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Electronics Manufacturing in Australia Australia has a long history in local electronics manufacturing, from garages to vast factories employing hundreds of people. Many products were designed and built here by brands including Astor, AWA, EMI, Pye, Philips, Malvern Star (they made pushbikes too!), Hot Point, Whirlpool and many more. Part 1 by Kevin Poulter S ome of the biggest brands like Pye, Philips and AWA (through connections to Marconi) had the advantage of having links to European or American radio manufacturers. So many early radios sold under those brands were imported or arrived as kits for assembly here. Soon, that evolved into local design and production. This first part of the series will cover manufacturing by Pye Telecommunications Ltd, where I had considerable experience. Part two will cover radio and TV manufacturers including AWA, Astor and EMI/HMV. Pye’s UK heritage Pye was founded by W G Pye in Cambridge, England as a supplier of 38 Silicon Chip scientific instruments to Cambridge University. In 1925, he hired Charles Orr Stanley to lead their domestic radio production. Pye initially struggled in this sector, as they were arguably the best in their field and met the stringent rules to avoid signal radiation. That resulted in high selling prices and poor sensitivity, both disasters in the open consumer market. Pye noted that other brands made cheaper, better-­ performing radios due to less strict compliance with emissions rules, so they took that path. Soon, Pye was a popular brand and its radios could receive a host of stations, even those in mainland Europe. Australian Pye domestic receiver and commercial telecommunications production started in 1949 at Abbotsford, Victoria, near Melbourne. Imports from the UK supplemented those sets. Despite local competitors, the Telecommunications division was very successful and Pye built a huge Captions; top left: manufacturing Base Stations like the F60 in the 1960s. Top right: the assembly line for UHF transceivers. The line on the far right is winding coils. Bottom two: the crystal clean room, for assembling frequency control crystals, around 1970. Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au purpose-built Telecommunications plant in Clarinda, near Clayton, in Melbourne’s southeast. It was vast, capable of accommodating about 200 staff. The managers included some from the UK, who brought over their extensive production experience. The Australian demand for two-way radios was vital to the success of this factory, as mobile phones were just a “Dick Tracy” fantasy at that time. Locally-made parts Each Australian manufacturer that made products independently of overseas (sometimes parent) companies decided how much would be made in-house. AWA and Philips made nearly every component locally, including valves and transistor components, while Pye’s model was to buy those parts, including Rola speakers. Regardless, Pye Telecommunications made nearly every part of their transceivers, including all the metalwork, stamping out chassis, coils, wafer switches, screen-printing/etching printed circuit boards, tag strips, some transformers, relays, cavity resonators and quartz crystals. The massive metal stamping equipment in the open-plan building ensured the factory was not silent! The military demanded high-­ quality parts and tropical jungle-safe techniques like encapsulating parts and assemblies (sealing them with a varnish-­like coating). There, I learned how to gold-plate copper on circuit boards, which looked just like a basic science experiment. The military sent inspectors to check items during production and witness testing procedures, which were more involved than those of any civilian customer. Much of the factory was abuzz before the inspectors arrived, taking special care to select above-average products and ensure that all areas were neat and tidy. The Special Projects room developed, built and/or adapted products outside the normal Pye product range so that large contracts could be supplied. A Pye Overland F10 type FM706 D/V/12 on top of a PS728 power supply. The mains unit (pictured) and a Tulip (Lily) microphone enabled a mobile two-way to be a compact base station. This was one of the power supplies that blew up upon testing. Circa 1970s. The all-valve Pye PTC 116 Reporter, in radio-telephone mode, from the 1959 range made at Pye Abbotsford, Vic. It was used in Australian taxis, fire engines, ambulances, for ship-to-shore communications and many other applications. The big Philips takeover Pye Tulip microphones were iconic accessories for decades. There were two main components: an electromagnetic dynamic microphone and a push-totalk microswitch. In 1967, Philips took over Pye worldwide, although it was not until 1970 that Philips and Pye Telecommunications merged manufacturing. Most of the facts in this article apply equally siliconchip.com.au Australia's electronics magazine August 2024  39 A UHF Transceiver developed by Pye for the Department of Civil Aviation, seen here in September 1964. It was fitted in a 19-inch rack and similar units were supplied to the RAAF. Cavity resonators are visible; they were used to peak the tuning. to Philips’ situation after the takeover. Pye Clayton staff were relieved to find that nearly all their staff remained; only a few Philips staff merged into key positions. The Philips Telecommunications Manufacturing Company Limited (Philips-TMC for short), Radio Communication Division, head office and factory were at Clarinda Road, Clayton in Melbourne. Philips-TMC combined the experience and technical know-how of the global Philips and Pye companies to create the largest and most experienced manufacturer of two-way radio equipment in Australia. They marketed two-way radios throughout Australia and 40 other countries. The company maintained Australia’s largest, best-equipped after-sales service organisation, with branches in all mainland capital cities and 97 authorised distributors nationwide. Philips-TMC was represented in Fiji, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Indonesia, among other countries. Two-way radios were also assembled in Indonesia for local supply. Pye products were still available for a while, with many being simply re-branded Philips designs. Eventually, the Philips 1680 became the main mobile two-way radio product. At the production level, very few changes were noted, other than a visit by the director of Philips. If a client wanted a limited number of transceivers that were outside the standard product range, two-way radios like the Pye Cambridge were imported from the UK. Many mobiles and rack-mounted equipment were exported to Pacific islands and Asian countries. In a surprising turn of events, Philips Melbourne received a large order for Australian model 1680 mobiles from the Dutch Police! Manufacturing structure Pye played a leading role at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, providing twoway radios, loudhailers, television cameras and domestic TVs used as monitors. This technical room was used to monitor and service all their equipment. 40 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine Factory sections included Assembly, Accounting, Testing, Metal Fabrication, Special Projects, Parts Store, Printed Circuit boards, Coils, Design, Sales, Purchasing, Promotion, Crystal Production, Order Processing, Canteen, Export and Despatch. Challenges abound when competitors exist, so Pye had local and export Sales Teams. Customers included a siliconchip.com.au host of Australian companies, especially those with fleets of vans for, say, TV repairs, CFA (Country Fire Authority), city fire brigades, government, military, taxis, police, DCA (Department of Civil Aviation), the Flying Doctors and much more. A highlight from the early days was the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, with Pye supplying ship-to-shore communications from the Royal Yacht Britannia to the Royal vehicles for the Duke of Edinburgh, and televisions to monitor the games. A large quartz crystal plant was built next to the Pye plant, arguably the best in Australia. Natural Brazilian quartz was imported and X-rayed for the best cutting angle. Calculations were sent by landline overnight to the Monash University large computer. Those calculations could be done now in seconds on a laptop, but it was the best procedure available at the time. When the Pye technician arrived in the morning, he hoped there had not been any glitch in the transmission, or it was back to square one, redoing it the following night. Pye experimented with new techniques for quicker and more reliable production of products such as crystals. During the normal process, a finished crystal wafer was gold-plated and mounted on two delicate wire connectors. The base and top cover were then soldered together and evacuated during the final sealing. Since soldering creates high temperatures, engineering thought: why not use cold welding? It seemed like a winwin: fewer staff would be required, and there would be little heat in the process. Initially, there were many failures in getting the correct settings without contamination. However, they made it work in the end. Another bright idea occurred for optimising the production of twoway radios. The plan was to push all the parts onto the main circuit board, bend the component tails for more grip on the copper tracks, then cut off the excess leads. Next, a conveyor belt took the completed board into a molten solder bath, with a speed control to adjust the time the parts were exposed to the solder. It was soon discovered that running the conveyor too quickly resulted in many dry joints while running it too siliconchip.com.au A Pye microphone and earphone in a handset for a telephone-like experience. They were re-branded as Philips by this time in the 1970s. The Pye Victor, one of the last valve-based two-way radios made in Australia. All products are from Kevin Poulter’s collection and were photographed by him using a Nikon P900 and in-camera flash. Manufacturing and testing Pye Overland two-way radios. The test gear seen here, like the Marconi signal generator and AVO meter, will be known to many readers. Australia's electronics magazine August 2024  41 Top: Ian Hyde (in white overalls) arriving at the docks to service Pye gear in a Navy ship. Left: Marlene checking the cut angle of a quartz wafer using diffraction X-ray equipment, c1970. Bottom: servicing a Pye mobile PTC116 mobile telephone in a Navy ship in the 1950s. 42 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine slowly resulted in ‘cooked’ components. It is now a standard soldering technique used for many products that still use through-hole components, called “wave soldering”. It could be said that, next to sales and design, the company’s backbone was the mums who sat on the production line, each assembling just a small portion of the mobile radio. Provided the supervisor was not watching, they chatted about family matters as they added their quota of parts to the radio. Usually, this worked very well. One of the items assembled on the line was a rugged 12V power supply that enabled a mobile radio to operate on mains and thus become a small base station. The lady on assembly soldered the massive filter capacitors in place, then the finished unit went to test. With considerable confidence, the test technician flicked the on switch, and there was instantaneously an unearthly “BANG”, not unlike a shotgun, and the factory filled with smoke. The lady had wired the part in with reversed polarity! I recently met the test technician, who was rather rattled by the explosion but uninjured. Parts anyone? One of the biggest challenges was to make a list of parts for a new product so that they could be made or ordered with enough time to supply the production process. Halting the assembly line to wait for parts was a ‘must avoid at all costs’ situation. Some parts needed multiple steps, like metal stamping and cadmium plating (passivation), painting, captive nuts machined in place, or parts like feedthroughs. The latter was a plated nail surrounded by an insulator. When pressed into a small hole in the chassis, the feedthrough enabled a wire to be soldered on the top and bottom of the nail, thus enabling voltage to be transferred from the top of the chassis to underneath. Parts were ordered with around 10% excess to cover failures, damage and shortfalls. Potential losses occurred when parts were dropped to the floor by assembly ladies or staff who used components to make their own projects (‘foreign orders’). Faced with considerable production delays when some parts ran out, management asked the ladies to be siliconchip.com.au careful not to drop parts like resistors. All parts in stock were housed in a cyclone-caged store. Parts could only be obtained internally with a requisition slip signed by a senior staff member. The order processing department was the link between sales and production or, in the case of crystals, between the client and production. Products were ordered from the factory using a form with key data like the customer name, the required delivery dates, model numbers, transmission frequencies and ordering codes. A Philips FM320, made in the ex-Pye factory. Competition Competitors like AWA and Pye tolerated each other; for example, AWA used Pye crystals. Some readers may identify AWA, Marconi, and Eddystone test equipment in the photographs. Pye had no reservations about using competitor’s test equipment. AWA also made components branded MSP (Manufacturer’s Special Products) so that competitors could use them without having an AWA logo on their gear. The Golden Era ends The two-way radio businesses boomed as so many Australians needed wireless communications. Two-way radios in ambulances and fire engines helped save lives. Thousands of Australians benefited, through employment at the parent company or at the suppliers. Like so many products, the industry’s demise was due to politics, the introduction of the mobile phone and overseas competition. Philips Two-way Radio in Australia closed decades ago, with some staff moving to Simoco. Today, a small number of Australian speciality companies survive in the world electronics market by making unique items, such as modules for space vehicles and sensors for food production. An internal view of the Philips FM320. The components and construction techniques used would be familiar to many of our readers. Conclusion & future articles For more information on Pye Telecommunications Australia in the 1950s, please visit siliconchip.au/ link/abvb The second article in this series will cover other brands that manufactured electronics in Australia, especially televisions and radiograms. The brands featured will include EMI/ HMV and AWA. SC siliconchip.com.au PYE Australia Quartz Crystal frequency control products, circa 1970. The plain silver box is a TCXO (temperature compensated crystal oscillator). Top left is the outside and inside of a crystal filter. Australia's electronics magazine August 2024  43