The Lowe Electronics Hall Of Fame

We took the long and winding road from Derby to Matlock as a kind of radio pilgrimage.

We stood in silent wonder on the former site of The Emporium, Lowe Electronics. If you were a customer there, can we have your memories via Contact Us please? It would be great to keep an online archive of a once-great electronics company.

It was Bill himself who served me when I bought my first rig, the fabulous Liner 2 after gaining the G8 in 1975 whilst an impoverished student. As a welcome into the hobby he gave me a Jaybeam 4el Yagi to get a young (19) year old up and running on 2 metres. Since then until its closure I hate to recall how many rigs and what expenditure passed through their tills from myself but each and every visit was an adventure that sadly can't be repeated with mail order - Steve G8LIK

I heard Lowe stocked DAB Tivoli RX's so I thought I'd make a day out of it and visit the place before it closed. Many years back, Rob Gill had done a free-sheet on walks in the area so, armed with an original copy, I parked on the top carpark and stumped off toward Lumsdale. When I got back to the car, there was a huge note stuck on it saying it was not a carpark. Thinking it was a joke, I went in to get my radio only to get into a big fight over who has the right to park there. A valued customer? I don't think so. A real shame - I wanted the radio to remember the place by. Driving back still smarting, I popped into Super-Fi and got my Tivoli. No wonder they went out of business!

It was Lowe on Chesterfield Road that got me into amateur radio. The staff there always had time to talk and I first got licenced in the 70's. On one of the great open days I was the lucky winner of a Kenwood receiver which is still giving great service. After that I never bought anything anywhere else and it was sad to see the business sold and eventually out of amateur radio. They may have called Bill Lowe a cowboy but he was he must have very bad at it as a fairer man to deal with in amateur radio I have not met yet. Good luck with the site - 73's Chris G0UFP

I got my first radio, an FT101b from the Wellington Road hut in 1974. My brother got an aircraft band radio, a Sky Ace 60 - he still has it - from Chesterfield Road! - John Fletcher

Had a pint in The Rising Sun up above Wirksworth and saw the new Lowe building set back from the road. Googled them to see what the new business is about and found it interesting. Emailed them as an old customer wishing them well in their new venture but my old-fashioned good manners was not worth a reply.

I have memories of the time that Bill Lowe moved from Wellington Road to the Chesterfield Road site and of the hours I spent with JT after you went into the PMR market. We bought many TRIO TK801's and TK701's from the shop - big but they were reliable. In later years I spent many hours modding them to fullfil a need in the packet field and to build a 256CH synth board for them - Brian, g8vpr ex ce midcom rts

Are you referring to the shop on the main road or the earlier location? I recall buying the first ICOM from (bandit) Bill Lowe. IC-2? I can't off-hand remember the letter after the 2. I later bought a number of rigs from Bill. I remember buying one of the new Trio/Kenwood 2m VFO rigs. It was most unstable compared to the ICOM VFOs. Give Bill his due, he took it back for a refund without any problems. Bandit Bill - a true gentleman. - Alan, G4ENS (G8ENS at that time)

I met some great like-minded souls and learned a lot from them. Bill Lowe was a great character; if you asked him for advice, you had better listen! When the place closed, so did a piece of radio retail history - Bob G8YQL