Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration

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12th Jun 2016, 12:37 pm #1

Old-Git Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Diode
Hi All,

Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Oxford, Oxon, UK.
Posts: 7
I've got a couple of 1939 dated Set D, Mk V telephones and an old 6 line switchboard that I'd like to
get up and running. Any advice on either would be much appreciated and any copies of manuals for
either would be wonderful, I don't care if they're originals, photocopies or PDF's just want to read up
on these. Below are some pics of the switchboard, various markings indicate that it's a GEC Universal 6
line switchboard, serial no 733. I have a couple more pics and I'll upload these in a follow-up post in a
few moments.
Attached Thumbnails

12th Jun 2016, 7:17 pm #2

Pellseinydd Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Heptode
I don't think I've got my copies of the manuals but you may get some info from here
Join Date: Jul 2007 http://www.royalsignals.org.uk/line.html .
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 569 The switchboard came in two sizes 'Switchboard, Universal Call, 10 line' and the smaller less common
version 'Switchboard, Universal Call. 6 Line'.

The telephones on the extensions could call the exchange with 'buzzer' calling from the likes of the Tele
D MkV or with magneto calling from Tele F, H, L, J and the like. Yours appear to be missing the line
cords with their pulleys. On the 10 line version they were contained in a separate box affixed to usually
the RH side of the switchboard. There was also a 4.5 volt battery required to light the lamps and ring
the under-dome 'night bell' when a call came in. A relay would operate to the rectified AC from the
incoming call and it would lock in until cord was plugged into the jack of that line to answer the call.

I used to have a rare unit which attached to the left hand-side which allowed one or two lines to a
public exchange to be connected - if necessary a dial could be plugged into the unit if the public
exchange was automatic.

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Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum 6/24/20, 3:16 AM

I remember that we had a 10 line UC switchboard whilst I was 'playing soldiers' - I was a very young
Royal Signals 2/Lt and I was serving with none other than the Earl Kitchener of Khartoum - shows how
long ago!

12th Jun 2016, 8:36 pm #3

Old-Git Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Diode
Hi Pellseinydd,

thank you for the detailed reply, I do have other bits and pieces that came with this setup; it came as a
lot from a provincial theatre where it was used for backstage comms so it did all work at some stage.

Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Oxford, Oxon, UK.
Posts: 7
I shall have a search through the ancillary pieces to see if I can identify any 'line cords with pulleys",
there's a box that was attached to the side which does have a lot of stuff inside and there's also an
aluminium battery box, sans battery. Good to know that I need a 4.5 volt battery for it though. I
believe the Set D phones used a 3 volt battery so armed with both pieces of information I am in a
better position to play around with it all!

Below are a few more pictures of the switchboard that I could not post earlier due to the 5 picture limit
on posts. If I can get time to photograph the ancillary pieces I'll try to upload those to this thread.

Rgds
Pete
Attached Thumbnails

12th Jun 2016, 9:57 pm #4

Dave Moll Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Dekatron
The Telephone Set "D" (and indeed "F", "J" and "L") do indeed run off 3V (unless you replace the
transmitter inset with an electret - which needs a minimum of 4.5V). This would originally have been
provided from 2x "Battery Dry No 12" - see image below.

For interest, I also include a picture (though, unfortunately, not the actual item) I have of a ten-line
version of your concentrator, complete with cords.
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria Attached Thumbnails
(CA13), UK
Posts: 4,571

__________________
Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)

12th Jun 2016, 10:07 pm #5

Old-Git Thanks for those pics Dave, very interesting indeed. Time to start searching for sui

Diode
Thanks for those pics Dave, very interesting indeed. Time to start searching for suitable batteries
methinks, any recommendations on where to look... other than the dreaded eBay?

Here's a quick pic of the ancillary pieces and the box they came in, alongside the aluminium battery
box. Can't think why they've connected one of the leads to a bell but hey ho!

In addition to this I have five Set D, Mk V telephones, one of which still has the original brass plate

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Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum 6/24/20, 3:16 AM

Join Date: Jun 2016 with the aide memoir for the old Phonetic Alphabet, i.e. pre US involvement in the war (Y = Yorker, D=
Location: Oxford, Oxon, UK. Don, etc.)
Posts: 7

I think I shall drop a line to the Signals Museum tomorrow to see if they can help out with pamphlets
for these, thanks for the link BTW.

Pete
Attached Thumbnails

13th Jun 2016, 7:31 am #6

Dave Moll Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Dekatron
No. 12s (albeit long dead) do turn up on eBay from time to time. As I've mentioned before on the
forum, the cell inside is almost identical to one quarter of a 996 lantern battery - so one such battery
can be used to renovate four no. 12s.

As far as powering field telephones goes, the simplest approach is to stick a couple of "D" or "C" cells
into a holder and wire that in place of the 12s.
Join Date: Feb 2005
__________________
Location: West Cumbria
(CA13), UK Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
Posts: 4,571

13th Jun 2016, 7:38 am #7

Dave Moll Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Dekatron
The cord at the right of your picture looks like the correct one for interconnections in your concentrator.
Be wary of the modern ones you show - if they are fitted with standard 1/4" mono audio jacks, they
are a little fatter than the proper switchboard plugs and may strain the terminals in the sockets.
__________________
Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria
(CA13), UK
Posts: 4,571

13th Jun 2016, 10:20 am #8

Old-Git Re: Seeking manuals for old WWII British Army Phones and Switchboard

Diode
Hi Dave,

Thanks for all the info, great stuff, especially the info on the batteries. Sadly when I received this
setup, several years ago now, it came with those modern jacks so it's a fair bet that the Theatre folk
were using them in the switchboard for quite some time. The chest microphone is dated 1939 so I'm
assuming that this equipment was all bought, by the Theatre, in the immediate post-war period and
had been in continuous use up to the point when the ubiquity of mobile phones made them redundant!
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Oxford, Oxon, UK.
Posts: 7

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