My first mobile blog...

This is my first email-to-blog entry.

I hope it works.
Knowing my luck, it wont, and then I'll have to type the whole thing out again.

What can I tell you today? Well, me and Richard are off to Disney next Monday. (The more expensive one, in France.) So we have a whole four days with Mickey!
Excitingly, we'd saved up more money than we'd realistically need for food there, so we decided to splash out on a small digital camera to take around with us. I've got four or five semi-pro cameras, which take some amazing shots, but we don't have anything tiny between us for when we go out walking or somewhere where a big camera wouldn't be practical.
We bought a Fuji Z10fd - and it seems really lovely.
I wont tell you too much about it, if you want one you can go and look in Jessops or somewhere, but the bits that I've been impressed with so far are the video quality, the 7.2MP, the good sound quality of the video, and just how thin it is.
My phone is thicker than it.

Fujifilm Finepix Z10fd

My second thing? My friend Olivia has turned up for work again.
Still, we can still hope the day improves.

Matt

Morse Code and Oscar Peterson

Morse Code
Here we are again then.
I'm re-learning Morse Code to a reasonable standard at the moment, and I'm writing a course for others at the same time.
I decided to focus on two letter groups - because the way I look at it, ever word over one letter long is made up of two letter combinations (hear me out on this one), and if I can just get those stuck in my head, then it should make the reading much quicker. I'm at about 20 words per minute at the moment, but it seems to be increasing reasonably.

Back to the 'two letter' thing...
While I'm thinking about my friend Olivia, the word 'FREAK' has popped into my mind. This can be split entirely into two letter groups, as far as the ear is concerned. FR, RE, EA and AK.
I'm learning the groups at 25, 30, 33 and 38 wpm at the moment. There are a smidgen under 700 to learn, so it shouldn't take too long.
I was thinking about attempting 3 letter combinations as well, but there are 17.5 thousand of those, so it might take a little longer.

A fact for the day.
I've decided to try and find something interesting to say in every posting. Whether it's a fact, a question, an observation or just a grumble, I want it to be something other than just a simple reflection of what's happened to me in the last few days.
My first fact is about one of the finest musicians to have ever lived - Oscar Peterson.

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was born in 1925, and died just under a month ago at the age of 83 on the 23rd December 2007.
Oscar's piano playing was so energetic and alive that the stage almost shook with his presence, but the fact is, despite this energy he graced the stage with, and despite leaving school at 14 to become a professional pianist, Oscar was almost crippled with arthritis - hardly able to even button his own shirt.

Watch this to get an idea of his mastery


RIP Oscar.

Matt

SSB AFS and a nice little video...

Well, here we are again.
I scored a reasonable 221 (223 not including the two duplicates) in the contest. Simon G7SOZ with his '400 watts' managed just over 270 from another friend's shack.
All in all, I'm happy enough with how I got on. If I'd tried it from my own QTH I'd have been lucky to even hear the other stations.

If you haven't tried it already - have a look at stumbleupon.com It's a nice way to find sites you otherwise might not see. You choose the subjects that interest you. I found the following video on it http://www.1049films.com/docs/TyingTheKnot_100.mov
Have a look and see what you think...

Before you get concerned, this blog isn't going to turn into some gay-agenda, homo-rights moan-a-minute rant.

Matt

RSGB SSB AFS

Operating last year in the RSGB SSB AFS @ G3PDH QTH

Right. As I start writing this, it's about 10.45am. At 2pm GMT I'll be entering the Radio Society of Great Britain's yearly contest, which lasts 4 hours and involves shouting down a microphone the whole time, making as many 'contest contacts' as possible.
It's raining at the moment, which is typical, as my other half has the car - so I'll have to bike for half an hour to get to the shack I'm using for the contest.

I doubt anyone is reading this blog yet. Perhaps that's a good thing. But if you are, and you're a licensed Radio Amateur, listen out for M0PTO (Mike Zero Papa Tango Oscar) and give me a shout!
I'm aiming for 250... I'll let you know.

Speak to you soon,

Matt

My first blog...

Me, in bed with myself.

Well, I've been meaning to do it from some years now, and here it is.
Finally.
The first entry in my blog.

I'll try and say something humorous each week, but I can't promise... for those of you who have found this blog randomly, thanks for popping along, and it's good that someone is reading this.

My funny 'thing' of the day? The 'scammer' I've been winding up has just threatened to kill me. See 419eater.com for a bit more info on reverse scamming.

That's it then. My first ever blog entry.
How amazing.

Matt
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