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Regarding the amateur radio code . Same here , they have recently dropped the CW ( Morse ) requirement .
. . . . The dropping of the morse is , I think , a bid to boost interest in what is perceived to be a old fashioned hobby .
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The official line here concerns the view of IARU region 1 and the previous shared nature of the HF bands with commercial shipping, being a maritime nation this was considered very important. Broadly, maritime traffic to the many UK coast radio stations was crystal controlled and CW only, so you'd be asked to move in CW by a vessel radio op. This has now all gone of course with advancing technology and most all of the CRS have closed.

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That Morris - C CS8 compressor truck Dougie mentioned has since been sold to a dealer Holland I believe . The buyer at Beltring played with it for a while , but gave up . As Richard said , restoring a odd , lesser known brand really tests out your patience .
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There was a lot wrong with it RB tells me but an excellent basis for a restoration; trouble is, when a Ballard talks of restoration it does mean from the mud up which involves rendering the thing to individual parts, including de-riveting, and building up to as-new.

Years of patient work and huge sums of money which you never see back, but thank Heavens for the small army of dedicated people prepared to do this, be it old army trucks or whatever, it makes the world a richer and more interesting place.

How long it continues, as the youngsters are indoctrinated into "more PC" stuff and the continuing tsunamis of restrictive legislation falling out of the EU remove the specialist engineering firms and take essential materials away from us, is anybodies guess. The Shirrell Heath LRDG will continue to break the law though as illegal, uncertified, asbestos hauliers since we have copper/asbestos/copper head gaskets in use.

I can't say I'm much of a fan (slight understatement) of the federal Europe idea, quite apart from the 20 billion p.a. we chuck at it, as its turned out I do wonder why we threw all those good blokes from all over at it 60 years ago, seems like the ultimate smack in the face from officialdom as far as I can see.

Anyway, don't get me started . . . . .

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I want to spend a day at the Ballards spare parts division , I will drug Rory and tie up Dave , then ransack the place . Bribe the UK customs officials , and off home .
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Its a right Aladdins cave of M-C gems.

Yet another CS8 arrived yesterday, as the usual heap of very rusty poo, in a HIAB tipper (Brian K of the F30LAA). The axles and extended chassis was converted to a farm trailer and needed the petrol disc cutter to render it into a sensible load; the engine and front end had been mounted on a castor wheeled dolly as a grain blower and has a home-brew vaporiser on a carb extension to operate on TVO (Kerosene). Heap of very restorable bits, s'pose you'll want some digipics Mike K?

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Ah ! I forgot , my plan relies on getting into the UK in the first place , would they let a person with a known convict past into old blighty .
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Yes indeed, the original population hand picked by the finest legal brains of this country. I never did understand though the logic of leaving the innocents here on this tiny, grey, wet and cold island in the North Sea and shipping the PoHMs off to a gigantic, sunny continent in the Pacific, surely some mistake ?

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No. 11 set QSO to the UK ! It is possible in theory , quite possible . But, we would nead a clear 10 khz of band space , exceptional conditions . We will DO IT . But, Rory has to turn over that 11 set LP unit first . Get it spinning around , it sounds like a ME 262 engine at full revs WHIZZZZZZZZZZ.
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I have the HP rotary converter working well, its just fitting in the time to do the RX/LP one which is rather sluggish and has some leaking caps. As you know the 60yr old "Mazak", carburettor monkey metal, crappite castings of the converters is a bit of a problem.

We have had success stabilising these from crumbling before your eyes by painting them with superglue, the surface tension pulls the material into the cracks and the nature of the material is that the bond happens when the glue line becomes very thin.

It would have to be a CW contact I think to maximise the TX power efficiency in a narrow bandwidth and may need several attempts too, plenty of time yet while the sun gets its act together.


R.