This Italian field phone is a refurbished British D. Mk. V. The post WWII Esercito di Transizione was equipped with mostly British WWII material. This D. Mk. V. was originally manufactured by the Telephone Manufacturing Company ltd (T.M.C.). The coil is made by Elettrotelefonica Milano, maybe the complete refurbishing has been done there.
The instrument is built into the base of a heavy duty metal box with a hinged metal cover which can serve as rain-cover when the instrument is open. The bell, capacitors and coil are mounted onto a main board which is fixed into the metal box. Two mount screws also make the battery contact. The generator is mounted onto its own board. Where the original British D. MK. V. had the buzzer mounted the Italian refurbished version has a generator installed, and in place of the buzzer key the coil is mounted (The British instrument shared the voice and buzzer coils). The battery compartment takes two 1,5V cells of the British types "X" (dry) or "S" (inert) elements.
Headset with a foldable metal headband with 4 fold hinges. An unfortunate design choice is that the main rx circuit requires the headset to be connected. If the headset is damaged it must be short-circuited for the instrument to remain functional.
Disassembled.
Wiring diagram.
Mounted to the bottom of the main board are the two capacitors on the left, and the handset and headset socket to the right.
The handset socket with 4 socket holes.
The simple two winding coil mounted to the top of the main board is made by Elettrotelefonica Milano.
The generator.
The generator switch disconnects the ringer and connects the generator coil when acted.
The empty box.
On the board on the right the generator gets mounted.
In front a bracket to store the generator handle.
The screw holes in the middle connect the battery to the main board.
Main board and generator mounted.
On top of the main board the single bell ringer (ringer coil beneath bell cup).
In front of the bell the line connectors L1 and L2 or E.
The batteries mounted in the battery box.
British batteries from 1979 corresponding to the right voltage and size.
Original batteries from the era were called type X.
The dissasembled handset.
The handset is type Tele Handset No. 2.
On the handset handle the original manufacturer indication T.M.C. (Telephone Manufacturing Company ltd).
RX module front side.
RX module back side.
TX capsule front side.
TX capsule backside.
Handset plug.
The inner two pins are RX, the outer two pins TX.
The headset.
The headset RX module opened.
Instrument ready for use.
The headset folded and stored in the lower compartment of the box.
The generator handle also stored.
The handset stored.
Instrument ready for transport or storage.
Top of the closed box.
The canvas shoulder strap is also a British original.
On the back of the box some straps, probably to mount the instrument to a belt.
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