R1155A Receiver

This radio started it all off!!

How I got this radio

This is the radio responsible for getting me in to amateur radio in the first place. It was found by a house clearance company who didn’t know what to do with it, and thus given to me. I have had many happy hours listening to both amateur and broadcast HF stations.

 Recently G0SJR Rick another ham had a look at it, and gave me some mode information about it, including some circuit diagram, so I’m going to dust down my old valve skills and have a prod about.

A bit of history on the R1155A

As I understand it, this receiver was used in both Lancaster Bombers, and later in costal patrol boats. The cases used in the bombers were made of aluminium presumably for the weight, whilst the versions used in the patrol boads had steel cases. Looking at the Model Number of this particular unit, it was too early to be used in the costal patrol boats, but the case is made of steel. Perhaps it is a composite of old and new at the time, or perhaps it was put together after the second world war from bits 🙂

Some Pictures

The unit is currently rather dusty, but is still in a workable condition. It’s most notable feature is the ‘magic eye’ signal meter.

An image showing the inside of the receiver. The valves are still in quite reasonable condition, however I’m not so sure about the capacitors.

The alignment controls for the receiver are the red bolts visible at the back below.

Inside the case at the back is some more information. I don’t know what the marking on the case in black is, but the label to the left is the valve replacement table.

A close up of the valve replacement table, showing both RAF, and civilian part numbersR1155A Inside Back Case Valve Table View