (due to nostalgia from his time in the RAAF).
But a lot of the rubber insulation on many wires was perished, and it was beyond my skills at the time anyway, so nothing came of that.
I don't know what happened to it, but certainly wish I'd kept track of it - would love to have a go at fixing it now.
Back in the 60s when I was a little boy it was very usual to see those radio receivers in Spain. Marconi had a big factory in Madrid and had modified and refinished them to be sold to the genersl public. The frecuency range was the same but they were not provided with FM. I remember to se them on shops, pubs, schools, work centres, restaurant, in the home of my friends.
I wonder if this is the reason Amateur Radio is popular in Spain?
Problably you are right. Ham radio were equipped with Collins, RCA, Keenwood, Hammarlund, Hallicrafters .... cos obtain the real transmitter for the R1155 was very difficult.
@@micarri I borrowed one of these from G3NOM now SK back in the 1970s as a child. It spurred me on to get my licence.
I have one in my pile of to-do projects, so looking forward to seeing this!
Interestingly the last of the Lancaster RAF bombers was retired in 1953/54 so that date code could possibly be a depot tag as to when the unit was removed from service. I would imagine the receivers were still serviceable and maybe were put to other uses. Britain was in dire financial straights after the war and I don't imagine that anything that was at all useful in the military warehouses was discarded.
One of My dad's old WWII RAF Aircrew jobs as AG/Sigs was using one of these!
Wow. I had no idea what I was in for when I took this on. We do not see these sets here in North America.
@@MIKROWAVE1: as war surplus, they were pretty common in the UK as ham radio receivers, some were even converted to home entertainment radios by DIY types. There's a few TH-cam videos around
Great upload thanks
lubie Twoje filmy,tego typu/nie znam angelskiego ale,wzrokowo ,patrzanc,domyslam sie o co sie rozchodzi,a patrzanc sie ucze.pozdrawiam Krzysztof z Warszawy.
A bloke I used to work with had an R1155 when he was a 16year old(a very long time ago!!!). He didnt have a licence and was taking part in in a pirate net using a home made transmitter when he was busted by the GPO (who dealt with radio licensing in the UK at that time). The GPO seized and destroyed it. My friend got fined a weeks wages for his sins--destroying the radio was a far worse crime.
I had one when I was 15 or so...(Also,a very long time ago!)...but I lacked the knowledge and the equipment to do anything with it.
I made a PSU and got it to light up...but that was the sum of my endeavours!
Sadly, I eventually sold it for a fiver (five pounds).....
Yeah, the GPO took a very dim view of people messing with "their" airwaves.
As you say, the equipment's destruction was a far greater crime. They should have put it into storage and returned it to the lad when he got licensed.
Besides, the Rx was not the offending item...that would be the Tx.
Very draconian!
@@patagualianmostly7437 I went on holidays to Spain last year. The owner of the place we stayed had one up on the shelf in the dining room, it belonged to his dad and worked up until a few years ago when the PSU died. He hadnt got around to fixing it yet but now its probably a major job to get it working again changing all the capacitors etc as they are seventy years old
What a bummer. Do you know what frequency the pirate net was on? They tended to use 6.7Mhz and 3.47Mhz below the 40 and 80 metre ham bands
@@Isochest I think it was just below top band
@@m_l_hill Shared with shipping so probably a bad spot. I know of someone who got busted using the Trawler Band about 40 years ago
MIKROWAVE1 your R. 11.55 SHORTWAVE RECEIVER 1955 Is cool
My dad's late cousin was in the RAF 625 Boomer command as a wireless radio operator I love to own one in full working order and along with the transmitter I am in the North West UK
I just found my 'WPE' certificate from the early 60s, when I was 12 or so, using an R1155A and a McMurdo Silver 802 superhet with the brown bakelite plug-in coils in yellow boxes. Dennis VE3BPJ / VE2IZ, my Elmer then LARC later MARC, had a stack of R1155 and visitors to his shack would grab a few to sit on. I always remember the fascinating magic-eye tuning indicator. My power supply was in a small coffee tin. When I left home I put it all on the road side and a local ham in Beaurepaire QC asked if he could take it, nice man. Even more fun than my old Icom PCR-1000. Finding all of this has sparked my interest again but I know I will never master code. Playing with SDRplay now and RTL dongles. Roy VE3PE1ZO / VE2PE1KE
Between the colorful dial with the weird reduction drive and the Magic Eye this thing wins the cool contest.
@@MIKROWAVE1 This reminds me as a pre-teen disassembling the R1155A tuning dials and learning about planetary drives. Even the McMurdo-Silver had two tuning gears connected by springs that eliminated backlash. All of this technology is now lost when an infant can program an 8-pin ARM 32 bit microcontroller for £0.50 and emulate the whole thing. I would take a plane load of old geezers with their servos and resolvers and vacuum tubes and tell them not to auger a 737 into the sea by building a real autopilot. We are seriously doomed but I at least have a memory of when computers could not make a mistake.
There were several versions and two band setups: R1155, R1155A, R1155B, R1155C,
R1155D, R1155E, R1155F, R1155M: 75 - 500 kHz, 600 - 1500 kHz, 3.0 - 18.5 MHz.
R1154L, R1155N: 200 - 500 kHz, 0.6 - 18.5 MHz
Thank You for the interesting point with regards to the metal jacketed valves, has in the example with the 6K8 there. The fact that the lower base of the valve there is not going to fit into the chassis mounted base with a raised shoulder. It is years and years ago since I have played about with valve radios and I had either forgot about that or just did not realise the fact. 73 de John - G0WXU
The ech35 was used a lot in UK for the frequency changer, same pinout as 6k8
The author clearly is unaware that all tubes had a screening can, and that is the purpose of what he calls Tube Supports.
The date marked internally is the refurbish date. Post WW2 they were re manufactured depending how much work they needed. The receivers were not manufactured post WW2, they were considered obsolete when they entered service, but during war a bad design is considered good, if you know how it performs. A lot of them have a number on the front in the format R1/54 which means rebuild January 1954.
That's good information...Thanks. As Mikrowave acknowledged, he now agrees it was definitely wartime...not "Made in 1954" Your post clarifies that. Cheers.
After the war R1155's were constantly offered for sale and also other ex WD surplus radio equipment as advertised in the pages of the Exchange and Mart . I was tempted to buy one but as a boy hadn't the technical knowledge to link the set up with any other equipment possibly needed. Cant remember the price but were possibly available for about £20 . Brian Phillips.
is there anyway that Mallard Vacuum tubes could be adapted to replace non-obtainable vacuum tubes or if it is not possible to get it working what about replacing all parts except the tuning parts and go with a Nuvistor tube for the RF preamplifier and a solid state Tayloe Mixer and vacuum tube operational-amps driving an analogue phasing combiner which drives a pre-driver stage created with Raytheon Wire-Ended vacuum tubes for the output stage to drive a 300R speaker.
I would probably have removed the tube supports (or enlarged the holes in them), rewired the sockets, and used either the metal or GT versions of the tubes. Nothing wrong with the G versions, but they can be as rare as hen's teeth today. I would also opt to keep the 6V6 output tube (it can be replaced by a 6F6, 6K6, or 6G6G (lower power) to drive a speaker.
Mikrowave1 old shortwave RECEIVER wore billed better then new shortwave radios receivers
You missed a big clue as to this sets history when you held up one of the original valves to the camera - "Made in Canada". Lancs and R1155s were also made in Canada during and after the War so I would guess it was Canadian made for the RCAF
Regards and good luck with the restoration.
73 GW4WOV
+Kevin Williams All of the valves are UK except for the added 6V6 output stage which is Canada. As I start to dig around I am finding 0.1 uF caps marked made in England 1940. Also Air Ministry Reference Number 1003028. So I am changing my tune and think this is early and the date is more likely early wartime.
Is this topic still open, I think it as been closed for some years, would be nice to hear from someone.
at the start of the video it sounded like the movie "1984"...........from big brother on the tela promp.
say i have one of those r1155a radios any idea what a fair maket value is
i have been wondering for some time
What is the coverage frequencies of this receiver ?
Look right above your message!
I was loaned one as a child by my "Elmer" G3NOM now SK sadly when I was 13. 73 Bob, G0IMB
You never see these on this side. WS-19's yes but only because RCA made them by the thousands here.
thats in good nik for its age
I kept looking at the tubes on the edge of the table and was afraid of their falling )
Oh yes - when I get going too fast - crash tinkle!
Шкала красивая .... жаль их мало сделали ...
Британцы и немцы любят красочные циферблаты и весы на радио.
Soooo....you tripped over a LANCASTER?? (Rofl)
Actually I tripped over a Wireless Set 19 which was holding up a tent as a guy wire anchor. True story. I gave the guy 5 dollars for it as I limped away with it.