Trips Down Memory Lane

If you look at one of my post you'll see I mentioned Cresent its still there , it use to be on the main Green Lanes on the corner of Spencer Avenue off Green Lanes if I remember they moved from the corner now it's in a little hole in wall type shop in the side street dont think there that busy either, plus yes the whole of the area has been totally changed over the past 20 odd years it's not the same.

Fantastic thread everyone, I had dabbled with CB ‘in 1978/9 and it wasn’t until 2016 that I found CT and bought my first rig the AT6666 after great advice on here. I really regret not taking it further earlier on. I can’t tell you how good it is to see all you guys with the knowledge you have. Thanks all of you for sharing the history here.

November 1981 and I had saved my paper round money which, together with early Christmas money from my parents, enabled me to get on a 306 bus from Bushey Heath to Watford and visit CB Cellar.  I bought a Uniace 100 (I think - I definitely had the 100 but not sure it was my first rig) and a firestick with a groundplane to screw it into.  CB Cellar was in a small basement shop in Market Street underneath another shop on the surface - it was full of stuff and very exciting for a 14 year old who loved that sort of thing !!

Ive got some old cb magazines from 1981/2  and they make great reading  .Just shows how popular it was when there were magazines  in the shops just for cb .
There are plenty  on flea bay  worth buying one just for the memories  from back in the day .

Had boxes of old electronics and radio magazines that I used to love thumbing through and then stupidly got rid....
I have to agree with the missus though in that I have enough old junk filling the house! (That might include me for all I know!  )

Sure I could sneak the odd copy onto the bookshelves, just for old times sake

Here's a little nugget from Autumn 1981. I was already well into SSB DX with a Belcom LS102L, Bremi BRL-200 valve amp and a Sigma IV on the chimney of my parent's North London house. Now the Belcom is a multi-mode VFO-driven 10m amateur rig capable of 26-30MHz when modded. With all the buzz of the legal CB frequencies being released in the November, I started occasionally monitoring the new FM frequencies. Eventually I stumbled across a couple of mobiles who appeared to be doing some range tests. They were very surprised when I broke in and gave them both signal reports!

It turned out they were testing samples of the new CBs going on sale from 2nd November that year. Their warehouse and offices were in Garman Road, Tottenham, about 3-4 miles away from my QTH. I remember one guy was using the handle Trader Vic. He explained they had Government issued licences to operate the new radios being submitted for CB27/81 accreditation. After that we hooked up daily for further testing. His real name was Alan and he owned A.M.S Trading Co. (General Importers) Ltd. but these days is better known as Lord Sugar, the man responsible for the Amstrad CB900 and CB901 radios (the signal meter used "fairy lights" rather than a conventional needle).  After legalisation we had a regular morning sked during his commute into work. He even invited me to the Amstrad offices for an "eyeball" and took me to lunch at the local pub along with his marketing manager Dickie Mould (you couldn't make a name like that up).

For anybody nostalgic for a reminder of the hi-fi kit and computers Alan saturated the UK electronics market with in his heyday, here's a link to a PDF of the man's entrepreneurial endeavours:

The Amstrad Times

73 de Trev 26CT3000/G0NMC

That is a fantastic memory, Trevor. Thanks for posting.

It has really great reading about everyone's memories from the past.

Trev I remember Amstrad in Garman Road in Tottenham, the road was just over the train crossing first on the left  which was the far end of Northumberland Park Road ,use to be a big pub by Northumberland Park Train station called the Northumberland Arms Hotel ,I  remember it because my dad use be a long distance lorry driver and the company he worked for use to park there lorries near Amtrads because our house was two minutes away from there off Shelborne Road sometimes my dad  use to deliver stuff for them he never knew though what was in the trailer all he knew it was electrical stuff, where in North London did you live was you in my old area of Tottenham?.

No Martin, I didn't live in Tottenham. My parents had a house just off Hedge Lane in Palmers Green. I then bought a place on the borders of Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill behind the Dog & Duck pub in Hoppers Road. I think you once told me you had a relative (aunt?) who lived in Winchmore Hill.

Trev , I actually live off Hedge Lane now ,  And when I was first married me and the Mrs live off of Hoppers Road called Woodbury Avenue in Winchmore Hill that was in late 80s /90s what a small world mate .

Haha, what are the chances! I lived at home in Crawford Gardens until 1983 then moved to Avondale Road until 2002 when Mrs Toobad and I "escaped to the country" and ended up in our "two acres of paradise" just outside Hereford about half a mile from the Welsh border. I bet we were both at the Royalty in Southgate or up at Ally Pally at the same time or even passed each other in the street without realising it.
Take care, mate.

Most probably we did pass each other in the street ,will admit I was still using CB back then but at that time when living in up until mid to late 90sWinchmore Hill I was more in my cars owning R.S Turbos and Sierra Cosworths with my mates much to my Mrs annoyance lol

Just come across this thread 
My aunt and uncle owned All Craft 
Market Street 
Watford 
Downstairs my cousin Dave Lewis ran 
CB Cellar with  the help of family friend 
Roger Banoo 
Great memories !

And now for the "other side",   late late 70's  My folks had put up a base, My Dad was what we called a "line driver". Up and down the west coast every other night.  I got a few of his "worn out" radios. Midland Precicion series 6001 with " the funny channels" . Made my very first  DX contact to England east shores on his "QRP" beach sand set up...  I felt as I was being fooled, but, it was real. Been hooked ever sense.. I had my own Ground Plain antenna, My dad didn't want me "messing around" with the base set up...  Kept me off the streets and out of trouble during summer break from school.  AS I got a bit older pre teens to my 20's, I tryed the Big AM radio set up. I learned early if you talk with a Kw attitude on a 300 watt mobile and can keep up, I might be able to talk with the big radios...  relocated 4 states over, I was the big radio and had no idea...  the new stranger in town. That Boy hood teenage voice through a Turner +2 desk mic sure helped me out with the ladies onair... 40+ yrs later, still tinkering around, mostly sideband in the freebands. Maybe a 500watt attitude with a 100watt clean radio these days.  Whisky and ciggy habbits give that growly voice the ladies like to talk to, what a price to pay to talk to 3 of them out of the whole country...   Sometimes I think i was born a little too late, what a blast it'd been during the 70's as a adult, speaking about radio hobby, not dress attire, it's why  we liked radio... ;-)