Week of 13th April 2009

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Monday, 13th April

Easter Monday

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Tuesday, 14th April

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Wednesday, 15th April

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Thursday, 16th April

Deliveries to the auction house made these two days - the second one was packed by Jane, and almost completely undocumented. I may have time for a third run tomorrow morning, but I doubt it.

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Friday, 17th April

My tame clock repairer was supposed to turn out this morning to check out one of Mum's clocks. This is one that he's already looked at, but which won't go in the place where Mum wants it. I can't see why, but doubtless Oscar will find something.

If, that is, he turns up - which he didn't. As I found out, he's not well. Not that I knew. So that's the morning wasted.

In the afternoon, I visited the financial advisor recommended by the bank. Big, high-powered City firm. I learned considerable about what can be done, and briefed them on my circumstances. In a few weeks, they will come back with a set of recommendations as to what I should do. It will then be up to me to accept, or reject. More when I know more.

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Saturday, 18th April

The Chinese connector supplier came up trumps this morning - two parcels, by post from Hong Kong, with exactly the bits I wanted. And given the distance, delivery was quick - even though some of my requests were for custom-built bits. Now I need to sit down and build the thing. But I need to get the car wired up first. I can't do that because Hopalong didn't start a couple of days ago, and Jane has taken Nicole to do the Saturday chauffeur run for Aunt Dora.

Of course, when I checked Hoppy, before calling the AA, he started first pull. Not instantly, but within seconds. So no need for a call-out. Jane must have flooded him last time she tried to use him. Now I need to book him in for MOT.

Then Katy hit on me to get her data moved from the Philips to the Packard Bell. They're both Vista machines, and the copying - nearly 15GB of data - is slow.  Sharing is not enabled, so I'm copying twice, from the Philips to adelie, and then from adelie to the Packard Bell - which latter copy is running as I type.

I will say this for M$ Vista, though - it totally disregards workgroup settings. Which is lucky, because I don't know where that knob is in Vista  M$ have moved it, and a lot of other things. And Vi$ta doesn't expose significant troubleshooting information to the user, either. All hail the drool-proof interface! Not!!!

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Sunday, 19th April

Kempton Park Rally

I'll have APRS running for this trip, but probably no voice radio. I could use the FT-817, which is on charge as I type, but I'll need to rescue the big mag-mount from store to do that, and it's a bit late at night to do a store run. Tomorrow I won't have time.

It doesn't really matter, of course. I know the way to Kempton quite well, and I'll have GPS running for the APRS. So that's all well. More on the day.

On the day: Well, I made time for collecting the big mag-mount, so I had voice and APRS running on the drive down to Kempton, and on the return. And using portable rigs for this is a major kluge, and time-wasting to boot. Probably 10 minutes at each end to rig and de-rig. I really have to get the FT-8900 wired in to Nicole. Apropos which, I got sight of, and priced, the pukka separation kit for the rig, so that I can mount the control panel within reach, and have the body of the rig hidden in an obscure corner.

It turns out that the kit comprises a mounting bracket for the front panel (into which the fist mic. plugs, btw) a 6-way cable, 5 metres long, terminated in 6p6c RJ-11-style connectors, and an extension cable for the speaker - that'll be 3.5mm jack plug-to-socket, probably also 5 metres long. And they want UKP42 and change for that. There are eBay vendors who will do a clone version for a lot less - I know, I've seen them. So I think I'll hit eBay for this.

<pause>

Done. $13.00 including shipping. At an exchange rate of $1.4408, that's UKP9.02 - much more the thing. This one is 6 metres, which is overkill for my use, but I can coil the cables up and hide them.

I also visited the Sandpiper Aerials stand, and bought one of their collapsible fibreglass poles - the 5 metre version, for UKP5. Then to the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) stand, for an engraved callsign lapel badge - I've been a member now for in excess of 30 years, so I get the appropriately colour-coded version. And finally, subscription renewal to Montoring Monthly, and a new subscription to Radio User, both of which come at a serious discount to the news-stand price

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