Eddystone Short Wave Manuals

Between 1932 and 1947, Stratton and Company published six journals containing technical articles and construction projects using Eddystone components. These were called the Eddystone Short Wave Manuals and in 1936 they also published a similar journal called the Ultra Short Wave Guide containing tested construction projects. These manuals represent a fascinating insight into the world of Stratton during those early years. They are available for downloading as Adobe PDF files but be warned they are quite large files as some of the manuals are 45 to 50 pages long. They were sold at various prices from 6d (six old pence, 2 1/2 pence in today’s money) and 2/6 (two shillings and sizpence – 12 1/2 pence today). Graeme G3GGL tells me that there is a curiosity with issue No 4: it was originally issued with a final article on “Ultra Short Wave Aerial Systems” and around end of 1938 this was dropped and replaced with a constructional article on a “One-valve KT66 transmitter for RAF-CWR/RN-CWR” which would cover the ham bands. We believe Jerry Walker G5JU was responsible for writing the SWM’s although he was never credited. He wrote lots of constructional articles for PW and SWM after 1947, all using Eddystone parts. He worked with Pat Hawker G3VA on the Eddystone Sets in Newne’s “Radio and Television Servicing”

We don’t really know how Short Wave Manuals were sold. Their appearance was too erratic to be sold by subscription or in newsagents, so it was almost certainly by mail order or perhaps through Webb’s, their own retail arm. The EUG Trust would like to thank Alan Ainslie for scanning all these many pages and turning them into PDF files for us to up load onto the web site.

ESWM.h1 ESWM.h2