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A Personal History of Car Radio
The Monte Carlo Rallies were very popular from the late forties
and Radiomobile provided a backup service for the competitors. Long
before the cars reached Dover, the crossing point to the Continent,
Radiomobile had service personnel on standby at the Smiths depot
in Glasgow for the start of the race. Myself, along with two other
service technicians, were placed in an hotel in Folkestone. We then
drove to the quayside in the early hours to await the first of the
cars.
The weather conditions were usually atrocious, with heavy snow
in January ideal for the rally but not good for us. We took with
us a radio transmitter set to the Monte Carlo frequencies. This
enabled us to tune a preset button on a competitor's car radio to
the Monte Carlo radio station giving race information. A small sticker
would then be placed on that dedicated button labelled MC.
Should any radios be found to have any fault it would be repaired
on the spot. The Radiomobile distributor in Rotterdam provided an
on-route control point in Amsterdam, and our distributor in Belgium
also provided a service in Brussels. Similar arrangements were in
force in Paris too. All of this was, of course, a very much Wave
the Radiomobile Flag exercise, which always went down well with
the Ralliers. In 1956 Mr Vernon Cooper, driving a Jaguar MK.VII
fitted with Radiomobile equipment, won the cup awarded by Monte
Carlo Radio for the best installation.
I was usually called upon to visit difficult customers or VIPs,
which were quite often one and the same. On one occasion Radiomobile
MD Peter Blair asked me to deliver and install a television set
for the mother of Sir Alec Issigonis at her flat in Oxford. When
I arrived I was somewhat dismayed to find no lift and she was on
the third floor. After struggling up the stairs with this heavy
17 inch TV, balancing it precariously on the hand rail with one
hand and ringing the door bell with the other, I was greeted with
fierce opposition. Mrs Issigonis informed me in no uncertain terms
that she had told her son that no way would she have a TV in the
flat.
By this time I had managed to get the set halfway through the front
door, with difficulty, as she was pushing one way and I the other.
After some ten minutes of discussion, with the set being shoved
back and forth, and with aching arms, I eventually convinced her
that my job was at risk if I failed to install it. When I reported
back to Peter he was highly amused, apparently Sir Alec had already
briefed him.
Another visit Peter asked me to make was to the home of Sir William
Lyons at Bolt Head in Devon. This again was a Television delivery
and installation. What I was not told was that TV reception in that
area was poor and an indoor aerial was useless. I purchased an outside
aerial locally, complete with chimney lashings, and climbed out
through a roof light to get to the only available fixing position
directly above the sea some 300 feet below, an exercise I would
not like to repeat.
Following that, arrangements had been made for a show to take place
at a car dealership in Manchester, the theme being 'In Car Entertainment,
Past, Present and Future'. An old battery receiver complete with
horn loudspeaker was obtained and put on display. The current range
of Radiomobile equipment was fitted to their showroom cars and the
future was to be represented by a television installed in their
centre piece, a Morris Oxford.
A new car was loaned to us from the manufacturer, along with a
9 inch HMV TV from EMI. My job was to fit it all together in the
car so that it would operate in the showroom. Fortunately, the Morris
Oxford had a large gap between the fascia and the parcel shelf,
underneath which allowed me to make a wooden surround to accommodate
the 9 inch tube on the passenger's side. However, in order to put
the tube in place, a hole in excess of 9 inches had to be made in
the bulkhead to pass the tube through!
The rest of the TV chassis was mounted to the right of the steering
column, also between the fascia and the parcel shelf. It was finished
on Saturday morning and it looked and worked well. As the weather
was bad on the Saturday, I delayed taking it up to Manchester until
the following day. Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday was even
worse, but as the show was scheduled for a 9.00 am start on Monday,
the centre piece had to be there. After travelling about 150 miles
in blinding rain, I hit a pothole in the road, whereupon, a loud
bang was experienced, which turned out to be the TV tube imploding.
I arrived in Manchester at 5.00pm and immediately drove around
looking for a radio shop displaying a HMV sign. As luck would have
it I found a store with a window display of HMV televisions and
advertising a repair service. Not expecting too much, I rang the
bell on the flat above, which was answered by the proprietor, to
whom I explained my predicament. He not only supplied me with a
new tube, but also loaned me the tools to refit it. I very much
doubt that happening today.
The show went on as advertised and was a great success. It lasted
for three weeks. I often wondered who took delivery of the car with
the extra large grommet hole in the bulkhead.
It was not long after this spell that I left the company to gain
some experience in television service, and for a period of four
years worked on HMV and Bush receivers, but my first love, car radio,
still called. I returned to Radiomobile in January 1959 and was
given the task of visiting all the car manufacturers on a regular
weekly basis, sorting out any problems they might have with the
fitting or service of receivers.
By now things had moved on considerably. Radiomobile replaced the
HMV Logo and gone was the need for a high voltage line as the output
stage had been replaced with a Transistor that would operate along
with the valves on 12 volts. However, the Hybrid did not last long
as the valves were then replaced with transistors. This, of course,
meant that it was possible to reduce the overall size of the receiver
even further. The 7 x 2 aspect remained, as by now the vehicle manufacturers
had adopted these dimensions as a standard aperture.
Radiomobile had moved to a new factory, Goodwood Works, on the
North Circular Road at Staples Corner, London NW2, and was producing
the all transistor 600T and 620T, having a power output of 4 and
8 watts respectively. Bob Chilvers had now been moved from the service
department to take charge of production, and Harry Mellor became
Service Manager. A solder bath was installed down the centre of
the factory floor and the assembly girls sat on either side inserting
the components in the panels prior to automatic flow soldering.
In the early days many problems were encountered and line rejects
were high, mostly due to dry joints and static electricity. Eventually
the dry soldered joints were largely overcome but static charges,
mainly from the girls' nylon clothing, remained a problem for sometime.
It was jokingly suggested that we should employ a knickers inspector,
but there were too many male applicants for the job.
Whilst Radiomobile were having production difficulties, and with
dealers crying out for supplies, it had not escaped the notice of
the Chief Executive of our Parent Company, Smiths Industries, that
World Radio were having no such problems.
World Radio was a small company just around the corner from Radiomobile,
in Edgware Road, NW2, who were producing a radio under licence to
Motorola of America. With a minimal staff they were turning out
receivers on a shoestring budget. With no development costs this
looked a very attractive company, with the right knowhow and personnel
to benefit RDM.
Mr Peter Blair, Managing Director of Radiomobile, and Mr Richard
Cave, who later became Sir Richard, Managing Director of Smiths
Industries, therefore decided to acquire the business. This turned
out to be quite a culture shock for the more reserved Radiomobile,
as the new staff in the main were market trader types. Mr Alfred
Fearn, who was responsible for the modification of the Motorola
radios at World Radio, replaced Mr Blair as MD, and Mr Blair transferred
to Smiths Industries head office.
Mr Fearn, who was known for his rather colourful vocabulary, had
brought with him his assistant, Norman, who was equally eloquent.
Before the departure of Peter Blair, a meeting was held in Peter's
office and included among others Peter Blair, Bob Chilvers, Alf
Fearn, Ron Dudeney, Norman and myself. At the conclusion, Peter
stood up and said "We will meet again on the 20th, would you
make a note of that in your diary, Alf?" Alf said "put
that in my f…..g diary Norman". Norman replied "You
ain't got no f…..g diary Alf".
It was jokingly suggested that they might live near Effing Forest.
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