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Old 15th Sep 2017, 10:08 pm   #45
julie_m
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
Default Re: Memories and other stories from Pye etc PMR engineers.

I hope this is not too far off-topic .....

A friend of my Dad was a keen electronics enthusiast and a musician in a band; and one day, he built a simple low-power radio transmitter to plug into his guitar allowing it to be played through a multi-band "worldwide" portable radio. (My Dad didn't remember which band it used.) Anyway, he adjusted it to a quiet frequency, plugged the earphone socket of his radio into his amplifier -- and was now able to wander freely around the stage with his guitar, unrestricted by a lead.

The band were Quite Good, and soon they managed to obtain a spot on the bill at the Queen's Hall, Derby. (If you remember anything about the geography of bygone Derby, you'll be nodding about now, having an inkling where this is going .....) The Queen's Hall is on London Road, opposite where the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary used to stand.

In the quiet Amber valley pit villages, there were few ambulances. But here they were, playing a gig in a hall directly opposite the only hospital with an emergency department for miles around. With the lead guitarist playing over a radio link ..... on a frequency that just happened to belong to the ambulance service. Due to the limited range of the transmitter, he did not cause ambulance drivers to jolt the patients as they tapped their foot on the gas pedal in time with his infectious rhythms. However, every ambulance leaving or arriving broke through his amplifier at full volume .....
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