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Ron Levett, born in Alfriston, East Sussex, enlisted in 1943, and whilst posted to the British Liberation Army, took part in the liberation of Germany. He then returned to England, working in electronics and developing an interest in the new entertainment of the time - television.
The workshop at Goodsells overlooked Gardner Street, which meant we could admire the female staff of the other shops on their way to work, plus the women shoppers.
Opposite Goodsells was a very good pastry shop where we could buy meat pies and pasties for our mid-morning break. During the winter months we would lay the pies on top of the electric heater to warm them up.
The amplifiers, tuner units and pre-amplifiers that we made were of a very high standard, using the best of components available. The amplifiers were based on the design published in Wireless World, by Williamson.
At the time long-playing records were just becoming popular, only mono of course, so we only needed to build mono amplifiers. One of the chaps in the firm specialised in building the big 30W Williamson. In the morning, he took a new galvanised steel chassis, marked it out in pencil, took it into the metal shop next door, drilled out all the holes and cut out the valve holders by hand.
He then brought the chassis back into the workshop, mounted all the components and wired the amplifier; finally fitting the tag board with all the small parts fitted, and connected it up to the valve bases. It was then time to go home.
After working in a large radio factory, I could see that some measure of mass production needed to be applied. The first thing was to persuade Stan Goodsell. He found a firm in Kemp Town called Errol Engineering who were prepared to make our chassis, drill all the holes and paint them in grey polychromatic paint.
We redesigned the smaller boxes for the pre-amplifiers so that the bottoms were separate for ease of wiring. A small aluminium plate was made to carry the valve bases; this could be made up and wired before fitting in the box. This increased production by over two hundred per cent. Frank was doing the electronic design while I did the mechanical part.
We also made specialised equipment. We designed and built audio mixer panels for the Kuala Lumpur radio station in Malaya, using some very well made German switches, wired and mounted on aluminium panels. These looked very smart when competed.
We made very high quality amplifiers for the Trans-Atlantic telephone cable, using high-grade transformers made from special steel, to produce the linear response needed for such a project.
We were asked if we could make amplifiers to work on 25hz mains supplies. The transformers for this had to be very large and heavy to cope with the supply, which was very close to DC. They were built and were very successful, but needed very strong wooden cases for export, because of the weight.
When Torbay hospital needed a patient bedplate system with amplifiers and radio, for a Hospital Radio set-up, we had to design and build it, take it to Torquay and install it, then get it up and running.
The manufacturing process, including making up the bedplates, took about three weeks. We were working to a deadline because the van had to be loaded that evening, ready for an early morning start to Torquay.
All went fine, all the units were fitted in the large vertical case, some four feet high, until we came to fit the metal doors. Then it was discovered that the metalworking firm had cut the holes in the doors, which would enable the operator to see the meters, in the wrong place.
We didn't have time to replace the doors, but we did have spare aluminium panels for the front of the amplifiers, which held the meters. The answer was to make up new front panels. This took over two hours and by the time we were finished it was after midnight.
Frank was taking the van to Torquay and he had to drive home to Alfriston, get what sleep he could, then get back to Brighton and set off.
We also had the job of installing the amplifying equipment and all the bedplates that the patients used to control their headphones. Frank and I went off in the van carrying all the tool-kits, the drums of multi-core cable and the bedplates.
Stan Goodsell with Sid and Charlie from the workshop travelled in Stan's car. We arrived in Torquay late in the afternoon and made our way to the B&B accommodation, which Frank had arranged on his first visit.
We started on the job the following morning, having our mid-day and evening meals in the hospital canteen. We worked until late in the evening, completing the job in three days. It then took us one more day to test out and cure the odd faults. The hospital then took over and their first hospital radio programme went out. They were highly delighted.
I took on quite a lot of unusual jobs in the workshop. I installed Hi-fi equipment in all sort of strange furniture. One task was to fit an amplifier, complete with tuner unit and pre-amplifier, in an antique Chippendale commode. This went fine and I had just finished it when one of the rather spindly legs fell of the commode. It had to go to a cabinet-maker to have the leg re-fitted.
Ron Levett, 2001
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