A tribute to my Father and his RAF Squadron
Gday, the genesis of my interest in radio and radar was hearing 7HT, an AM broadcast station many miles away in Tasmania, on my Father's bedside clock radio one night in Sydney. I was also amazed by black and white TV skip during Summer.I then started listening to SSB on an AM only shortwave receiver whilst holding down the transmit button on a 27MHz walkie talkie.Then Dad took me to see a ham with a Kenwood TS-520, and the rest as they say is history. Little did I know that Dad had just introduced me to the world's first electronic social network. It used to be rare to have a two way radio on your person or in your vehicle. Now everyone has a radio (cell phone) in their pocket ! If we could see radio waves, we wouldn't be able to see anything else.
I have always been fascinated by the sky and our ability to conjure morse code, voice and music out of thin air. I find myself looking up for antennae and contrails wondering what the view might be like from up there.
Aircraft are built on some of man's greatest discoveries, such as physics, metallurgy, plastics, physiology, internal combustion engines, computers, radar and radio, etc. Aviation has become my life work and I am a Boeing 747 Captain.
The 747 has been flying for 43 years, since before the first moon landing, about 1500 have been delivered, and to my knowledge there have only been 2 fatal accidents attributable to the design. It has 6 million parts, 274 kilometres of wiring and the original model had 971 lights, guages and switches.
My Father retired on the 747 35 years ago and with any luck I will retire on it as well.
Flying started here, career in photos follow:
A typical 747 has 32 radios: 2 x 400 watt voice HF's, 3 x 25 watt voice/data VHF's, 2 x 100 watt 9GHz radars, 2 x GPS, 1.5GHz 60 watt voice/data satcom, 2 x 75MHz marker beacons, 3 x VHF LOC localiser, 3 x UHF glide slope, 2 x LF ADF automatic direction finder, 2 x VOR VHF omni directional range, 2 x 1GHz 600 watt transponders, 2 x 1GHz 700 watt DME distance measuring equipment, 3 x 500mW 4.3GHz radar altimeters, 3 x 406MHz EPIRB's.
Antennae:
Inside nose radome: From the top, Localiser, Weather radar, Localiser and Glide Slope x 2
Forward roof: TCAS in front of red beacon, transponder/low gain Sat/VHF and GPS behind
Aft roof: ADF (black), Sat high gain, EPIRB
Vertical stabiliser: 9' shunt fed slot type HF in lower leading edge (silver), VOR/LOC in top
Belly aft: VHF
Belly mid: Marker
Belly forward: Radar altimeter x 6, DME and VHF, and TCAS
My non work radio gear includes:
Icom 7000
Icom 208h
CW touch paddles
AIS RX SR161and BF430 serial to ethernet converter, available here
Home built APRS back pack consisting of a Yaesu FT470 2m/70cm portable, HAiCOM SiRF3 GPS, OpenTracker+ GPS encoder
Member, Waverley Amateur Radio Society, the oldest continually licensed amateur radio club in Australia.
I enjoy plotting propagation paths and positions of aircraft, ships and me:
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AIS Automatic Identification System Map if you live near the coast please consider sharing ship positions, it's easy
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Sydney AIS 24hr range
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APRS Automatic Packet Reporting System, find me
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Live Propagation map. If you have a spare receiver or transceiver, please consider WSPR's setup guide
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If you still have a spare receiver, please consider Global Tuners
Research:
Personal distance records:
Ship at 1313 nautical miles from Dampier in162MHz marine band across the Indian Ocean near Cocos Islands:
Ship at 1129 nautical miles from Port Macquarie, NSW in 162MHz marine band across the Tasman Sea to the East of New Zealand:
Ship at 936 nautical miles from Dampier in162MHz marine band across the Indian Ocean, North of Java, Indonesia:
24 hour AIS ship plot in 162MHz marine band from Dampier across the Indian Ocean to Timor and North of Bali, Indonesia:
ADS-B heard up to772 nautical miles, across the Tasman Sea towards New Zealand:
HF data link:
Sites that I use:
Maritime mobile on Bertram 28, note PAR end fed 10/20/40
Home made and commercial beams:
Slim Jim AIS antenna made from 300 ohm TV ribbon inside 25mm conduit:
7km 2.4GHz wireless link to a less RF hostile site in Sydney, using Bullet2's that connect directly (no coax) to 18dB panels, and UHF beam:
Sydney harbour Terma radar
Note IP switch in grey box for remotely interrupting DC to an unresponsive Windows laptop, then restart with wake-on-LAN
Wellbrook loop
WSPR beacon:
Top shelf is a Yaesu FT-817 as a frequency hopping beacon. Bottom shelf is an active coupler switched with an RF sensing antenna switch and Icom PCR-1000 available for tuning
WSPR antenna, a PAR end fed 10/20/40
and a 24 hour trace of the results using 500mW
Inside my ride from top left: Logitech C910 webcam, 10GHz radar detector detector, 24GHz radar, GPS antenna, Icom 7000 remote head, laptop based in car video http://www.curioustech.net/
Nagoya UT-108 magnabase
Lighthouse weekend 2011, inverted V on day 1
7m squid pole vertical due wind on day 2, 'slinky' antenna and SGC237 auto tuner:
Lighthouse day 2012 Hornby light, Sydney harbour
Photos from work trips:
London, MI6
Heathrow ATC radar
Metropolitan Police vehicle and HQ
I enjoy contrail spotting. Predictions here
Standing on either side of prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) at Greenwich
Bletchley Park
Mount Cook, New Zealand
Tokyo
Los Angeles
Bangkok
Singapore
Hong Kong
Unmarked Prius, note GPS antenna and Motorola quarter wave on roof
Ham shop
Scaffolding Hong Kong style
Germany
Close to Antarctica
Johannesburg: ATC, never seen so many stacked dipoles
On the way to somewhere, note landing lights on at low power to keep them warm
Me walking around Perth:
Some scenes that took my eye, most photos are mine, all credit to their owners:
L band TARS and more here
SOFIA
On the engine cowling is Virgin Galactic's time line on the history of flight. Note the 747 before the moon lander, and then X prize
Sydney airport coffee shop
Boeing 787 Dreamliner visiting Sydney
Sydney Mode S Terminal Radar renewal
Sydney airport X band surface radar (photo courtesy Kurt Ams – Sydney Airport Message Board – yssyforum.net)
Gold Coast ATC radar
Willis Island (off Cairns) weather radar
Optus
Northern New South Wales repeater
Remote ATC and ADS-B
Courtesy OL7M
Asian influence in Broome Western Australia
Lightning protection arc gap between balls on VLF tower (photo courtesy VK6HV)
Too much wind
A good earth
Police radar etc.
New South Wales highway patrol: Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras
Unmarked with Kustom Eagle radar
Queensland highway patrol
Decatur Genesis II radar
Unmarkeds
Mobile speed cameras
Front left white antenna is satphone, front right is infra red illuminator and security camera, 2 black verticals are GPS and mobile broadband, rear left is radar and rear right is security camera and work light. Enforcement camera and more security cameras inside.
Aircon pack on top, HDTV whip, radar antenna below number plate and flash on rear bumper:
Unmarked, note rectangular radar antenna inside canopy and flash head underneath to the right of number plate
Other contrails
VH-NLK B737 Melbourne - Norfolk Island
Singapore 281 B777 from Singapore to Auckland
VH-VNJ A320 Brisbane to Melbourne crossing contrails
Links:
a day at a similar office
24 hours of world air traffic
Canadian aurora cam http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/connect.asp
Around world in space station http://vimeo.com/michaelkoenig/earth-timelapse-iss
Square kilometre array
Over the horizon radar
Climbing a 1700' tower (not me!) http://file.qip.ru/embed/139653439/bb7b65c3
Another coming down http://fmtvdx.eu/zendmast/smilde/hoogersmilde06.html
Free music
Who said pilots can't sing http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yA36wU4jgj4
There's nothing you can't doThese streets will make you feel brand newBig lights will inspire youhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qHagigQRKqU
Lightning hitting aircraft http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVzOENacg6E&feature=player_embedded
Clipper Ocean Pearl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaStEgS59bw&feature=related
St. Maarten from inside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmDuXO_k6E
from outside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfQwDizpRo
departure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu91oZ2_Vag&feature=related
If you like engines, turn up the volume http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWu72EQn0Lw
Too many nuts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZlqaExdhM&feature=player_detailpage
CW tools: News reader http://morse-rss-news.sourceforge.net/andQSO direct over net http://www.mrx.com.au/d_cwcom.htm
A great book about radar, from war to peace http://www.amazon.com/INVENTION-THAT-CHANGED-WORLD-PIONEERS/dp/0684835290/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345690885&sr=1-1&keywords=buderi+the+invention
The Bruneval raid
iPhone apps:
Australians invented the 'black box' flight recorder and aircraft DME distance measuring equipment
Some info on Australia, by Douglas Adams of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy" fame:
"Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom
half of the planet. It is recognizable from orbit because of many unusual
features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge deep into the girting
sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology
and plate tectonics, but they still call it the " Great Australian Bight "
proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory but
they can't spell either!
The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the
place. Where other landmasses and sovereign lands are classified as either
continent, island, or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically,
it is unique in this.
The second confusing thing about Australia are the animals. They can be
divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of
the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous
arachnids, Australia has all of them. However there are curiously few
snakes, possible because the spiders have killed them all.
But even the spiders won't go near the sea. Any visitors should be careful
to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before
sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this
task.
At this point, we would like to mention the Platypus - estranged relative
of the mammal, which has a duck-bill, otter's tail, webbed feet, lays eggs,
detects its aquatic prey in the same way as the electric eel and has
venomous barbs attached to its hind legs, thus combining all 'typical'
Australian attributes into a single improbable creature.
The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants. First, a short history:
Sometime around 40,000 years ago, some people arrived in boats from the
north. They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died. The ones who
survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in
the scheme of things and spiders. They settled in and spent a lot of the
intervening time making up strange stories.
Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More
accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged and stupid
people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in Autumn (failing to take
account of the reversal of the seasons when moving from the top half of the
planet to the bottom), ate all their food, and a lot of them died.
About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is
interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves
vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat,
steal, and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say) - whereas all
the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast
red-hot desert, equipped with a stick.
Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on Extended
Holiday and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by
the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person
can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their
essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your
boots every morning for fatal surprises. They also picked up the most finely
tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up
stories. Be warned.
There is also the matter of the beaches. Australian beaches are simply the
nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into
the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a
fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock and has
venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain)
and surfboarders.
However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk. As a result of all this
hardship, dirt, thirst and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a
dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful and always willing to share
a kind word with a stranger, unless they are American!
Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile
disarmingly and look for a stick. Major engineering feats have been
performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string, and mud. Alone of all the
races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the
other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is,
in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land "Oz", "Godzone" (a
verbal contraction of "God's Own Country") and "Best bloody place on earth,
bar none, strewth." The irritating thing about this is they may be right.
There are some traps for the unsuspecting traveler, though. Do not, under
any circumstances, suggest that the beer is imperfect, unless you are
comparing it to another kind of Australian beer. Do not wear a Hawaiian
shirt. Religion and Politics are fairly safe topics of conversation,
(Australians don't care too much about either) but Sport is a minefield.
The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best
(insert your own regional swear word here) country in the world!". It is
very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will 'adopt' you on
your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served.
Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite.
You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes.
Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal
difficulties with "It's his first time in Australia , so we took him to the
pub", to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook. Be sure
to tell the story of these events to every other Australian you encounter,
adding new embellishments at every stage and noting how strong the beer was.
Thus you will be accepted into this unique culture.
Most Australians are now urban dwellers, having discovered the primary use
of electricity, which is air-conditioning and refrigerators.
Typical Australian sayings:-
* "G'Day!"
* "It's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick!"
* "She'll be right mate."
Tips to Surviving Australia :
* Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any reason WHATSOEVER.
* The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think
it is.
* Always carry a stick.
* Air-conditioning is imperative.
* Do not attempt to use Australian slang, unless you are a trained linguist
and extremely good in a fist fight.
* Wear thick socks.
* Take good maps. Stopping to ask directions only works when there are
people nearby.
* If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at
all times, or you will die.
* Even in the most embellished stories told by Australians, there is always
a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore."
