Chapter 16: Orbitel.
Orbitel offices in Basingstoke
My house in Hatch End was still rented, so I resolved to move out of my parents' house to be close to work. I took a Bed and Breakfast room in a house in an estate in Basingstoke while I hunted for a flat to rent. I ended up renting in Newbury, which was 16 miles north, since I considered Basingstoke to be a new town, similar to Milton Keynes, and not a good address. My flat in Speen was in the roof space of a block, so the only windows I had were the Velux type. I loved the location, and Newbury was quite a nice old town to live in. I cycled quite a lot around the area and even went for runs to improve my fitness. My mantra at the time was that I would rather look like Sean Bean than Mr Bean.
I lost my snobbery about Basingstoke a few years later when they started to build the A34 bypass close to my flat, and at the same time my landlord increased the rent. So, I sold my flat in Hatch End and moved to Basingstoke where I bought a little semi-detached house in a newly built estate, 26 St Thomas Close, which was in the old grounds of an Alzheimer hospital. I enjoyed living there since it was quiet, close to work and to the town centre. There was also enough parking for my car and the boat. More about the boat later. Even though I was living here for eight years I never lifted a paintbrush or used the oven once. This was my last move within the timeline of this book.
The flat at Speen in Newbury
My little house in Basingstoke
Orbitel was a joint venture between Racal and Plessey and they somehow managed to beat all the major rivals to launch the first GSM phone into the world, and this was in 1991, the year I joined them. The phone I first worked on was also the first to receive a text message in the same year. Orbitel was based in a small office estate called the Keytech Centre on the outskirts of Basingstoke. It was a modern enough building with plenty of light and a canteen for food. When I first started you could just walk into any building without any security requirements such as card entry. This would change after a few years when robbers started to raid the site for computers.
I was taken on as a Senior Mechanical Designer, and on my first day I was greeted by a sea of drawing boards which, after using CAD, I was not used to anymore, so I was happy when I was placed on one of the ME10 CAD terminals. Obviously, my prior experience with ME10 was noted in the interview. Most of the guys on the drawing boards were contractors and were taken on to get the first GSM phone to the market. They were not going to invest in CAD for all of them.
Things had changed in the world since my days working at Racal BCC. Even though there were the occasional trip to the pub on Fridays, there was not the culture of necking back as many pints as possible and then driving back to work. I think I was persuaded to have two pints on a couple of occasions, but mostly it was just one. Behaviour amongst the employees was at a much more civilised level compared to when I was with BCC at Wembley. I put this down to the fact that there was no manufacturing or apprentices on site. This might sound a bit snobbish, but this was my experience of where the trouble usually was at BCC.
I was there for a few days before a very familiar face walked by. It was Paul Smith, my old skydiving teammate from ten years previous. It was great seeing him again and we had a catch-up on everything. I felt more at home in Orbitel after that. Paul was still jumping but I was not tempted to return, although I was re-introduced to the skydiving social network in the area. We met up for a drink with Mark Owen who lived just outside Basingstoke. Mark was to become a good friend, and we ended up having a few adventures together. Perhaps it's time to explore one of them now.
Our design office at Orbitel
Me hard at work
The first GSM Phone, The Orbitel 901