Week of 4th November, 2013

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Monday, 4th November

It's a bit late, but I've booked flu vaccinations for Jane's Mum and I. First available slot is on the 19th. Better late than never.

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Tuesday, 5th November

408th Anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot

Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Today we celebrate the thwarting of the plot by Guido (Guy) Fawkes, et al., to blow up Parliament as a precursor to crowning a Catholic monarch, and restoring Catholicism as the State religion.

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Wednesday, 6th November

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Thursday, 7th November

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Friday, 8th November

Jane's friend Dee has been having a few problems, so I turned out to assist. The first was pure finger trouble. I have related before the saga of antivirus on her Vi$ta laptop, and how I installed AVG Free 2012 (or was it 2013? I misremember)

Anyway, in due time the offer to upgrade to the 2014 version came through. But, as with all AVG offerings, it is necessary to be cautious. They are very gung-ho about pushing their for-pay version - understandable, of course, they make no money from the free one. To the extent that, even if you're upgrading a free version, the most obvious "download" button gets you a 30-day trail of the for-pay version. This is what Dee had done, and it had expired.

So OK, let's downgrade to the free version. But it won't. I had to uninstall, and reinstall, taking great care to specify the free option. Still, that's fixed.

Next up, getting her contacts off her Blackberry Curve 9300, onto her new Sony Experia Android phone. Experience suggests that this is simple - add her Google account on the BB. Not without an active SIM, you can't. Her contract is now linked to the Experia, and the SIM in the BB is de-provisioned. But a PAYG SIM on O2 will work, provided I add the Blackberry bolt-on (without that there's no internet) at UKP5 per month. But I'll only need that for a month - just to get the contacts synced over.

However, I couldn't create the GMail account - either I got the password wrong, or the Blackberry bolt-on wasn't fully provisioned. Well, they do say "up to 24 hours" for that. Can't do more now for about 3 weeks - Dee and Mick are away to France for a week or 3. When they return...

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Saturday, 9th November

I got e-mail today from Anthony Stirk, M0UPU, about the Habduino balloon tracker shield for certain Arduino boards. He's finally finished the code, and is ready to offer the shields to the HAB market. Having already expressed interest, I've been offered first refusal - not that I refused, of course. The shield has high-altitude-capable GPS and 70cm ISM-band frequency-agile TX on board, together with a voltage converter to run the Arduino off 2no AA cells. There's an option, which I didn't take up, to install a 2m TX for APRS. Cost is UKP100, shipped within the UK, with a GPS active patch antenna, and a pigtail that can be used to make a quarter-wave groundplane antenna for 70cm. I'd have preferred a stubby helical as the TX antenna, but those are not good for HAB operations - too low a gain. For my use, though, as a known-good radio source for receiver testing, the stubby would be ideal.

Despite the fact that these are ISM-band TXs, and hence limited to a mere 10mW output, in-flight ranges of several hundred km are common, due to the excellent line-of-sight to a balloon at 30km altiude.

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Sunday, 10th November

Kempton Park Radio and Electronics Fair

Remembrance Sunday

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the 11th hour, of the 11th Day, of the 11th Month,
And at the Going Down of the Sun,
And in the Morning,
We will remember them.

adapted from Laurence Binyon - For the Fallen

The Remembrance Ceremonies are also held today, being the nearest Sunday to the Anniversary date. The Queen and the Royal family will attend the ceremony at the Cenotaph, in Whitehall.

At Kempton, I renewed my Group for Earth Observation membership, and searched for 70cm helical stubby antennas - at affordable prices. UKP27 and change is not affordable. Nor is UKP8 for what amounts to fish-and-chip shop fare. Other than that, there was nothing of interest.

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