National Service

Three Years in the RAF... and the years immediately afterwards.

Three years! Only Two if you have not got to worry about working the trade which you had, and if you do not want the extra pay that goes with three years engagement!

I was in the end, Wireless Fitter, (Line,) in the rank of Corporal!

The years immediately afterwards....

I was employed by Pye TVT Ltd.
TVT stands for TeleVision Transmission, and that means Image Orthicons at 3 or 4.5 inches - but also Staticons (vidicons) with 16mm format! I was in test initially, but in the time that I spent with PyeTVT was advanced to Charge Hand at the test of Staticon Cameras! They were Valve cameras, with minimal valve count - even the sync generator has multvibrator, 5x 5x 5x 5x, making 625 lines!
As I spent time, the other products of the firm passed by! The Sync generator was only one ot the products, made on a 19in by 7in industry standard chassis!

A promotion....

Led to me being Operator of the Pye own demostration TV Studio!

It was on the other side of the river, and the only staff was ME! With three cameras, a synchronising generator and a Mixer, it was sufficient to create programmes!

Also, While I was at Pye, I was a member of Pye's own Amateur Television Club!

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