( Sir ) Clive Sinclair ?

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by emeritus

One of my school friends built one of those miniature FM radio kits circa 1960. No On/Off switch, you had to bend the switched contact of the skeleton earpiece jack so that it made when the earpiece plug was inserted, thereby turning the radio on. AFAIR it worked well, but we did live in a strong FM signal area. It seemed miraculous compared with the valve radios I was used to.

I remember having a "Sinclair Micromatic" MW-only radio, which ran off a couple of hearing-aid batteries. It too used the 'bent contact on the headphone socket' switching method, and the 'tuning capacitor' was a mica compression-trimmer with the adjustment screw replaced by a longer 8BA screw with the tuning-knob on the end.

Only 2 transistors and 2 diodes, in a reflex arrangement aided by a bit of regeneration (you bent a RF choke on its leads to move it closer or further-away from the ferrite rod antenna to adjust the regeneration) but it could receive Radio Luxembourg!

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by yesnaby

I guess most people have seen 'Micro Men'?

I remember it was quite good with Alexander Armstrong as Sir Clive, who unsurprisingly wasn’t happy with it.

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I remember having a "Sinclair Micromatic" MW-only radio, which ran off a couple of hearing-aid batteries. It too used the 'bent contact on the headphone socket' switching method, and the 'tuning capacitor' was a mica compression-trimmer with the adjustment screw replaced by a longer 8BA screw with the tuning-knob on the end.

Only 2 transistors and 2 diodes, in a reflex arrangement aided by a bit of regeneration (you bent a RF choke on its leads to move it closer or further-away from the ferrite rod antenna to adjust the regeneration) but it could receive Radio Luxembourg!

A friend at the school's Radio Club had the Micro FM, and I too was impressed. Lovely crisp audio quality. Although the stations moved down the dial a bit when it was connected to a hifi!
I had the slightly earlier version of the Micromatic. It used 3 transistors and a feedback winding on the ferrite rod. This could be slid along the rod for maximum smoke. It was pretty sensitive when set 'on the edge' and brought in Caroline North (we lived in east Manchester at the time) quite well.
Anyway, here in my collection I have this book. It's the 1972 reprint of the original 1961 book by the young Mr Sinclair himself.

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

Sorry to rabbit on ...

Quite appropriate if he was involved in Telepoint.

Originally Posted by emeritus

One of my school friends built one of those miniature FM radio kits circa 1960. No On/Off switch, you had to bend the switched contact of the skeleton earpiece jack so that it made when the earpiece plug was inserted, thereby turning the radio on.

A technique I notice was resurrected by a contributor to the Current BVWS Bulletin.

[JayBee66]

I used to play poker with Sir Clive. Always good for a few quid. At least, I got my money back for all the duff ZX Spectrums I had to get repaired due to RAM wobble. The repair shop never repaired them, they just put a new board in for £25.

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
Sorry to rabbit on ...
Quite appropriate if he was involved in Telepoint.

I was hoping no one would notice! The lab area next to mine was reusing the FTV tuner for it.

[dave walsh]

I sent my Sinclair Z12 IC based amp module back to Cambridge and got a hand written note with an extra de-coupling capacitor to stop it oscillating. That might have been Sirclive you never know It was running one channel of my Heath Robinson Stereo system for quite a while. Two speakers salvaged from a largely burnt out PA stack. [My brother was in a band] Cabinets via a Workshop run by disabled people. An SP25 Deck and the other channel going through my Tape Recorder which had a separate PA function, unusually. I even had 4 Channel sound for zero outlay- well. Two car spkrs wired in series [+ left to +right] hidden behind the couch at the back of our living room.

It was clear that Clive had no time for uni or much else really. Coincidentally Iv'e just been looking at the founder of Portadyne Radio, Joshua Sieger! Born in 1907-by the time he was 17, he was buying components, building excellent radios and selling them back to the same Company to buy more parts. Effectively running a business enterprise from his bedroom-very similar to Clive in a way. Mr Sinclair did possibly have a miss step with the electric car but look what's happening now. I don't know if that was before or after he had a fight in a Wine Bar with his rival Siralan now of the apprentice fame but I do know who I would prefer.

Dave W

[Hartley118]

The reported 1984 ‘fight’ in the Baron of Beef opposite St John’s College was actually between Sir Clive and his erstwhile colleague Chris Curry who was by then definitely a dedicated Acorn executive busy promoting the ‘Electron’ and somewhat critical of Sinclair reliability. This later report was in the Daily Express so I’m sure it’s accurate:

“Battle of the Boffins

Sir Clive Sinclair was in a foul mood as he marched into the Baron of Beef pub. Eyes blazing, he spied his rival and stalked across the crowded bar.

By ADRIAN LEE
00:00, Mon, Jul 13, 2009

Then, to the amazement of drinkers, the inventor set about him with a rolled up newspaper, whacking his hapless victim around the head until he was forced to flee. Skirmishes continued in a nearby wine bar.

The set-to in Cambridge city centre between one of the nation’s great innovators and a man he regarded as an upstart was the culmination of a fierce battle for control of the lucrative home computer market.”

Martin

[g4wim_tim]

Brings back memories of the IC10 integrated amplifier which was alledged to be a Plessey SL403D with a Sinclair label on it.

Another rumour was that his Z30 and Z50 amplifiers used unmarked rejects for the transistors - but none the less worked very well.

Happy days !

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by g4wim_tim

Brings back memories of the IC10 integrated amplifier which was alledged to be a Plessey SL403D with a Sinclair label on it.

Another rumour was that his Z30 and Z50 amplifiers used unmarked rejects for the transistors - but none the less worked very well.

Happy days !

I heard Sinclair used out spec transistors from Plessey in their kit radios, I did wonder how well the same designs worked with better quality components.

[SiriusHardware]

The man himself famously doesn't use a mobile phone and possibly not even a computer, which is a shame as it would be nice if he knew how much love there still is for all things Sinclair - even the C5 'car' and the 'Zike' electric bike are now acknowledged to have been good ideas too far ahead of their time and there are plenty of preserved C5s around - almost every transport museum has one.

Sinclair's 'thing' was to come up with a concept and then design it down to a price which people could afford. The whole 80s UK home computer scene owed a great debt to Sir Clive - there were much better home computers than the ZXes but they were all at least twice the price, so for many people the ZX80 / ZX81 / Spectrum etc were the only computer of any sort that they could afford.

[Junk Box Nick]

In the mid-80s I saw someone in a C5 go around the Five Ways roundabout in Birmingham. I thought "now there goes a brave fella..."

A friend of mine had a Micromatic. I remember coveting the kit that was displayed in the local electrical shop window but it was beyond my pocket money. There was a fad for tiny receivers in the 60s. I suppose it was all a bit James Bond and The Man from Uncle. Every other month there was a circuit in Practical Wireless. I still have the first one I ever built compete with home wound coil and OC44 but it seemed impossible to build anything as small as the Micromatic.

The best circuit I built for sensitivity was a 'Take 20' design. At this point the NPN transistors had come about and this design used either 2N2926s or BC109s - or possibly the even hotter BC169. It pulled the in stations but was hideously unstable.

I remember one of the circuits using a compression trimmer for tuning a la the Micromatic by doing the same trick with a long 6BA bolt - it might have been a project called 'The Mite'. Time for another trip around the American Radio History site.

The ZX/Spectrum seemed to hold its own for some years. For a time in the early to mid 80s there seemed to be a bigger market for Spectrum games than for the Commodore 64.

[Richard_FM]

I remember reading on one C5 fansite that the webmaster had owned one since they were halved in price & almost everyone who he had let have a go had really enjoyed it.

His C5 was in storage in his parents shed for years, & only needed new tyres and a caravan battery to get it going again.

He suggested had Sinclair waited until at least the Spring of 1985 to launch the C5 then marketed it as a leisure vehicle rather than something for commuting it might have done a lot better.

Certainly the ZX80, ZX81 & Spectrum were just right for the early 1980s home computing boom, even if the rubber keyboard was the butt of many jokes. After selling the computer business to "barrow boy" Alan Sugar it gained a solid keyboard.

Like the C5, a few fans of the QL have mentioned it's a decent bit of kit when all the bugs are ironed out.

It seemed to fall between two stools at the time it was launched, being too expensive for a home computer, but not powerful enough as a serious business machine & the semi-pro market was a small one at the time.

[McMurdo]

I guess most people have seen 'Micro Men'?

...and if not, why not? Anyone with at least a passing interest in either computers, electronics or british entrepreneurs should see it. Not exactly a lecture on the subject but a very entertaining romp nontheless.

[Radio Wrangler]

Sinclair had a knack for thinking of what the next hot thing might be, and for knowing at what price level mass interest would switch on. Skills which should bring great success and wealth if used carefully.

Unfortunately his skills at bringing about a good product at the magic price were lacking. It took a few years to a few decades for reality to catch up with him.

Berating a competitor in public (bar!) with a rolled up newspaper fits in with what Geoff reported of his interview!

David

[emeritus]

I recall the name "Zike bike", but don't remember what it was. Dr Seuss had actually coined the name some years earlier in his story "Marvin K Mooney, will you please come now", which has the lines:

"I don't care, you can come by bike, you can come on a zike bike if you like."

I doubt that Sir Clive's zike bike was anything like Dr Seuss' one!

[ITAM805]

In the early 80's I had a job as a courier in London and had to take a letter to Mr Sinclair in Cambridge, I was hoping to meet the great man himself but alas someone else signed for it

In the late 60's I built a a little AM reflex radio using Sinclair circuit and transistors and it worked well. I found that if I tuned up above the end of medium wave I could hear strange undecipherable voices, my sister's then boyfriend said it's radio amateurs, ssb on top band I presume?

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

...and if not, why not? Anyone with at least a passing interest in either computers, electronics or british entrepreneurs should see it. Not exactly a lecture on the subject but a very entertaining romp nontheless.

Bang on. Very entertaining and a wonderful insight into the home computer biz of the time.

[Kyle__B]

Originally Posted by ITAM805

I found that if I tuned up above the end of medium wave I could hear strange undecipherable voices, my sister's then boyfriend said it's radio amateurs, ssb on top band I presume?

Depends. How close was the nearest graveyard?

[dsergeant]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

The man himself famously doesn't use a mobile phone and possibly not even a computer, which is a shame as it would be nice if he knew how much love there still is for all things Sinclair - even the C5 'car' and the 'Zike' electric bike are now acknowledged to have been good ideas too far ahead of their time and there are plenty of preserved C5s around - almost every transport museum has one.

I know Sir Clive is a member of Mensa and was chairman of Mensa UK for some years. Hence it was a bit of a surprise searching the Mensa website and forums (I am also a member) to find him missing from the members directory and never posted there in any form. Maybe his non-computer life is the reason. Will explore some more.

I had one of his Micro FMs in my teens. Yes, it worked but hardly that well and getting the PP5 battery it used was a bit of a problem in Lincolnshire, nobody stocked it. I think I sent it back eventually with the problems I had.

Dave