Light Emitting Diodes...the future?

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!

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

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...

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?

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!

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

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.