The Wireless Set No. 19 was developed in the early 1940’s as a compact transceiver to be fitted in tanks and other Vehicles. It superseded the Wireless set No 11, designed and built by Ekco radio in Southend.  The WS19 was designed by PYE and along with the WS18 were the first products of what was to become PYE Telecom, still operational as a company into the early 1990s  

The first Version Mk I had the entire shortwave range from 2.5 – 6.25 MHz in one range, this proved problematic to operators as netting etc, was extremely difficult. Later variants Mk II and Mk III, changed this for two switchable shortwave ranges 2 – 4.5 and 4.5 – 8 MHz. Which considerably simplified operation.  

In addition to the shortwave transceiver the WS 19 has a second low power VHF transceiver section known as the the B-Set; covering from 229-241 MHz it was intended for communication between adjacent and close by vehicles.  Although working on initial trials it proved unreliable and was removed when sets were returned for reconditioning.

The WS19 was produced internationally and was used by most services including in its Cyrillic marked version the Red Army.  It remained in service well into the 1950’s and even longer for cadet units. Post war commercial versions were also produced. The A set provided medium to long range communications within the squadron or regiment.
The B set or “troop set” provided short range communication between tanks in a troop.
The No. 19 set also provided internal communication between crewmembers inside the vehicle

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Frequency Range A set 2–8 MHz B set 229–241 MHz
Power: A set 2.5 – 9 watts
Modes: AM, CW and MCW
Range: A set has a range of 10 miles (16Km) B set 1,000 yards (910m) between moving vehicles
Weight 39 KG