Well that’s it - January 2010 is no more. Over, done, finished! Blink and you would have missed it. It’s now February the 1st and before you know it winter will recede and give way to spring.
So, what did January 2010 give us? Not a lot to be fair. I was QRT for the whole of the month and my only forays onto the bands were occasional listens to 20m and 40m where I heard little of interest. I really do need something to re-enthuse me. I keep thinking I should get back to working more PSK31 on 20m but so far I haven’t even got round to doing that. I’ll hope to address that during February.
January 2010 will likely be most remembered for the cold snap and the accompanying snow and ice that brought the UK to a near standstill. That is now thankfully passed and not to be repeated anytime soon with a bit of luck. Roll on warmer weather, longer days and improving HF conditions as cycle 24 starts to gather momentum.
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog, Life..., Totally random 2010, antenna, January, QRT, Solar Cycle 24
Rain, a lot of rain. Non stop all night in fact. It is still raining this morning.
But at least it is warmer. A whopping 3 degrees this morning with a forecast high of 6 degrees. Break out the sunscreen!
Dean Blog, Life..., Totally random ice, rain, snow, weather
Regarding France 1 v 1 Ireland in Paris, Nov 18th 2009.
“Play fair. Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure. Playing fair requires courage and character. It is also more satisfying. Fair play always has its reward, even when the game is lost. Playing fair earns respect, while cheating only brings shame. Remember: it is only a game. And games are pointless unless played fairly.”
Fine words but will the ideal be upheld?
Dean Life..., Totally random FIFA, football, France, Ireland, World Cup
A. Soap opera. Trust me on this.
Dean Life..., Totally random no comment
My brother John got married to Jodi this past weekend in Stratford upon Avon. A good time was had by all and it was great to spend time with friends and family.
Suffice to say we all had a bit to drink and Sunday was very much a ‘recovery’ day. Back to work this morning and still feeling a bit rough but well worth it for what was a great day out.
Best wishes to John & Jodi for a long and happy life together!
Dean Life... marriage
just another sunny day in paradise…probably
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I can’t be sure but I think it’s probably another sunny day in paradise. It’s sunny here too in central England - the problem is I’m stuck in the office all day…again.
This morning is another beautiful morning with clear blue sky and not a cloud in sight, just like yesterday. It’s days like these when you wish it was like this all the time. Sadly, up here in the northern climes we inhabit, that isn’t the case. The best we can hope for every summer is a month or two of hot sunny weather at the very most!
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As I sit at my desk (a temporary location this week due to last weeks flood - see earlier post for details) I see in my minds eye, not the trees and office blocks I see from my window, but a sandy beach and a blue ocean beneath a clear blue sky - my idea of paradise.
Living somewhere with a view like that is a dream of mine and one I intend making a reality with my partner Dulcie. For now though I can only sit in my office looking at the beautiful clear blue sky and working toward making that dream come true.
Dean Life..., Pictures, Totally random dreams, paradise, weather
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I work in an old building with a roof that has certainly seen better days! On at least two prior occasions in the past 4 and a half years a sudden heavy downpour of rain has resulted in the office flooding.
Todays flood was by far the worst of those I have experienced while working there. The rain today though was like nothing I’ve ever seen before outside of a tropical storm! I described it as rainfall ‘of biblical proportions’ - the heavens really did open. There was also thunder, lightning and hail for good measure!
The aftermath of these floods is a damp, smelly, humid office for a week or two while the dehumidifiers do their thing. For now we are relocated to a dry office where mercifully we still have internet access so all is not lost!
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the flooded office
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I don’t know how long we will be ‘displaced’ for but I can’t believe the office will be dry within this week. I suspect we could be here for the best part of next week as well. Don’t they say that a change is as good as a rest…?
Dean Life..., Pictures, Totally random flood, office, storm, weather
For more years than was really sensible I spent hours each day commuting to and from my job in London. I did it because I kept telling myself it wasn’t forever and I’d eventually get a nice job working from home at the end of it all.
As luck would have it I did eventually come to work from home, for about 4 years. It was a good experience in many ways but there was a downside - it was very difficult to maintain good separation between your own time and work time.
I’m seeing a very similar thing now with Dulcie working from home. She calls it her ‘dream job’ but she too is finding that it is very difficult to prevent work encroaching into time she wants for herself. She’s very good at managing her time (much better than I ever was) but she still finds that she is allowing work to take over what she had set aside as her time.
For now we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out but as I and likely many others have found out, working from home isn’t always as easy as we might have imagined it would be.
Dean Life..., Totally random commute, work from home
…are blowing through amateur radio station G0RIF! I have made the decision to finally commit to getting a radio that I believe will be with me for a very long time, a Yaesu FT-950 (pictured). The reason? Digital IF filtering! For too long I have put up with adjacent channel interference, even with the 500Hz filter in the TS-480. With the FT-950 (with the PEP updates) this will be [mostly*] a thing of the past.
In addition I am now moving to a ’single radio setup’ with a single interface unit (MyDel SB-2000) for PSK31 and other soundcard data modes, FSK RTTY, CW keying and rig control.
Yaesu FT-950 HF/6m transceiver
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To that end I have agreed a sale on my TS-480SAT that has been a faithful servant for the past few years, mainly used for RTTY and CW.
Other gear for sale includes my LDG AT-200Pro auto antenna tuner, my SignaLink USB radio interface, my Rigblaster Plug & Play radio interface and my Yaesu FT-857 radio, used primarily for portable operating.
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The net result of this change will be that I have one radio (the FT-950) with one interface unit (the SB-2000) and one antenna tuner (the SEM Tranzmatch - see earlier posts for details). The FT-897D currently in use as the primary PSK31 set (and standby HF rig) will then be used for portable work (as and when required) and will retain it’s role as a spare HF set.
* I do accept that even modern digital IF filtering has its limitations and that there will still be occasional circumstances where signals are so close together (or when one is particularly strong) when interference may still occur. I believe that such occurences will be significantly fewer with the FT-950 than with the TS-480.
Dean Amateur Radio, Life..., Pictures FT-857, FT-897, FT-950, G0RIF, PSK31, Rigblaster, RTTY, SB-2000, SEM TranZmatch, SignaLink, TS-480, Yaesu
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The growing season has really kicked into gear with the recent mix of warm sunny days and frequent heavy showers. The allotment is thriving and over the past few days there has been a flood of produce from the plot to the table.
I’m only the occasional helper when it comes to the allotment - it’s Dulcie, my partner, who is the keen gardener! Growing vegetables is a passion of hers and it really is amazing to see how tiny seeds are sown and nurtured through the early part of the year, turning into strong healthy plants that are planted out to the allotment where they produce vegetables of all shapes and sizes.
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allotment shed
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It’s amazing just how much produce can be taken from a small suburban allotment. Our medium sized plot amounts to no more than 50 square metres and this produces enough to keep us going through the winter. A dedicated chest freezer out in the garage is used to store all the vegetables harvested and not consumed immediately - all blanched and bagged and ready to use when needed. There is a lot of hard work but the rewards and sense of satisfaction to be had certainly make it worthwhile!
Dean Life..., Totally random allotment