This is probably a good time to display what seems to be some sort of test gear from PYE.

Not sure if this is a controller from a test station or a stand alone unit. I am guessing that whatever its purpose,
it was purpose built for RF work. (I once saw a PYE two-way radio base station operating in the 70's called "Overlander"?

The two stick-on labels (top LH corner) although very faded have the following written;

1st. Label. 2.GRID---------(the rest is faded)
4. 100-150 GRID 6J6

2nd. Label. 5.110-120 PLATE 6J6

I am assuming the above numbers refer to position numbers on the rotary switch.

6J6 valves being Twin Triode RF Power and Oscillator valves (RCA Tube Manual) sways my thinking towards a RF measuring device.

The octal plug and attached lead can be seen in one of the pictures, also a neon test screwdriver for dimension comparison.
The yellow component to the right of the meter is a germanium diode. Its anode is connected via a 47R resistor to that strange
socket (damaged) on top of the cabinet which seems similar to plug-in type RF leads or telescopic antennas.

Weirdest thing is the rotary switch position label. Number sequence = 1. 2. 3. 4. So far so good, but then follows a 3. Huh?
Final position is RADN. The AD is faded, not sure if my troublesome IPod will show this in the pictures.

Look forward to any thoughts and info which may shed some light here, perhaps someone who worked for PYE may have played
a part in this unit's construction.

Photos uploaded.

The cap across the meter was normally to bypass RF.

Yes, makes sense. I wondered how signal output from the diode was smoothed.
Also has a couple of chokes hanging off the switch, but hard to see, not a good photo.

There is such a thing as too close & the tripod is not dead: Auto focus is not always your friend.

The Nikon has an adjustment on the eyepiece to synchronise your focus with its. Dependant on the camera some do have a close up setting. However the lens can only focus to a limited point close up. The closer you get to an object the more likely you will blur it hand held.

You will improve the "depth of field" by getting back a bit & cropping the photo later and using the highest f Stop you can, even if that means setting it on "aperture" priority. With a radio pan same applies, but use manual focus & focus on something in the air midway between the top & base of the chassis.

Even a simple program like Windows "Paint" can crop photos.

A piece of rag on the wheelie bin as a pedestal with a bit of rag over it, in sunlight, or soft light (cloudy), is never to be overlooked.

Marc

It's a test set for transceiver alignment. Pye's 2 way radio production was in Melbourne.

Fantastic! Thank you!

I sharpened some of the photos. The big trick with stills like this is light and plenty of it. I usually suggest moving the camera away from the subject and zooming in to achieve the best subject:background ratio if the camera won't focus correctly. The photo of the AWA 'fridge' on the front page of the site was taken at a distance of about 3 metres.

If using a phone, a trick my grandkids showed me is to touch the little yellow square and drag it to the point where you want best focus.
Play with it a bit, you'll soon get the idea.

Another trick for getting good pics of a predominantly black object is to take the picture in sunlight.