Manchester Arena Attack: Thoughts

It's been almost 48 hours since the devastating suicide attack at the Manchester MEN arena which sadly took the lives of 22 people and injured over 100 more. Its an event that has unsettled and appauled people far beyond these shores. Poor innocent children and young people attending a pop concert in the city cruelly killed and maimed in the name of Islamic state.

For me it has been a rather unsettling experience due to the fact that the Manchester arena is only a few miles away from Aphoristic HQ. A little too close for comfort and on my own doorstep. It was surreal, unbelievable and took a while to sink in.
Sure, Manchester has always been a prime target for terrorism and the UK had been on a heightened state of alert for the last few years but it's always a shock when something does actually happen. I don't think anyone is really prepared for it in the end.
I'd say that this suicide attack has completely knocked the wind out of every single Mancunian.
It's always heartbreaking to hear that innocent people have been hurt in these terrorist attacks but when it's young children that are the deliberate targets then you have to seriously start asking questions.

The dust had hardly settled on the recent Westminster terror attack in London (only two months ago) when on Monday evening at 10:30pm some local lunatic decided he would pack a bag full of nails and explosives and detonate himself in the foyer of the Manchester arena complex taking 22 innocents with him and leaving over 100 injured, some critically.

Its amazing how people come together after such a terrible event and this was particularly visible here in Manchester.
Only an hour after the bomb went off the locals were offering medical assistance, food, shelter, transport and above all else love.
Local hotels offered to be the meeting points for lost children, local taxi drivers were offering free lifts home (however far away that was) and local homeless people were helping the injured on the ground. Even the local off duty bus drivers were going back to work and demanding their bosses hand over keys to the buses so they could help to get people safely home. It was a horrifically sad but proud moment for the city.  Everyone wanted to do something to help.

The city has really pulled together since the attack two days ago. It was heartwarming and reassuring to know that there are so many kind people living among us.

I'm proud of my Manchester, we won't be beaten by anyone.

Blog Update: News

It's been a while since I last posted something on here.. a couple of months in fact and for those who read my ramblings on a regular basis (not many!) Then perhaps you were wondering what has happened/gone wrong?

Nothing has happened really except for a catastrophic I.T failure in my house - My Tesco tablet decided it didn't want to power up anymore. Anyway, it's all working again and here I am.

During this two month hiatus I have eased off the Gas mask buying and concentrated my efforts into stopping smoking.
It's something I should have done years ago but always found an excuse not to. Well not anymore!
Since my last post I managed to find a way to stop which was easy and stress free and as of today I have been off the fags for the past 7 weeks without a relapse!
The key to my success has been the use of a 'Vape' device which has already paid for itself five times over.
I found that trying different flavours of e liquid has made giving up tabacco much easier - it's much more fun and satisfying than burning tobacco.
Gradually I have lowered the nicotine level in the juices to the point where I'm almost nicotine free. I'd say that was a resounding success!

Vaping is quite an interesting and fun hobby to have once you are a convert. Sharing and discussing the various e-liquid flavours with like minded friends has added a social element to vaping where normally fags smoking never could.
I'm saving loads of money now and feel much healthier so the benefits are huge.
As a thank you to the Vaping world I plan on doing a few reviews on the subject. Featuring a few vape devices and favourite e-liquids.

Gas mask, radios and other random reviews will still feature in my blog as always in the coming weeks and months so it won't all be about smoking sessation!.

Wishing all my readers a great weekend and I hope you will check back here from time to time to see what's been going on.


Peace

Mr Aphoristic

Latest Hilltop Repeater Tests

Just this week I managed to seize the opportunity and sit for a few minutes on the top of Rishworth Moor roughly around 1250ft ASL. Rishworth Moor straddles the West Yorkshire/Greater Manchester border on the West Pennine moors. The Llandudno repeater is situated on the top of the Great Orme hill on the coast of North Wales.
I was hoping the elevated height of my radio might bare some fruit when attempting to open a few of the far off repeaters.

Thankfully on this occasion I was able to open the Llandudno repeater GB3LL which works out at roughly 81 miles away.
Unfortunately the repeater wasn't very busy and I heard no one but I could definitely get in there none-the-less.
The radio was running the standard rubber duck antenna with 5W power.

I'm quite impressed



More testing over the Christmas holidays I suspect!

I Got My Amateur Radio License

Radio News (concerning me)


I'm now a licensed radio operator!

Exam certificate and licence

Despite having an interest in Radio for years I never got around to getting my ham radio ticket....until now.
I had decided to try and get my ham ticket before the end of the year and with some help from the local radio guru Ringway Manchester managed to hook me up with a radio club hosting a foundation course before Christmas.
(Thanks again Lewis 👍)

Having successfully passing the foundation exam (technician exam in the USA) over the course of a weekend I can now use all of my high powered handheld radios without fear of prosecution!

The foundation course is the first step on the road to becoming a full license holder - essentially allowing more powerful transmissions, the ability to build powerful radios and use all of the designated amateur radio frequencies.
Before all of that comes the intermediate course which at this stage isn't something I'm too bothered about.
My current license allows me a maximum transmission power of 10W and enough of the HF/VHF and UHF band to be going on with.

Sitting the weekend course was an enjoyable experience, gaining knowledge and meeting people from all walks of life.

The foundation course isn't hard to do.  5 out of the 6 applicants on the course (including me) passed the exam and passed well.
I'm still wondering how that one guy managed to fail?!

I'm looking forward to doing some proper radio testing from now on.

Other successful candidates on my course include:
M6TPS
M6IEZ
M6IEY

Well done to them

Flashlight foolery on a foggy night..

Currently it's as foggy as a fart around Manchester and has been all day.
Its freezing cold, visibility through the fog is around 20ft and it all looks a bit eerie.
It was time to wheel out some high powered illumination and take advantage of the conditions.

As its so cold outside I won't mess about trying each and every torch I own, just my laser 303 and Excelvan UV will do.

Laser 303  - 50-70mW green laser

A short range shot straight into the bushes. All of my laser 303's are visible outside at night but shining them in the fog seems to fill in the gaps which are often seen along the beam.

Here on the long range test is the familiar green light sabre, this time much more defined. The photos don't do it any justice, the effect was actually quite stunning - but perhaps alarming to the unsuspecting dog walkers!



Excelvan/Floureon - UV/blue

The high powered Excelvan/Floureon flashlight really comes to life in the fog. The photo above shows the focus set it it's widest.

The UV light looked particularly eerie in the fog

The photo above shows a half way focus beam.  This beam was ultra visible for quite some distance.

And finally the Floureon was set to narrow focus. Much like the laser 303 I felt I was holding a huge light sabre. In normal conditions the Floureon does project a beam but it's never as intense looking as now. Much of the Floureons power is down to the 3x 18650 lithium batteries inside.
I really enjoyed testing this torch in the fog, waving it about I managed to Dazzler some poor sod walking his dogs. He said he thought the aliens had landed?! I said I'd have some of what he'd been smoking!


Unfortunately the photos were really crap and dont truly capture what was going on there. Nevermind.

Biased and Incentivised Reviews

It has recently come to my attention that as my review tally on the blog gets bigger - the perception that I may be getting paid off could present itself to anyone who happens to read them

How does Aphoristic run the reviews?

1. Recieves free products from companies in return for a glowing review?

2. Is daft enough to buy every product out of his seemingly deep pockets?

Answer: 2 - every item that is 'reviewed' (if that's what you'd call them) is paid for out of my own pocket.
I have not been approached by any company to plug their gear unlike some blogs I could mention.
I'd like to think that an independent review is always a good review as they are not influenced by anyone else.
The reviews found on this blog are unbiased and all my own words.

To avoid having my house become a warehouse, many of the items are later sold on - this tends to go down well with girlfriend's.


Anyway, that's Incentivised reviews covered........next!

Pofung and the lexicon of nonsense

I remember finding a small advertisement card hidden amongst the goodies of the Pofung GT-1 box. I paid no attention to this flyer at first, mearly flicking it across the room like a beer mat.

Time had passed as I came across this card again whilst I was fumbling for something that had gotten stuck behind the TV.
I read the card on both sides and shook my head..

The first side (above) explains the Baofeng company timeline where they rebranded. First of all they were called Baofeng, then a little later they changed their name to Baofeng? and lastly in 2014 the name changed to Pofung.
It doesn't make a great deal of sense considering Baofeng branded stuff is still on sale. Or is it that Pofung is the high end version of Baofeng much like what a Range Rover is to Land Rover? Or I could be buying old Baofeng stock from two years ago! I have seen stuff with the logo of Baofeng/Pofung together.
I have wasted too much time thinking on this.....next

What on earth?

On the reverse side of the Baofeng timeline is this arty collection of words cunningly shaped as a radio. It looks quite nice although some of the words are odd

Dual Band, Multi-language, Ham, Scan, IP67, Portal, Hot Sale. GT-1, Two Way Radio, Fresh Start, driving, 2014 Global Pofung, Vehicle,  Mobile, Emisora, GT-3, Keyboard, UV5R+Plus, Display, Quanzhou, Storage, CW, Light, Berlin, Morse Code, New Beginning, Marconi, Programmable, Frequency, DTMF, Analogue, Wide Range, Antenna, Police, FCC, UV-82L, BF-888S, State-of-the-art, Voice help, Back packer, Channels, Portable, Amateur, Fungerat, Rio de Janeiro, FM, UV-5R, Joseph Fourier, New York, Anti-Terrorism, Two million users, Transmit, Ambition, Travelling, CTCSS/DCS, Emergency


(I highlighted words that seem the most irrelevant)

It made me chuckle...

Worldwide radio

Tonight is the first time I have heard Hawaiians on my local repeater.

It's not the most exciting of posts. 😂

Bizarre Ebay Bargains Part #1

Bizarre Ebay Bargains Part #1

This section of my blog is dedicated to all the unusual bargains that I sometimes bag on Ebay.  I dont go out of my way to look for these things, more that they come looking for me especially when I have small change burning a hole in my pocket. I suppose this is a continuation of the challenge I set myself a few months ago where I aimed to bag the cheapest things possible off the bay. As I recall the lowest priced items to date are the rather strange LED Earpicks which cost as little as 1p for 3 including postage. Here are my latest collection of low priced items not normally seen on my ebay summary page. In no particular order we start with...

2x Litmus Paper Books

Price: 10p - 25p per twin pack

Description: Universal Indicator Papers 80 strips X 2 

Will I use Them? : Maybe

These are a blast from the past! Litmus Paper from the chemistry class at school. Special strips of paper which changed colour depending on a liquids PH value (particless of Hydrogen) so anything acidic would turn the paper a shade of red and anything alkaline would turn the paper blue etc etc. Fascinating stuff as I remember. I have never seen any Litmus Paper for sale in the shops over the years so this little find was a rare novelty. Quite why I would need Litmus Paper round the house is another question! Buy now think later! 

Strange Vietnamese Medicated Patches

Price: 20p for 2 packs (16 Patches)
Description: Rheumatic Athoritic Relief Patches
Will I Use Them?: Probably not considering I don't have Arthoritis or anything and I don't know what the active ingredients are anyway.

What the hell was I thinking when I bid on these things!? I know, the price....that was it.

These patches are a mystery to be perfectly honest. Each sachet contains 8 medicated patches (like big sticking plasters) with no instructions or ingredients list in English. The picture on the front of each sachet suggests albino tiger as the active ingredient and as the orientals have a thing for killing tigers for medicines I'm a little apprehensive! The best way of working out what's going on in there is with your nose. The smell given off by these plasters is very similar to Tiger Balm (another oriental remedy) a slightly spicy menthol aroma would best describe it.
Tiger Balm is a known quantity whereas this isn't.
I'm thinking of donating these to the local care home first aid box.  😂😂

3D Butterfly Decorations

Price: 10p-20p per pack (12)
Description: 3D Decorative wall art
Will I Use Them?: Not me personally, I know people who will though

The reasons why a grown man would buy packets of plastic butterflies can easily be explained.
I actually bought these for other people for sticking on their walls at home. For the price it's hard not to like them. The butterflies come in different sizes and are made from a reasonably strong plastic film.  Each pack comes with a strip of sticky pads for sticking to the wall.  I have seen these packs going for £2.50 each so these are a massive saving. They are OK.

V For Vendetta/Guy Fawkes/Anonymous Masks

Price: 99p for 2
Description: Yellow V For Vendetta Masks
Will I Use Them?: Yes, It's Halloween and Guy Fawkes night soon.

With Bon Fire night and Halloween just around the corner I wanted something different to wear over both nights.
This twin pack was only 99p which seemed an absolute bargain at the time. I have since seen a single mask selling for almost £5 in the last couple of days which is outrageous.
The build quality and art work on these masks is actually very good indeed. They fit really nicely on the face and don't irritate like a lot of cheap shit costume masks.
I was really impressed with the Chinese seller who had packaged these up well when he sent them.
Two of these for a quid is a bargain!!

I definitely didn't buy these to take on an Anonymous movement rally. !

Skull Snood/Balaclava

Price: 50p
Description: Full Face Skull Balaclava Snood
Will I Use It?: Yes, an alternative Halloween mask? or for using in the winter time.

Winter is upon us and so is Halloween, what better than a warm skull printed Balaclava?!
I saw these a while back and thought that the £1.50-£2.00 going rate was a little steep.  Bagging this specimen for 50p seemed a good idea.
Although made from a polyester type fabric it's actually quite warm to wear. The skull print is quite effective when the Balaclava is fitted properly.
Another Halloween mask alternative should the need arise. Impressed.

Plastic Spudger/Pry Tools

Price: 1p-6p free Shipping
Description: Plastic pry tool for opening mobile phones and tablets
Will I Use Them?: Yes, already use them

I must say these are brilliant! I have already benefitted from them in way of opening up a phone and a Baofeng radio. Despite looking weak and puny these tools are as tough as old boots. I really can't complain at the price. A great addition to any tool box.

Anti-Snooring Device

Price: 20p
Description: Anti-Snooring Sleep Apnea Device
Will I Use This: haha No chance!

Why I bought this strange device is anyone's guess.  I think I was curious as to how it works? For the cheap price of 20p it was worth a look.
To this day it is still unclear as to what this device actually is? On the box it shows images of people running away from a presumed disaster coving their faces to avoid smoke/dust inhalation. It looks like a still image from the 9/11 attack?
The image adorning the front of the box shows a woman asleep in bed with one of these shoved up her nose. So what function does this device serve? Is it a smog/pollution filter or an Anti-Snooring Device?
Inside this nasal aid is nothing more than a thin piece of sponge... So it serves neither purpose I would suggest!

V For Vendetta Pendant + Chain

Price: 60p
Description:
Will I Use This?: Probably not
I saw this Vendetta Pendant lurking around the auction items of the seller I bought the masks from. Does he/she have a thing for vendetta? Who knows.
This pendant + chain ensemble cost considerably less than a pound which is quite remarkable when you consider the actual
size of this thing when it arrives.  The Guy fawkes face is a couple of inches long and feels weighty and solid. I wasn't expecting much if I'm being honest so being presented with this was a nice bonus.
Not sure I will use this chain. It's as big as a 1970's medallion often worn on top of an unbuttoned shirt. Very 'saturday night fever'


I must stop buying cheap tat!

Free 18650 Torch Batteries!

Following on from my post a few weeks back regarding 18650 rechargeable  batteries and how it's probably not a good idea to buy the cheapest ones.  Fake 18650 Batteries

I found an interesting way of getting good quality cells for nothing! 

Hacking an old laptop battery.....

6 little Sanyo's hiding in the pack

It so happens that I had an old Sony Vaio knocking around doing nothing. It was pronounced as dead a year or so ago and was left down the side of a cabinet to be forgotten.

As memory serves me the battery was in good condition before the laptop died so with any luck I should be able to harvest a few good cells from the stack.

The battery pack was held together with three torx 8 size screws which were easy to remove. Then the outer plastic shell had to be prized apart- this wasn't that easy. It took a bit of careful skill and brute force to get it apart.

Special care had to be taken when removing the batteries from the case. To avoid the risk of a short circuit, I used a plastic pry tool to gently easy each battery free. It's a bit risky using a metal screw driver to be honest.

Once the top cover was off it was just a case of ripping each of the 6 batteries out from their housing. As these batteries are joined together the little metal strips had to be pulled off each.

It's wasn't such a big job in the end. 

Checking the batteries it seems that these are all Sanyo 2400mAh 18650's (unprotected) which seems a really good find.

I checked each battery on my meter and they were all still showing 3.7V ?! They all worked when I tested them in a torch.

Sanyo 2400mAh 18650

I actually got the idea of stripping laptop batteries down from YouTube. It seems that people have been doing this for years and as a sad byproduct, some sell old savaged batteries as brand new ones on ebay.... Dodgy characters.

Each of these batteries needs to be properly tested to see how fatigued they have become since manufacture. - when I get the time.
Free batteries in your old gear....can't be bad!

Fake LED LENSER update

The Fake LED LENSER Saga - Update 

Following on from my Fake LENSER P7.2 review Click Here  I have an update of sorts.


Death of the P7.2 Torch....
Not long after writing my P7.2 review a catastrophic event took place within the torch. The supposedly genuine Duracell AAA's leaked all over the place, causing nasty alkaline solution to soak the battery module and clicky switch.
Despite removing the offending batteries and cleaning up the contacts, the P7.2 never came on again....😥
It's dead....nothing more to say
I'm glad I didn't pay any more for this crappy rip-off when I bid for it.

Negative Feedback And A Tale Of Despair...
Understandably I was a little annoyed when I discovered that the torch was dead.
As I hadn't yet left any feedback on eBay I thought I would tell the truth and Shame the devil as they say.
Words like "Don't buy your P7 from these guys. Serial numbers checked with Lenser UK. Confirmed as non-genuine" - or something like that.
Nothing derogatory just the truth and a warning to anyone thinking of buying one. Exactly what the ebay feedback button is for.

A couple of days passed and I get an email from the seller clearly upset about the comments I had left.
I say "Seller" but in actual fact the sender of the email claimed to be an employee of the seller and flogging these torches was their job?
Here is what they said...

"Hello,why you still give us negative feedback,this is very bad to me,I am just the customer service,this may affect my work,I gave you 50% refund as we agree on.and you keep the items,. Is there anything you can help me change the negative feedback,how about I refund another 5GBP to you,Now I am just going to lost my job now,:("

Firstly, why would this guy get fired for selling his bosses stock fake or otherwise? that doesn't happen and if it does then maybe this guy should consider a career move.

Secondly, fobbing me off with another £5 refund is an insult considering the bloody torch is knackered now. Oh I still get to keep the P3 which came bundled with it but thats only worth between £10-£15 on its own. I'm still a little out of pocket.

I haven't given up yet.

I think the seller is upset that his fake gear has been rumbled.
Aww what a shame!

Mr Aphoristic and his fascination with Flashlights - blog news

Ah, time to take a step back from reviewing torches for a moment. In no time at all I seem to have reviewed over 50 of the bloody things and It's not quite over...😣 No its not an unhealthy obsession. I'm not a strange hoarder of torches or anything. I actually sell the odd one here and there to friends and acquaintances so reviewing them first is a good way of avoiding selling someone a complete piece of crap - you can lose your friends that way you know! 😂  I do like a good torch and it has been very interesting sniffing out the best quality bargains.

Just a few more torches are due in from our friends out in Shenzen and Kowloon now...ahhhh

Just because the torch supply is drying up doesn't mean I haven't been buying other crap at silly low prices. More in the way of survival nick-nacks, Walkie-Talkie/Radio stuff and random bit of stuff thrown in - at silly prices!
I think that bargain hunting is my obsession if truth be told! lol

Plenty more to look forward to....

My Entire Flashlight Collection Part 1

Flashlight Collection 1 ( July 2016 )


Here before you on the blue tatty table is my first table full of torches.

From this first table I have only encountered a couple of dud torches. The entire haul has been arriving on time and in good working order. My confidence in the cheap Chinese manufacturers has been affirmed!

This Oriental flashlight odyssey continues...

 A nice brace of green 303 there!

These few photos represent 90% of my current collection. The last 10% would not fit on the table so these will be added to part 2 as and when my little table gets full again!
Absent are the laser pens x6 and various others torches.

I shall let the pictures do the talking.

Manky Matchmakers

Manky Nestlé Matchmakers - Taste like Crap
Unfortunately for me, I bought a packet of Matchmakers for a pound and was horrified by what I discovered. Not only was the chocolate a very off putting shade of brown but the normally regular straight minty sticks were deformed! They were either broken or bent. Not very appetising. I tried one and spat it straight out. It tastet awful! A mouthful of manky minty chocolate.
I didn't bother eating them and couldn't even give them away.
A rogue box perhaps? A dud?
I should send them back to Nestlé really but I don't think I can be bothered. I won't be buying any more of these from quality save again.

Look at the state of these!

Price: 99p

Manufacturer: Nestle

Vendor: Quality Save 

Matchmakers are supposed to be straight

Well within their best before date

Do not accept bent matchmakers! lol

The eBay League Table Of Lunacy

The Top 3 Cheapest eBay Items So Far

Everyone wants a bargain right? And eBay is definitely one of those places to start looking.  Occasionally a few auction lots come along which seem ridiculously too good to miss out on.

The table below shows the three cheapest items won so far on UK eBay.co.uk. All come with free shipping.
It's truly unbelievable! Can these guys actually send me something for 1p?! - this remains to be seen ass I haven't taken ownership yet. 

eBay Product	Shipping	Price £ GBP
3x LED Earpicks	Free	£0.01
3x LED Earpicks	Free	£0.06
Kids LED Torch	Free	£0.15

The Items in Question:

1. 3x LED Earpicks.    1p (yes 1p!)

What on earth are these? 3 different coloured LED wands? These appear to be strange little devices for shoving  down your ear hole to scrape out the wax. Disgusting and probably not a good idea in the first place. This item comes with three different attachments  for different ear widths?! Of course you can just use this as an inexpensive flashlight or salvage the 3x button cell batteries which come supplied with every device. Yeah, I will just do that...

2.  3x LED Earpicks  6p

No point in me explaining this one to you. It's the same three Earpickers but this time from a different ebay seller. I paid a little more for these three Chinese earhole pokers... a wallet busting 6p with free shipping!? lol. It's worth 6p for the batteries

I won't be sticking them down my lug holes thays for sure!

3. Kids LED Flashlight AA battery. 15p

What do we have here? A bright and colourful Kids Flashlight for 15p?! And what looks like a Cree™ Q3 LED diode in each one? It would appear so judging by the promotional photos. I'm actually looking forward to receiving these. I can always salvage the Q3 diodes should the need arise. 

I think I ended up getting 12 of these in total! 

I have the feeling that it will be a long time before I update the table again. lol
Reviews and photos will be posted should these silly cheap items roll in.

Audis On Autopilot - Manchester

Driving through the street of Manchester this afternoon I noticed two strange looking Audi A7's in the queue next to me sporting some very high tech equipment inside and German number plates. These two cars are part of the "Piloted Driving" programme which is currently fine tuning Audi's auto pilot system. Not sure where they were headed and why they were in a suburb of Manchester but it's was enough to turn a few heads. When the cars pulled away it did appear that both drivers were not doing the driving, either that or they were driving with their knees!
Interesting stuff..

Melting Baofeng Charger

Good Grief!

After charging one of my UV-5R batteries I noticed this! 😨

Look at the state of that!

There's a hole on this side! 

Notice the small but alarming melt marks on either side of the dock?!
The charger also gave off a strange chemical smell?!
Something must have gotten hot!
I have not had the time to investigate and track down the rogue component yet but for now it's DOA

When I complained to the Amazon seller they were quick to respond and were very helpful. They promised to send out another within the next 7 days so a big thumbs up there.

After searching online for other instances of melting it appears that it is not a known fault with these chargers which is reassuring. I'd hate to think that this could happen again and perhaps catch fire? Who knows?


I shall be keeping an eye on the new one when it arrives!

Baofeng UV-5R Radio Test - Winter Hill #1

First Altitude test for the new Baofeng

Quite recently I purchased the much praised Baofeng UV-5RE dual band FM Transceiver. Boasting power ratings of 1W (low) and 4W (high) this radio has the potential for boosting my PMR coverage. Not only that, they only cost £20 approx to buy. (A full review will be posted in the very near future).

So armed with my new radio and an after market 773 antenna I headed for the hills.  I must admit, I should have checked the weather forecast first as not long after I found my spot it started to rain. After only five minutes the whole of the main Winter Hill Transmission tower was gone from sight. Signals on the Baofeng were reduced but I still managed to get some good results.

Now you see me...

Now you don't! 

Walkie-Talkie Long Range Test

Binatone Action 1100 from the top of Winter hill

This post is a follow on from last weeks review and short range testing of the Binatone 1100's. Not content with the 3-4Km range already achieved, I felt it was now time to push these Walkie-Talkies to their limits. Would they reach the 10Km mark?
Roughly twenty minutes drive from home is Winter Hill which sits among the West Pennine moors and overlooks the town of Horwich near Bolton, Lancashire.
Winter Hill is roughly 456m or 1496Ft ASL (above sea level)
This makes for an ideal high point to test UHF radios which generally have limited range and rely on line-of-sight.
For this test a position quite near to the transmitter mast was chosen. This spot can be reached via Georges lane and Matchmoor lane.
Read more....

M60 Motorway Misery

Motorway Misery 

Tales of despair from the orbital orifice

Update #1: Nothing smart about this Motorway

Introduction: 

For those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about then let me explain. 

The M60 Motorway orbits the city of Manchester in north west England. It is the only Motorway ring road in the UK. The Motorway is a little over 30 miles in it entirety and forms a complete ring around Manchester serving the smaller suburban towns on the periphery. Unfortunately It has been a bottleneck for traffic madness for years with certain sections and junctions becoming a static jam in the daily rush hour. To try and combat this Highways England together with MSM (Manchester Smart Motorways) started work on a 'Smart' controlled section running for 17 miles through the worst of the problems. The roadworks begin at M60 J8 and extends onward to M62 J20 with traffic currently restricted to 50mph.  The project originally started back in 2014 with the expected completion date sometime in autumn 2017. 

For more information:  Smart Upgrade M60/M62