Hobby - Engineer

My Parents

Met and married in Stromness, Orkney and later produced me and my brother Ron. After about 4 years my father changed jobs from a Lighthouse Keeper to Seamanship Instructor on the Dolphin Training Ship based in the Leith Docks, Edinburgh, UK. Most of the students gained roles on BP and Shell Tankers.

For some unknown reason I picked up Gaelic and the Island dialect from my Granny, but my younger brother escaped. On arrival in Edinburgh, I had to attend classes to learn English as a foreign language.

The family then moved to Oxgangs, when my father joined the 50 Housing Association, and everybody applied their skills to building houses. At 5 attended Oxgangs Primary School a short walk down the road. Then later my brother joined me at the School.

Nothing much happened until at 11 my father bought us a small mongrel dog. Which got named Lulu. Then with friends and other dogs we started playing in the woods and the Pentland Hills to the South. We started helping injured animals and gathered pets to occupy our time.

One of the classics being when a bit of fluff jumped towards our mother while cleaning her bedroom floor. On looking under the bed found the fishbowl with tadpoles in it. Another when we all had colds and my mother gave less than an eye drop of whiskey to our White Mouse, Green Budgie, and Lulu the Dog. We all laughed at the dog trying to catch the budgie and the budgie trying to catch the mouse.

Paper and Veg Rounds

At 12 started High School (Secondary School) and did a Sunday Paper Round. Used the pocket money to buy a two-man tent and rucksack. This led us to camping in a valley in the Pentland Hills with 4 of us and 4 dogs. The fresh air and nightlife made the dogs excited, and they licked our breakfast out of the frying pans regardless of the heat. This made us give up camp and go home.

Then discovered the Ham Shop in town opposite the Central Library. Started buying and assembling Crystal Radio kits. Connected one end across the water pipes in the bedroom cupboard and the Headphones across the other end and picked up a range of long and medium wave radio stations. The BBC World Service has the strongest signal and US, German, French, and Russian stations.

In my second year at High School started a veg round after school on Tuesday and Thursday and all-day Saturday. Able to borrow the Mullard Transistor Circuit Red Book and use the extra funds to build the transistor circuits and learn to draw the circuit and test the theory.

Youth Hostelling

Around the North and South of Ireland and running away from the Marches in the North and the colleens in the South. Visited Paris for a weekend and remember unisex toilets and being lifted by the police for sleeping on the grass that faced the Eiffel Tower. Then put on the train back to London in the morning.

Apprenticeship

The Crystal Radio and Transistor Circuit experience helped me pass the Electronic Apprenticeship Tests and become 1 of 10 people out of 600+ applicants to be offered a position. Throughout my 5 years the Team Leader or Manager asked for a weekly report on what I did and what I had learned. This helped me throughout my working life and to write this book.

Learned how to assemble and test Radar and Auto-Pilot Systems in flight up and down the Highlands of Scotland and the Atlantic and North Sea. Smaller projects covered Star Identification Computer for the Observatory and Laser Cutting. Installed an Autopilot and flew in Concorde.

Nobody in the company told us about doing the third year City & Guilds Technician course that would have put us in the Electronics second-year degree course at Heriot Watt or Edinburgh Universities. Since we all felt let down we found other roles.