HRO Coil Boxes
All HRO's through the -60 used plug in coil sets to cover the various bands. HRO's sold to the ham market came standard with four coil sets that covered the general coverage shortwave bands and the 80, 40, 20 and 10 meter ham bands. National conveniently provided a wooden box to store the three coils that weren't in current use. The box was of simple construction, four sides joined by box (a.k.a. finger) joints and a one piece bottom nailed to the sides. The finished box was only roughly sanded, if at all, and only a light stain was applied. Similar boxes holding five, rather than three coil sets, are also fairly common.
The Portable Storage Box Description
The box we came across is somewhat different than the standard HRO box. It consists of two pieces, the standard five coil wooden box and a hinged steel lid. The lid is kept shut using two steel "hook and post" latches. Each latch has a clever flat spring that lock the latch in its closed position to prevent accidental opening.
Our box was manufactured by AWA, Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, Limited. AWA was the largest electronics firm in Australia during WWII. It produced versions of the HRO under license from the National Company to supply the U.S. Signal Corps with receivers in the Pacific theatre.
Restoration
When we first received the box, it was in poor shape. The lid was hanging by one hinge, every piece of wood had at least one major split (it is obvious that AWA did not use kiln dried lumber to construct these boxes) and the dark gray paint on the wood was flaking off. The good news was that it appeared to be complete and original and the paint on the underside of the lid was almost perfect.
The first order of business was to disassemble the box and repair the split wood. (No attempt was made to disassemble the box joints, though). Elmers Professional Carpenters Glue and woodworker's clamps were used to rejoin the split wood. The bottom of the box was significantly warped. So after the splits were repaired, the wood was dampened with water on both sides, clamped to the flat steel surface of our table saw and allowed to dry for a couple of days.
All of the wood pieces were reassembled using wood glue and 1d nails. We had an auto paint supply computer color match the gray paint on the inside of the box lid and create a quart of acrylic enamel paint. We then gave everything three coats of paint.
All HRO's through the -60 used plug in coil sets to cover the various bands. HRO's sold to the ham market came standard with four coil sets that covered the general coverage shortwave bands and the 80, 40, 20 and 10 meter ham bands. National conveniently provided a wooden box to store the three coils that weren't in current use. The box was of simple construction, four sides joined by box (a.k.a. finger) joints and a one piece bottom nailed to the sides. The finished box was only roughly sanded, if at all, and only a light stain was applied. Similar boxes holding five, rather than three coil sets, are also fairly common.
The Portable Storage Box Description
The box we came across is somewhat different than the standard HRO box. It consists of two pieces, the standard five coil wooden box and a hinged steel lid. The lid is kept shut using two steel "hook and post" latches. Each latch has a clever flat spring that lock the latch in its closed position to prevent accidental opening.
Our box was manufactured by AWA, Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, Limited. AWA was the largest electronics firm in Australia during WWII. It produced versions of the HRO under license from the National Company to supply the U.S. Signal Corps with receivers in the Pacific theatre.
Restoration
When we first received the box, it was in poor shape. The lid was hanging by one hinge, every piece of wood had at least one major split (it is obvious that AWA did not use kiln dried lumber to construct these boxes) and the dark gray paint on the wood was flaking off. The good news was that it appeared to be complete and original and the paint on the underside of the lid was almost perfect.
The first order of business was to disassemble the box and repair the split wood. (No attempt was made to disassemble the box joints, though). Elmers Professional Carpenters Glue and woodworker's clamps were used to rejoin the split wood. The bottom of the box was significantly warped. So after the splits were repaired, the wood was dampened with water on both sides, clamped to the flat steel surface of our table saw and allowed to dry for a couple of days.
All of the wood pieces were reassembled using wood glue and 1d nails. We had an auto paint supply computer color match the gray paint on the inside of the box lid and create a quart of acrylic enamel paint. We then gave everything three coats of paint.
Click on any picture to enlarge it
The AWA HRO coil box