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Old 1st Mar 2013, 5:02 pm   #141
telstar
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

Hi. Does anyone remember when R.S operated a mail order component service called Doram, which was based on Wellington Bridge Industrial Estate in Leeds? We could do with a similar service today!
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Old 1st Mar 2013, 7:32 pm   #142
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

Yes.

A subset of the RS catalogue marked up to significantly higher prices. They didn't last long. They did a few kits if I remember rightly. I never used them. Farnell got my business.

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Old 1st Mar 2013, 7:52 pm   #143
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

In the late-1970s I bought various bits-of-stuff from Doram because they were happy to deal with us pay-by-postal-order schoolkids/students.

Somewhere in the attic I've still got a 5/8-wave 2-metre mobile whip antenna I bought from Doram. It was actually made by "Antenna Specialists", a US business whose UK operation was at the time based in Aylesbury.
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Old 1st Mar 2013, 8:39 pm   #144
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

I had a glossy Doram Electronics catalogue, but remember thinking that their prices were astronomical and the product range sparse, so I never used them either.
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Old 1st Mar 2013, 9:08 pm   #145
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

I never dealt with Doram but I do remember them; in those days RS were happy to entertain my business, these days I do not spend enough to 'qualify' for an account. A lesser know firm in Leeds which existed only briefly was McClellands. Their premises were on a, then new, industrial estate near Hunslet Engine Co. I think it was Kitson Road. they were agents for Mullard and were quite happy to sell me or order up for me small quantities of tuners (usually VHF varicap) and the odd 'pot core'. Must have shut down in the late 1980s.
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Old 2nd Mar 2013, 6:39 pm   #146
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Have a memory of a shop named 'University Radio' opposite to the Fire Station and at the rear of the NRCT in central Nottingham.

Seem to think that the shop owner was related to the NEV Company who produced one of the the first viable reel to reel Video Recorders.

Mik
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Old 2nd Mar 2013, 7:02 pm   #147
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Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
Don't forget Radioelectric Services in the Village, John! Where exactly were Maxwells, by the way? N.
Radio Electric were a very posh shop in the centre of the 'village'. No Jeans, Plimsoles, Teddy Boy haircuts or Davy Crockett hats were allowed to cross the threshold. They stopped short of spraying you with 'FLIT' when you entered the shop.

Maxwells on the other hand were very smart. They had a shop walker to greet you in Wimbledon and thick pile carpets that the great unwashed had never experienced. It had an unwelcome feel to the ordinary man in the street and the customer base was certainly from the Parkside area of Wimbledon Common. Their shop was between the library and the start of Wimbledon Hill. They had branches at Kingston-Upon-Thames and Ealing. I have a record carrier bag from Maxwells advertising the HMV 900 pre war TV.
John.
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Old 2nd Mar 2013, 7:13 pm   #148
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All these photo's are individual, never two the same. The buildings in High Streets were varied and attractive, shop signs all different with styles suiting their business.
Times change but I was very lucky to be born just before the middle of the 20th Century. They could be hard but fascinating times. I have very many happy memories of post war Britain. Happy Days, John.
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Old 2nd Mar 2013, 7:54 pm   #149
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[Their shop was between the library and the start of Wimbledon Hill.
Thanks, John, I know where you mean now. All recently ruined (sorry, "redeveloped").

N.
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Old 7th Mar 2013, 3:46 pm   #150
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Hi
I used McLelland Datatext a lot during the early Eighties, getting quite friendly (over the phone) with one of the girls there. I think they went under as a result of introducing a freephone number for parts - that was a very expensive thing to do in those days.
They were very good and efficient.
I then went on to Willow Vale for components until they became Connect, and also SEME who became NEDIS, both of which deciding they didn't want to deal with the smaller repairer, though at the time I was spending many thousands every year with them.
And of course PV Tubes in Accrington were very friendly and helpful - I believe Steve P has most of the stock they had when they closed.
And now it's good old Charles Hyde who get our (much smaller) orders.
Glyn
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Old 7th Mar 2013, 6:47 pm   #151
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

I remember Mclelland. He started of as a one man band located up here in Blyth in the early 70's.
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Old 7th Mar 2013, 7:40 pm   #152
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They were called Heywood components if i remember, when they first started.
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Old 8th Mar 2013, 4:20 pm   #153
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Hi. I remember McLelland in Leeds. They specialised in the BC148 (lock type) transistors, and others, from what I can remember
Cheers
Mike
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Old 9th Mar 2013, 1:23 am   #154
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

What a fascinating thread. All those forgotten names recalled. I remember an outfit in Redlynch called, I think, G2ACC. They produced a delightfull little catalogue with all the various components laid out. They used to sell things like Woden modulation transformers, Eddystone dials and the like. That would have been in the early sixties I guess. Happy memories indeed.
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Old 9th Mar 2013, 10:20 am   #155
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And now it's good old Charles Hyde who get our (much smaller) orders. Glyn
Ha! ha! Yes I used to get a lot of spares from CHS! I remember we had a laugh once when I was informed my account was on stop due to being overdue. By 2P! [I think they were serious] Great supplier and always there to help.
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Old 13th Mar 2013, 2:28 pm   #156
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Hi. Does anyone remember an electronics shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on London Road (northbound) before the swing bridge? I used to go there in the 1980's - can not remember the name of the shop, but I bought many components there in the past.
Cheers
Mike
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Old 21st Mar 2013, 11:27 am   #157
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

Having commented upthread about shops still open in my locality I drove through Blackheath (the West Mids one) and noticed that the WMEC shop is now closed.

It was really useful for those more unusual electrical bits and bobs but time has caught up with it at last.

Another one from my youth gone.
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Old 21st Mar 2013, 3:15 pm   #158
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

In Cambridge we still have H Gee on Mill Road. Been there as far back as i can remember.
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Old 21st Mar 2013, 6:02 pm   #159
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Default Re: Bygone radio traders

Hi,

I bought a pair of wire snippers from somewhere on Mill Road Cambridge in 1969. Still using them!

Michael
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Old 22nd Mar 2013, 1:59 pm   #160
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Telstar, I remember the shop I think from a visit to Pakefield I made in the mid 80's. Was it the one on the left as you were travelling towards the bridge and was on a corner with lots of stff in the window?
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