Letter: Roaring (with static) 20s

"THRILLS and spills on the Internet of the 1920s" (14 May) brought back memories of that period when, at 16, I started dabbling in the intricacies of the various circuits being published in wireless literature and then started making sets. This was as a lone enthusiast in a small Hampshire town which was immune to the approach of even the fringe of the wireless world. Components had to be sent by mail-order from London.

In the summer of 1922, I and friends had our usual camping excursion. We settled on a picturesque site with stream and trees, and of course my completed four-valve wireless set with an Amplion loudspeaker powered by a car battery. An aerial was rigged on the tallest tree. That evening we heard the Savoy Orchestra loud and clear from London. The strains percolated through the trees to a romany camp, and they joined us around the set. We listened spellbound, absorbing for the first time the wonders evolved by the efforts of mankind.

P D Harris

Twickenham