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Portable intercept receiver
The A2 was a modular portable intercept receiver, developed by
Mason Engineering Inc. in 1964.
It was a portable bug-finding tool intended for use by government agencies
and specialized TSCM companies.
Designed by company director Frank Mason himself [1], the A2 was based on the
earlier A1, that was sold exclusively to the US Army.
The A2 had a long life span: it was in production from 1964 to 1990.
The 1966 sales brochure is available for download
below [2].
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Visually, the A2 is one of the most interesting receivers of the
Mason family.
The unit is stored inside a leather suitcase,
together with all
of the accessories and plug-in units (see below).
The main unit consists of a very small
receiver with a rather large
oscilloscope display unit bolted on top.
The various plug-in units
are attached to the right of the receiver. In the images below,
the receiver is shown with the 70 - 295 kHz module
(yellow) attached to it.
Each unit can be identified by a unique colour as is clearly visible
in the images below.
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The display unit, bolted on top of the receiver, is basically a panorama
viewer. The green fosphor screen is on the right of the unit and the valve (tube)
is mounted under an angle, to enable the user to view the display without
turning the unit on its side. Later versions,
such as the Mason A3, were
supplied with a small mirror that allowed the display to be viewed directly.
Over the years, the A2 was modified and improved several times. As a result,
different versions of the A2 were issued. The coloured caps on the antenna
coils were added at a later date. Another example is the
A2C-S which is a complete self-contained receiver in an
aluminium case.
Although the A2 was followed by the improved A3 receiver
in 1971, it remained in production until 1990. During this time, approx. 1800
hand-built units were sold [3]. Over time, the price of the A2 had increased
drastically. In 1966, the A2 was sold for $5,000. In 1975 the price was $9,995
and the 1985 catalog lists it for $14,950.
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We are still looking for the user manual and the technical service manual
of the Mason A2. If you have either of these available, or if you have
additional information, such as brochures or price lists, please
contact us.
Update 10 May 2012:
We've received a short German user manual [4], created by the Swiss PTT in
1974, from German collector Immo Hahn (Thanks!). It is available for download below.
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© Copyright 2009-2013, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Thursday, 10 May 2012 - 05:57 CET
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