Merry Christmas Day !

[JohnW2]

A very Merry Christmas to all my readers I hope that you all have a great day, and that Father Christmas treats (or has treated) all of you generously!

Foe complicated family reasons, for many years the convention has been that our "family Christmas" here is celebrated on 26th December, so we have one further say to go - but I will be thinking of all you more conventional people today

Again, I hope you all have a great day, and I'll also take this advance opportunity to offer my wish that 2024 brings to all of you everything you would hope of it!

Kindest Regards,
John

 

[Risteard]

A very Merry Christmas to all my readers I hope that you all have a great day, and that Father Christmas treats (or has treated) all of you generously!

Foe complicated family reasons, for many years the convention has been that our "family Christmas" here is celebrated on 26th December, so we have one further say to go - but I will be thinking of all you more conventional people today

Again, I hope you all have a great day, and I'll also take this advance opportunity to offer my wish that 2024 brings to all of you everything you would hope of it!

Kindest Regards,
John

Enjoy your St. Stephen's Day Christmas tomorrow John & family.

 

[ebee]

All the best John for Xmas etc etc etc.
Personally when I was young it used to annoy me that xmas day I would get mee prezzies but could not play with them all day (Electronic |Engineer kit/Mechanical engineer kit/Dan Dare Radio Station etc etc) cos we ent to one set of grandparents at midday and the other at the evening. Boxing day etc woulda been a great alternative

 

[Diver Fred]

Coo, that ages you/us... I had the basic Electronic Engineer one crimble followed by the extension set the following one. That and Meccano sets and upgrade sets - made it up to a Meccano No.7.
Then was given a Soldering iron, a week of solder and a pair of wiring pliers from one granny and personal radio kit from the other granny. I managed to put it together and hear the light program in it. It worked for all of a hour before the battery died..

 

[Diver Fred]

Merry Crimble everyone!

I'm off to the Pub!

Only to find it's closed. Apparently, they always close in a Monday so the sign says today is not any different!
Hi well, good job I've been given plenty.

 

[ericmark]

All the best to all, it was cigarettes and whiskey and wild wild woman, today only the whiskey left.

 

[SUNRAY]

All the best John for Xmas etc etc etc.
Personally when I was young it used to annoy me that xmas day I would get mee prezzies but could not play with them all day (Electronic |Engineer kit/Mechanical engineer kit/Dan Dare Radio Station etc etc) cos we ent to one set of grandparents at midday and the other at the evening. Boxing day etc woulda been a great alternative

I had a car accident when I was 9½ so 1964 I was in hospital with broken leg and parents brought in an EE8 kit but I didn't get a single EE8 circuit to work, Dad took it to the shop it came from with a circuit made up. They tested the AC126/8 and reckoned It had been incorrectly connected... Replacement in the posh blue and grey box was 4/11, luckily a repair shop Dad had used provided an OC81 at a much lower price and he even inserted it into the rubber boot in the right order. I remember the hospital staff having to keep picking up the bits I dropped on the floor.

I got the A20 add-on kit for Christmas, IIRC some of my peers called it EE8-20.

I think everything worked after a fashion but possibly not as good as expected, I don't know if I expected too much.

My neighbour managed to make a transmitter with his and mine combined a number of years later which I could hear on a radio in our house... OOOO spooky

 

[ebee]

AC126 and an AF118 if I remember correctly (not always remembered correctly Sunray so you might know better).
I couldn`t get the radio to work and I got an AF118 from the Coop (yes the Co-op!) it was 10/-, a fortune and I still couldnt get it to work, it had 4 leads , one being the shield/screen connection.
Those spring connectors, wow.
Anyone one got one of those Marx Daleks, I think they were about 10/- at the time .
I think our "main presents" were £5 and the secondary 10/- in our house back then and cerainly a bit more than some folk around here at that time.
You could always make your own presents with, example, an empty cotton reel bobbin, a rubber band, a bit of candle and a matchstick.

 

[SUNRAY]

AC126 and an AF118 if I remember correctly (not always remembered correctly Sunray so you might know better).

I think the 'official' tems were AC126 and AF116 but other versions of both were supplied with a note in the blue/grey box they came in. I certainly had AC128 (first one replaced with OC81) and my neighbour always spoke about AF117

I couldn`t get the radio to work and I got an AF118 from the Coop (yes the Co-op!) it was 10/-, a fortune and I still couldnt get it to work, it had 4 leads , one being the shield/screen connection.

My A20 (known by others as EE8-20) came from Co-op and some 30 years later I found the HP card while clearing out my parents house.
No I also struggled with the radio but when my neighbour got his a year or two later his did work and we swapped bits over between the built circuits and found the coils coloured wires were in different places, swapping them sorted the problem but let's be fair here, the radio was really tish.

Those spring connectors, wow.

wow? Yuk

Anyone one got one of those Marx Daleks, I think they were about 10/- at the time .
I think our "main presents" were £5 and the secondary 10/- in our house back then and cerainly a bit more than some folk around here at that time.
You could always make your own presents with, example, an empty cotton reel bobbin, a rubber band, a bit of candle and a matchstick.

I made many of those cottonreel toys, in fact my mum was very much a needle woman and got through lots of cotton, she made me a 'shoe-bag' to keep them in and they were a regular toy for all sorts of things, when friends came found they always seemed to come out, even things like using as wheels and pulleys on Meccano creations, loads on my trainset wagons & bridge pillars. I took them into school on toy day on more than one occasion.

 

[SUNRAY]

Intercom, courtesy of: http://www.hansotten.com/electronic-kits/ee-series/ee8-ee20-a20/

I may still have what's left of mine but I bet the components are long gone into 'other projects'. I remember cutting the board down, I think to use the loudspeaker baffle.

 

[ebee]

Wow yes Sunray,
I think you are correct about me misremembering the components names.
Yes those spring connectors were tish.
What struck me is that circuit card , yes indeed I do remember some aspects of that one you show, particulary stuck in my mind was R4, C4 & C5, it`s like seeing an old friend again.
You having access to so many "cotton Bobbins" Wow you were "rich" in the extreme.
Sign of the times.
I had an EE8 but you had the 20, fipping heck you would be the "Lord of the Manor" around here pal!

 

[SUNRAY]

Wow yes Sunray,
I think you are correct about me misremembering the components names.

Bearing in mind my EE8 was given to me 59 years ago and I reckon the last time I did anything with it was probably 54 years ago, I seriously wondered how much I really remembered. There is lots there when I googled and that site in particular has put up a whole manual (Dutch) in PDF.

The funny thing is I remembered the grey and blue box for transistors and started doubting the colours in favour of red and yellow, so rather pleased to the 'old friends' again.

Yes those spring connectors were tish.

I often struggled to get several thing into them, like when there's 4 wires the first would slip out when adding the last and they wouldn't hold several wires tight.

What struck me is that circuit card , yes indeed I do remember some aspects of that one you show, particulary stuck in my mind was R4, C4 & C5, it`s like seeing an old friend again.

I know what you mean, at the time it annoyed me the whole thing had to be stripped completely to change the cards for the next circuit when so much was common

You having access to so many "cotton Bobbins" Wow you were "rich" in the extreme.
Sign of the times.
I had an EE8 but you had the 20, fipping heck you would be the "Lord of the Manor" around here pal!

Mum did a lot of sewing, she made the wedding dress and 2 bridesmaids dresses for a friend but as the grooms sister got involved there was more and more to do, I think in the end it was something like 20 bridesmaids and 30 total with the additional. We were all involved in getting that lot ready, it turned out the groom was someone well known and pics got in national newspapers.
She ended up with so many colours dad made some 'cotton drawers' which were to be frank rather shabby attempts and joinery, basically 4 bits of 2x1 and a hardboard base which stood on top of each other. I reckon I had 100 empties in the bag in various shapes and sizes and for that matter colours and materials.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You could always make your own presents with, example, an empty cotton reel bobbin, a rubber band, a bit of candle and a matchstick.

I made loads of those, we called them 'tanks'. Used to cut notches, in the rim of the reel, to give them more grip.

 

[SUNRAY]

I made loads of those, we called them 'tanks'. Used to cut notches, in the rim of the reel, to give them more grip.

Yep, I'm all over that except I doubt the notches ever made any difference

 

[ebee]

Yes thanks, S W M B O said she`d never seen or heards of them "Tanks" was the word I was hoping someone would say. I did tell her that having 4 brothers that surely they musy have made them. Just like we made weapons using those (spring type) clothes pegs to launch a matchstick. Just like girls used a somple clothes peg and a bit of cloth to make a "Doll" .
Old pram wheels to make a "Trolley" (Go Kart) anybody?
Longbows, Catapults etc etc etc. I could go on about what we made ourselves before the computer age .
And Oh yes those wooden bobbin spools we did wittle away grooves with our pen knives , all those little vees we hoped gave more traction .
Our generations became quite adept at making "Owt with Nowt!" LOL