A few weeks ago, just before the RSGB Convention,  I learned one of my amateur radio heroes, Bill Meara N2CQR, would not, after all, be attending the Convention. This was a great disappointment, as I'd suggested the Convention Committee invite Bill.  However, I was asked to arrange a "Video Conference" with Bill to replace his live appearance. After a few Skype calls to Bill, all was arranged (including a "fall back" pre-prepared video in case of failure of the technology on the day). 

To my great relief, the technology worked and Bill delivered an  excellent presentation which captivated the audience. 

Bill has written  Soldersmoke- a Global Adventure in Radio Electronics.  It is mix of an amateur radio biography, a record of an (essentially) non-engineer's experiences of learning the technology of radio, all set against the back drop of the 1960s/70s etc. Bill is more-or-less my age and it is interesting to see how some of his early experiences mirror my own- albeit that I followed a technical route into engineering, whereas Bill......... well, I will leave you to read the book.

 I hope Bill can make next year's convention and I, at last, get a chance to meet him. 

Some weblinks related to the above:

http://www.soldersmoke.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/soldersmoke/6743576

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_R15jYyf6I

At long last I've succumbed to the idea of a blog. I've configured the set up of my home network so that I can easily add to my Blog from either my main PC or my laptop.

Other things today.

I've been playing with "Twitter". I'm not convinced it is the sort of thing I like  but time will tell. My Twitter name is G8OSN. I've not succumbed to linking my 'phone to Twitter yet!