My real interest in hi-fi started, as with many others, when I was at university. Way back in 1975 I bought my first bit of kit - a Pioneer receiver(!) - things developed from there with various pieces of equipment, both new and second hand, coming and going over the years since.

My system currently consists of:

My speakers are ancient, but I restored them to 'as new' using the re-cone kits supplied to me by Tannoy in 1995. Manhandling the 15 inch units out of their cabinets for the re-coning operation was almost back-destroying and hernia-producing! It's really great to see a company carrying spares in stock for old and discontinued products.

The list above plainly lacks a turntable. Sadly, I sold my Linn LP-12 turntable, Ittock arm and Asak cartridge some years ago. I feel now that it was a little premature, though I am not quite yet about to splash out on another.

I sourced the two most recent items, the CD player (to replace my ageing Denon DCD-1500) and the cassette deck (to replace my ageing Aiwa AD-F660), from a brilliant independent record & hi-fi retailer. Neil deals with distributors worldwide and also operates a record cleaning service and a mail order service. He's not yet on the Web, but is a friendly, honest retailer who certainly knows his stuff. He's well worth a call:

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I have a wide taste in music - mainly rock, but do like some of the classical stuff too. Some of the music I like to listen to:

There are many more!

I go to concerts when the right band/group is at the right venue and I can get tickets.

Some of the concerts I've been to:

Queen at Wembley Stadium - their last concert with Freddie Mercury

Genesis at Earls Court - a brilliant small venue, and at Wembley Stadium - far too big

Al Stewart, Elton John, Eric Clapton (several times), Jean-Michel Jarre, Level 42, Marillion, Phil Collins (twice), Rod Stewart & Supertramp

I also went to Knebworth in 1976 - Lynyrd Skynyrd, 10cc and the Rolling Stones were playing, amongst many others - an experience to be had, but not repeated!

Here's a site with bucketfuls of information on bands and groups

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I like to have, what I consider to be, a decent car. I rely on my car to get to and from work every day and I used to do about 24,000 miles a year, mostly for work. This has now been reduced to about 10,000 miles a year. It must be safe, strong, reliable and have decent performance. Click on the piccies for a better view. I'd always wished for a Saab and bought my first one in 1987, a 'D' 900i 8V manual 2-door in red. This was followed in 1991 by an 'H' 900i 16V manual 3-door in metallic grey, in 1993 a 'K' 900 SE(LPT) manual 3-door in metallic blue, in 1995 an 'M' 900 SE 2.5 V6 manual 5-door in Imola red

In September 1999 I changed cars again and bought a new 'V' 93 SE Sport manual 3-door in metallic silver - or is it a Saab 9-3 SE Sport manual 3-door in metallic silver? The badge on the car says '93', but all the Saab sites say '9-3'. This is similar to the previous car except that it has an uprated turbo producing 200 bhp, Automatic Climate Control, which I missed on the last car, spoilers and skirts. The suspension has also been uprated giving a harder ride and better roadholding. In addition to dual front seat airbags there are side airbags built into the front seats and electrically adjustable front seats with memory! The latter feature seems excessive, but that's how it came.

I have just taken delivery of a Saab 9-3 Viggen in yellow. This has further uprated suspension and a 2.3L 230bhp engine, different leather heated seats with all the other features of the 9-3 SE Sport. It's actually a 'W' car but I have changed the plates to fit with the ISP that my partner and I run.

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I am very interested in aviation, both civil and military. I try to attend the Paris air show at Le Bourget every other year and get along to the bigger military displays in the UK like Fairford, Boscombe Down and Mildenhall. I no longer go to the Farnborough or Biggin Hill shows as they aren't as interesting as the others above.

If I have to fly anywhere for business or pleasure, I try to arrange that the flights are in equipment (aircraft) that I've not been on before. I recently flew to Glasgow several times and went in Boeing 737-300, 400 and 500s, new to me. I've even managed to fly Heathrow-Moscow-Singapore and back in an Illyushin 62 - not to be recommended!

Having lived in Singapore from 1962 to 1976 I've had plenty of flying experience as a passenger, especially while at school in the UK. My first flight was in a Comet 4 in 1964 from Singapore to London - it took forever and we had to stop in *so* many places on the way.

Whilst in the RAF cadets at school I managed to get flights in an RAF Chipmunk and an RAF Hercules - very different and interesting.

The one wish I've not yet fulfilled is a flight in one of the Concordes - a wish many other people will have too.

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I am a radio ham, callsigns G4WVX, G0FUN and GX0FUN. I have also held the callsign J79VX. I spend rather less time involved with radio nowadays than I'd like. My favourite enjoyment is CW (Morse Code) on the HF bands and HF contesting. My J79 callsign was from an operation in Dominica in November 1994 for the CQWW CW contest, operating as part of the J77J team. Click here to see a report from this very interesting DXpedition.

I enjoy local/localish chit-chatting on the 70 cms (430 MHz) and on the 23 cms (1.2 GHz) bands FM.

Some Amateur Radio Links

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I don't have an affinity for gardens or anything like that - it helps that we live in a flat without a garden :) Since I met my partner, Mark, at the beginning of 1997 I have developed a fascination for cacti, succulents and carniverous plants. This is probably because most of them are really weird from my point of view. There is a whole gallery of plant stuff on Mark's site, should you be interested.

We have quite a large collection with more than twenty different types so far. Piccies of all our increasing range of cacti and succulents, for those who may be interested, are shown in the thumbnails below. More will be added as we sort out the piccies. Click on the thumbnails for a better view. Once many more have been added they will move to a separate page so that this page doesn't take too long to load. Those interested will be able to go and take a look.

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Copyright © 1996-2012 Bruce Gilson
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