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

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

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!

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?

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

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

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.

My halo is on a mast outside on the side of the house. I spent a long time at the top of a ladder fiddling with it and eventually giving up! After some thinking time it occured to me that a halo is of course just a 'bent' half-wave dipole, so I took a tape measure and measured the length excluding the insulated part. It turned out to be far too short for a half-wave at 50Mhz. I then adjusted the overall length to as near as I could get it. Even with everything set at it's extreme, it was still slightly short. After that I was able to tune the VSWR with the trimmer.

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

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.