iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

As Mike noted earlier, bit of Thermite might be a slightly more discrete alternative if one wants to avoid annoying the neighbours, leave it to bonfire night and no one would bat an eye.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Unfortunately, that would have lead to a biscuit free meeting or two with some very unamused senior officers and questions about their future in the RN for those responsible. Definitely would be ending their career with a bang though! 😇

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

In all fairness to the RN guys who dealt with it I would imagine that underwhelming is rather a good result all round when dealing with unexploded ordnance

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pretty amazing value really and allways pack full of interesting stuff definately worth the membership fee!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I saw the video of that...just a teeny bit messy! Kind of thing thats fun seen from a distance and happening to someone deserving😇

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It could be worse! I do remember one instance in the Royal Navy where a round misfired in service with one of these guns and a sailor actually volunteered to slide down the barrel to defuse the shell.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

If true it seems that a lot of French amateurs are rather eager to activate some new parks, although a 100% increase is a little keen! Joking apart as long as everything was done by the book then we just have a lot more parks to activate and chase, and probably a slightly frazzled French rep!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Seems the band police are getting a bit serious😇

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Somewhat a reflection of the times we live in that I would have had the same thought for a moment as well

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In my experience an all too common sentiment from anyone "fortunate" to have to deal with the consequences of a decision by senior management Brian.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I believe they call it progress?

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Cheaper than some I have seen but managed to snag one of the sidewinder whips before they stopped trading. All of this type need a bit of fiddling to set up but it's easy with practice and there is always the Kanga ATU to fine tune things. A list of settings helps as well.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I was thinking more of an arena or range type environment Phil so a lot safer than trying it the open air. I would hate to think of the risk assessment otherwise.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Not surprised someone went with the idea. Little surprised no one has thought to introduce a late or night competition. Maybe it's not traditional enough? Might be fun though.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I wonder if there is a potential market for glow in the dark arrows Phil, not going to be as much fun as tracer rounds but might be fun!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Never bothered with anything past Sinclair Basic but for me, the ZX81 was more a means to an end as apart from the fun of building the kit I wanted tool to do satellite stuff and later RTTY. Still spent many hours typing and debugging stuff from books like the RSGB one, although the name escapes me.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Hate to see the controls on board a Japanese ship or especially a submarine, those controls are difficult enough normally!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Forgotten it myself, but sadly, some of us have to work. Enjoy the Bank Holiday though it looks like it's going to be a bit damp, at least down here in the south east.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I think he is rather lucky the ground was soft enough that the warhead failed to detonate, would have been a bit messy. Think of all the forms the range officer would had to fill out!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Sincerest condolences Guy,hope you and your family get all the help and support you need

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Be glad when we have some decent rain again, garden is looking a bit crispy in places.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I'm only a relatively few miles south of you in Croydon Robin but sadly only a few light showers here, feeling rather jealous!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Not to mention Micronta Phil, still have and use regularly one of their analogue meters.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

They did go downhill towards the end but in their time along with Maplin were useful because they were accessible to the general public. I wonder how many people got in to amateur radio or electronics because they were right there on the high street.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Obviously some departed the team more dramatically than others........much much more!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Got a bit of a soft spot for the old G5RV as it was the first antenna I put up when I started as an SWL years ago. Still a useful antenna but like all antennas has limitations. I know what you mean about the bands though but that's just one of the joys of the HF bands I'm afraid!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Good idea about the ladder line, especially as the G5RV was only intended to work on the old HF bands. That it can work on the later bands (with an ATU) is useful. Using the ladder line is a smart idea as the ability to short the ladder line and use it as a top loaded vertical as well's pretty handy

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Must be nice to live near the coast, possibly not so good if one has a large EME array though!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Hence the popularity of beach locations for dx and contest stations. Having the reflecting plane inches below the surface is rather useful and is a lot easier than huge radial installations or counterpoises

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

From what I hear he was probably quite lucky to survive to get to the search stage of capture!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Those things are actually quite useful when one is trimming the braid on coax, manually without the Hakko, used one like that for years when fitting cable to various coax connectors

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I suppose it's the same type of idea as dropping cargo out of the back of aeroplanes, after all everything is air droppable at least once. Its just that now the delivery will be over a larger area.... much, much larger and probably a bit crispy too!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Post is sorted on to frames at the local sorting office by hand depending on which "walk" the post is destined for. The main problem tends to come when temp or new post persons do the sorting and human error creeps in. All rather a pain I know Phillip as it happens around here quite often.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Like Ron, I stayed up to watch this momentous event and can remember being pretty excited about the future of space exploration. Sadly I think my eight-year-old self would be pretty disappointed at how little has happened since then particularly regarding lunar exploration.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Just a bit unfortunate that, have you considered those straps that attach to the arms so when not in use they dangle from one's neck?

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Having done that myself a few times I bought glasses where the memory metal frame is repairable by the suitable application of a little heat from a hot air gun. They were a little more expensive but I think cheaper in the log run.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Be quite interesting to be able to try a hf yagi taped to the top of the fuselage away from any conducting parts, just point the whole airship in the required direction. Certainly be a bit of a first for a field day special!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

It's the furthest most inaccessible point in the Pacific Ocean, ideal spot to send him, preferably at as high a velocity as possible!. It's also when they aim satellites when they need to be de-orbited

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Preferably point Nemo, but to be honest anyone of them would do!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Might I suggest here, for when one really, really, definitely needs to lose someone 😇 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of...

en.wikipedia.org

Pole of inaccessibility - Wikipedia

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Its pretty useful stuff, plus one can also get the activator as a brush applicator version which is quite handy. The only problem is that it can stick fingers together even faster if one gets it wrong!

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

They sell this stuff on Amazon Phil, but if one wants to avoid them then you might want to have a look at the following URL www.hobbyworkshop.co.uk/ca-glue-acti...

hobbyworkshop.co.uk

CA glue activator - Green Stuff World

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Rather true that, but very common back then when I was a toddler and apparently very interesting to little me. I still have the burn scars on my left hand to prove it. Thankfully modern heaters are somewhat safer.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Yet they site cell base stations there. I suppose its to do with transmissions outside the risk assessment that would have been carried out before they would put the base stations there.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Now they put cell stations there, must be safe enough I suppose considering the liability issues, although I would not like to try running QRO while filling up. Wonder if the Americans ever had a problem with this considering the power a lot of them use?

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Hope the grumblers don't read Sprat then, there is a very interesting article in the summer issue about some new software that runs on an android phone and uses the USB port for audio and CAT control.

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

But not impossible...bed of nails an option?🙃

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Bit of a dilemma really though, death by heatstroke or a dizzy driver. Problem for some that😇

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Can we have bonus points for teslas please Mathew?

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Kevin G6UCY @rigelme.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Also a very good idea to avoid taking them out during the hottest parts of the day, especially on hot pavements.

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