Pye grew to over 60 companies, based on four main sites in the UK.....

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The entrance to the original WG Pye factory, at the junction of Haig Road (now part of Elizabeth Way) and Montague Road in the Chesterton district of Cambridge.

The footpath which runs alongside the site can just be seen at the right of the scene with St. Andrews Church in the background.

With reference to the modern site photograph shown below, Haig Road was at the top left hand corner of the top left white bordered area.

Over the years, the Haig Road factory was progressively expanded until it occupied the whole of the top left white bordered area shown below until it reached St. Andrews Road.

St. Andrews Road is the space between the two white bordered areas in the photograph below.

 

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The old W.G. Pye factory off Haig Road dates from 1913 and became the original "Pye Radio Works". Interestingly, the W.G. Pye scientific instrument catalogue for 1922 gives the Company address as Montague Road.

When domestic radio and TV production moved away from Cambridge in the mid 1960s, the site was adopted by Pye Telecom and became known as "Cambridge Works".

The rows of buildings extending diagonally from top left to centre right were demolished for car parking after Site 1 ("A" building) was constructed in 1978.

The total north side of the site extends from the original Haig Road entrance at the top centre, down to St. Andrews Road running past diagonally at the bottom.

 

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The modern Pye Telecom/Philips/Simoco 16 acre site at St. Andrews Road pictured in 1998. The white bordered areas indicate the sections of the site which were for sale at that time.

The main factory and laboratory area "A" building (initially known as Site1) is located in the top right of the picture, the administrative "D" building and its car park in the centre bordering the large sports field. Also shown is the systems "F" building located above "D" building, and "E" building to its left. At the top left is a large car park area which was the site of the original 1913 W G Pye Works, off Haig Road.

For more detail, see the section of the site map under menu on right of screen.

During June and July 2003 the factory and laboratory block (opened in 1979) on the right of the picture were demolished. By August 2003, the building had gone.. Houses have been built on the site of the old Haig Road factory.

"A" building, St. Andrews Road, viewed from the river side in 1979.

"D" Building, viewed from St. Andrews Road in 1998.

"E" building, viewed from St. Andrews Road in 1998.

"F" Building, viewed from St. Andrews Road in 1998.

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These offices, factory and laboratory buildings in Newmarket Road were the original headquarters of Pye Telecom from 1949 until 1978, when the new Site 1 complex in St. Andrews Road was opened.

This building was originally a WW2 Home Office gas mask factory and store.

The Newmarket Road site was usually known as Ditton Works due to its proximity to the village of Fen Ditton and its location at the junction of Newmarket Road and Ditton Lane.

 

 

 

A Pye Telecom Bedford CA van at Ditton Works, Newmarket Road.

In the foreground, PTC112 or PTC114 mobiles can be seen being tested during the 1950s.

PTC116 mobiles and PTC703 fixed stations being made and tested in the 1950s.

Vanguard production at the front of Ditton Works, early 1960s.

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Pye Telecom first opened a small operation in Haverhill, West Suffolk in 1954 in an old building in Lordscroft Lane.

A new factory was constructed on land in Colne Valley Road in 1957 when the demand for radio equipment was approaching its peak.

The factory produced microwave links, mobiles, fixed stations and many other items of equipment.

Later, in the 1980s, Haverhill Works also became a feeder factory, producing printed circuit boards as sub-assemblies, which were later assembled into finished equipments at other Pye Telecom sites.

 

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An aerial view of the Haverhill factory being constructed in the mid 1950s.

Unlike the Company headquarters at Ditton Works, Newmarket Road, Cambridge, the Colne Vally Road site was custom designed and built expressly for use as an electronics factory.

 

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In 1993, Philips Telecom-PMR purchased Mobicom Ltd which operated from a site adjacent to Uttoxeter Old Road, Derby, England

Mobicom had been a supplier of systems elements for some years to Pye and Philips, notably MPT1343 trunking system controllers.

Mobicom was also an independent communications systems integrator, and this role was continued following the purchase by Philips.

More to follow.

 

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