15W.S.E.b RESTORATION WORK |
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The 15W.S.E.b is one of my favorite Wehrmacht transceivers. It's relatively complex, powerful and is one of the few devices built to operate with the Feldfernschreiber. When I received this unit, I knew that no one had touched it since 1943. There was a thick layer of dirt on it and the plexiglass on the frequency readout window was cracked. Cleaninig the dirt off with soap and water revealed a nice original paint finish with a small amount of oxidation to the face-plate. The oxidation was immediately halted with silicon spray solution (lubricant), applied where needed on the face plate. After taking the device out of the cover, I noticed it was in excellent and untouched condition. The trimmer corvers were all intact - a sight not often seen on these units. This means no one messed with it after the war. My next step was to replace the plexiglass covering the frequency window. Thinking it could have been accessed from the front, I unscrewed the four retaining screws, only to watch the old window drop down behind the face-plate. I then had to remove the faceplate, make a new plexiglass window, and install it. That's what is happening in the first page of this subject.
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| The dirty 15W.S.E.b |
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| Original paint. |
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| Front panel after cleaning. |
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| Left side of the transceiver. All original trimmer covers in place. |
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| Rear of the transceiver |
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| Right side of the transceiver. |
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| Top of the transceiver. |
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| The two final stage transmitter amplifier tube sockets. |
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| Top of the transceiver showing the first heterodyne, mixer and HF amplifier. |
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| The variable tuning capacitor section in the middle of the transceiver. |
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Detail of the lower reverse of the transceiver. Left to right: modulator, 2nd heterodyne, audio-frequency amplifier. "Warning! During operation, do not pull tubes, as this may damage the other tubes" |
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| When operating with a 12 volt battery, the filament volt-meter should be in the red zone for 5 minutes or later, after turning on "send-receive tg" operating mode. If the indicator is not in the red sector, then the variable resistor A must be adjusted by moving the clamp on it. |
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| Resistor "A", as described in the instructions above. |
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| Transmitter oscillator tube. |
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| Coils. |
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| Voltmeter.....needs to be removed. |
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| Voltmeter hanging by wires. |
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| Attachment of the ammeter. |
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| Front panel after cleanup, and removal of all control handles and meters. |
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| Voltmeter removed. |
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| The elaborate mechanical system behind the control panel. |
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| The frequency range switch control mechanism. |
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| This is the fine frequency control mechanics. The structure on the right controls tension of the fine adjustment knob by pushing the curved wire against the knob stem. |
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| Detail of the very advanced mechanics. |
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| 896 scale number matches the one on the reverse of the face plate. |
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| Frequency scale removed. |
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| Closeup of the frequency scale mechanism ball bearing. |
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| The mask which shifts mechanically to indicate frequency range. |
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| The threaded washer which kept the frequency range mask in place. It was very difficult to remove it. A special tool had to be made. |
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| The frequency dial disk. |
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| Serial number of the transceiver is written in pencil on the reverse of the disk. |
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| Waffenamt 506 |
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| Reverse of the face-plate. |
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| "896" |
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| "Ra-10" |
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| "R|8" |
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| Reverse of the coarse frequency adjustment knob. |
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| Reverse of the grounding lug for the dummy load. |
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| Components of the frequency read-out window. I used the original broken Plexiglas window as a template to cut out a new one, from modern material. |
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| Reverse of the face-plate. The white bracket presses the Plexiglas between the faceplate and the front bracket. These are the nuts that fell behind the front panel when the screws were unscrewed from the front. |
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| Detail of the ammeter. |
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| Detail of the ammeter. |
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| The vacuum tube voltmeter. On the left side, marked with the "E" is the voltmeter for the receiver, and on the right side, marked "S" is the voltmeter for the transmitter. Red is for filament, and blue is for anode voltage. |
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| The ammeter. |
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| Both meters side-by-side. |
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| Antenna connector. |
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| Communication mode selector switch |
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| The manufacture plate and the Waffenamt stamp "Wa.A. 506". The number 085069 is in a second series of which this device was manufactured. This series (83,000 - 86,000) mostly manufactured in 1943, had light-blue labels on the control panel. |
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| The intact 400 mA fuse taken out of the set. |
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