Author Archives: Bill

I know that the title is a bit strange, I’ll explain; In 2016 I became a licensed radio ham. If you are licensed, you’ll know how to look me up, my callsign was M6BBB, it’s still registered to me, I’m now an intermediate. This is important, because being a radio ham has introduced me toContinue reading “423 The Station Manager says 73”

I think the Cockle ponds were the smoothest I’d seen them for a long while. There have been a couple of times over the last week or so, when the time has come to write and I really couldn’t think of anything. That’s why you’ve ended up with either a shorter than normal or somethingContinue reading “422 Writing the Week”

Do you watch the tides? Water goes up, water goes down and that’s it right? Of course it’s never that simple is it? Sometimes, I can be incredibly dumb. I never found out until not too long ago that spring tides have nothing at all to do with spring, and that they occur every month,Continue reading “421 Tides”

Best viewed full screen. Our front door just about faces due south. That means this time of the year when I leave the house for my morning walk, if the sky is clear, I get a quite spectacular view of the sky, especially Orion. That constellation was especially prominent as I stepped out this morning.Continue reading “420 Orion”

Here’s the K&F Concept Tripod; https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=K%26F+concept+tripod&client=safari&hl=en-gb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQqc_K77PzAhVN8OAKHTcJC6IQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&biw=1366&bih=891&dpr=2#imgrc=bZxaRD-1llqfNM My assumption was that the centre column of any tripod I would be interested in would form the monopod. But, thinking about it that wouldn’t work, what ever mechanism is used to secure leg segment would get in the way. The visit to the London Camera Exchange on SaturdayContinue reading “419 Tripods”

The Musketier outbound fromPortsmouth, not sure where it was going, but nice seeing it go out. I’ve looked on a couple of websites that cut wood. Who’d have thought that a basic piece of plywood (9mm 1.25mx0.5m, plus enough 1×1 (25x25mm) wood to edge and provide 4 lateral batons could both be so difficult andContinue reading “418 Model Railway”

The Boat is the Caribbean Star, a Reefer. That means that most of the containers onboard are refrigerated. Portsmouth is one of the largest UIK ports for the importation of Fruit and Veg. Absolutely nothing to do with the Sparrows. We haven’t seen the starlings for a while – probably just keep missing them. ButContinue reading “417 The Sparrows”

The Picture is nothing to do with Southampton; it’s the Haslar Marina Pier Wall in the rain at about 0630. I can’t remember if it was last year or the year before when I first started using my tripod instead of my monopod during the really dark mornings. Now, this year, I’ve become a littleContinue reading “416 Southampton”

He stood in the hallway listening. He could hear the wind howling outside, every so often the wind would grab at the loose flap of the letter box causing it to clatter. The rain, not yet driving, but still heavy enough to be audible as it hits the glass in the door. Tentatively, he pressesContinue reading “415 “Bad” Weather”

OK, I don’t know why this is happening, it is immensely frustrating for me, but when you view it on the web, it looks like you are seeing the picture at the proper size, which is good, I’ll keep looking but shut up about it now. The temperature is on it’s way down, I’m backContinue reading “414 It really is Autumn”