Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

15 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The old valve radiogram had knurled rubber tuning dials with multiple bands - all amplitude modulated though. By the time of transistors most of them were in the 'normal' AM broadcast and later FM bands.

 

I could tune the television audio using the FM band tuner on my radio cassette player in the 1970s.

 

Was the music for many TAA commercials in the 1970s.

 

Go on I dare you. There's bunches of them. This is a goodie.

 

I'm still cringing.

From that i'm assuming that in 1971 they often used balloons and many people missed their flight as the air hostess just waved at them tauntingly.

Edited June 1, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

From that i'm assuming that in 1971 they often used balloons and many people missed their flight and the air hostess just waved at them tauntingly.

My first flight was on a TAA 727 - mid-1970s.

[New Haven Neil]

@iL Dottore saw this on faceache, just the job for your winter nights - stain it mahogany and pretend its antique, plus you get to build it!

 

[Gwiwer]

13 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Didn't transistor radios have SW/MW/LW settings here up until the 70's or so?  I do recall a way more younger version of me switching my mums Radio In The  Kitchen between bands to see what was out there  when much younger.  There seemed to regular morse  code on one of the bands, and air traffic control from the nearby airfield on another one.

 

Both of which were waaaaaay  more interesting than the 70's schmalzy radio station she always had it tuned on. That  was like the Goodies pirate radio if you swapped out "Walk In The Black Forest" with "LA INternational Airport" "Up Up And Away IN My Beautiful Balloon"" Save All Your  Kisses For Me", "A Walk In The Black Forest"  and all the similar horrendous dross of the time.    (shivers...)

SW/MW/LW were what we had before we had VHF, FM and then digital radio stations.  

 

Short wave was largely for the amateur hams but you could get a few local stations on the dial.  Many stations were on Medium Wave both in the UK and broadcasting in from Europe and even farther afield.  The old BBC Light Programme had MW frequencies.  In 1967 it was split into Radio 1 and Radio 2.  The former began on 247mMW but soon migrated to the slightly less crowded and better-received 275m or 285m according to your local area.  Radio 2 was one of the Long Wave stations on 1500m.

 

Medium Wave seemed to suffer from increasing atmospheric interference as evenings became nights.  You could hear most of everything until around 6pm after which the number of stations all closely-spaced in frequency crowding the airwaves, plus atmospheric conditions, caused "fade' and "ghosting" making it ever-harder to keep to your chosen station.  BBC Radio 1 was afflicted but famously Radio Luxembourg on 208mMW was among the worst.  Relying on the British night-time audience for much of its output it was seldom continuously enjoyable and from late evening the fade became so bad that you heard just snatches of the broadcast between minutes of ghosted sounds or simply nothing.  

 

There were blocking signals which you could hear (if you really wanted to) sounding a little like morse code or a repeated bugle call.  These were to jam unauthorised broadcasters pirating onto the air.  You could, at one time, hear the police radio traffic on SW but only in one direction; never from base to mobile units.  I have also picked up the local fire brigade on SW.  There were all sorts of other occasional oddities if you cared to tune and listen.  The background noise would change if you hit a "live" frequency even without continual traffic meaning you could sit and wait to hear if anyone was on air.  Or move on and find something more entertaining.  

 

Even FM isn't immune to conditions; when Pirate FM began in Cornwall in 1992 they broadcast on 102.8 in the west and 102.2 in the east with a small area of overlap mid-county.  Auto-tuners were still uncommon at the time so driving through the county meant you had to slightly adjust the dial to continue listening.  Or have the same station on two pre-sets.  

 

Analogue radio is still a thing.  But most stations broadcast on digital channels now.  Exclusively or as well as.  And those 1970s schmalzy tunes still get played.  Give me the Shipping Forecast over those any day.  There is something infinitely more comforting about a calm voice reading out "Wight, Portland, Plymouth ..... " than any Brotherhood of Man saving all their kisses for me! 

[AndyID]

30 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Didn't transistor radios have SW/MW/LW settings here up until the 70's or so?  I do recall a way more younger version of me switching my mums Radio In The  Kitchen between bands to see what was out there.  There seemed to regular morse  code on one of the bands, and air traffic control from the nearby airfield on another one.

 

Both of which were waaaaaay  more interesting than the 70's schmalzy radio station she always had it tuned on. That  was like the Goodies pirate radio if you swapped out "Walk In The Black Forest" with "LA INternational Airport" "Up Up And Away IN My Beautiful Balloon"" Save All Your  Kisses For Me", as well as "A Walk In The Black Forest"  and all the similar horrendous dross of the time.    (shivers...)

 

So you didn't get Radio Luxembourg then?

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Just now, AndyID said:

So you didn't get Radio Luxembourg then?

They'd need a really, really big transmitter and a lot of ionosphere bounce to get to the antipodes. Better luck tuning them in on the moon than Sydneyside.

[AndyID]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

They'd need a really, really big transmitter and a lot of ionosphere bounce to get to the antipodes. Better luck tuning them in on the moon than Sydneyside.

 

Well I could get it in Scotland 😀

[Erichill16]

Duplicate post!

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Erichill16

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, Erichill16 said:

there will be a test tomorrow

I imagine it's more difficult learning it sideways! 😉

 

I am intrigued by the (unlabeled) green spot.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[southern42]

11 hours ago, Barry O said:

She does have a Rackett.

 

 

@southern42  her indoors suggests looking in the Early Music Shop at flutes which may help. Otherwise you need to find a "keyed" instrument for your enjoyment of playing.

 

Baz

 

Thanks Baz, though I probably have too many flutes one of which is the Sweetheart maple Renaissance D flute* which I use to play William Byrd's Cradle Song (one of my Lullabys).

* See top of the list at https://aswltd.com/sweet.htm. 

 

Out of interest, I note the Early Music Shop has a Sweetheart D Rosewood flute for £655. Since someone else sells the small Sweetheart D flute at £220, I am guessing this one will be of the longer variety such as the walking stick flute, currently made in maple, at 650$.

Bottom pf page at: https://earlymusicshop.com/collections/instruments/products/sweetheart-folk-flute-rosewood-d

 

Some flutes...

From the top: Sweetheart Renaissance D flute, Rosewood Folk D Fife, Dixon polymer D Piccolo, Feadóg Brass D Whistle. Add to that the Yamaha C fife and my two bamboo flutes....plus two keyed silver C flutes, one bought to replace (upgrade) the other. "One day," "soon," I will take up playing it again. 

🤔

Er....some time later....

I have got out my Renaissance flute folder...and despite poor memory I have spent an enjoyable session fumbling my way through these (in no particular order):

Byrd: Cradle Song

Anon: Summer is icumen in

Turlough O'Carolan: Si Bheag Si Mhor

Michael Praetorius: La Volta

Vivaldi: Largo, Winter, The Four Seasons

Celtic Air: Down by the Sally Gardens

Irish Traditional: Brian Boru's March

Reel: The Cup O' Tea - well, with a name like mine, what do you expect!

 

Polly

 

[Erichill16]

Some homework for @iL Dottore. Memorise the map and there will be a test tomorrow. If its not obvious, it the Tokyo metro and i could have posted the English version but as your Japanese is improving this task shouldnt be beyond you.

 

[Erichill16]

21 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I imagine it's more difficult learning it sideways! 😉

 

I am intrigued by the (unlabeled) green spot.

 

Sorry, that's where i sneezed!

 

 

No its the Imperial Palace.

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon/evening from Estuary-Land. Spent the afternoon in a committee meeting and have just caught up on ER's. Called in to Tess Coes for bread, milk and eggs, now I feel knackered.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

I dutifully inserted 3 tubes into the box and took the others home ready for my next visit.    I'm guessing there's quite a large percentage of the public that may well have lost any surplus along the roadside on their return - oh how I abhor the scabby scumbags that Fly-Tip but you can easily see how some lower forms could be tempted.

 

Or they'll take them home, bung the ends in a big plastic bag then whack 'em with a hammer bit by bit until they're reduced to a pile of broken glass, after which they go in the Wheelie Bin.

 

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Often possible by electronic means these days - so they say. (No first-hand knowledge here.)

 

I'm under the impression (again no first-hand information) that there's been a lot of effort in the last few years on adding greater firewall-like security improvements to internet connections to critical infrastructure.

 

Or simply have standalone computers with no connection whatsoever to the outside world that control critical applications.

 

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

One sidecar racer banned to to failing a drugs test.  Discussion ensued as to whether he was mad to use drugs when riding on such a dangerous device, or they are needed to ride such a....etc etc.

 

A Sidecar Passenger, apparently; Bear suspects the Driver is somewhat p1ssed off with him.

 

Bear here....

Today started with a flying visit to the Co-op for Flowers**; I did note that the special offer involving Bear's favourite Pizza no longer exists.  Turdycurses.

 

(**Momma Bear - 13 years today 😭)

 

Then it was back to the Great Refurb - skirting and dado rail for the landing cut, sanded and primed (1st coat).  That's a Tick.  I also added some splurge to one of the door frames - another Tick.

 

I never got around to phoning the Dealer about getting Mickey repaired - which wasn't an issue cos' they sent me an email instead; they confirmed that the Insurance Company have authorised the repair, but the rear bumper is out of stock with MG UK so they are awaiting delivery before repairs can commence.  Not a great problem in the grand scale of things cos' Mickey is perfectly roadworthy anyway.

 

In other news.....

It was bin day today - whilst walking to the Co-op (before the recycling boxes were collected/emptied) there was one thing that struck Bear - how C02 emissions could be reduced whilst at the same time noticeably reducing plastics use.

The secret?  Ban Bottled Water.  The number of empty bottles I saw in recycling boxes was just mad; now maybe there are areas in the UK where the water tastes absolutely foul, but Bearyshire sure as hell isn't one of them (not to this Bear, at any rate).  I dread to think how much some families must be spending on the stuff.

 

And finally.....

Bear's bag of little triangular choccies finally bit the dust yesterday.  Poo.

 

Bear gone.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by polybear

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, polybear said:

but the rear bumper is out of stock with MG UK

is Mickey one of the Chinese MGs?

[PupCam]

25 minutes ago, polybear said:

And finally.....

Bear's bag of little triangular choccies finally bit the dust yesterday.  Poo.

 

Puppers has just two little rectangular choccies remaining 😭

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not much to report lately but the Vat return has been sent and April’s bookwork has been balanced. Even made a start on Mays.

Had Sydney round for a sleepover but he went home just after tea. 

Still feeling a bit drained with the lack of sleep issues.

Dont know what’s on for tomorrow but I do have a face to face consultation with my GP.

Eyelids getting heavy so 

Goodnight 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Didn't transistor radios have SW/MW/LW settings here up until the 70's or so?  I do recall a way more younger version of me switching my mums Radio In The  Kitchen between bands to see what was out there.  There seemed to regular morse  code on one of the bands, and air traffic control from the nearby airfield on another one.

 

Both of which were waaaaaay  more interesting than the 70's schmalzy radio station she always had it tuned on. That  was like the Goodies pirate radio if you swapped out "Walk In The Black Forest" with "LA INternational Airport" "Up Up And Away IN My Beautiful Balloon"" Save All Your  Kisses For Me", as well as "A Walk In The Black Forest"  and all the similar horrendous dross of the time.    (shivers...)

 

In UK terms, LW was important for the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 (1500 metres), plus of course The Archers and the Today programme.  It was alleged that the British nuclear submarine deterrent was based on being able to receive R4 longwave.  In the absence of direct instruction, if R4 was missing from the airwaves after a certain period of time, the Captain was entitled to open his safe and deal out worldwide  Merry Hell...

 

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, Hroth said:

R4 was missing from the airwaves after a certain period of time, the Captain was entitled to open his safe and deal out worldwide  Merry Hell...

Good job that the valves at Droitwich are so long lasting then…

[PeterBB]

@Combe Martin adds to the point that MS move things around,

 

@Gwiwer well remember the problems listening to 208 Luxemberg. - required sitting right next to the radio.  Come to that some other reception was ot so good - what came to mind was the very last episode of  -Dick Barton Special Agent - the next week was something called 'The Archers' so must be a year or two ago,

 

[Compound2632]

In the 70s and 80s, Test Match Special was on Radio 3 MW, with the regular programmes continuing on Radio 3 FM. By the early 90s, it had moved to Radio 4 LW; living in Paris at the time, we could listen to the cricket as well as Today. 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[BR60103]

21 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

What is a "CD player"? 😀

 

You should be able to copy all your tunes on to a micro-SD card in your phone then play them via Bluetooth on the car radio. Might also work from a thumb-drive plugged into the car's USB socket.

Our CD collection is 48" wide and 7 shelves high.  And I have no idea how I would copy it onto a card in a phone.

My dentist has extracted all my blue teeth.

 

[jjb1970]

Talk of radios takes me back to my old Sony SW7600 AM/FM/short wave radio, at one time that model was almost a de-facto global standard purchase for seafarers and people working in remote places. I wish I kept it rather than disposing of it when I no longer needed it, good examples still seem to sell quite well. Short wave reception and sound quality was poor (to be polite) even with a decent antenna but it made the difference between being able to listen to news and radio at sea or being isolated. At that time the BBC World Service was really good and respected around the world, they offered a service tailored to the audience, now I'm not sure I know anyone who listens to it.