Paraset instructions new insights

 If you came to this article from a different source or link and never did read my blog before I would like to point you to my previous article about this subject:

https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/03/paraset-instruction-manual-discovery.html

This article has also been published in a slightly different form and in Dutch in the local radioamateur magazine Hunsotron and in the Dutch VERON radioamateur magazine Electron.

It actually surprised me that I didn't write a follow up here on my blog so far. Since the guys from the Cryptomuseum here in the Netherlands wrote me some new insights about the document. They also published a high resolution scan and a reconstruction from the document in PDF format on their site.

I would like to write about the conclusions Paul and Marc from the Cryptomuseum made regarding my article and of course the valuable "Paracette" manual.

First of all I wrote in my previous story that the paper was "rice paper". But that seems not to be the case. It is a kind of very thin carbon copy paper they used to make multiple copies with a sheet of carbon paper between the sheets on a typewriter.( I remember my dad used this as well on his typewriter in the seventies of last century. )

The document is definitely a WW2 document written by an englishman. "TLK de JCB" should be "TLK de JCD" when you look at the letters closely. Unfortunetaly the letters are still a big mystery. The pencil written S.2441 probabely means the week that the set and or the manual was released. Like week 24 from 1941. A gamble is that the S means Sweden. Since this paraset with manual definitely came to the Netherlands from Sweden. The name "Paracette" was the nickname the french gave this radio. This radio was actually designed for use in France only. The idea to use this radio in other countries came at a later date when the SOE (Special Operations Executive, british secret service) got interested. The name Paraset probabely came from the original "Paracette" name.

Last weekend Paul (PE1BXL) from the cryptomuseum wrote me about more insights they got after reading certain things in the manual. Especially these sentences: 

… making sure that the correct receiving coil is in place.

… check all external connections and components such as coils, …

So far we all thought that this document was written for use with the common Paraset Mk VII. The paraset that was used most and is copied a lot after the war. But the Mk VII hasn't got any external coils! And so, Paul believes  that the manual is written for the original Paraset the Mk V.  

Actually the paraset Mk VII you see on many pictures on the internet and also in my previous blogpost about this subject might not be called paraset at all. This is probabely all a misunderstanding due to a book called "Sectret Warfare" from 1972. The information used at that time by the writer Pierre Lorain was not complete and limited. The Mk V was the first spyradio that was dropped above France. This radio was designed by the SIS (Secret Intellegence Service also known as MI6). The Mk V has been used in 1941 and 1942, the Mk VII came in service at the end of 1942. The parasets that came via the Swedish route in 1941 can't be a Mk VII because they didn't exsist yet. The "Paracette" manual is exactly right for use with the Mk V. Conclusion is that the OD and Dirk Rustema used a original Paraset Mk V.

Unfortunately, as far as Paul knows, only one original Paraset Mk V survived the war. The nice thing is that also only one original Paraset manual survived and is in my posession. Wouldn't it be nice to get them together at an wartime radio exposition?

Due to this last insights Paul decided to change the Cryptomuseum site. You can still find the story and copies from the original manual but now at a special Paraset Mk V page.

Find the difference between Paraset spy radios here:

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/paraset/index.htm

Find all about the original Paracette spy radio here:

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/mk5/index.htm