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Old 10th Feb 2023, 3:49 pm   #21
DrStrangelove
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I worked in a little company building UHF radio telemetry for a couple of years before it went bust.

The kit was widely used in the water industry on STWs (sewage treatment works: lovely stuff) and reservoirs etc.

Curiously a couple or three years ago I purchased a pair of radio modems that I'd built back in 1992 off an online auction site.

They sold for £1000/pair back in the day IIRC.

I paid £15 postage paid. I have no idea quite why but there you go.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi & all that.
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 3:51 pm   #22
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Hello,

Not sure if this has any context here, but I have The PYE Book of hi-fi published by PYE/Philips in 1973, which from memory I got from a fellow member of the forum. It’s hard to explain exactly what this book was about, apart from it was promoting PYE/Philips stereo equipment along with some ‘showing-off’ technical blurb. There is also picture of Tony Blackburn in the book

The equipment was basically ‘home’ stereo system gear being manufactured by Philips at time. The chapters were written by some notable audio writers of the time though.

It’s interesting to look at this book some 50 years on

I’ve attached a picture of the cover, contents, and their idea of a hi-fi system of the future.

I concur, [any] audio "exotica" and Men in Suits aren’t happy bedfellows.

Terry

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edward Huggins View Post
I worked with Pye in the late 1950s as an Industrial Designer. Witnessed first hand the development of Black Boxes, Record Players and Pye Hi Fi. Re-joined them from 1967 to 1969. Saw a lot of audio "exotica" that the Men in Suits closed down at the prototype stage.
I suppose that was just prior to the buy out by Philips? What sort of things were being worked on? Were they aiming to produce high quality hifi components for the 'hifi stereo' market that was just beginning to open up?
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 3:56 pm   #23
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I like that desk of the future! Do any of those names in the index's contributor list mean anything to anyone?
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 4:05 pm   #24
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
Do any of those names in the index's contributor list mean anything to anyone?
Only a few to me, then audio developments haven't been a core topic for my attention. I remember John Borwick well enough for his prominence in Gramophone magazine's coverage of new equipment -

https://the-ear.net/features/john-borwick-1924-2016/

- and I'm guessing Pat Hawker is the Pat Hawker of the annual Newnes (etc.) R+TVS volumes.

Paul
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 5:11 pm   #25
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I never directly worked at a TV/radio factory, but did manage a few small specialist repair/maintenance workshops [and was involved in assessing a number of such operations to see if it was worth buying them out of receivership].

It was quite common to find spectacularly-lax management in such operations; a going-bust one I walked into unannounced had a rather large pile of VHS video-recorders stacked in the corner, yet the business was not involved in repair/maintenance of consumer-stuff like VCRs. Turned out a couple of the technicians [who should have been spending their time working on encrypted VHF radio-modems for the Home Office] were instead running a backdoor business repairing VCRs for a local telly-shop. I ordered the VCRs to be seized and the offending technicians had to explain the loss to their 'customer' as well as finding new jobs.

"Field service" teams were always rife with scams, like filling-up your wife's car using the company-van's fuelcard.
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 5:25 pm   #26
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_RK View Post
- and I'm guessing Pat Hawker is the Pat Hawker of the annual Newnes (etc.) R+TVS volumes.

Paul
And also the guy behind RadCom's long-running "Technical Topics" and a number of RSGB books.

http://www.arrl.org/news/pat-hawker-g3va-sk
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 5:34 pm   #27
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Hello,

I had an attempt of putting photos of the resume of the contributors to the PYE book on the thread but hit problems where one post failed and it was at this point, I felt it was also off topic so I’ve abandoned the post.

Terry
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 8:13 pm   #28
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Around the time I joined Plessey in 1969, they stopped production of their last domestic radio product, Ford car radios, and were selling the remainder of their stocks cheaply in the staff sales shop. An engineer I later worked with had been involved in its design and production, and told me that almost as soon as production stopped, management had everything relating to its manufacture sold off as scrap. They had evidently overlooked their contractual obligations to provide after-sale service, and had to buy much of it back at a greatly increased cost when items started coming back for repair under warranty. He gave me a copy of the circuit diagram for the one I had bought and showed me where to make a connection to play my cassette recorder through it.

The old hands used to tell tales of the days when Plessey used to make domestic radios and TVs at Vicarage Lane, and the ways people used to get parts out of the factory to make bootleg sets at home. Someone even managed the parts for a TV, smugglinging out the CRT in the middle of a large bouquet of flowers!

Last edited by emeritus; 10th Feb 2023 at 8:18 pm. Reason: typos
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 8:18 pm   #29
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Beobloke View Post
Not radio or TV, but I worked at Goodmans and then Mordaunt Short in the early 2000s as a loudspeaker designer.
I wonder if you knew Kelvin Griffiths? I knew him as a student a long time ago.
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 10:34 pm   #30
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I used to work in the Thorn EMI / Ferguson TV factory in Enfield way back in the mid 80s repairing TX90 and TX100 sets whcih had failed the auto-testing on the production line. As a self-employed contractor I had to get through at least 20 sets a day to be "worthy". Got a nice belt off the back of a TX90 CRT one day when the resistor in the EHT discharge wand had come adrift inside it and it didn't discharge the tube - I did it instead. Lesson learned the sharp way....
Used to fix guitar amps in the same music shop (TG's) that Valvepower did (Hi Terry) and I live on the opposite side of the park from where he used to live. I knew the Ekco factory well as my father used to work there as did my mother at one stage as did an aunt or two. Ekco was a very big employer here at one time.
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 10:51 pm   #31
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_RK View Post
- and I'm guessing Pat Hawker is the Pat Hawker of the annual Newnes (etc.) R+TVS volumes.

Paul
And also the guy behind RadCom's long-running "Technical Topics" and a number of RSGB books.

http://www.arrl.org/news/pat-hawker-g3va-sk
Pat was in SOE in WWII, but in the sixties onwards his day-job was at the IBA, so that fits with his chapter in that book.

David
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Old 10th Feb 2023, 11:05 pm   #32
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Pat Hawker, also did a voice over the ITV Test card broadcast in the 1960's, possibly Monday a.m.

Various ITV Tech Tx. news.
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Old 11th Feb 2023, 11:43 am   #33
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Hello,

After seeing the last few posts, I’ve had another go at uploading the pictures of the resume of the contributors to the PYE book. Hopefully there is enough resolution in thumbnails, if not I've put the JPG's into a zip file.

Moderators if you feel it’s far too off topic, please move somewhere more suitable.

Terry

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_RK View Post
- and I'm guessing Pat Hawker is the Pat Hawker of the annual Newnes (etc.) R+TVS volumes.

Paul
And also the guy behind RadCom's long-running "Technical Topics" and a number of RSGB books.

http://www.arrl.org/news/pat-hawker-g3va-sk
Pat was in SOE in WWII, but in the sixties onwards his day-job was at the IBA, so that fits with his chapter in that book.

David
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Old 11th Feb 2023, 2:25 pm   #34
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Great info, thanks.
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Old 11th Feb 2023, 3:34 pm   #35
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Valvepower View Post
Hello,

After seeing the last few posts, I’ve had another go at uploading the pictures of the resume of the contributors to the PYE book.
Interesting to see Borwick in there. The 'Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook' which bears his name is really a compendium of articles by other authors - Ed 2 has a couple of chapters in it I really rate, by people I used to know.

I just looked it up, and even second hand it appears to be eye-wateringly expensive. I have been wondering what to do with my books now I no-longer work in the area, and this suggests such a question needs to be approached with care
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Old 11th Feb 2023, 4:56 pm   #36
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Re Philips 210 Yes the NWC1401 indeed did have a NiCad memory battery..Some lasted some didnt. Was an "okish" tv. The successor 1402 had a Non Volatile memory which we were glad of.. BUT.. they had two "thick film" modules, which caused us some pain. Whoever designed the TV, had forgotten to put a 10K pullup resistor to the Tuner Voltage Varicap pin. Thus they drifted like mad, another "recall"..... grr to retrofit a 10K. Problem solved.
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Old 11th Feb 2023, 5:19 pm   #37
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

The quotes Terry highlights are absolutely priceless

Another funny thing is that, whereas the Pye designers were obviously steeped in arcane and objective theory, some of the pro Pye equipment has become canonised by today's studio fraternity and now fetches crazy sums, for items that aren't anything special by objective metrics. Take this (mono) compressor as an example: https://reverb.com/uk/item/33992802-...or-1960-s-grey
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Old 22nd Feb 2023, 5:14 pm   #38
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I have never worked in a factory, save for 18 months working at Nokia in the late 90's on the base station build in Camberley.
My father ran a Radio and TV shop in Haslemere, Surrey, called Astra Radio. I used to go there every Saturday as a boy. As he and his partner had set it up just after the war, the place was full of valve TV's and radios both whole and in bits. I loved it.
However he always steered me away from valves and onto transistors and the new IC things.
Now look at me, up to my eyes in valves and valve amplifiers, not sure what he would have made of it

John
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Old 22nd Feb 2023, 5:20 pm   #39
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

I bet he would have loved it if the truth be known!
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Old 22nd Feb 2023, 10:57 pm   #40
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Default Re: Who worked at a radio/TV factory?

Please expand...Nokia Camberley?
That has to be Storno>Motorola and then?

Nokia in Huntingdon I remember, but not so very fondly if I look back on it.
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