Bills Posts

Monday

It’s quite nice to be able to fit an exercise regime into normal activity. I like to get up during the week and go for a walk first thing. It’s a good little bit of exercise, and I can go on the #Breakfastclub without disturbing the family. The #Breakfastclub? It’s a radio net, run by 2E1PHW Pete, who’s at home in his bed (very sensible chap). There are normally up to five people on the net, myself 2E0WGK, Pete, G7EPE Dave, M3OHN Pete and M0IMA Phil. We just have a good old chinwag (ragchew in radio speak) about whatever takes our fancy, usually, but not always radio related. The mechanism we use to talk to each other is a repeater on the Isle Of Wight, The Repeater Keeper, G4IKI, Paul does a magnificent job in keeping the repeater, GB3IW on top of the game so it includes a facility called echolink. This is a way that licensed radio operators can access the repeater from their home computer, tablet or mobile phone. Naturally it depends upon s link to the internet, but this really does open conversations to the rest of the world. We have had people from New York (on several nights, a vet tending a poorly cat), Hawaii, Australia joining us for a very tasty virtual breakfast (one of our frequent discussions is food, specifically a full english). I’m there if it isn’t raining, and one of the things I like to do is give a weather report from the waterfront in Gosport. It’s not a forecast, but includes; tide state, sea state (in the harbour so not really accurate), temperature, humidity, wind speed & direction, atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, and general walking conditions. It is only a bit of fun, but I have had people comment when I don’t do it . (people who don’t normally take part in the net, lurkers and listeners as we refer to them, all in friendliness, G0JHQ Adrian, is known as the Chief Lurker, we can usually entice him to come out of hiding with mention of some virtual black pudding. It all makes for a very enjoyable 45 minutes.

RAYNET

In a previous post I said that I’d explain what RAYNET is all about. Whilst I was becoming licensed as a Radio Amateur and then when I joined the Horndean & District Amateur Radio Club I became aware of a group who talked about events outside of the club. I heard the name RAYNET mentioned. Of course I asked; “what is RAYNET?” It was then that I found about the organisation.

Beginning in the 1953 during the north floods, the authorities were having difficulties communicating. The local Radio amateurs offered to help even though their activities were against the law. RAEN was born.

Today, RAYNET as is continues to operate and offer its capabilities to the emergency services and local authorities. We become involved in local events. In many cases these serve as a good exercise in procedures, team work and verifying that equipment is working.

I very much enjoy the events, I get to meet members of the public, I use my radio in a way that is helping a local community, I get to go to parts of the countryside that I often think I’d like to go there, but never actually do. I’ll write a bit about a couple of the individual events later.

Arundel Castle

Given that this is a new blog, I feel at liberty to delve back in time to previous experiences. In this case another bagged castle. This time, Arundel. I think one of the most spectacular views you can have of castle, is to drive westwards past the town of Arundel on the A27.

Now, I admit I haven’t done the train journey past the town, so I can’t comment on that. Built around the 11th century, the castle was damaged during the civil war and then refurbished during the 18th & 19th centuries. As you might expect, the grounds are magnificent. Whilst we were visiting, there was a medieval fayre underway, which included amongst other things a jousting contest. I fully expected this to be nothing more than a show, but apparently it’s a global competition which is taken very seriously. The suits of armour cost £25,000. They hit each other with proper lances, they might only be made of balsa wood, but they certainly shatter on impact. The rooms in the castle reflect the populace of the wealth and style of the owners. It only goes to reinforce my incomprehension at how somebody can live like that, of course it matches the lifestyle of the times for people of wealth. The castle itself is even more magnificent close up. It is like the cathedrals, the amount of effort to construct places like this, given that people power was the most widely available resource. We were staying in the Norfolk Hotel, appropriate given that the castle still today is the residence of the Duke of Norfolk. I had wanted to go and see the castle after seeing it for the first time not that long ago, so I’m very happy to have achieved that goal.

Castle Bagging

We Developed the concept of Castle Bagging a few years ago whilst visiting friends. We had booked a week in a villa just outside Carcassonne in the south of France. The walled city is in the area of the Cathar region, which I still know very little about, but we did know there some Cathar castles, so two of my friends and I decided to see how many we could visit in one day. As it happen, we visited three and a bit. The bit was Montsegur, the most spectacular of them, a bit because we only saw it, not actually visiting it. EWe ran out of time.

So in my terms, to bag a castle is to visit it. Not long back, we bagged Arundel Castle, quite spectacular and well worth a visit. But today is about Lewes Castle. Nowhere near as big as Arundel, but very interesting. Built by William De Warrene in the 11th century.

As we left Brighton this morning, we decided we would bag it, and a very educational visit it was as well.
We are starting to get very near where William the Conquerer had his initial engagements with the English, and the Norman influence on the area is huge.

Brighton

Had a couple of days exploring Brighton. After quite a big breakfast, we made our way across to the I360, the British Airways tower for a flight up to 130m, about 450 feet.

On the way to the tower, we walked past an op3n air exhibition by the Brighton & Hove Camera Club. I have to say that the quality of the photos was outstanding, and if I had lived in the area I would definitively be exploring joining the club. What got me though was the nature of the exhibition, the mounts were weatherproof cages of rocks, what an absolutely brilliant idea. There was another smaller selection of pictures in a billboard area. A few of these had been damaged by a graffiti vandal.

The “flight” was excellent, if a bit expensive. It’s one of those things though, that you have to do if you go to Brighton. Very smooth and although 450 feet doesn’t sound very high, it really is.

From. The tower, we took a stroll through the shopping centre, I spent the usual 30 minutes in Waterstones, coming out with the usual frustrations (I’ll have to do a post about those). We then made our way down to the pavilion.

The Brighton Pavillion was not what I expected. It’s a lot older than I thought. It was a very interesting walk through. The thing about places like this, is that I can’t imagine people living there. Of course it’s a different time.

We for a walk along Brighton Pier, and spent a bit of time, and of course money in the amusements!

All in, it was a day where we did everything we planned, and the result was a really good day..

Film & Video

Last nights post was about photography, specifically still photography. Tonight, I like to write about moving pictures.
Very briefly, I’m going to return to the 1970s. If you thought still photography was expensive, then 50ft of super 8 giving about three minutes of moving pictures cost I reckon about £5 that is I admit a bit of a guess, but that did include processing (it was the same with 24 or 36 Kodachrome slides).
I had a super 8 camera, it was silent that is no sound. I did flirt briefly with a sound setup but that was even more expensive, and if you wanted to do anything with the sound track, well… to be honest that was beyond me.
Back to the digital age, why am I persisting with this? Again all of my efforts were, shall we say (and this is being kind) not very artistic. I just feel the need to do it.
Will you see me on a YouTube channel? It’s quite probable. Will you want to watch it? That’s debatable. It’s a bit like this blog really. I’m doing because I want to. I acknowledge that’s probably the entirely wrong reason.
Pictures of the seafront at Brighton. The chandelier? It appeared as I was taking pictures through a window. It’s a bit wired and I like it.

Photography

I come from an era that pre-dates digital. I’m not sure if those of you who have only ever known digital are at an advantage over me. My first experience with a camera was my sisters Kodak Brownie 127. I was only ever allowed to play with it when it had no film in it. Of course when I became interested in photography and acquired my first camera I immediately understood why. It was seriously expensive. I liked shooting kodachrome slides, even worse. What added to my sense of woe was the realisation that I was a rubbish photographer.

My first SLR was a Zenith EM. I was definitely a gadget freak then, as I wanted an off camera flash, which meant a bracket, and if there was one available for the zenith I would have tried to obtained a 250 exposure back. Heaven knows how I would have afforded that. Then I discovered monochrome, and found that it was easier and cheaper than colour to process, so I built my first darkroom. I’d joined the local camera club by then, that’s probably where I acquired my enlarger. Ken was a big member of the local camera club, and the local butcher, he seriously encouraged me. I only wish I’d worked on my photographic technique. I remember one photo I produced that I did like, it was a ploughed field, and minimalist in its own way. Sadly, my skills still hadn’t developed.

My first really proper camera was a Canon AE-1, bought because my friend Steve had one, not just to copy him, but because it was a seriously good camera. My skills? No. Having better kit doesn’t make you a better photographer. I can’t remember what happened to the AE-1, I must have lost interest, and possibly sold it. A few years later circumstances enabled me to buy very cheaply a comprehensive Praktica BX-20 and an assortment of lenses, including its monstrous 500mm . I sold that as well.

My next venture in to photography wasn’t until a few years later when I acquired my first digital camera. I think the sensor was 1/2 a megapixel, or something ridiculously small. Anyhow, my phone has a 12 megapixel camera, and I use that almost exclusively now, although I do have a reasonable entry level DSLR.

My photographic skills? Any photo that comes out of me, that anybody else classes as good, is almost entirely, but not completely down to luck.

The Cycle Track

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know that I don’t rant very oftren, and when I do, I’m fairly gentle about it.

I shall continue in that vein this evening.

On my route to work, a large part of my journey goes along the the cycle track. The track is easily wide enough to take a standard gauge railway, because that is exactly what it was. Nicely tarmacked, with a part of it recently refreshed taking away a quite bumpy section its a good ride.

But use? Oooh, that’s something different, where do I start;

The Rules of the road; other cyclists, especially those old enough to drive, and a gross assumption that they do drive; the rule is apply the same principles as on the road. But do they? Well, in fairness most do, but there are some who are of the “I don’t care if protocol says I move across for you, I’m not going to!”, then there are those who don’t know which side they want to ride, so invariably choose the wrong one.

Children; Well, I suppose they are mostly still gaining their road sense, although with the lack of lights being prevalent during darkness, I do wonder when we will see the first generation who refuse to turn on their car lights. Cycling four abreast, and not hearing the bell when you are coming up behind them – I broke a bell last week, where I was dinging it so much.

Adult pedestrians, there are a number of different types; plain pedestrians, pedestrians with children, pedestrians with dogs; all are sources of frustration, and of course, you can’t say anything because the pedestrian is always right. So you are coming up behind a person with a dog, the dog moves in to the middle of the track and stands there. The owner says “Rover, Rover, come on, come Rover” . and of course Rover completely ignores them, and they give you that look that says there wouldn’t have been a problem if you hadn’t been there – of course it’s the cyclists fault. Having said that, please don’t get me started on the arrogant cyclist.

Rant for the year over hopefully, back to the good stuff tomorrow.

The 2019 Rufus Ride

I have found something very frustrating with WordPress. There appears to be a key sequence involving the backslash and delete key, which when pressed together, deletes the content of the current draft post, completely, no recovery! I’d written two paragraphs about the Rufus Ride, and it all disappeared. Most frustrating.

Anyhow, today I was on another RAYNET task; The Rufus Ride. Rufus was the son of William the Conqueror’ it appears that Rufus was killed by an arrow and was either the victim of an accident, or an assassination. The spot of his demise is marked by a stone only a short distance from the M27. The association between the original Rufus and the Rufus Ride is the Forest (I believe) rather than the stone.

The ride is an Endurance GB equestrian event. My post was Checkpoint 4 (CP4), the last check station in the ride, which meant I was there until the end. I was only about 3KM from the finish and wouldn’t be stood down until the last rider finished.

If you know the app What 3 Words, I can tell you to a high degree of accuracy exactly where I was; born.scored.defrost. W3W is brilliant.

It really was a secluded part of the forest! The end of s private road, with only a few residences. I always attract the attention of the locals in places like this, and had an interesting conversation with a lady, who asked me if the Forestry Commission had given me permission to park exactly where I was. Of course, I said that I parked where I felt was most appropriate for the event, but trying to be careful not to cause any offence, and that my permission was from the New Forest Council, as relayed through the event organisers. She seemed satisfied with that.

I was also introduced to “Dragons Teeth” these are the segments of trees inserted into the ground and designed to stop cars being parked on verges – there were some that had recently been inserted and were a point of controversy for the lady. She was absolutely fine with me, and it is things like this that I enjoy about these activities.

It rained for the morning, stopping about 1pm, pretty much in line with the forecasters, it greyed over until about 1630, when blue sky appeared.

The event went well, and as usual I saw some New Forest Ponies, and a log which reminded me of a dogs head, does it to you?

Saturday

Weekends tend to be a bit difficult for doing posts. The Monday-Friday routine is well established, the weekend’s less so in order that we can do what we want, within reason of course.

Today for example, we had a pleasant wander around and in to town and then we drove to a garden centre just outside Havant for lunch, then we came back and spent most of the rest of the day doing the ironing.

During the week. Taking pictures is part of the routine. Unless I’m on a specific Locality related activity, or some other activity I tend not to take pictures. I think this is a routine and a habit that I am going to have too modify.

Tomorrow should be a better day for posts.

In the meantime, here are some random pictures.