"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Graham. wrote:

Only joking, but it was similar, suspended in a metal hoop on four
springs.
it had a Bakelite base housing the "induction coil" transformer, I
remember
being surprised that the core was made up of many parallel iron wires.

As a child I discovered that the carbon mike inserts used by the GPO would
get very hot if subject to a high voltage. This was during attempts to get
a usable audio link between our house and my mate's using very thin
blasting wire nicked from the quarry and a lot of enormous batteries
nicked from the railway.


I had a carbon hand mic in a very substatial bakelite case
and padding with a switch on the side. It had the British WD
mark and broad arrrow on the back plus RTC (Royal Tank Corps)
and 2DG (2nd Dragoon Guards) After a while, I exchanged it for a
78rpm record; "All Shook Up" which I still have. I wonder if that
spotty kid in short trousers still has my mic? I would like it back:-)


Iain