Throughout my teens I experimented with a variety of radio projects most of which worked a little until the smoke got out.... As all electronics enthusiasts know, the components used in all home brew stuff contains magic smoke that makes them work. When this smoke is released that's when they will stop working. Luckily no real damage was done to the house in Hartopp Road but I can remember several close shaves.
We only had a small garden but when I was around 14 or so we got our first shed which meant most of my experimental projects could be tested in there before bringing them into the house. I shared the shed with Dad who at that time had moved on to work at the Morris Commercial car factory at Adderley Park. This was the place that some of the final Post Office Morris Minor vans and Morris Travellers were made which meant that Dad filled the shed with various liberated parts, fixtures and fittings which might prove to be 'useful' some rainy day. This meant also that most of my radio projects had surplus car wiring looms, had chassis painted Post Office red, and nearly all started from a 12 volt automotive source of power.
The shed became a sanctuary, for me and for Dad, and many many happy hours were spent there. Its funny how today I still spend many hours in my workshop and as I write this I realise that those seeds of pleasant solitude and calm 'thinking time' which were sown all those years ago have grown and still play an essential part of my life.
One notable memory of the shed was the fact that it seemed to be pretty indestructible. It lasted for years and years and was robust enough to be dismantled and re-erected in the garden of the first house me and my wife bought in Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire in the late 1970's. I put this down to Dad's careful forward thinking strategy of painting it when new in several coats of aluminium paint, inside and out, followed by topcoats of British Racing Green. All the paint had been kindly donated to him from the British car industry. I can still see it now gleaming in the evening sun in its silver splendour prior to its first coat of green.... I wonder if it is still standing today? I'd bet it is.
It was around this time that my support of Birmingham City FC started to really get a hold and Dad, Ray and myself became a threesome who took in as many games as we could. This of course was just a natural progression for me having been totally indoctrinated by Dad and Granddad Shaw into the fact that being a Blues fan is in the blood, as my son Jon also knows today! I seldom missed a home game from around 1966 right up to 1973 when I went away to college near Blackpool at Poulton Le Fylde and then I saw them play at as many of the northern grounds within striking distance as possible. The Latchford and Francis years... Pure joy but with many sorrows too!
Most of my radio experiments during those times remained of the sort directed by the amount of scrap Ray could furnish me from the repair shop. Despite Dad having moved on from selling radio and TV in the high street, Ray continued to be a useful tutor and I could still pop into the repair workshop to gather as many parts as I could muster. I continued to make crystal sets just because I was fascinated by the fact I could receive radio signals without using any battery or other power source. I built my first regenerative one valve radio then a two-valve radio along with tweaking several domestic sets to try and boost their reception. I loved to expose all the parts and see the valves glowing brightly in the dark at night listening to Radio Luxembourg and Caroline. Not too safe but I only got a few shocks now and again! I made a special effort to set the alarm and be awake on the morning that Radio One started up anxious to hear Tony Blackburn launch the station 'live'. I knew it was a significant milestone in broadcasting and I didn't want to miss it.
I made my first Slim Jim aerial for airband reception in order to grab the airport control tower transmissions and also experimented with telephones by rigging up a rudimentary intercom system between the house and the shed. I was still building Airfix models too but now using a variety of British car industry electric motors (I think they were for window washer pumps?!) to power the rotors of the model helicopters I built mounted on platforms made to look like helipads or aircraft carrier decks. Christmas time often produced rich rewards in the shape of Tandy Electronics Kits and one year I managed to get hold of a Sinclair tiny 'matchbox' radio which used the amazing ZN 414 chip which boosted my knowledge of transistors and the like... Much safer than valves but also so bloomin' fickle in that you only had to look at them sideways and they would go pop. I soon learnt that, in my quest to glean volume and power out of transistor amplifiers, you had to be careful with the speaker impedance and polarity. I learnt the lesson the hard way by frying several IC chips in my quest for more volume for the likes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
The photo on published with this entry reveals that I was certainly the first, only and original Adrian Mole. I was always a shy youngster and very quiet, undemonstrative and I suppose deemed very 'sensitive' by Mum and Dad.. I wasn't much good at any sport, wasn't high flying academically and spent many hours in the shed doing my thing with radio and aircraft modelling interspersed with regular trips to the airport to spot planes. The next entry will be something of a cathartic journey for me as I'm going to reveal a few weird episodes that happened during phases of my childhood and which shaped my future!! Heavy stuff!! But not too heavy so don't worry.................
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