G4AQB - Analogue Native!

QSL Card

2012-01-28T22:21:00.003Z

Now if you want some cheap QSL cards go to VISTAPRINT and design your own for nothing!

I have wanted to have some new QSL cards printed for years now, but the old suppliers are not there any more. To order some now you usually have to order from the Ukraine or Norway.

I got an offer from VISTAPRINT to make 100 postcards free, so I designed them on-line and then took up another offer of printing 250 cards for only £7.00 in full colour!

I got my first QSL cards back in 1969 when I joined the RSGB as Short Wave Listener A6412. I had some glossy cards made that cost a fortune at the time. When I got my Amateur Radio licence, George, G3ZQS designed and made me some QSL cards. They were a bit boring! After that, I used postcards in full colour of Bolton town centre and had a stamp made with my callsign.

This was an interesting story... It was about 1975 and Bolton had twinned with two other towns in Europe. At the time I was a committee member of the Bolton and District Amateur Radio Society and we had organised events that involved linking with Le-Mans in France and Paderborn in Germany. One event was a net on 80 metres run by G3XUM. We asked Bolton Council if they would print some QSL cards for us to use. After months of phone calls and letters eventually they decided to print some...in fact 10,000 of them!! We had boxes and boxes of QSL cards that we couldn't get rid of!

I guess nowadays QSL cards are not that important any more, you can send an e-QSL instead. I have to say though that receiving a real QSL card through the post for a DX contact still gives me a buzz, and yes, I still collect QSL cards. They are something special that has come from that town, city or country, something personal.

That is why I decided to print some more, I just love having them!

Man from U.N.C.L.E.

2012-01-27T20:44:00.008Z

Now i'm not one to watch 'Coronation Street' on television, but tonight I saw something even more amazing than Becky! The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Coronation Street?

I was passing by the television when I suddenly saw Napoleon Solo - (Robert Vaughn) having a pint in the 'Rovers Return! Now I understand...Tracy Barlow works for T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity) so they send in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. to eliminate her because Becky (an undercover U.N.C.L.E. agent) has been assigned to Barbados for a special assignment.

Gosh! This immediately brought back the memories of the 1960's series. I can honestly say that I watched every episode on television! I waited for each episode to come on in 1966 and pretended that I was Illya Kuryakin (David Mc Callum) We even played 'Man from Uncle' games in the street and made my own 'Pen Communicator' out of an old fountain pen with the plunger that you pulled down for the aerial.

“Open Channel D.”
The silver pen that converts into a communication device is one of the most memorable spy gadgets of any TV espionage show. The Pen Communicator, as it is called, was used regularly by the stars of both the “Man From U.N.C.L.E” and “Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” series. U.N.C.L.E. agents would remove the pen's end piece, flip it around and reconnect it, exposing a gold microphone grid. They would then extract a hidden antenna from the other end, which, when turned, would activate the unit. The phrase “Open Channel D” would put Section II agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin into direct contact with U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in New York City. Alternate voice-activated channels would connect them with each other, or with other field agents. Additional functions include amnesia inducer and electronic scanner.

This series was well ahead of it's time with all the technology hidden behind the taylor's shop to stop the infamous T.H.R.U.S.H. from ruling the world!

U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law and Enforcement

T.H.R.U.S.H. - Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity

OMG...acronyms gone mad!
Now I get it...Tracey Barlow works for T.H.R.U.S.H.

Kodak

2012-01-21T21:05:00.004Z

I was bought a Kodak Instamatic when I was 14 years old for my birthday. A fantastic little camera which I used for slides. Most of our family photos were taken with this kind of camera.

Is this the end of an era?

Kodak going bust?

It seems that the company have not kept up with the digital technology over the years and have been in denial of the fast moving digital camera market. I have to say that I have been surprised at how few Kodak cameras have been on the market in shops and stores. They currently market the Kodak printer as a way of printing photos cheaper, but seriously, how many people actually print out all their photos like we did with film cameras.

Do you remember these, the 126 film cartridge, easy to use with the instamatic!

It should be interesting to see what happens next. Will the name 'Kodak' survive or will it disappear like Woolworths did.

Some Kodak facts:

Kodak founder George Eastman produced the first camera film in rolls in 1883
The firm Kodak is set up in 1888 and launches the first consumer camera in 1888 with the slogan: "You press the button, we do the rest"
In 1900 Kodak introduces a consumer camera for $1 called the Brownie, which goes on to become a best-seller in America
In 1969 a Kodak camera is used during the first Moon landing
Kodak claims to have invented the world's first digital camera in 1975. It had a resolution of 0.1 megapixels; the camera was the size of a toaster

Should've gone to Specsavers!

2012-01-18T23:16:00.003Z

This amazing image of the stricken ship in Italy taken from a satellite.

How could this have happened with the most sophisticated, state of the art navigation technology?

Costa Concordia cost a lottamoney!

Maybe the captain should have gone to Specsavers!

Success Maker?

2012-01-07T23:47:00.003Z

Now this guy has got it right!
I had to work my way up from nothing when I left school. I found a job...a good job with an apprenticeship and had to work hard at college as well as working. I never took anything for granted and worked for everything I got and achieved.
Now, young people seem to expect everything to be put on a plate for them relying totally on their parents to bail them out when things don't work out. Bill Gates has some good advice, especially number 11. Four words here...Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook. There is nothing wrong with being a geek!

Radio Communication Handbook

2011-12-28T21:14:00.002Z

Gosh! I have wanted one of these for years, when I finally decided to get one for Christmas the other year it had gone out of print. Now I got one for this years Christmas present!

I have the older editions (two volumes) along with the VHF / UHF manual. They are excellent publications, but the projects in them are outdated. The latest edition is thoroughly up to date with the latest technology both digital and analogue. It has a nice balance, with some specialised projects using valves. The principles are still the same and it takes you back to basics. With all the digital technology in the world, you can't change the formulae of Ohm's Law, Resonant Circuits and Antenna principles. There are also a lot of useful and updated charts and graphs to explain things like radiation patterns and circuits.

I will always treasure this publication, certainly worth the £30!

50Mhz Halo Test

2011-12-28T20:04:00.000Z

The final piece in the antenna jigsaw, putting up the 50mhz Halo.

When I sent for the antenna I wasn't sure just how big this antenna would look and also how it will perform. Assembling the halo was quite easy, but the instructions didn't mention how to tune this thing apart from the small variable capacitor on the connector block where the coax connects. The halo frame is adjustable and on the drawing it shows 4 inches as the extension length from the adjuster. The delta match is also variable in length, so after first assembling the unit I connected it to my FT817 to adjust for best vswr. After a lot of fiddling I got it down to 1:1. Now it was ready to fix up on the mast. The halo came with a good quality clamp and was easy to fix on the mast, but was very close to the satellite dish.

When I tested the halo on 50Mhz I was a bit disappointed. At first I couldn't hear the Buxton beacon, it is drowned by another carrier on top of it. Eventually, I managed to find it which although stronger than it is on the discone antenna, I would have thought it would come in stronger. When I transmitted on the halo the vswr went up very high, something is obviously wrong. I now need to get the ladders out again to maybe move the halo away from the satellite dish and re-tune the antenna.

I will reserve my judgement until later when I get chance to optomise the antenna and try it again.

Latest update - 28th December 2011

Today I took down the halo to make some adjustments and measuring. If you buy one of these from Moonraker (or anywhere else for that matter) the rather vague instructions that come with it are wrong! It shows a measurement for extending the square of the halo and shows it as 4 inches. The halo is tuned far too high in frequency and I found that I had to extend the square and delta match right to it's limits. Even at this, it tunes best at the top end of the band.

So now that I have the halo tuned I used the antenna during the 50Mhz contest to see how it performs now. VSWR is now down to 1.5 :1 and I must admit that every station I heard I managed to work even though conditions on the band were poor. It was a little anoying when other stations were using yagis and my halo is omni-directional. I would feel more in control to have some forward gain. I am also not happy with the position of the halo, it is screened in some directions because it is sandwiched between the houses. Would probably work better in the clear up on the chimney perhaps. I could hear the Buxton Beacon at s9, but I still think that it should come in louder than that.

So...my overall verdict on the 50Mhz Halo... It is adequate for general use on 50Mhz, but I would prefer a 2 ele HB9CV similar to my 70Mhz. I am limited for space though, so the Halo is a bit of a compomise.

Jean Genie Genius

2011-12-21T23:08:00.003Z

I just watched a piece of television pop history tonight! Shown for the first time in 39 years!

David Bowie singing Jean Genie live on Top of the Pops back in January 1973 (a good year!) I find it difficult to believe that the BBC erased tapes of TOTP and other series after they had been shown! Maybe it was done to save money and re-use the tapes like we did with audio tapes. Well done John Henshall, the cameraman who saved hundreds of copies of stuff wiped from tapes.

"A retired cameraman has been speaking of the moment he realised he owned footage of David Bowie on Top of the Pops which was thought to be lost.
John Henshall, 69, from Stanford-in-the-Vale, Oxfordshire, retained a copy of Bowie performing Jean Genie in 1973.
He said: "I just couldn't believe that I was the only one with it. I just thought you wouldn't be mad enough to wipe a tape like that."

Mr Henshall said he only kept it because he wanted it for his showreel.
In the footage he used Telefex Fisheye lenses which he had designed himself. He also ended up in the background of one of the shots.
After the recording he asked producers for a personal copy on 2in (5cm) broadcast videotape.'Rarer than rare'
Mr Henshall said: "I didn't realise that it had been wiped by the BBC.
"They'd been looking for it for years, hoping that somebody had maybe pointed an 8mm home movie camera at the screen, because there was no VHS in those days. "

It amazes me how much television history has been 'wiped' over the years. On Monday I watched the film 'Hugo' which is a wonderful story of a movie-maker who destroys his celluloid films and finds them again by someone who saw the value of this analogue history.

70Mhz receive converter

2011-12-18T17:23:00.006Z

My versions of the converters. The top photo is the 50Mhz converter and the second one is the 70Mhz version. I currently use these as part of my transverters. I also made one for 144Mhz in a similar style. The 50 Mhz converter has a 3sk88 in the front end, while the 70Mhz uses 40673 mosfet. Note the different 28Mhz IF inductors, the 70Mhz uses a small torroid, while the 50Mhz uses a 1/4" coil former.

I ought to know the circuit of this converter by heart now, I have built so many of them for different frequencies.

My first attempts at a 144Mhz converter with an output frequency of 2 - 4Mhz (remember tuning high to low?) was not the best. It took ages to get things right with a FET front end and mixer. I could never seem to get it stable even after several rebuilds. Later, when I got the Yaesu FT101E I wanted to use this as a tunable IF of 28 - 30Mhz, so I decided on this design. It used two dual-gate MOSFETS, and also used feed-through decoupling capacitors and leadless discs. They were very easy to use and the circuit was very stable!

I first built a 144Mhz convertor which formed part of my transverter project, and then later built one for 70Mhz and also 50Mhz. All with the same layout, but different crystal and coils.

I still use all of these in my transverters, all are sensitive and stable

A great circuit, recommended for anyone wanting to build one of these as part of a project.

In the circuit I replaced the 3N140 with 40673 MOSFETS and then later used GASFETS like the 3SK88. My transverters for 144Mhz and 50Mhz have 3SK88's and for 70Mhz I used 40673's.

DF8QK 1296Mhz Transverter

2011-12-12T20:42:00.006Z

Years ago I got hold of some partially completed DF8QK circuit boards. At first I built the 1296Mhz receive converter and after a lot of messing I finally heard a signal for the first time on the 23cm Amateur Band. Next I completed the three stage pre-amp and although quite noisy, managed to get it working as well.

This project took me ages to build and eventually I partially completed the transmit mixer. I assembled the units using copper clad board to make boxes for each unit with bnc sockets and plugs to connect between each unit. It was a bit of a nightmare to have, with wires everywhere!

The transmit mixer worked fine, but each time I wanted to use it I had to tweek some of the trimmers to make it work properly. I was truely amazed when I managed to work a station in France during excellent tropo conditions with just a few milliwatts of power!

Having worked a few stations on 23cm, my next project was to try to put all these units into a case and also build the power amplifier to give it some more power output.

For a while the transverter worked, but with a few problems with alignment that had to be constantly tweeked again. The big problem with the 23cm band is that nobody uses it unless there is a contest or tropo opening, so I never really new how well the transverter performed.

I still have the transverter, but it has not been powered up for years as I 'lost' the circuits and alignment details.

Last week I came across an old floder in my attic and guess what was in it? The circuits for the DF8QK! I was amazed...now my task is to try to get this beast working again after so long. I don't know if it will be successful, but you can but try!

Pye Bootmount Cambridge

2011-12-04T20:35:00.004Z

About the same time as using the Pye Ranger on 70Mhz, I also had a mobile set up for 144Mhz. This consisted of a Pye Bootmount Cambridge complete with cables and A35 van to put it in. This was my first car! Originally the small dashmount control unit was mounted at the front and the main unit was on the floor in the back of the van. There were 6 crystal controlled channels and I used a home made 1/4 wave mag mount on 2m. (The magnet came from an old tv focus unit) At first I used it on AM, but later I fitted an FM discriminator (TBA120a) and modified the RF circuit to transmit in FM.

Later, I took the bold step of making the bootmount into a dashmount and building a front panel with all it's controls fitted to the side of the main unit. I then designed and built my fist ever digital unit...an LED digital readout that displayed the channel number (R6, S20, S21 etc...) It used a huge matrix of 1N914 diodes. It worked really well!

I used this set up for a while until I eventually bought a Sommercamp FM mobile at a rally. I still can't remember what I did with this Pye Bootmount Cambridge, I know that I also had a dashmout Pye Cambridge later. I think I must have taken it to a bring and buy stall at a rally.

Pye 70Mhz Ranger

2011-12-04T20:15:00.005Z

After my last post I got to think about the old Pye Ranger that I used for a while to get me onto 70Mhz. I borrowed the rig from Neil G3ZPL, who used it himself for a while. This was a mean rig with a QQVO-320 valve in the final giving about 15 watts output. Although I called it a Pye Ranger, I don't think it actually had a name at that time.

Production life: 1949 - 1956

Standard frequency range: PTC114, 60 - 100 MHz,

Transmitter RF output: 10 -15 Watts AM

Primary model variants: 6, 12 or 24 Volt dc operation,

1 or 2 channel operation, PTC114Z-115Z later version using QQV03/20A PA valve.

I can't remember how I powered this rig, I think I must have wired this to a high voltage power supply. I remember using this AM rig to work cross-band with Neil G3ZPL.

70Mhz antenna - HB9CV Review

2011-12-03T21:16:00.004Z

At last! Some stations to work on 4m with my new HB9CV!

Last week was the Tuesday evening activity night contest on 70Mhz. These don't seem to happen every month, so I have had to wait for this one to come. I have always liked 4m, years ago I had a Pye Ranger AM set with it's all valve line up. I used this for quite a while until I built a 4m Transverter which I am still using now. I had lots of fun during VHF NFD back in 70's and 80' when I always opted to operate of 4m.

4m and 6m tranverter with the old Yaesu FT101E and HF Z-match. This is my present set up for 4m.

For a while I used a 2 element band 1 antenna which was fixed on the side of the house, eventually, it fell apart, so I was qrt on 4m for a long time.

I bought the HB9CV from Moonraker, which arrived after first being sent a 2m, 4 element instead of the 4m 2 element. This was then replaced with correct yagi but minus the extension rods required to tune the antenna. After an e-mail to Moonraker the rods were dispached separately. The antenna was easy to put together, but the instructions are not very clear, you have to work out yourself how to fix the driven element. Inside the the terminal box is an airspaced 'beehive trimmer' - not seen one of these for years! The trimmer is used to tune the antenna to obtain best SWR. This I found quite straight forward. This antenna has a rear mounting bracket, which is fine, but the supplied clamp was poor and even when fully tightened the antenna keeps dipping down. The extension rods have to be tightened with the screws fitted, I still don't understand why this kit has extension rods, why couldn't they make it all in one piece? You need lots of vaseline to keep the screws from rusting, they are stainless, but only coated.

The HB9CV is mounted on a rotator, so my first thing was to check the Buxton Beacon on 70.000Mhz. This was coming in well over s9, very strong!

On Tuesday conditions were poor, but I still managed to work 16 stations, my furthest being down in the midlands with just 5 watts. I like this antenna, it was quite sharp and had a good front to back ratio. I guess the HB9CV is actually a 3 element yagi with the driven element bent between the director and reflector. It is quite a neat antenna which doesn't take up much room, but performs well.

It is a pity that 70Mhz is not used as much as it should, when conditions are good you can work long distances. I remember once working stations on cw during a good Aurora.

2m/70cm dual band yagi tests

2011-11-12T21:13:00.005Z

During the last couple of weeks I have had a chance to evaluate the new 144/432Mhz dual band yagi through the Tuesday Evening contests.
First 2m...the yagi has 5 elements and is tuned well with a vswr of almost 1:1. During the contest I was amazed at the stations that I heard and worked with my Yaesu FT817 with just 5w output power. The rotator is working fine and I was able to test the direction and also side lobes of the antenna. It seems quite sharp, about what I would expect for a 5 element yagi, my old antenna was an 8 element J Beam and was slightly sharper. The main thing was that everything I heard that night on 2m, I worked with just 5w! Conditions were flat, but I worked Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, London, Bristol and the East Coast.

This week on 70cm again the yagi seemed to perform well. This yagi has 8 elements on 432Mhz. I found this a little tricky to get the beam settings right at times, it does seem to have some side lobes and with 8 elements it is not very sharp. My old antenna was an 18 element parabeam, this was obviously much sharper with a higher gain factor. Again, I was quite amazed at how I could hear and also work the stations on 432Mhz with just 5w. G8OHM, M0GHZ, G3PYE/P just some of the stations worked from all over England.

I am really pleased with this antenna, it was easy to put together and set up and does not take up too much room. The configuration of the elements look quite strange, usually a normal yagi has the longest as the reflector and each element gets progressively shorter. With the dual band yagi, this is not the case, all to do with the tuning I guess. The yagi is a bit of a compromise really, but it puts me back on the map again as a station especially when conditions open up to the continent on 2m and 70cm. I also realised how my location makes a difference, I am on the top of a hill about 114 metres asl with a good take off to the South.

Bolton Technical College - the end!

2011-11-06T18:24:00.007Z

The end of an era!

I have a lot of memories here in this building, right from doing my 11 plus test here up to teaching IT there up to a few years ago. I have mixed feelings about the demise of this huge building, inside it was a maze of corridors, very claustophobic and quite depressing. I spent five years on my day-release training when I was an apprentice from 16 years old to 21 years old. Most of the time was spent in the basement rooms where the electronics labs were kept. It was awful really, you couldn't see out of the windows and in the basement were numerous workshops for bricklaying, plumbing and construction skills. Each year I would have to take my exams in the 'Great Hall'. When I finished at college in 1975 I vowed never to go back there again. I can remember some of my tutors then...Mr Smith, Mr Tudor, Mr Duncan. I remember once going up onto the roof of the college to suss out putting an antenna up to run a radio station

I took my Radio Amateur Exam 40 years ago this year here at the college!

After 15 years away from the college I found myself having to complete my GCSE English at college and did my exam in the 'Great Hall'. After I got my degree I did my teacher training PGCE. My second placement in my PGCE was here at Bolton College teaching classes in electronics, Video Recorders and CD Players. My six week placement was very enjoyable, this time I was in the same electronics labs that I did when I was an apprentice, but I was in charge!

Later, I decided to do some IT teaching at the college on Saturday mornings and also during evening classes. I taught RSA CLAIT to adults which I enjoyed a lot. The only problem was the college itself...my room was on the third floor and the staffroom was on the first floor. To get into my room I needed a key which had to be obtained and signed out in the staffroom. Trouble was in the evening that the staffroom was also locked! You can imagine the situation each week when I had to first find the staffroom key so that I could get the room key...nightmare!!

To make things worse...at 9.00pm when the class had finished I had to do the same again to return the key...and if you were not out of the building by 9.15pm you had a good chance of being locked in the building! Oh....and the key....it was on a huge block of mild steel that weighed a ton so that nobody would nick it!!

My Dad also went to Bolton College learning about textiles and weaving, like me later, he did a day release course and night school.

Well...let's face it...that building was not fot for purpose, the new college building is amazing...a step into the 21st century!

17th December 2011... now its gone!!

Saw some good bands here in the Great Hall back in the 70's I remember a band called 'Strife' who were excellent with hi-tech strobe lights.
Later, there was the monthly computer fairs in the Excel Centre, a bit crap really, nothing like the one at Bowlers at Trafford Park.

RIP Bolton Technical College!

75 Years of television!

2011-11-02T19:36:00.004Z

"At 3pm on 2 November 1936 the BBC began the world's first regular hi-definition television service, from Alexandra Palace in North London. As part of this, two different systems were being tested on alternate weeks for six months: John Logie Baird's 240 line mechanical system, and the EMI-Marconi 405 line electronic system. The latter was to prove the winning system."

True analogue natives will know that this is a landmark of analogue technology. I wonder if people 75 years ago who saw the first BBC transmissions had any incline into what was to come in the future. What on earth did people do before television? When I am teaching children at school I am amazed at their concept of technology. In their minds television has always been there, they cannot even imagine a world without television!

Sceptics thought television was a gimmic and said that it would never catch on. After all, nobody could possibly afford to buy a television!

'Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of it.'

I remember my first television in 1958 when I was 4 years old and lived in Draycot Street, I watched things like 'Four Feather Falls', 'Popeye' and 'Torchy the battery boy' in those days ITV had just arrived. The first BBC transmissions from Alexander Palace was 'High Definition' black and white. What a difference to our present digital 'High Definition.'

Now my English teacher at secondary school had another name for television, he would call it 'The Devil's Lantern' or 'Goggle Box' ... he wasn't far wrong, our lives are are controlled by television. Children have forgotten how to 'play' and when they do, it usually centres on something that they have seen on television. Having said that, how can you take away those television moments like the Moon Landing in 1969 or England winning the World Cup in 1966 in 'hight definition black and white'....priceless!

Television is a fantastic communication medium, I have spent most of my life working with televisions. In 1973 I even transmitted my own television transmissions under my own licenced callsign G6AIW/T along with Neil G6AIG/T.

My original 'Hi Definition' test card that I used.
In 1967 I went to visit the Winter Hill transmitting station during an open day, something I will always remember. Later I spent many Sundays at the ITV transmitter with my Uncle who worked there. I got to know how it all worked and looked in awe at the analogue equipment and water cooled transmitters.

G5RV Antenna

2011-10-27T20:37:00.008+01:00

The next part of my antenna erecting project was to look at an antenna for HF, particularly for 10 metres with the sunspot maximum. Now my history of HF antennas has been very limited. The present antenna is a very short long wire which doubles back on itself fed with a long piece of coax. Last week I did a lot of research on dipoles and baluns, I also did some measuring in the back garden to see what length of antenna I could get away with. When I did the measurements I realised that I could just fit a half-size G5RV antenna. The half-size G5RV is a dipole with two 26.5 feet top and fed with 16 feet of 300 ohm ribbon cable. This then connects with a so-239 socket to any length of 50 ohm coax. I decided to try it out and take down the old antenna!

I sent for the G5RV kit from e-bay which arrived almost the next day! First a trip to Modern Radio to get some RG58u coax and some pl-259 plugs then out came the ladders!

So, after putting up the new antenna the question going around in my head was 'Will it work on all bands?' This antenna is only designed to use from 40m - 10m bands, maybe it will be useless on 80m and 160m. I also read about other people having problems tuning this antenna.

When I finally wired it up and connected it to the Yaesu FT-817 through the MFJ-945E tuner I was totally blown away!!

I could hear things that I could only dream of with the old longwire!

The dipole centre with the ribbon cable attached.

The ATU (Aerial Tuning Unit) did it's stuff perfectly giving me an almost 1:1 SWR on all the bands including 160m and 80m. On some bands it didn't even need the ATU, it was aready resonant, particularly the 40m band. I am very pleased with it...now I want to try to work some stuff on 10 metres.

28Mhz Opening!

2011-10-23T17:44:00.003+01:00

This week has been amazing on 10m!

The band has been open during the day and I have heard stations from North and South America sounding like locals. lots of Italian and Russian stations and today I heard Brazil, Malta and Greece at incredible signal strengths.

I have decided that now is the time to change my HF antenna. If I can hear these stations with a (short) longwire and a lot of noise, I wondered what I may hear with a dipole or G5RV antenna.

After a lot of thinking and research, I have decided to replace the very poor longwire with a half-size G5RV antenna, so now I have ordered one from ebay. I am on holiday this week, so I will put up the new aerial and try it on 10 metres. Trouble is that because it is a half size G5RV, it may not work well on 80m and 160m, but maybe my tuner or Z-match with compensate for that.

I am still amazed at the discone antenna. It seems to work well to receive stations on 10m as a vertical without all the noise and this morning it did the same on 160m when I listened to the 1963 net. Transmitting is not good though, very high SWR!

It is difficult to imagine how the sunspots affect the 10m band. For 10 years the band is dead with very few stations, but now it is jam packed with stations from all over the world. What a wonderful phenomena!

Power to the people!

2011-10-17T22:54:00.002+01:00

Am I just thick and not very intelligent or am I missing something?

Electricity comes from a generator at a power station, whether it be standard, nuclear or green?

It comes down the National Grid to our substations and then through the wires into our houses...right?

Gas comes from the North Sea or via pipelines from Europe?

It is then piped to our houses from the same source...right?

So why on earth do we have 'Power Suppliers' like E-on, PowerGen, Scottish Power and other hangers on! How is it possible to 'buy' your power from a supplier when it all comes from the same place and down the same wires and pipes. This must be the biggest con ever!!

Surely, if we just had one supplier regulated by OFGEN and a simple pricing tariff we would all save money!

Instead of constantly competing with each other, why don't they all get together and use some 'muscle' to bring the wholesale prices down instead of lining their own pockets. Now Mr C. wants us to keep changing our suppliers to get a better deal, why the hell should we have to do that!

Does anyone REALLY understand how this industry works...because I don't!!

Simple solution...buy a wind generator!

Beam me up Scotty!

2011-10-16T21:43:00.004+01:00

A great weekend for erecting some aerials!

At last I managed to get all the antennas together. I now seem to have more than expected, I ordered a 4m, 2 element beam from Moonraker and got a new 4 element 2 metre antenna! Not quite what I wanted, but they said I could have it at half price if I wanted while they sorted out the correct item. That was good because it would be ideal for portable use on Winter Hill.
So...the correct item came minus some parts! A couple of days later the items missing came through the post and the problem was solved!
I assembled the array in the garden and tuned the 4m HB9CV before putting the array up.

The first part of the project was completed a couple of weeks ago, the rotator and mounting brackets ready for the array to be fitted. This weekend I put together the array and made sure everything was greased with dolops of vaseline! Great stuff Vaseline, if you ever want to take the antennas down, you will find that the bolts are rusted. Vaseline cures that problem.

Now I have been up and down the ladder like a fiddlers elbow, but carrying the completed array up the ladder and fixing it into the rotator is scary! I called on my mate Andy to carry the array up the ladders and fix them to clamps.

It is quite a neat array, considering it is for 4m, 2m, and 70cm, a 6m antenna is too large, so I may go for the halo and mount it underneath the rotator.

Tonight I tested it...wow I can hear the Wrotham Beacon in Kent for the first time in over 10 years! I can also hear the Buxton Beacon coming in at 5-9+ on 4m!

Great fun with the rotator...works perfectly...can't believe I got it on ebay for £19!

I am sooo pleased that I still know how to put up antennas after all this time, putting the array together seemed like second nature, I have done it so many times.

On the air!

2011-10-13T21:37:00.004+01:00

Here I am age 17, this photo was taken just before I got my licence!

I received my licence documents through the post 40 years ago today!

Now I remember this well, I came home from work at teatime while working at Telefusion Ltd. When I came in the letter was waiting, at the same time along come George G3ZQS (in his slippers) As I opened the envelope, George said "Come on...what is the callsign then?" "G4AQB" I replied...."Oooh...A Queer Bugger eh!!" said George with his usual razer sharp wit!

After George had gone I rang up Neil G3ZPL to tell him that I had my callsign! I then called Neil on 160m so that he could be my first (legal) contact.

Here is a section of the very first page in my logbook back in 1971.

G4AQB - 40 years today!

2011-10-12T20:41:00.006+01:00

OMG! Today is a special anniversary! I got my Amateur Radio Licence 40 years ago today!

The wonderful sound of G4AQB...

I was 17 years old then and worked so hard to study for my Radio Amateur Exam. I had been interested in radio since I was 13 years old, and my first radio shack was in a leaky concrete shed. I spent my time there every night building and constructing my own equipment. At 17 years old I was one of the youngest radio amateurs in the country!

Now today after 40 years I am building my new antenna array and continue to listen on the amateur bands. There have been some times when I have not had time for radio being a teacher, it steals all your leisure time. Now as I look towards retirement, radio is such a wonderful hobby even in this digital world. I have never forgotten how to read circuits and build stuff of my own. Maybe when I get more time I will start to do this in a big way again.

The day I passed my Morse Test!

Sunspot Maximum

2011-10-08T21:31:00.007+01:00

We are about to reach the peak of the 11 year sunspot cycle!

So what does it mean? Well, today I listened on the 10m band during the day to find the band open with lots of stations coming in from all over the world! America and Brazil coming in at 5-9 with little noise. Fantastic!

There is much more to come as the predicted maximum is between January and May 2013 with a steady build up of sunspot activity.

So what happens at Sunspot maximum? Basically, the 'F' layer of the ionosphere becomes more ionised and is able to reflect radio signals in the upper short wave bands that would normally have passed through into space. So Amateur bands like 28Mhz, 50Mhz and even 70Mhz will be affected causing long distance radio communication across the world. This will tend to happen more during the day and communication can be made even with low power.

I am looking forward to seeing what stations I can hear and work with my Yaesu FT817 and 5 watts. I still have my FT101E which will give me 150w if I need it!

I remember back in 1980 at the sunspot maximum when I had a converted Belcom Liner 2 in my car and a 27Mhz CB antenna. The stations that I worked with just 10 watts was amazing! I talked to America, Russia and even a guy on a ship in the Panama Canal while driving to work!

I also remember driving home from Yorkshire with Kathleen, my wife, who was pregnant at the time watching an amazing sunset with 3 or 4 large visible sunspots, that was in 1980.

Steve Job - digital hero

2011-10-06T21:21:00.003+01:00

Sad news today on the death of Steve Job, the Apple guy!
Probably one of the most influential person in modern times, he has written the future of communications and digital technology. His innovations of the Apple Mac, ipod, iphone and ipad set the standards for others to follow. A sad loss for modern digital technology.

"Thousands of people all over the world have also been attending Apple stores to leave flowers, notes, and apples with a bite taken from them to mimic the company's logo.
Apple's leading rivals such as Microsoft, Google, Sony and Samsung all chipped in with glowing tributes.
GS Choi, chief executive of Samsung, which is embroiled in a major court battle with Apple on patents, said Mr Jobs was an "innovative spirit" who "introduced numerous revolutionary changes to the information technology industry".
In his statement, Bill Gates said: "The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour."

Mr Jobs built a reputation as a forthright and demanding leader who could take niche technologies - such as the mouse and graphical user interface, using onscreen icons rather than text - and make them popular with the general public.

He introduced the colourful iMac computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad to the world. His death came just a day after Apple unveiled its latest iPhone 4S model.

144Mhz / 432Mhz dual band yagi

2011-10-02T22:17:00.009+01:00

I spotted a cool dual band yagi on Ebay, 5 element 144Mhz and 8 element 432Mhz all on one boom with a single coax feed. This sounds like just the job!

I ordered this antenna along with a 2 element HB9CV yagi for 70Mhz. I wanted to add a 50Mhz yagi as well, but it would be too big. The weather this weekend was fantastic, temperature 27 degrees, a real indian summer. Ideal weather to put up some new antennas!

It has felt like Christmas this week! I ordered some new antennas and a rotator, at last I am going to have my antenna array back again after many years. My first array was put up on the 24th September 1973. I then had an 8 element yagi for 144Mhz and an 18 element parabeam for 432Mhz made by J-Beam. In 1977 I moved them onto the chimney at my present location and they stayed there until about 1999 when I took them down and threw them away!

Would you believe that I bought this rotator from ebay, brand new from Germany, it cost only £19! Deciding on the antennas was not easy, I don't want a huge array of yagis, but I need something small and compact because this is going to be mounted on the side of the house and can be seen clearly from the street.

I was still waiting for the 70Mhz yagi, but I still wanted to make a start on the array, so my first visit was to B&Q to buy the fixings. Having looked on ebay and the internet, the prices at B&Q was quite reasonable for the 6ft aluminium masts and fixing bracket. Next I needed some coax cable, so a trip to Modern Radio was next. I haven't been to Modern Radio for quite a while, I always enjoy going there...lots of memories! I wanted some good quality 50 ohm coax, but not the expensive thick stuff. Diane at MR showed me some 'Mini RG8' coax instead of the cheap RG-58u. Good stuff at a good price (70p per metre) ideal for my set up, so I bought 20 metres and some BNC plugs.

Spent the rest of the afternoon drilling the wall and assembling the new 144Mhz / 432Mhz dual band yagi. This was easy to assemble, all I had to do was put the elements into the coloured numbered holes.

Now i'm all set up just waiting for the 4m yagi.

G3JJM

2011-10-02T21:45:00.001+01:00

Sunday afternoon and raining outside, listening to some stations on 2m. Then I came across a strong station and listened for a while, suddenly, I realise that I know this voice...it was Arthur G3JJM!

I am amazed at the number of stations that are on the air again from long ago. Today I listened to Gerry G2BTO and John G3EGC on the 1963 net on topband. Earlier this week I listened to Steve G3YTI from Darwen. These guys were my inspiration back in 1971 when I was going for my amateur licence 40 years ago.

G3JJM was the first ever radio amateur that I heard on 160m when I was 13 years old. He was talking with Tom G3XCI on a Sunday afternoon while I was having tea. My father and I listened on my 'Roamer 7' radio that I built. We heard it on the 'Trawler Band' which we later found out was Topband. Arthur G3JJM got my R109 receiver from the guy on Folds Rd, I went with him while he made the deal and got it for £1.50p...a bargain!

Nice to hear you again Arthur after such a long time!

50Mhz Halo

2011-10-02T21:35:00.004+01:00

Tuesday night brought the 50Mhz contest, some good conditions on 28Mhz so I thought I would see what is around on 50Mhz. My discone seems to work alright, but has a high SWR on 6m, so I decided to connect my 60ft HF longwire to the FT-817 with the ATU connected.

I was amazed at the result!

I found that I could tune the longwire at 50Mhz and during the contest could hear lots more stations and worked some stations using the longwire.I remember doing this once on 4m years ago and worked a few stations there during a contest.I also got my homemade 50Mhz transverter out with the FT101 and this still works fine.Now I am thinking about a suitable antenna for 6m, I have ordered a 2 element HB9CV for 4m and wonder if this will work on 6m as well. I used to have an old Band 1 TV aerial that worked fine on these bands, but when I took my old antennas down I threw it away!

This got thinking about using a halo for 50Mhz. I have never seen one before, but I did use one on 2m clipped on my car window for mobile use. Now I know that I don't have enough room for a rotatable beam for this band, so this seems like a good alternative.

Type: Folded dipole antenna Frequency: 50-52MHz

Overall square size:

Approx 800mm (30 inches)

VSWR: 1.5:1 or better

Power: 200 Watts Connection:

Direct connection to dipole centre
Omni directional

Sounds good to me!

Moving coil loudspeaker

2011-08-29T23:18:00.003+01:00

After reading through some more of the Radio Amateur's Examination Manual, it suddenly struck me that one thing that the digital world has not yet found a solution for is the moving coil loudspeaker!

Rock concerts, lasers amazing special effects right down to the mobile smartphone and iPods... it relies on one thing...the moving coil loudspeaker! They might be huge or small, they all work the same and it is of course analogue and mechanical to produce the audio waves needed to provide us with the entertainment! LED, Plasma and 3D televisions still need a moving coil loudspeaker. Mobile phones and iPods still need moving coil earphones. Can anybody think of an alternative?

Simple!

Radio Amateur Exam result 40 years ago!

2011-08-29T20:48:00.006+01:00

I can't believe that 40 years have passed since I passed my Radio Amateur Exam!

I was 17 years old and had studied by myself along with the Radio Amateur's Examination Manual to get ready for the exam. Part one was about regulations, Licence conditions, operating procedures and interference. Part two was theory, electronics and calculating formulae. It was hard! I took the exam at Bolton College, I was so nervous, this exam was more important to me than the GCSE's that I failed miserably a year earlier. I took the exam at the begining of June 1971 and waited months for the result to arrive through the letter box in August. When it arrived I was over the moon! It was such a relief!

Back in 1971 there was the 'Class A licence' and the 'Class B licence', with the RAE you could apply for a Class B licence, but this only gave you access to 144Mhz and above. I had built a 160m (Topband) transmitter and I needed a Class A licence, this meant learning morse code and taking the 'Morse Test'... So next step was to apply for my Morse Test at the Liver Building in Liverpool. I was one step nearer to becoming a full Radio Amateur!

Gosh! I have just read some of the sample questions from the old Radio Amateur's Examination Manual. I am amazed that I can still remember the formulae and theory that I learned all those years ago!

Here is a sample of some of the questions...

G3MCR

2011-08-28T23:08:00.003+01:00

If you look on the wall of my last post you can see a QSL card of John G3MCR ... or G3...Mike Charley Roger! This guy was amazing to listen to on the radio, he could talk for hours about current affairs and always called a spade..a spade, no nonsense! I listened for hours on 160m and 80m. He lived in Breightmet and had a huge tower with a 2m beam on top. I was sooo impressed! I knew that John was bedridden and he frequently told people on air about this, so I decided to pay him a visit along with my friend Ian Harrison. We walked up to the top of the hill one dark night in Winter, knocked on the door and was greeted with a guy in pyjamas who peeped through the side of the door and said "What do you want?" (No nonsense!)

I explained that we were short wave listeners and had listened to him on the radio. He changed completly, opened the door and invited us in. When we went into his living room I was stunned at the amount of equipment he had in racks next to his bed! He climbed into bed and proceeded to show us his equipment. Next to his equipment was a glass with his teeth in it. His voice was different when he spoke to us, but then he went on air and called a station on 80m, having first put his teeth in. Suddenly, the voice of G3MCR came to life...amazing! He usually finished his sentences with the word 'there' and he did that on that night!

Next he decided to call a station on 144Mhz, at the time this was almost unheard of because 144Mhz was difficult to access. John tried to call the station and the decided that the beam was pointing the wrong way...so guess what he did? He jumped out of bed went out of the back door in the freezing cold in pyjamas and climbed up the tower to turn the beam around! We stood there looking astounded!

I spoke with John a few times after I got my licence, but I could never hear the stations he was talking to on 80m and 160m...strange!

This is my QSL card that he gave to me on the night that we went to visit him!

1963 net

2011-08-28T22:20:00.002+01:00

Many years ago when I first started with amateur radio I would get up early and go into my cold shed to listen to the Sunday morning 'nets' on Topband (160m) In those days we used AM (Amplitude Modulation) to talk to each other. I would listen to the Bury club net with G3VVQ, G3RSM, G3UGC and others. Also G3JJM would be around and G3XCI along with lots of others. I would also listen to the RSGB news as well!

This last few weeks I have not got up early, but have switched on my FT817 to AM and listened to the 1963 net (1.963Mhz) It is amazing to hear some of my heros from the past back on Topband AM. Last week I listened to Gerry Openshaw G2BQO (The local GPO inspector from years ago) Today I listened to John G3EGC who I have not heard on the radio for over 30 years! When I was 14 years old I went to visit his shack along with Peter Holt, he showed me the array of home made equipment that he made...a real inspiration for myself and also Chris Price G4AGJ. I listened in awe this morning, these guys are still giving inspiration after all these years. One day I will join in on the 1963 net, but it is more fun to just listen and think back to the old times of the days when Topband AM ruled. I built three transmitters for Topband, my first one before I got my licence that had a few problems. The second was a rebuild which worked fine, and the third was a dual band 160m / 80m SSB Transciever with an EL84 valve in the final. This also used the Plessey SL600 system. I don't know why I took these rigs apart, I would treasure them today and still use them!

Last week I went up to Matchmoor Lane on the side of Winter Hill with my FT817 to listen and work some stations on the 50Mhz contest. When I got there I met Keith G8HXE who was parked on top of the hill with an FT817 like mine!

Its like they say...golfers don't get old they just lose their balls!

Food Festival

2011-08-27T23:22:00.004+01:00

It was fun today at the food and drink festival in Bolton, the Hairy Bikers were there and some other famous folk. A great atmosphere and the smells were gorgeous! We had German, Polish, French, Spanish, Turkish and many Eastern Countries with food on offer...but what about Scandanavia? In London, shops are opening called 'Totally Swedish' http://www.totallyswedish.com/en It would have been nice to see this represented at the food festival. We have IKEA after all!

Although I didn't drink anything is was great to have three different places to have a drink, German Beer, Cider Bar and Bank Top Brewery. I still want to have a pint of Bank Top beer!

I have to say this...Bolton and it's people is a wonderful place, but an international festival like this against backdrop of a town centre that is going down the plughole is not good. Today Bolton was vibrant, but how many buildings are empty and shops closed and derilict? Have you seen Bradshawgate? It is horrible!! Come on...lets get Bolton back on the map again like it was in the 1960's and 70's! I loved going to Bolton then on a Saturday afternoon it was always vibrant and loads of things to see and do. The Food and Drink Festival is a great idea...but what about next week? Sometimes I come home from town feeling depressed and wondering what has happened to our wonderful town. Have a look at Bury...they got it right!

Hayley Mills

2011-08-24T23:20:00.004+01:00

When I was 7 years old I went to the cinema to watch 'In Search of the Castaways' I thought it was amazing. I loved Hayley Mills! My Uncle Eric bought me a book for my birthday called 'In Search of the Castaways' with lots of glossy photos of Hayley Mills. Later I remember watching on television 'Whistle Down the Wind' with Hayley and the guy who made her think that he was Jesus. The film was made near to Clitheroe and one of the children in the film was a friend of my wife Kathleen. In 1967 they made the film called 'The Family Way' which was all filmed in Bolton and about Bolton people. Hayley was in Bolton and also her Dad John Mills! Amazing! I remember the launch of the film at the Capital cinema on Churchgate. This film is everything I remember about life in Bolton...especially the tin bath when Hayley stands up in front of the fire! A wonderful film!

I never understood why Hayley married that old bloke, one of the Boulting brothers. She made quite a diverse number of films, from the early child film star to the rebel in another film that I remember very clearly, but can't find it again...I have never seen it on television again. I really like 'Parent Trap' very clever filming of Hayley playing both of the twins and much better than the new version. I'm not sure about 'Pollyanna' maybe that is because she spoke with an American accent and it kind of didn't match with a Bolton accent when she did Family Way.

The photo above is so strange, nothing has changed apart the fountains that has moved. I can still stand at the same place that Hayley and John Mills stands and the background wouldn't look any different.

Do you notice the technology in this photo? Microphones on trucks...all analogue...not a digit in sight!

Hi tech riots!

2011-08-10T19:53:00.002+01:00

The last days and nights have been unbelievable! Young kids and youths running amock through our cities looting and smashing shops cars and buses. It is truly sickening to watch on television and listen to the reports coming in. Last night it kicked off in Manchester and Salford as well as Liverpool and Birmingham. Some of the images are shocking!
What turns young people like this into such greed and thuggery?
What part has digital technology played in this event?

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook has been used by the rioters to organise and communicate with each other. The Blackberry phone with its encripted instant messaging has also played a large part according to the media. Some of the top targets for the looters have been mobile phone shops, Curries, Argos and music stores. Many of the images seen on television show looters with mobile phone boxes, Large LCD and plasma Televisions, Guitars and Keyboards.
Social media is an amazing phenonimum, it is taking over our lives. While I am writing this I am reading messages coming in on Twitter about the current situation in the cities tonight. A million people have supported the police through twitter and others have organised clean-up campaigns through facebook and twitter.
Now some of the looters and rioters are being brought to justice through images from security cameras, television images and images and video captured by passers by on mobile phones. These are now being published on facebook, flickr and websites.
The two sides of digital technology in situations like this, love it or hate it, it is here to stay!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14471593

Ice Cream

2011-07-26T23:07:00.002+01:00

Gosh...now I am looking back to the times when ice cream was fun!

"HAPPY times spent at an ice cream parlour which was a Bolton institution will be recalled later this month.
Sabini Brothers’ ice cream shop and cafe was a feature in Churchgate from the 1940s, until the family turned it into the Sandwich Inn in 1970.

The family firm served lunch to shoppers and town centre workers until 2002, when the business finally closed and the building was taken over by the Edwards estate agents.
Now the family plan to decorate the former shop front with photographs dating back to when the three Sabini brother’s first took over the site, in the 1930s.
The display is scheduled for the Midsummer festival from June 19 to 28, in and around Bolton Parish Church and Churchgate.

Dorina Green is Valentino Sabini’s daughter. She used to run the Sandwich Inn with husband Peter and brother Bruno Sabini.
She said: “I’ve always kept scrapbooks and diaries since I was a child. I’ve got quite a few old photographs so I thought I’d put them on display for people to enjoy when they go to the festival.”

Mr Green added: “We were keen to take part in the festival because Sabini’s was at the heart of this area for a very long time and during the heyday of Churchgate. We are really looking forward to it.”
The trio still live above the old shop.
The Sabini brothers came to Bolton before the First World War and started an ice-cream business in Little Lever.
They moved the business to Churchgate in the 1930s, running No 33 as an American Temperance Bar."

Summer Daze!

2011-07-26T22:07:00.003+01:00

The one thing that digital technology has not changed...the ice cream van!

Hot sunny days sitting in the garden sipping on an ice cold beer and listening to that AWFUL sound of ice cream vans!! When I was little the ice cream van was a lovely sight, the sound of that soft jingling told you to go and ask mum for some money. In my street, I remember two ice cream vans...Manfredi's and Mr Softee, I like Manfredi's best! But they only came around once, usually about tea time.

Nowadays we have 120dB distorted square waves sounding out all day long!! The same tune playing over and over again that can be heard over a mile away. I'm sure there must be a law that limits this noise. In my daughter's street there are a lot of children that live there...result...ice cream vans twenty times a day and sometimes two in the street...not one of them are Italian, or English....and they are all called Mr Softee! Surely in the days of digital technology there must be a better way of selling ice cream?

How about ordering on-line, or order by phone? Get rid of this awful din that drives us all mad during those Summer days!

I remember the happy days of ice cream parlours in Bolton...Sabini's Manfredi's and Tognorelli's...them were the days!

70cms Portable Operation

2011-06-20T20:44:00.003+01:00

Last Tuesday evening was the 70cm UK contest. So guess what I did?

After years of lying in my shack I unplugged my Yaesu FT817 and decided to go portable! All I needed now was a suitable 12 volt connector to plug into the car...surely I must have on somewhere. After scrapping around in the attic on my hands and knees I finally found one that I could use. I brought down my multi-band vertical from the attic as well. Next I connected it all up in the car and listened to the contest...

Then I thought that I would go up to Matchmoor Lane on Winter Hill and try it out up there, maybe work a few stations...so off I went!

I was amazed at how many stations that I could hear on 70cms with just the multi-band vertical!

My only disappointment was when I tried to work some stations, when I pressed the PTT the radio turned itself off...why was this? I then realised that the power adapter was originally from a mobile phone charger and possibly had overcurrent protection built in. I was right! When I came home I managed to find another adaptor with a direct connection, this one worked a treat!

Gosh...its a long time since I took some equipment out for some portable work, now I want to make some beams for portable use along with my existing HB9CV for 2m.

Record Deck

2011-06-12T18:48:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I had a JVC Record Deck delivered. I bought it from e-bay at just £15! Now I can listen again to my old vinyl LPs and singles. A nice deck...magnetic cartridge, anti-skate, cue lever and pretty solid metal turntable. I'm sure that people like me are now beginning to think about their 'vinyl' past. My LPs are all in plastic covers and like new...I am proud of them!

Also yesterday I received the CD I ordered 'The Old Grey Whistle Test - 40th Anniversary' It came in a cheap and nasty cardboard case and actually looked 40 years old! The songs are great, but the thing I bought has no value to me at all. I loved buying LPs, you felt like you had bought something special, great artwork, nice and big to hold and even lyrics that were big enough to read. CDs have no personal value, I have lots, but I don't have anything attached to any of them.

Today I looked through my LPs and each one had a personal memory, I even remember saving up and going to the shop to buy them!

What will the kids of today look back on? Do they have anything personal to music or are they just digital memories!

Easter garden project

2011-05-02T22:33:00.002+01:00

Gosh...what an Easter! Bolton Wanderers at Wembley, Royal Wedding, two Bank Holiday Weekends and amazing weather...oh and they found Bin Laden!

I had some decorating to do inside if the weather was bad during my two weeks holiday. Instead I worked in the garden and built a new patio area at the back of the garden. Today it was finished!

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T22:10:00.002+01:00

I watched the Royal Wedding live...I didn't intend watching ALL of it especially the service, but I just couldn't move away from the television, it was compulsive :-) I think it was sooo good for people in our country. All we have seen on television are bad things, this was amazing watching so many people enjoying themselves instead of protesting and fighting.It was fun reading the comments on fb, especially the ones about Prince Harry (Williams's brother) and the chief Bridesmade, the bride's sister!

Fantastic digital HD coverage, the last Royal Wedding relied on 625 line analogue colour television. The strange thing about all this is that the technology gave the whole world satellite HD coverage. Many millions of people aroung the world are watching...but the production remains the same. It looks the same now as it did in the 1950's!

Sweden covered their Royal Wedding last year, but the coverage was much more intimate including coverage of the reception. Maybe it is time for us to be a bit more liberal and less reserved!

Barbeque weather...in April?

2011-04-29T21:24:00.003+01:00

What a fantastic Easter Holiday! Super weather and now another holiday....the Royal Wedding and then Mayday! The weather has been unbelievable, wall to wall sunshine for over two whole weeks...never seen it like this...and its still April!

Gosh...I remember going to Drayton Manor Radio Rally this week many years ago it started off sunny, then as we drove down the M6 it snowed and the motorways were blocked. Drayton Manor Rally had marquees for the outdoor events and most of the dealers got stuck in the snow!

Yes...we have had lots of barbys in the last few weeks...now what about Summer?

Lightbulbs!

2011-03-30T22:49:00.003+01:00

Gosh...and I thought choosing an Android mobile phone was difficult...what about choosing a lightbulb?

I remember the time when you went to the local ironmongers to buy a lightbulb and had a very simple decision.... Pearl or Clear? 60watt or 100watt? ....simple eh?

OMG...what happens now if you need a lightbulb....a nightmare! Have you been to B&Q or Homebase and seen the number of lightbulbs now? Oh....and they are now withdrawing the 'normal' lightbulbs because they are destroying the planet! So now you have to decide whether to go green and buy 'energy saving' bulbs which vary from 10p each to £10 each. Why there is such a difference in price is beyond my comprehension. Halogen spot lamps don't last 5 minutes let alone 5 years regardless of the price and buy a super light array from NEXT will leave you changing bulbs everyday for a living! I am now considereing replacing my multi halogen spotlight arrays with a simple one bulb energy efficient light bulb....simple? Not really...what about the base? Bayonet, large Eddison screw, small Eddison screw, push-in...the choices are without limits!

Did I mention LED lightbulbs? ....the future?

Did you know that CFL's (Compact Fluorecent Lamps) contain Mercury Vapour...not good for the environment eh!

What was wrong with the simple lightbulb? Lights your house and warms the room as well!

Mr Eddison you would turn in your grave if you could see what you have done!

Android

2011-03-11T22:51:00.007Z

Last week I decided to buy a new mobile phone...a Smart Phone!

For years I have struggled to send text messages with the silly numeric keyboard on my present phones...too many menus...to many button presses! I can send morse code quicker, why have analogue technology on a mobile phone!

then...along comes ANDROID!

OMG...this technology is amazing!

Soooo simple to use, touch screen, internet, e-mail thousands of apps!! Suddenly I feel like I am in the 21st century! I can text, e mail, facebook, twitter, blog...like having a PC in my pocket.

Well done Samsung, a quality smart phone at a super price...I could even update this blog on my phone if I wanted to...cool!

So what is ANDROID?

The Android open-source software stack consists of Java applications running on a Java-based, object-oriented application framework on top of Java core libraries running on a Dalvik virtual machine featuring JIT compilation. Libraries written in C include the surface manager, OpenCore[21] media framework, SQLite relational database management system, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics API, WebKit layout engine, SGL graphics engine, SSL, and Bionic libc. The Android operating system consists of 12 million lines of code including 3 million lines of XML, 2.8 million lines of C, 2.1 million lines of Java, and 1.75 million lines of C++.[22]

If you can make sense of this you are definately a Digital Native! I understand most of this ...but... what happens if you type in 12 million lines of code and you make a typing error?

Digital Car Park

2011-02-28T21:57:00.003Z

Digital technology gone mad!!

On the main road where I live is a community of shops, stores, library and health centre. There has always been a large car park at the front of the stores of Netto and Home Bargains. The car park is never full and is used by many to park while they go to the post office or health centre. For years there has never been any problems...
Then Netto that owns the car park, but managed by a parking company decides that they can make a bit of money here by using the digital technology.
They mount high resolution, number plate recongnition camera's and put up new signs with small print that you need a microscope to read. Oh...and they don't tell the customers!!

Result: Many people recieving fines of £80 because they have stayed longer than 1 hour...all caught, timed and photographed and automated fine sent out through number plate recognition. So people stop going to the stores and are VERY upset!

So how does it work?
Two cameras working together, one points at the entrance, the other at the exit to the car park! Oh and another thing...you can't return within 2 hours or it will get you again!

Well done Netto and the parking management company!! What good community spirit you have!
It is sooo pleasing to hear that Netto will soon shut down and be replaced by Morrisons, lets hope Morrisons have a bit more common sense and community spirit!

What's a Soldering Iron?

2011-02-22T23:07:00.002Z

"Another Radio man who knows the right end of a soldering iron, what a valve is and was around to see Neil Armstrong take 'one small step"

Thank you John...another Analogue Native!

This made me think... How many people now know what a soldering iron is and what it is used for? I still have a soldering iron, but don't use it as much as I would like to. I still have my skills with the soldering iron and can easily solder wires and PC boards without thinking about it even though I have never done it for years! It's like riding a bike...you never forget how to do it!

My favourite soldering iron is the Antex...light and coloured yellow...my favourite colour!

I remember in 1968 when my Dad bought me a soldering iron for the first time from 'Modern Radio' in Bolton. I was only 14 years old, but I learned at an early age!

Yes..I certainly know the right end of of a soldering iron and using it is a valuable skill, sadly, this has been lost now to the young!

Such a shame that young people today don't know how to use a screwdriver, drill a hole, strip a piece of wire or even solder!

Cobden Mill

2011-02-20T19:34:00.004Z

Cobden Mill was one of many cotton spinning and weaving mills in Bolton, the inside is traditional and easy to imagine the hundreds of looms that must have been running there in the past.

Since the days Telefusion (we used to nickname it 'Teleconfusion') Cobden Mill in Farnworth has been used for other purposes. Now it has a large furniture and bed store, but the inside of the building is still the same. I went back to take some photos.

The old cotton mill is very large with 5 floors, most of it empty now. The roof of the building used to have lots of TV aerials and sometimes I had to go onto the roof and check the aerials. I was an apprentice don't forget...I got all the s**t jobs! There is a lift in there, but it scared me to death, so I never used it.

Telefusion owned three floors of the mill. The ground floor was the stores and loading bays. Stuff was sent out to shops in wagons all over the country including the shops in Northern Ireland. On the first floor was the service department, this was where I worked most of the time. Then on the third floor was a warehouse which housed hundreds of televisions waiting to be refurbished.

At the front of the building there is a small lodge, this provided water to the sprinkler system in the building. Now it is owned by Deane Fishing Club and it is currently airating the water with a huge pump in the middle.

I enjoyed working here, even though the building was horrible...I will never forget my toast and cheese in the canteen at break time...mmm!

Telefusion

2011-02-20T15:24:00.005Z

Telefusion Head Office in Blackpool.

Gosh! I found a booklet that was given to me back in 1970 when I started working as an apprentice electronic engineer with Telefusion Ltd. I worked at Cobden Mill in Farnworth, this was the main service centre for refurbishing televisions. In my first year I was responsible for repairing and aligning UHF Tuner units. This involved using some quite suffisticated analogue equipment such as the UHF Sweep Generator and oscilloscopes to display the response curves of the tuner units. (Analogue Heaven!)

I worked for Telefusion for almost twenty years. I moved to the Heywood base and then to Whitefield working at the TAM (Television Audio Maintenance) service centre.

Telefusion's demise came around 1987 when Visionhire took over the company and asset stripped everything, closing down most of the Telefusion stores.

An end of an era!

Had some real good times at Telefusion, lots of friends and a nice working atmosphere!

Alan Sugar

2010-12-22T23:19:00.010Z

I bought a copy of 'What you see is what you get' Alan Sugar's autobiography...

This is a fascinating read, especially if you worked as an electronic engineer with televisions, hi-fi and computers...like me!

He talks about shops like 'Lasky's' and other shops on the Edgeware Rd in London. Places that I ordered stuff from in the 1970's. His mate the TV engineer that mended and modified old TV's and sold them on as a business. (sound familiar!) The 'valve pusher' and later the 'panel pusher'...I never got into this routine...fault find down to the component was my way! (Alan would have been proud of me!) Later, the famous Amstrad hi-fi (pretend) stack unit that took over our workshop like faulty daleks! The Amstrad TV...OMG...I hated them...when they went faulty, they took most of the switched mode power supply and line output altogether...I wouldn't touch one of these with a bargepole unless I had to!

Now the Amstrad 464 computer was ahead of it's time, but also had to compete with Sinclair...the Amstrad was quite reliable, I don't remember having to fix one (apart from cleaning the audio heads in the tape player) It had a wonderful proper keyboard and colourful as well! Then came the dedicated office word processor machine, which I didn't understand...tooo complicated, had a dedicated operating system and not flexible at all.

Now this one was good...PC arcitecture, full colour and software. I remember playing with this in the late 80's drawing colour pictures on screen. Twin disc drives and software to go with it...but expensive. I fixed a few of these at the time, mainly hard drives that were not yet reliable!

It's fantastic thinking back at the growth of technology in the 80's with Alan Sugar, Clive Sinclair and a few other guys (aka Acorn)

Alan Sugar - a shrewd business man, not a technical genious, but insiring!

Clive Sinclair - a technical genious, but not a shrewd business man and a bit ahead of his time!

I wonder who would be The Apprentice... Alan or Clive?

What you see is what get!

Rockin' Robin

2010-12-20T00:09:00.002Z

Snow, snow, snow.... and it's not Christmas yet!

I have a very shy Robin that visits my garden every day, but flies away everytime I try to take a photo. Today I lay in wait and managed to take some photos of this festive beast without it knowing....

It's Christmas time and time to hibernate until Spring!

See how the snowflakes are falling

Falling so gentle and white

Coming from God in his beauty

All through the days and the night.

Atmospheric

2010-12-11T20:15:00.003Z

This is a photo that I took last Sunday at Leverhulme Park. It was about 3.00pm and all day we had freezing fog, temperature down to -6 degrees. The sun was just going down and the view was spooky!

I sent this photo to The Bolton News and they published it the next day!

The weather is crazy, snow in November and temperatures as low as -15 at night. Last night the temperature rose to +7 and all the snow melted...wow!

Snow in November!

2010-11-30T22:54:00.002Z

Here is the view from my house this morning...

Could this be? Heavy snow in November?

Temperatures down to - 15 degrees, much of the country covered in snow, schools closed and worse to come. It's not even Christmas yet!

It is snowing outside now...unbelievable!

"Snow is expected to continue falling across large parts of England overnight, causing further disruption.
The Met Office has issued heavy snow warnings for London, the South East, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, the East and North East.
It also warned of widespread ice on roads across the whole of England.
Snow and ice covered much of the country on Tuesday causing travel problems and hundreds of school closures."

Bolton Wanderers!

2010-11-20T21:44:00.003Z

Now i'm not a football fanatic, but when Bolton Wanderers reach FOURTH in the Premier League with just Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea above it's time to follow!

Today they hammered Newcastle 5 - 1 at Reebok. Johan Elmander the Swedish wonderboy scoring two of the goals.

I can't remember Bolton being so high up and so far into fixtures. At last they seem to have come together and now have a great side...could they win the league? You never know!

Light Emitting Diodes...the future?

2010-11-04T22:40:00.003Z

Have you noticed how the tungsten bulb is now being replaced by the super energy efficient, high brightness Light Emitting Diodes?

Torches, spotlamps, stick on lights, cars, traffic lights...they are everywhere...sneaking up on us, ready to take over the world!

I had a dilemma today, we are making a robot project with children and learning about circuits. Now simple circuits for children usually consist of a battery, bulb, wire and switch. The children want to make robots with different coloured lights and flashing. Sooo...do we use old fashioned glass bulbs that are just about useless now or bring in the LED technology? Remember, LED's are polarised, so how do you explain the concept of a circuit to young children if the circuit fails because the battery or LED is the wrong way around?

I decided that LED's are the thing....let's get rid if the old tungsen bulb and move into the future!

Lets Experience Digital ... (LED) ... even if it is an analogue device!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

Sunday Papers!

2010-11-01T22:29:00.005Z

Here is Jo Thornhill from the Mail on Sunday interviewing me and some children about a new website called 'Savingsquad'. It was quite an experience using digital technology to show off the skills of the children learning about finance and pocket money. The photographer took loads of pictures of myself and the children with the technology that they were using. I've never been in the Sunday papers before so this was really exciting, but also a bit worried that the story and pictures would not come out right...

When the story was printed I was sooo pleased, a nice photo and good reporting to go with it...Thank you Jo!

Here is Kate from D2 Digital that runs the website http://www.savingsquad.co.uk/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1325158/Pupils-add-wealth-knowledge.html

Back to the Future 25

2010-10-26T22:51:00.006+01:00

OMG...I can't believe it was 25 years ago since Back to the the Future was made!

"They invented the world's first time-travelling machine, the DeLorean, in Back To The Future.
And it seems the cast of the film franchise have turned back the clock once again for an anniversary launch of the Blu-ray set of the movies in New York.
Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Mary Steenburgen reunited for the event where they showed that, despite shooting the first film nearly 30 years ago, they have aged remarkably well.

Lea Thompson, who played Fox's character Marty McFly's mother Lorraine, looked virtually as fresh-faced as she did in 1985, and wore a tight black dress on the red carpet.
The 49-year-old actress smiled for photographers and recalled her time shooting the films, adding that she has kept one of her most iconic outfits from the original Back To The Future film - her pink dress from her Under The Sea themed prom.
She said: 'I still have my pink dress, from the Prom. And every Halloween my kids try it on and I'm like, "No you can't wear that to a party!"

Meanwhile, Mary Steenburgen, who played Christopher Lloyd's character Doc Brown's love interest Clara, also looked enviably wrinkle-free as she posed on the blue carpet wearing a stunning red dress.
Speaking recently about what she kept as a souvenir from her film, Steenburgen, 57, admitted she had held on to a tiny pin from her costume which said the name 'Clara' on it.

However, while Steenburgen and Thompson were popular supporting characters in their own rights, the main roles undoubtedly belonged to Fox and Lloyd, who played Marty McFly and Doc Brown respectively.
Lloyd, 72, wore a black shirt and suit as he posed next to Fox on the blue carpet, and while he looked a lot thinner than he did in his Back To The Future days, he still had the same twinkle in his eye that Doc became famous for.
And Lloyd recently revealed he is keen to be involved in a Back To The Future 4, if it were ever to happen.
He said: 'I think it’d be a wonderful thing if it could be pulled off. I don’t know what the angle might be or whatever, but if Bob Gale wants to write another one and Bob Zemeckis gets excited to do it, anything could happen.

But Fox was undoubtedly the star of the event last night, looking healthy and relaxed as he smiled for photographers, despite having to cope with having Parkinson's Disease.
Talking about his illness, he told Sky News: 'I'm feeling OK. It's manageable. You know everybody gets their bag of hammers, this is just my bag of hammers, and I can handle it.'
And Fox, 49, admitted he still can't believe how popular the film series is.
He said: 'There are people who know a lot more about the movie than I do. They know trivia and ask me about the space-time continuum and I say, "I don't know I was just in the movie!"

The trilogy is fantastic, you can never get bored with it!!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1323888/Back-To-The-Future-cast-reunited-anniversary-launch.html#ixzz13VN3fMHR

You know it makes sense...

2010-10-13T20:33:00.003+01:00

Now i'm not a political type person, but this guy has got wrong!
Since coming to power schools and education are in a digital turmoil... progress has come to a grinding halt, creativity put on hold and support services pulled out the plug!
Are this lot afraid of technology?
Do they want children to return to the dark ages?
Its not about cuts, its about attitude, I don't thing the government understands (or doesn't care) how far technology has advanced in the last 13 years and how much work has gone into bringing it into schools for children to harness. BECTA, QCA, QCDA had a wealth of stuff on-line to access, teachers needed it...so what have the government done...shut it all down...how ridiculous is that! I think these guys need to grow up... just cos' we didn't think of it, let's shut it down... seems to be the attitude!

Come on David...get in the real world!

Election 2010?

2010-05-07T22:46:00.004+01:00

In this digital age yesterdays General Election seems like a big cock-up!! (Not just you Gordon)
Voting in old wooden polling booths, paper ballot forms, black pencils, thousands of people manually counting papers in hundreds of sports centres and town halls. Black Ballot boxes paintakingly humped around to be securely opened and emptied...dare I go on?
How about hundreds of people unable to vote because of hold ups at polling stations and running out of ballot forms...are we really in 2010...the digital age?
Come on...is it not time that we are able to vote from home on our laptops or mobile phones? What is the problem? Libraries and schools have full internet access and broadband wireless links via mobile phone networks are available from most of the country.
Voting finishes at 10.00pm...Results at 10.05pm...New Government 10.15pm
I'm sure that we piloted a computerised voting system in the last general election, what happened to it?
We need to get real vote digital!!

Blast from the past!

2010-04-24T23:35:00.002+01:00

Well, here I am actually using the Acos microphone!

This photo was taken by Barry G3WIS back in the early 70's. You can see some weird stuff in there like my crystal calibrator and Cossor oscilloscope. My Hallicrafters SX24 and (at the right) my 160m transmitter. On the shelf you can see my 2m transmitter and on top of the receiver, my 2m converter (which tuned 2 - 4Mhz) Note the headphones, GPO type, awful to use!

My shack then was the outhouse a joined on brick building and concrete floor with a leaky roof! My brother uses this a garage now!

Acos Microphone

2010-04-20T22:55:00.002+01:00

Gosh...I've finally found a picture of my bestest microphone!

This little beauty was a crystal / ceramic microphone with superb quality. I bought one and used it for years on 160m with my home brew rig. It was lovely to hold and made of diecast...I loved it! Then one night I was having a long QSO with Neil G3ZPL and I decided to hang my microphone on the flexible lamp and use it 'hands free', the heat from the lamp destroyed the insert in my pride and joy!!

After that I had to use a plastic mic that was not a patch on my banana beauty!

Then, one day I was looking in a shop window in Radcliffe when I spotted another Acos the same as the other but black. The shop was closed, so I asked Kath, my girlfriend to call in and buy it for me. She did...

The second mic somehow didn't perform the same...a bit low in output and quality not good, such a pity.

I had some great fun and good contacts with my original microphone on both 160m and later 2m.

4m Transverter

2010-03-30T23:20:00.004+01:00

Tonight was the 4m Tuesday night contest and this time I was determined to try to hear something on this band. My Yaesu FT817 does not cover 4m, so I thought I might try to get my transverter running again after years of being in the loft packed away.

My Yaesu FT101E is still running fine after it's service, so I hunted around to find the necessary leads to connect the transverter to the FT101E. The only lead I didn't have was a connection from the antenna (which is BNC) to the UHF input on the transverter. A trip to Maplin was in order to purchase a BNC socket connector. I also bought a cheap CB type SWR Meter, I needed it so that I see if my transverter put out any RF!

The contest started at 8.00pm and guess what? It still worked! Heard loads of stations, but although my SWR meter tells me that RF is present, nobody could hear me!!!

Managed to work Ross G6GVI, he could hear me OK, but why could other stations who were quite strong not hear a trace?

I measured the power out of the tranverter at about 3w, so really I put it down to my vertical and a very poor SWR.

I am amazed that the transverter still works, it is also a 6m transverter as well and this also works fine!

Spring!

2010-03-21T21:49:00.003Z

At last...its Spring!!

Gosh...what an awful Winter we have had this year...snow, snow, snow. A gorgeous morning today, but clouded later.

Been planning my new antenna array, thinking about a 5ele 2m yagi, 10 ele 70cm yagi and maybe a 3 ele 50mhz yagi. All this with a (cheapish) rotator monted on the side of the house next to my shack. looking forward to going to the NRSA rally at Blackpool so that I can collect all the bits.

Spring is sprung

Grass is riz

Wonder wher dem birdies iz?

Shakespeare

2010-03-17T22:41:00.002Z

So what has this blog got to do Shakespeare?

Well, today we had to give a presentation to members of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Although my knowledge of the man and his work is a bit sparce, I was totally fascinated by todays visit. I probably learned more about Shakespeare and how it can be used to inspire young people and communities than I ever would have thought. During the presentation we used a video clip of one of our children in school using digital technology that was truely amazing!

I still don't understand Shakespeare, but my English teachers at Hayward School certainly did and above is a picture of my old English teachers Mr Hanley and Mr Worthington taking group to Stratford-upon-Avon back in 1970.

Stand up for Shakespeare!

FT101E Revival!

2010-03-05T22:59:00.003Z

My Yaesu FT101E has sat in the loft now for the last three years gathering dust. I decided a few weeks ago to bring this wonderful rig back to reality again and try to use it again. I bought it down from the loft and plugged it in only to find that it didn't work!!

The switches were noisy and no output from the transmitter, so tonight I spent some time getting it up and running again.

Nothing a squirt of WD40 can't cure!

Even managed to cure the sticky drive mechanism. This rig is superb, built like a brick toilet and still calibrated even after three or more years of neglect! I bought FT101E in 1980, the year my daughter was born, cost £380...a lot of money then...but 30 years on it still performs!

Plasma!

2010-02-21T21:30:00.004Z

Does anyone still use CRTs?
I'm amazed at the transformation of CRT to Plasma and LED technology. Now you can mount a huge 42" plus plasma tv on your wall in High Definition, flat as a panacake!
CRTs are dead and buried, but how I remember these beasts, 25Kv on the final anode and i've had many a belt from this when changing a CRT in a television. Setting up the static and dynamic convergence, purity, scan coils ... gosh, what memories.

I was moved by the programme on TV called J.L.B. (John Logie Baird) This man was a genious, he actually used CRTs for true 3D television and nobody listened, particularly the BBC.

The CRT was a milestone in analogue technology and should never be forgotten!

23cm night!

2010-02-16T23:11:00.001Z

I must admit that this project was my most frustrating ever!

The DF6QK 23cm transverter gave me highs and lows. I remember working a station in Switzerland during an opening with milliwatts of power.

Other times it just refused to tune and spent hours tweeking becoming more and more frustrated!

I built it in modular form so that I could unplug modules to test and set up. I also added a 2w PA to the system which worked well when the rest behaved.

Tonight dragged the transverter from the loft and connected the transverter to my Yaesu FT-817 in the hope of hearing local stations taking part in the 23cm contest.I heard nothing, maybe its the antenna (just the discone) but more likely the alignment of the converter part of the tranverter (1296Mhz - 28Mhz)

It was worth a try! (I still can't work out how I built this beast!)

Memories!

2010-02-14T23:35:00.003Z

Here are a couple of photos I found of my shack back in the 1970's and 80's. (Click to enlarge)

The top photo shows the Hallicrafters SX24 receiver with my 2m transmitter next to it, then my 160m / 80m transverter, above is my pride and joy 70cm tranverter with it's QQVO-320 valves. I used this tranverter for transmitting television pictures! You can also see the rather crude ATU.

The lower photo was taken in the early 1980's with my FT101E (I still have it!) rotator control box, 2m transverter in the dicast box and my all band VHF receiver that I built (and still have!)

Above is my VHF Frequency counter, power meter an Z-Match.

The amazing thing about these these photos is that I am sat here in modern shack in the same room looking at the same walls!

Condomodium

2010-02-06T22:40:00.006Z

Today was beautiful, almost fooled today into thinking that Spring has arrived!

Wall to wall sunshine, what a change after this horrible Winter that we are having this year.

Went for a walk around Bolton today and saw something strange...the Town Hall Clock in a condom!

What is going on behind the shrouds I wonder?

This nice weather got me thinking again about putting up some new antennas. The fittings on the side of the house are still there. Still thinking about it...

The Tuesday night contests add so much interest to the bands, loads of activity. Amateur Radio seems to be having a bit of a revival at the moment, I have certainly found more activity and more stations about now on most bands. I have even ejoyed reading RadCom again after all these years!

2010-01-14T22:46:00.002Z

Scary stuff!
Now, Tony Blair had a vision ten years ago, it was that we should have a National Grid for Learning! This was a bit like President Kennedy saying that America will go to the Moon before the end of the decade back in the 60's.
Here we are 10 years after Tony Blair's vision and look how we have moved on in the on-line, digital world of the internet and mobile technology! The guy got it right and invested money into the technology so that schools could harness it.
As we now approach a General Election I am bothered...
Who has the vision now to move on the technology?
David riding his bike or Gordon twiddling his thumbs?
It needs someone now to pick up the NGfL and move it on, otherwise our children are going to lose out and return to the BBC computer days.
What are your policies David and Gordon?
We need to know!

Frozen Digital Britain!

2010-01-09T00:12:00.004Z

What an amazing image!

Snow from above! (Click to enlarge)

We are now in the grip of the coldest Winter ever. The whole country covered in snow, here around 10" of frozen snow on the ground and roads terrible!

Tonight temperature down to -10 and still falling. The toilet has just frozen up and i'm flushing salt down it to keep it clear! Icicles like I have not seen since the 1960's hang outside my house and there is no end to the freeze!

Gosh...this brings back memories of the 1960's when Mum took us to school all wrapped up in balaclavas, snow piled against the front door and icicles hanging from the gutters. (Mum used to break some off to suck on the way to school!)

Schools never closed then, we would make slides and throw snowballs in the school yard and have great fun. Now all the schools are closed (including mine) and when we are open the kids are not allowed to play out in the snow!

I don't know ... Health and Safety gone mad!!!

Brass Monkey Weather!

2010-01-07T23:50:00.002Z

The term "Brass Monkeys" is an accepted phrase used in the English language to indicate that the ambient air temperature (or weather) is cold. This use stems from a longer phrase "It is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". This generally perceived as a humorous reference to some unfortunate Brass Monkey who loses his testicles if the weather is too cold. Another derived phrase (but irrelevant to our story) is "it's cold enough to freeze your balls off".

The origin and true meaning of this phrase is actually totally unrelated to any form of animal or its testicles. Back in time to the period of the Napoleonic War, the great gunships of this time carried many cannons on various gun decks. As an efficient method of storage and delivery of cannon balls to the cannon for firing, a "Monkey" (this term is used to define a table and/ or a rail) made of brass was used to hold the balls. In very cold temperatures the brass would contract or even break thus allowing the cannon balls to roll off the Monkey onto the gun deck. Hence the sailors would say "it is cold enough to freeze the balls off a Brass Monkey".

http://www.brassmonkeys.co.uk/history/default.html

Now brass has interesting properties, made from Copper and Tin, it is a good conductor of electricity and is hard wearing. Some of my VHF / UHF projects in the past required tuned lines, so I used brass for some of the thinner gauge lines because you could buy it at a hobby shop quite cheap.

Let it snow!

2010-01-05T23:42:00.004Z

OMG! I have not seen snow fall like this since the 60's!

We have now had snow all the way through Christmas and New Year and last night it never stopped snowing. Spent today at school as we battled to keep the school open, but tomorrow the school is shut. Kath couldn't get to work for the second time in the last two weeks because of the roads.

My poor antennas look sad, but tonight I went on 2m SSB to work some stations in the contest and chat with some real Radio Amateurs. Really enjoyed it! I'm now seriously thinking of getting some new antennas for VHF. Maybe even re-building a yagi array on the chimney and a rotator.

Still thinking...

Nocturne

2009-12-25T22:35:00.002Z

Can't find a trace of this wonderful disco back in the early 70's in Bolton.
Located underneath the 'Palais' (now Icon) at the top of Bridge Street I remember standing across the road with Stephen Hignett deciding whether to go in or not cos we were not sure if this was a dive. In fact it was a great place with UV lights and a lovely small dance floor. A real nice atmosphere! We went there later for a Rock Night, trouble was the bouncers and DJ didn't really appreciate rock and SAG came along! We had to dress smartly to get in and most wore a tie over their usual rock gear. I must admit that I wore my velvet jacket and a tie!
A great night, 'Black Cat Bone' played live and SAG got thrown out for 'dancing'.
Whatever happened to the Nocturne?
Also the 'Va Va' which was located under Elizabeth House, all locked up now and never used again!

Happy Christmas!

2009-12-24T22:36:00.003Z

First time ever that we have a had a white Christmas like this one!

Outside six inches of lying snow, treacherous roads and my poor Blue Tits are freezing to death in their little frozen home. So what have I asked Santa for this year? Well, a good combination of Digital and Analogue. I have really gone back to my childhood days and asked for the Saturn V Airfix model along with an 'electric train' from Hornby. I have also asked for a Mobile Phone because the one I use now is well out of date (even though it works perfectly) got to be cool you know!
Ohhh...and an all singing and dancing digital photo frame!

You must admit that I live with one foot in the analogue world and the other in the digital world and I love it!!

Got it wrong again!

2009-12-21T22:59:00.004Z

What is large, yellow, very shy and hates snow?

A Bolton Council Gritter of course!

Yesterday it snowed all day long, roads awful. Never mind, the Gritters will save the day and tomorrow the main roads will be clear in time for the rush hour. Guess what? Not a Gritter to be seen on this side of town at least. I have been on the road all day and never once did I see one these rare creatures in Bolton.

This is what they said about last year:

"Last year bosses came under fire when the town was hit by heavy snow in early December, causing morning rush hour chaos.
Council chiefs said that because the snow fell in the early hours of the morning, there was insufficient traffic to break up grit which had been spread earlier in the night. "

Well this time it fell during the day so what is the excuse this time?

Went to ASDA at Radcliffe tonight (Bury Council) guess what?

I passed two Gritters happily adding salt and grit to already cleared roads in Bury!

Get into the digital world Bolton and don't tell me the snow was not expected!

White Christmas

2009-12-20T21:47:00.003Z

See how the snowflakes are falling.

Falling so gentle and white.

Coming from God in his beauty.

All through the day and the night.

One of my favourite songs when I was 5 years old!

I can't believe the weather at the moment...SNOW AT CHRISTMAS!

All day day today (and yesterday) it snowed heavily and its still snowing. Its been wonderful for the first time ever to see Christmas films on the TV with snow falling outside as well.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

Susie the Sheep

2009-12-17T22:47:00.002Z

Here is Susie the Sheep, AKA Melissa in the Christmas Nativity!

She can read words now, so tonight she rang up our home phone on Mums mobile searching the contact list for 'home'. I am so amazed how technology does not present any barriers to kids. Melissa is a true Digital Native, I even have to ask her how to start up a DVD and which button to press on the remote control! I somehow feel scared and even embarassed that a five year old is so confident with technology when I struggle to understand it myself.

I guess the answer is that kids don't need to understand it, they just embrace it!!

Well, tomorrow is the last day at school before Christmas and its SNOWING!!

I'm an RSGB Member!

2009-12-06T21:04:00.006Z

I'm now an official member of the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) again!

I first joined the RSGB in January 1969 as an associate member with my number A6412. I sent out loads of QSL cards with my number on as a Short Wave Listener. I waited patiently each month for the new copy of Radio Communication Magazine to arrive, I even got my photo in it one month.

It later changed it's name to RadCom, a brilliant magazine most of which I still have in a big box in the loft. I became a full corporate member in 1977 (I'm not sure why because I got my Amateur Radio Licence in 1971 ... maybe its because I had to be 21?)

I still have my original membership certificates!

Later in the 80's I gave up my membership because it became expensive and RadCom was going downhill.

Never went back again until now, I really miss the RSGB and RadCom, I have lost touch and need to find out what is happening. I listen every night on my Yaesu FT-817 and am getting more and more curious. The bands have become much more active with the new licensing and I have listened to loads of interesting QSOs.

Got my first copy of RadCom and am very impressed! I even got my brand new RSGB pin badge ... oh...memories!

Just one complaint...my original certificate was hand drawn on parchment paper, my new one was printed on cheap card printed on a computer. Not personal at all!

Come on RSGB, at least print it on parchment paper and sign it!!

Dear Santa...

2009-11-27T23:27:00.002Z

Dear Santa

Please can I have a Hornby Train Set so that I can play with electric trains again, because after watching James May's programmes on television about Hornby Train Sets, Models and stuff I am about to enter my second childhood.

I would also like an Airfix Saturn V model which has been re-issued to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. When it first came out I did not have enough money to buy one as I was still at school.

Oh...by the way... can you please sent me a Digital Photo Frame with blue lights and 2GB memory card, the one that plays MP3 sound, MPEG videos, digital calendar, alarm clock amazing transitions and links to my TV so that we can all watch photos and videos on the TV.

Thank you Santa and don't forget to give the Reindeers a carrot!

Analogue Native Book!

2009-11-08T21:46:00.003Z

Well, here it is!

My own autobiography that I predicted when I first started my blog.

I didn't think it was possible to actually print out a whole blog, but I found a site that will do this and even make into a book. The book took a while to be delivered from New York, but the quality is SUPERB!

I now have my own professionally printed blog autobiography!

More from the Judy Wallet!

2009-11-07T23:23:00.003Z

This time we have my original membership cards from the Bolton and District Amateur Radio Society back in the 70's. I went to the first meeting which was at a pub at Four Lane Ends. Evert meetin I travelled on the number 10 bus then the 82 bus to the meetings. I was still at school at the time. The club moved around a bit over the next few years. The Clarence Hotel on Bradshawgate, then the White Horse (I think!) at the corner of Moor Lane. After that we moved to that awful loft room at Bolton Recreation Club. It was then when I kind of gave up, but the club continued at the Horwich Leisure Centre. I was Secretary of the Club when we were at the Rec Club.

Now the Bolton Wireless Club has replaced the old club and is thriving, I must join this club myself. Chris (G4HYG) and Chris (G4ADM) are now members of the club.

The times they are a changing!

2009-11-07T22:58:00.006Z

Last night Kath sorted out one of her drawers and found her 'Judy Wallet' this was a plastic wallet given away in the comic/magazine 'Judy' back in the 60's. (I had one of these that I sent for from Weetabix in the early 60's with my name engraved in gold)

Inside the wallet were tickets and Membership Cards from the 70's. Here are the tickets when we went to see DEEP PURPLE and RORY GALLAGHER in the 70's. I remember these gigs like yesterday, especially the Deep Purple concert at Belle-Vue.

(I have loads of memories of Belle-Vue, particularly the Belle-Vue rally)

Deep Purple were amazing, but we had to get home, so we had to leave without watching the encore to catch a bus back to Manchester. When we got to Manchester we caught an all night bus from Piccadily that took hours to get back to Bolton!

Now if you look on the back of the Deep Purple ticket you can see how it was in those days. In fact we were searched when we went into the concert to make sure we were not carrying a camera or tape recorder (sad days!) Try doing that now in the mobile phone era, you can have the concert recorded and digital stills uploaded onto YOU TUBE and FACEBOOK before it has even finished! Fantastic!

Digital Switchover!

2009-11-03T22:47:00.003Z

The photo shows the old 405 line aerial on the right and the new 1015ft aerial on the left. (The old aerial was later dismantled) Bill Kay had photos of these aerials including the construction of the new aerial.

Well tonight marks the end of era!
The analogue TV transmissions from Winter Hill will begin to switchover to Digital. Tonight BBC2 will be switched over to the digital transmission system. It seems that Manchester is the first area in the country for the national switchover.
For 20 years I worked on analogue televisions, from the old Thorn 1500's Black and White TV's, Decca 2230's, Kortings, Philips G8's and loads of others.
I still know how analogue TV works!
Here are some memorable words and figures that I can still recall from my head...
PAL (Phase Alternating Line), Luminance Delay Line, Chrominance Delay Line, (B-Y) (R-Y), RGB, Subcarrier Oscillator, 4.43361875Mhz, 625 lines, 15.675Khz (line Frequency), 50Hz (Frame Frequency), Static and Dynamic Convergence, Sync Pulse, Colour Burst, Varicap Diode Tuner, Boost Capacitor, Scan Coils, CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), Line Output Transformer, 25Kv (on the final anode), PC86, PC88, AC138, AC139, NTSC (Never Twice the Same Colour), SECAM.

On the Air!

2009-10-13T23:05:00.002+01:00

Well, today I got my Amateur Radio Licence back in 1971!

I will never forget dashing home from work to find the brown envelope stood up on the window sill in the kitchen. As I was opening the envelope along came George, G3ZQS (in his slippers)

"What's the callsign then?" said George. "G4AQB!" I exclaimed. "Ahhh...A Queer Bugger!!" says George with his usual sense of humour!

I still have my logbook with all my first contacts.

Tonight I joined in with the 70cm contest on SSB and managed to work quite a few stations. The QRA locator baffled me a bit, it must have changed during my time off the air. I found a website that pinpoints locators and shows on a map...brilliant! If only we had that type of technology back in 1971!

I am tempted to put beams back up for the VHF and UHF bands, there are now contests every Tuesday nights on different bands. The next one is 23cm. (I still have the transverter!)

Micro Men

2009-10-10T22:27:00.003+01:00

Just watched the whole of this programme on BBC4, loved it! Brought back so many memories from the 80's with the Sinclair and Acorn, learned a lot of things that I didn't know as well.

Imagine what would have happened if Chris and Clive had worked together with the personal computer? The BBC Computer was used in all schools and this is where I started off myself, but then things went off at a tangent. The Acorn Archimedes was a super machine and had a super ARM processsor that was really ahead of its time, but the PC ruled! I remember making a bold decision for our school when I went for the PC route and bought new PC machines for each classroom. At the time other schools thought I was mad, but how right I was!!

The Acorn didn't have the backing that it deserved. Gosh! How stunned I was with the graphics of My World with Dress Teddy and the Weather Map!

They were great times, I can still picture myself sat in my loft room with the Sinclair Spectrum, home made interface and 300baud modem talking on bulletin boards before the word 'Internet' had even been invented!

A nice bit of the programme was the thing in the paper that showed how many were returned faulty. When I worked at TAM my job was repairing computers returned to the shops. The Sinclair Spectrum was the worst, mainly because the memory chips failed. It was easy to diagnose...the chips got HOT! Boy, Have I changed a few of those!!

I went through gallons of 'Freezer' spray diagnosing faults on these beasties!

Monty Python

2009-10-08T23:06:00.002+01:00

Another 40th Anniversary!

This time IT'S....MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS!

I watched the first series of this back in 1969 (along with Rowan and Martin's Laugh in!) At first I thought some of it really funny, but was a bit nieve at the time to understand some sketches. It was on TV on Saturday Night just after Rowan and Martin, totally different humour than the american stuff. I still laugh at some of the sketches, like the 'Parrot Sketch'. It was on quite late at night, I watched it because I was baby sitting my brothers and sisters at the time when Mum and Dad went out.

Later in the 70's I got more into Monty Python, I went to see 'The Holy Grail' with Kath when we were going out together. It's still a funny film

Navada

2009-10-03T22:05:00.006+01:00

Found these photos by accident on Facebook!

The Navada was an intitution, roller skating and great bands. When I was at school lots of kids from my form went to the 'Nav' on Tuesday nights. I never really fancied it at the time. When I left school the Navada along with BIT was the place to be. I remember my first visit to the Nav with Neil (G3ZPL) and two girls. I could skate (quite well really) and Lynn was brilliant, but Neil had never had skates on before so I spent some time showing him how to skate. I remember watching Lynn skating around the arena with the music playing and she was fantastic!

Would you believe that the bar was upstairs!

You had to climb up the stairs with your skates on and carry the drinks down again, it was pretty scary.

One of the best nights at the Navada was watching 'MUD' not skating this time, because they often had good groups playing at the Nav. They were excellent!

Such a pity the place burned down...we were all devastated when it happened, it was an icon of the 60's and 70's.

50Mhz Contest

2009-10-03T21:45:00.002+01:00

Had a great time last week with the 50Mhz contest. My Yaesu FT-817 puts out about 5 watts and fed into my vertical antenna I wondered what I would manage top work on 6m.
Loads of stations on that night, so managed to work:

M0ICK/P
G7ROM
M1PIA/P
G6GVI
G0BSU
M1NTO

Not bad considering I have not been on the air for ages! I have started to pull out my old stuff in the loft and have set up my FT101E and VHF / UHF Receiver. Maybe I am getting the bug back. I must admit that I find it hard to get back into the old days of Amateur Radio. I would dearly like to go back to the old days (before the days of mobile phones!!)

Chadwick St

2009-09-26T20:30:00.002+01:00

I went past Chadwick Street today to find that the Campus there is being demolished!

Back in 1989 I did my PGCE at Chadwick Street which was part of Bolton Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) then. My PGCE was actually from Manchester University, but Chadwick Street was the Teacher Education Centre.

I had just completed my Open University Degree and decided to give up my job as an electronics technician to become a teacher! My year at the college was memorable, a great atmosphere and I made loads of friends there. I had never been to University and this was the next best thing to me.

Had a whole year as a student living on my grant...loved it!!

Spent my placements at Salford College in Worsley and Bolton College. Gosh...can't believe I taught IT to twenty four girl hairdressers at Salford College and Science to sixteen A level nurses!!

Must admit that working in a college is nothing like working in a school!

Turing apology

2009-09-11T22:06:00.003+01:00

"Gordon Brown has said he is sorry for the "appalling" way World War II code-breaker Alan Turing was treated."

"A petition on the No 10 website had called for a posthumous government apology to the computer pioneer. "

Alan was a genious, he is the master of computer technology today. Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers built the first ever number crunching computers based at Bletchley and Manchester University. The trouble was that nobody knew about the computers, later, "Collossus" the first programmable computer, was a secret and after the war, instructions were given to dismantle the machines and hide them away! Fifty years later when the secrets were revealed the machines were 'found' and rebuilt. This was all too late for Alan...a sad story!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8249792.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

What was it that Winston Churchill said...something about owing so much to so few...well Alan Turing, you rank high in the league table!

I signed the petition and now he has got the apology deserved!

Iron Maiden

2009-08-20T00:11:00.005+01:00

I was astounded when I stumbled on this picture!

Back in the early 70's I went to a gig at a Methodist Church on Chorley Old Road with Neil and my girlfriend at the time Carol. Now I have seen a few pop groups live before now at the Palais and places, but never a group like this!!

Iron Maiden were LOUD and I remember two brass horns on either side of the stage! My first real experience of Rock, it was brill!!

Then there was this other guy called SAG who danced in the middle of the floor covered in foil and flashing lights. What I didn't know at the time is that my wife Kath (and a few others) dressed him up in foil and they all danced. Now SAG is quite a guy, wore a huge chain with his name on it or sometimes with flashing lights and did his famous 'back dance'.

I will never forget the amazing Moss Bank Park festival with other other local groups like 'Black Cat Bone' and a girl called Jacky from Radcliffe who came with Kath and myself and another girl who got lost!!

http://www.theboltonironmaiden.com/

A great site!!

Woodstock

2009-08-17T21:49:00.003+01:00

Another 40 years anniversary! Woodstock...August 15th - 18th 1969, quite a year was '69!

Brian Adams wrote a great song 'Summer of '69' says it all!

I must admit that the Woodstock Festival at the time was a bit strange to me, I didn't know much about the artists and it took another few years before I fully appreciated rock and blues stuff. Even then I thought Janis Joplin was 'noisy', now I can see the light! Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and a few others could have had a huge influence on music today had they not died early. I can see where Led Zeppelin's stuff came from, particularly where Robert Plant's voice came from....Janis Joplin!

A truely analogue festival - Valve Amps!!

Summer of '69

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zWnE-NB2jQ

Matthews Southern Comfort

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyTUF5gP2KE

Janis Joplin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAY-Ei7SFWw

Open University 40th Anniversary

2009-08-06T22:05:00.003+01:00

Stirling University - My first Summer School!

In 1980 I made probably one of the boldest decisions of my life. I started studying with the Open University with a view to getting a Degree! I had looked at other options for getting better qualifications, but when I read about the OU and the prospect of a Degree at the end I thought it was the best option. At this time I was a qualified electronic technician, but still had no GCEs. You didn't need them to study with the OU! Fantastic!
The first year I did the Maths Foundation Course M101, this was a make of break course, if I could pass I would carry on, but if not I would just give up! I had a lot of applied maths experience from my courses in electronics, but the pure maths stuff worried me! I was lucky, I met a guy from the corner before I started. He was sat at the bar in the social club around the corner with another guy discussing some questions. I overheard and asked him if it was OU stuff. It was and they were doing M101! He lent me the units and and some preparatory stuff and this gave me enough confident to make a start.
Discipline was the thing, I had to adapt to working two hours a night in my study room, away from the TV and Radio stuff!
I did it...I completed the course, passed and then never looked back!
Followed it with the Science Foundation Course S101 and then second and third level courses. OK, sometimes I struggled, but I passed every course!
It took me eight years to complete and finally become a Graduate!
Congratulations OU! It changed my life!

"23 April 1969 saw the birth of The Open University but its intellectual roots go back much further. In 1926 the educationalist and historian J C Stobart wrote a memo on a ‘wireless university’, while working for the BBC. By the early sixties many different proposals were being debated such as a 'teleuniversity', which would combine broadcast lectures with correspondence texts and visits to conventional universities - a genuinely 'multi-media' concept. "

Gosh...packages through the post every week, books, resources. Six in the morning watching the course TV program, cassette tapes to listen to!
That was in the analogue days of learning, I wonder what it would be like to do the courses again in the digital age?
High quality TV productions on TV, Sky + Box, DVDs and CD Roms, memory sticks and Laptops. Interactive Whiteboards and Visualizers. E mail your TMAs and CMAs on line! Blogs, Twitter, Forums and the Internet! WoW!!!

Radio Caroline

2009-07-31T23:21:00.003+01:00

Radio Caroline live on Sky 0199!

Way to go...playing some great stuff on this digital, internet and satelite station. At the end of August they go live from the old Radio Caroline ship 'Ross Revenge' that has been renovated and moored at Tilbury.

Gosh...what memories of Radio Caroline on 199 back in 1966 and 1967. We had a GEC transistor radio and could pick it up during the day if my dad sat the radio next to the electric socket which acted as as an aerial. Radio 1 had not been thought of yet and Radio Caroline along with Radio Luxembourg at night was the only station that played POP MUSIC. I used to have a tape recording of the last programme when the pirate stations became illegal on 1st September 1967.

Well, I have just ordered a Radio Caroline T-Shirt that I will wear with pride when it comes. The website is super and you can listen live on-line!

http://www.anorak.nildram.co.uk/listen/newwmplayer.htm

http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/

The Black Stuff!

2009-07-31T22:18:00.004+01:00

Unbelievible!
After 32 years the council have FINALLY decided to re-surface our road and estate!

Even Melissa can't beleive her eyes!
What was it John Lennon said...."Four Thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" well I can beat that...we have five thousand just on our estate!
My poor cars have suffered for many years, I lost count of the council men that come every year and stamp a bit of tarmac into the bigger holes, then dissappear for another year.
At last common sense has prevailed...welcome to the digital world!

Today's my Birthday!

2009-07-25T22:55:00.002+01:00

Gosh...hasn't time moved on!

I'm 55 years old today, living in the digital age and having a new mobile phone for my birthday from Kath. I must admit that I can't remember many birthdays apart from my 18th (at Camber Sands) and my 21st...

Here I am at my 21st Birthday Party cutting the cake and wearing my really expensive denim waistcoat and cheesecloth shirt that Kath bought me from Manchester. I'm also wearing my St. Christopher chain that my mum got me and a new belt and jeans.

Today we went to the 'Sparking Clog' pub for tea and I really enjoyed it, the sun shone!!

Apollo 11 Launch 40 years ago!

2009-07-16T22:41:00.003+01:00

So where was I 40 years today?

Well at 2.00 in the afternoon on July 16th 1969 I was sat on the grass banking outside the gym building listening to the Apollo 11 launch! It was a hot sunny day and I was 14 years old. It was the last week of school before the long Summer holidays and my birthday was next week. I can remember it vividly, listening to the launch on a transistor radio and a whole load of us getting excited as we listened. Peter Holt had brought in the pack he got from W.H. Smiths which outlined the times and events of the mission (mode one charlie!)

This was the begining of something really special that I have never forgotton...the Moon Landing!!

Here is the complete launch...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5722827024646179220

Lunar Lander Computer

2009-07-07T23:03:00.009+01:00

As we approach the 40th anniverary of the Apollo 11 mission, BBC 2 and BBC 4 are putting on loads of programmes to celebrate this event. The best has been 'Sky at Night - A Night to Remember' - superb! I have bought lots of books, a DVD and even a copy of the 'Daily Mirror' on July 20th 1969.

Back in the 1980's I swopped my Belcom Liner 2 for a Sharp 4 bit handheld computer with an LCD display... my first ever computer! This little beast was probably equivalent to the computer used in Lunar Landing Module (LEM) The computer used BASIC programming and ran simple and complex routines in BASIC.

I actually wrote a BASIC programme for landing a Lunar Module on the Moon. I took the calculation routine from a magazine, but wrote all rest and it worked! You had to enter the thrust, check your height and fuel and land on the Moon.
A couple of years later I adapted the programme and wrote some graphics to play the game in real time on a Sinclair Spectrum computer. The Lunar Module separated from the orbiting command module and you had to land visually with the graphics on screen.

Gosh ... I couldn't write a programme like this again any more!

I know that I had a print out of the software on silver heat sensitive paper in a roll ... I wonder where it is?

Sharp PC-1210 Pocket Computer

Display - 24-digit alphanumeric dot matrix Liquid Crystal Display, with yellow filter.In calculator mode it can display in scientific format 10 digits mantissa and 2 digits exponent.
Functions - Calculator and 400 step BASIC language programmable computer.Up to 50 Flexible memories (shared with program memory).Battery back-up of CMOS memory.A cassette recorder can be connected using an adapter cradle, allowing programs to be saved to audio cassettes. Also a printer & and cassette adapter was available, see photograph below, thus providing the full needs of a pocket computer.
Power supply - 3x Silver oxide button cells. The power consumption is 0.009 watts.
Semiconductors - CMOS LSI, including:
Two CPUs (Central Processing Units):
CPU 1 - SC43157.
CPU 2 - SC43158.
One TC5514P, 4 K-bit RAM.
Size 175 x 70 x 17 mm (6.9" x 2.75" x 0.7").
Introduced - 1980.
Made in Japan.

The Apollo guidance computer (AGC) with the Display / Keyboard (DSky)

Now compare this with the specs of the Lunar Landing Module Computer ... interesting reading!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Bolton FM

2009-06-27T23:06:00.009+01:00

At last!

We now have a community radio station ... and cool it is too!

I'm really impressed with Bolton FM, no adverts, great music and has an audience aimed at the Bolton Community. The Internet Radio Stream is spot-on and the website well designed. Great to that see Frank White played a leading role in the project!

Well done to everyone concerned with the station, planning and launch. I went to Bolton last Saturday to watch the launch and it was a great afternoon. The drums group were superb and who was that great 15 year old singer? Fantastic!!

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T00:52:00.002+01:00

As I speak we have just heard that Michael Jackson has died!

First lots of conflicting reports, but now confirmed. This is one of those days that shocked the world. (like 'Where were you whe Michael Jackson died?' ... HERE I AM!!)

I have to say that the conspiracy theorists are about to erupt on this one! Lets face it, he was about to start a 50 date tour starting in London next week and has upstaged Farrah Fawcett as she has also died today. OK..maybe i'm a cynic...but a bit of a coincidence don't you think?

Rest in Peace Michael

Devil's Lantern!

2009-06-12T22:58:00.004+01:00

Here is another photo of my old English Teachers - Mr Hanley (left) and Mr Worthington (Right) on the road to stratford - on - Avon.

Mr Hanley was a bit of an extrovert, really into Shakespeare and stuff and our lessons were a bit unusual! This guy caught Me, Dorothy Collier and Christine Hilton playing a game of 'Stretch' with a compass! We were summoned to the staff room (from the window) and told to write an essay with the title 'Those who live by the sword, die by the sword!'

Now Mr Worthington was different, had strong opinions about technology and called Television the 'Goggle Box' or 'Devil's Lantern'. I remember a lesson where we discussed the use of computers in society (at that time back in 69 computers were BIG) he predicted that one day computers would fit in a matchbox and everyone would be using them.

How right he was!!

I also remember writing a story that really impressed him and he read it out to everyone in class. That year I scored 58% in my English GCE Mock Test (a pass!) Then, guess what...I was moved into the CSE class with Mr Hanley only to fail and then take and pass my GCE twenty years later!

Now I teach Literacy!