Week 30 2010

This week’s bit of fun:





Homebase is having a sale on Irish Garden Recliners









I have been using mine wrongly all these years!

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A man walked out to the street and caught a taxi just going by. He got into the taxi, and the cabbie said, "Perfect timing. You're just like "Brian!

Passenger: "Who?"

Cabbie: "Brian Sullivan. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happen like that to Brian Sullivan, every single time."

Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."

Cabbie: "Not Brian Sullivan. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy."

Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special."

Cabbie: "There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Brian Sullivan, he could do everything right."

Passenger: "Wow. Some guy then."

Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Brian, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Brian Sullivan."

Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?"

Cabbie: "Well, I never actually met Brian. He died. I'm married to his fu***n' widow."

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19th Monday

It’s back to work after a two week break. I had a Morse class Monday night but my head was still in holiday mode.

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20th Tuesday

We had to put the car into the garage for repair, which will not be ready until Wednesday.

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21st Wednesday

Collected my car from the garage and used most of my new Dstar radio fund. Dstar will have to do without me for a few more months :-(

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22nd Thursday

I spent the evening helping my son Lee to setup his new iPhone. In this day and age lee is one of the few people who I know who does not own a computer. I had to set him up with an email address to be able to complete the phone registration. He is not anti technology; he has not joined the rat race and in some ways I envy him.

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23rd Friday

I visited Mum for a couple of hours on Friday evening.

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24th Saturday

The week has gone so fast this week and we seem to have been very busy but not achieving much. I ordered a new USB sound card for recording podcasts and other audio files. Using the standard microphone or line in seems to pick up too much computer noise.

Carole and I went out Geocaching in the evening and found three ne caches. We failed to find another two which may have been disturbed.

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25th Sunday

I should have gone to The Oval with Colin and Conor , unfortunately I had jobs to do. I hadn’t cut the grass in four weeks due to our holiday and I had to jet wash the patio. The jet wash would not work and after a quick look I had to go out and buy a new one. More of my Dstar fund used:-(

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Week 29 2010

This week’s bit of fun:




This is an American news broadcast. (click picture to check the map)










…… and they wonder why they can’t find Bin-Laden …

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You can't make up stuff that's better than this!












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12th July Monday

Carole and I went for a sightseeing drive around Paphos in the morning. If you venture off the main roads there are lots of road works and diversions. It makes it interesting trying to get across country.

Early evening I called a number of times and ended up working Noz on 17metres. Noz has his QTH about half a mile away from our complex. I had a long chat before Noz moved to work other stations. Although I was a little lower than Noz I could not hear the stations he was working.

Carole and I went outside to see the International Space Station going over. This was a bright light moving fast across the sky. We pointed it out to another lady who was in the car park at the same time as us. She seemed interested and went off to tell her friends.

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13th July Tuesday

I think I should have stayed in bed on Tuesday. Everything seemed to go wrong. It started with me having a fall on a wet floor. Then my netbook solid state drive corrupted and would not boot. I was intending to do an interview with Norman 5B4AIE. Norman invited me over to help recover my system. In the end I downloaded a new image and made a bootable USB stick.

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14th July Wednesday

We had a lazy day around the complex. Norman 5B4AIE, Helen his wife and Jack his son joined us for an evening meal. This was very enjoyable, the time seemed to fly by and it was midnight before we knew it.

Colin recorded the next episode of the ICQPODCAST with Alun (G4WGE). Am I redundant? Only time will tell :-)

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15th July Thursday

Carole and I visited Norman 5B4AIE at his home QTH and I recorded a future feature for the ICQPODCAST. We then came back to the complex for a dip in the pool.

In the evening I met up again with Norman and the members of the Paphos Radio Club. A really nice bunch of guys and I was made most welcome. They have a meal in the hotel meeting room before the meeting starts. The interesting thing is that the wife's have their own meeting (non-Radio :-) ) and a meal while the main radio meeting takes place.

I offered to give a quick talk about the ICQPODCAST which I believe went down well. The guys who live on Cyprus are up to date with technology and therefore understood the concepts.

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16th July Friday

Last full day on holiday before going home. Colin sent me a copy of this week’s Podcast to review which sound good. Carole and I went into Paphos for a bit of last minute shopping before returning for an afternoon around the pool.

In the evening we packed most items into our cases before having a relaxing night on the balcony.

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17th July Saturday

We did the final packing of our cases, checked out and headed to the airport. This new terminal building at Paphos Airport is a great improvement. We got through customs only to find our plane had been delayed. This is normal for the flight back; we have never departed on time from Cyprus.

We arrived back at Gatwick and was collected by Wendy my daughter,

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18th July Sunday

I got up at 7:00 local to find Coner and Holly playing computer games in the front room. Their Mum and Dad (Sandra and Colin) had gone to bed for a few hours.

We all went out for breakfast at the local café which is a good end to my holiday and a good start for Colin and family.


Colin released our latest ICQPODCAST this morning.













ICQ Podcast Series Three Episode Fifteen - SmartPhones for Amateurs

News Stories include:


* Russian spies and numbers stations

* New RAC Director - Quebec

* Leicester University CubeSat PLUME

* SANDS Contest Group DXpedition

* ISS packet repeater active

* Special Events Stations Hunter Award

* Ofcom Annual Report 2009/10

* Morse and iRTTY for iPhone

* ISS Contacts - an on-orbit decision

* Internet Amateur Radio Concern

* Minister 900 MHz band decision

* Poland's first 10 metre beacon

* DAB 'Flop' and Internet Radio


Your feedback, upcoming events and Colin (M6BOY) discusses SmartPhones for Amateurs


The ICQPOCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com

Week 28 2010

This weeks funnies found on the internet:

#



In Computer Heaven:

The management is from Intel,
The design and construction is done by Apple,
The marketing is done by Microsoft,
IBM provides the support,
Gateway determines the pricing.


In Computer Hell:

The management is from Apple,
Microsoft does design and construction,
IBM handles the marketing,
The support is from Gateway,
Intel sets the price.

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A pilot, Michael Jordon, Bill Gates, the Pope, and a pizza delivery man were all in a plane together traveling through stormy conditions.

Suddenly, the pilot ran back to the passengers and announced that lightning had hit the plane, and they were going to crash in a matter of minutes. "There are only enough parachutes for four of the five of us," he announced. "Since I'm the pilot, I get one!" After saying this, the pilot grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

"I'm the world's greatest athlete," proclaimed Michael Jordon. "This world needs great athletes, so I must live." Michael Jordon then grabbed a parachute and leaped out of the plane.

"I'm the smartest man in the world," bragged Bill Gates. "The world needs smart men, so I must also live!" Bill Gates grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

At this point, the Pope began to speak to the Pizza delivery boy. "I have lived a long life compared to you, and you may take the last parachute. I will go down with the plane."

"You don't have to do that, replied the pizza delivery guy. Bill Gates just jumped out with my backpack!"

OK I guess I wont get a job with Microsoft :-)

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5th July Monday

We had our 10:00am meeting with the rep to inform us of the updates taking place on site over the next few years. I checked with the complex manager about long term internet access and have now purchased one weeks access for 20 Euros.

I am going to try and post week 27 blog shortly but need to connect to my home system because Blogspot menus are in Greek out here.

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6th July Tuesday

Another day at the complex, Carole has gone of to lay by the pool and roast. Me I'm not a sun worshipper, so I will spend the morning catching up on emails. I am also going to do a Morse session before trying some QRP on HF:-)

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7th July Wednesday

I don't seem to have much luck on HF out here. This is due mainly to not being able to string up antennas due to there not being many above 6 feet tall around here. My HF operations is limited to my Yaesu FT817 and an ATAS 15 antenna.

In the evening Carole and I went over the mountains to Polis. We had a good meal in our favourite restaurant. All in all a good night out.

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8th July Thursday

I emailed Norman 5B4AIE and will meet up with him on Saturday. Carol and I went for a long drive to try and find the contest operating shack but must have missed it. The roads inland from the coast need a lot of attention.

We made our way back to the old part of Paphos were we had lunch overlooking the town and sea.

After making our way back to the complex I did play radio for a while and found a point to place my VHF antenna so I could just make the Paphos repeater. I worked the following amateurs between 18:00 and 18:15 local.

Arthur 5B4AGT

and

John 5B4AHK

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9th July Friday

We spent the afternoon Geocahing and went for a curry in the evening.

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10th July Saturday

I visited Norman 5B4AIE at the Paphos Radio Clubs shack in Statos Agios Fotios. This was a very good three hours before Norman started a contest.

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11th July Sunday

Paphos Radio club net between 06;15 and 07:00 UTC

5B4AHK John
G4RIQ/M Les via Echolink
5B4AGQ Don
5B4AHW Brian
5B4AGT Arthur
5B4AHL Dave
5B4AIB Mike
G4LGF/MM Ian
5B4AIX Noz

Many thanks to Don 5B4AGQ for running the net.

We spent the rest of the day Geocaching. We visited 6 Geocaches but only found two. The others must have been disturbed

Week 27 2010

We are halfway through the year already. Time seems to go too fast these days. The summer is with us and it hot here in the UK. Why do we go abroad were it even hotter when it would be better to go later to a hot climate in our winter?

Let’s start with a bit of fun: (Found on the internet)





There was this car that was driving very slowly down the highway. A State Trooper pulls it over. "What have I done wrong, officer?" the driver asks.

"You are going 26mph on a major highway. There is a law against that," the officer says to the driver. "You must go at least 50mph."

"But when I turned on the highway, the sign said 26!" the driver replies.
"HA HA HA!" The officer laughs out loud. "That is because this is Interstate 26! The 26 isn't the speed limit!"

The driver leans back in her car seat and the cop sees another woman sitting beside her. She looked as pale as a ghost.

"What happened to her?" the officer asks.
"I don't know, but she has been that way ever since we got off of interstate 160."


After a car crash one of the drivers is lying injured at the side of the road. 'Don't worry,' said a policeman, a Red Cross nurse is coming to attend to you.'

Oh no,' groaned the victim, 'couldn't I have a blonde, cheerful one?'
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28th June Monday

Morse training again and still enjoyable, however I am going to miss the next two sessions due to holiday.

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30th June Wednesday

Colin and I recorded the next episode of the ICQPODCAST. It was very hot in the evening and I had to have doors and windows shut because my neighbour is installing his new decking. This you would have heard if I had not of done so.

I wrote and recorded the next feature for the ICQPODCAST after the main recording and placed it on our FTP server for Colin.

All in all a very busy night.

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1st July Thursday

I spent the evening packing cases and getting ready for Saturday morning. Taking radio gear on holiday with a weight limit of 20Kg is becoming a problem. I have cut down on what I am taking this year but think the airline has reduced it’s weight limit over the last couple of years.

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2nd July Friday

Friday night is visit mum night. I have done a number of small jobs for her and made sure she is all right.

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3rd July Saturday

Up at 03:00 local time because we are leaving for the airport at 04:00. Our flight departs at 7:00 local and we have about a four hour flight to Paphos in Cyprus.

At Gatwick I put my hand luggage through the xray machine but forgot to remove my netbook. A nice security lady asked if I had a computer and any other large electronic equipment in my bag. The reply was yes and after removing the netbook and my FT817 they were rescanned.

We are here and managed to get both our bags with no trouble. We then made our way to Hertz car rental with whom we had booked weeks a go in the UK. We were told the only car they had was much smaller and it was the best they could do, but that they would swap it out Sunday morning.

After unpacking and getting supplies we had a relaxing afternoon before going to one of our favourite restaurants.

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4th July Sunday

Up early to join the Cyprus net and get the car swapped out. Car has new been swapped for a better one. We will take it out shortly for a test drive.

I joined the Paphos net at 6:15 UTC or 9:15 local and worked:

Don 5B4AGQ who was net controller
Mike 5B4AGX/A via GB3IN in Nottingham UK
Brian 5B4AHW
John 5B4AHK
and Norman 5B4AIF

I am planning another relaxing day and maybe some more radio later.

I have been unable to publish this post on Sunday the 4th of July due to the Internet café in Coral Bay going out of business


CQ Podcast, the premier Amateur Radio / Ham Radio Podcast. News, Views, Features, upcoming events and Amateur / Ham radio training. A podcast for you and including you.


We published new podcast today an I am not around to see how well it performs:-(











ICQ Podcast Series Three Episode Fourteen - Going Mobile

News Stories include:


* Radio Hams travel to space station

* May RAE - callsigns not yet available

* Ham radio satellite SO-67 back on air!

* UK Amateur Radio Licences - 31st May 2010

* New UK Amateur Foundation licence syllabus

* Oman on 50 MHz

* Ham Radio - 2010 National Scout Jamboree

* Thai hams on 50 MHz for contest

* Stealth antenna for 500 kHz

* Ham radio called-out for campsite flood

* Slow Scan TV from the edge of space

* Kid's Ham Radio tower must come down

* 30-months for hoax mayday calls

* BBC to Investigate Radio/TV Interference

* D-STAR illegal in France

* Power line tech could crash aircraft


Your feedback, upcoming events and Martin (M1MRB) discusses Mobile Installations.

The ICQPOCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com