G7TSX

HTC Desire

Andy — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:06:32 +0000

So, I have finally entered the world of the smartphone. Picked up my HTC Desire last week and am starting to get to grips with it. I dare say it will get a whole section to itself on the site.
Plenty of features, thousands of apps to download (many of which are free) and of course the Android operating system. I’ve even created this post on the Desire using the Wordpress app! More to come.

Noctilucent Clouds Sighted over Europe

Andy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:11:06 +0000

Every summer since the late 19th century, Earth’s polar skies have lit up with gossamer, electric-blue clouds, twisting and rippling in the twilight sky. They’re called noctilucent (“night-shining”) because they can be seen after dark. The origin of the clouds, which hover at the very top of Earth’s atmosphere in close proximity to space itself, is uncertain. They have been linked to causes as varied as meteoroids, climate change, and the icy exhaust of the space shuttle.

The 2010 noctilucent cloud season has just begun in the northern hemisphere, with sightings over Russia, Scotland and Denmark. Although noctilucent clouds were once a phenomenon of high latitudes only, in recent years they have been sighted in the United States as far south as Colorado and Utah.

Alan HM70 For 4m Band

Andy — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:28:46 +0000

Just arrived, an EBay purchase of an Alan HM70 low band VHF PMR radio. I already have a converted Nova set (elsewhere on this site) and a commercial AKD / Garex 4001 but what attracted me was the remote head function on this radio and the good price. With modern cars it’s not always easy to fins somewhere to put a radio, and the ‘chip shop’ arrangement of having the AKD strapped to the centre console with a bungee cord didn’t really complement the neat Icom 2820 installation.

Above is the display detail which has been programmed to indicate the operating frequency, along with the current of 2 RF power settings and a bar graph signal strength meter.

The rugged radio case (it’s MIL rated) and the front panel showing the integrated speaker (4W). The front panel can be remote mounted using a separation cable with stock 9-way d-type connectors on each end.

Picture For Stu

Andy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:49:55 +0000

Satellite image of the majority of the UK covered in snow. Full resolution image.
Picture For Stu

Jupiter’s Travels And Dreaming Of….

Andy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:46:12 +0000

Ted Simon, what a guy. Having read Jupiter’s Travels, one of the inspirations for Long Way Round, a while ago I was eager to grab Dreaming Of Jupiter albeit a few years after it had first come out. Indeed I had never even heard of the original book until Charley and Ewan mentioned it while featuring Ted in Ulan Bator. Round the world on a Triumph in the 70’s for the original book, the follow up is a second take on the world on a BMW at the turn of the millennium and all without a flashy entourage…

I had picked the original Jupiter’s Travels book up after a recommendation from a Norton riding friend and didn’t put it down until I had finished it. I was struggling with Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance at the time, that could be another post…!

In the modern world of the BMW GS1200 with all the trimmings, camera crews and satellite ‘phones it all seems so easy to conquer the world. Almost every corner of the globe has been trodden now and true wilderness and adventure is hard to find. Ted had none of this in October 1973 when he left to conquer 63,000 miles and 45 countries over 44 months. In January 2001, with German engineering instead of British, he did it again. The subject of the second book, Dreaming Of Jupiter. This time 59,000 miles through 47 countries over 29 months.

If you like motorbikes or travel, or even both you can’t fail to be disappointed.

I won’t harp on. Buy the books. Visit the Website. Dream the dream. Ted also announces his upcoming location at various venues throughout the world on his website so keep a close eye out and there are opportunities to order signed books and his DVD of Dreaming Of Jupiter also.

‘The future is not what it used to be’

Noctilucent Clouds

Andy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:55:23 +0000

One of the most magical and mysterious types of cloud is starting to appear across the UK, and may be seen over the coming weeks. Noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds hover on the edge of space, about 80km above the surface of the Earth in the mesosphere. They are the highest of clouds and can be observed in northern latitudes on summer nights.

In such latitudes, beyond 45 degrees North, for about 1 month before and after the summer solstice, the clouds are illuminated by the Sun owing to their height in the atmosphere while the observer on the surface of the Earth is in darkness. Around midnight and looking west, noctilucent clouds have a characteristic bluish silver-white colour.

It is puzzling that in theory these clouds should not exist, the mesosphere is extremely dry and with so little moisture it would seem implausible that these clouds could even form. Often muted is the increase in methane pollution in the upper atmosphere leading to the increased frequency of this phenonmenon. Some would have you believe they are a thermometer for climate change.

East Of England Storms, 15th June 2009

Andy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:44:47 +0000

Decoded NOAA 17 image from a pass at 2113h UTC showing the weather over the East of England this evening which caused widespread flooding and disruption.

Link To The BBC Story

Image is a NO colour IR enhancement (GOES/NOAA) decoded by WXtoImg.

Weather Graphs Updated

Andy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:20:07 +0000

I’ve taken the opportunity to update some of the Weather Station graphs posted on here. Added in have been graphs for Wind Speed / Gust Speed and Wind Direction in both 24 hour and 7 day flavours. Removed is the Relative Humidity graph. The new Temperature graphs now include a Wind Chill indication and overall a few changes in plot colours and styles. As ever, the update period is every 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Anemometer Back Online

Andy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:02:37 +0000

After much prolonged winter maintainence, the mast head anemometer has been reassembled and located back onto the chinmey. Currently sending data to the WeatherUnderground (IWIRRALW2) While I was up there the X50 looked a little tired, it is nearly 15 years old, another project…

Weather Station Update

Andy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:38:52 +0000

Anemometer is still offline for maintainance. Although water ingress hasn’t been a problem it’s well worth bringing the unit down from the masthead for a few weeks each year to lubricate the bearings and renew the silicon seals. I am hoping to get the lightning detector onto the same position on the mast and so I’m looking out for a 1 metre length of 25mm square section aluminium to support both. This is proving rather tricky at present and so as such we still have no anemometer.

As an aside, I note that the AAG v3 weather station has been discontinued at present. I believe this is due to Dallas Semiconductors ceasing production of the counter IC contained within the unit. Rumour has it that a new version is to be released which is not reliant on this component. All regular stockists seem to have no units left at this present time. Hopefully this will change in the future as it the AAG v3 provides a cheap and easy entry into home weather monitoring with multiple options for home upgrade and experimentation.