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England’s most remote building Skiddaw House, described by Alfred Wainwright as being “at the back o’ beyond” has found a solution to its telecom problems. The house stands on a 1500ft high plateau between Skiddaw and Blencathra, three and a half miles from the nearest road, with no mains electricity, postal delivery, landline telephone, or mobile phone handset coverage. The problem facing Skiddaw House was how to operate as a viable hostel when no-one could contact it by phone or email to book accommodation. Fortunately, someone discovered the Burnside desktop mobile, and initial tests using an external aerial showed that the Vodafone GSM/GPRS network could provide reliable phone and data access. An ordinary desktop telephone and a PC connected to the Burnside unit now provide voice communication and internet access. And, since the Burnside unit can operate from a low voltage DC supply, the terminal is permanently powered by the hostel’s batteries, which in turn are charged from solar cells and a standby LPG-powered generator.

To celebrate the rebuilding of the WWII code breaking machine Colossus, the National Museum of Computing is running a challenge. During 15th and 16th November, historic Lorenz SZ42 ciphertext will be transmitted by radio amateurs at Heinz Nixdorf MuseumForum in Paderborn, Germany at the following times and frequencies preceded by a preamble in RTTY. The preamble message, which contains information needed to receive the SZ42 transmission is here. The ciphertext will be received by two teams of amateur codebreakers at Bletchley Park. The first will comprise members of the Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society operating amateur radio station callsign GB2BP and using modern equipment. The second team will use the same type of equipment as used in the intercept (more…)

On my journey to become a professional property investor and developer I went along to my first property auction last night. I had read over the details of the property beforehand and looked in to the previously sold prices as well as the current asking prices in the area. I didn’t intend to bid but went through the motions as I would have if I was going to to get the full experience. I had calculated that my top price for the property in question was to be £160,000. This was perhaps a little under what one could have gone up to as I was edging slighty on the safe side, but that’s the way I will play these things anyway especially in the early stages.

The auction was (more…)

Motorola announced today that it will launch a tender offer to acquire a controlling interest in Vertex Standard, the parent company of Yaesu. Upon successful completion of the tender offer and subsequent restructuring process, Motorola will own 80% of Vertex Standard and Tokogiken, a privately held Japanese company controlled by Jun Hasegawa, current president and CEO of Vertex Standard, will retain 20% forming a joint venture. The Board of Directors of Vertex Standard have expressed their support of the tender offer. “As a leading provider and pioneer in 2-way radio communication solutions, Motorola is an excellent strategic partner for our business”, said Jun Hasegawa, president and CEO of Vertex Standard. “The joint venture will give Vertex Standard access to Motorola’s global distribution channels, presenting considerable opportunities for Vertex Standard to drive growth. We also expect to reduce costs, as we will benefit from Motorola’s global scale and resources. With Motorola, Vertex Standard will be stronger and better positioned to deliver new and innovative 2-way radio solutions for professionals and consumers around the world”. The joint venture will expand and develop a comprehensive suite of products to address the rapidly growing demand for 2-way radio solutions. Vertex Standard’s strength in the Amateur, Marine and Airband segments will also provide Motorola with access to new business opportunities. In addition, Vertex Standard’s solutions are highly complementary with Motorola’s products and will add greater depth and breadth to Motorola’s Government and Public Safety business. The venture will also provide additional engineering talent for Motorola.