All the UKs frequencies on Google Earth?

Yesterday, someone pointed out to me that it was possible to download the whole of Ofcoms license allocation database, as a comma separated variable delimited file. This is the list of who holds what licenses for what specific frequencies, not amateur licenses, or users of license free channels.

This info of course is of great interest to scanner users, but the original .csv file rocks up at over 70MB and around a third of a million entries!

Now, wouldnt such a file, showing who is using what frequencies and where, be great on Google Earth?

Glutton for punishment that I am, and recognized at work as the Google Earth Gnome, I foolishly set about trying to convert a 70MB .csv file into a workable set of .kmz files!

Key to this, are three steps - First, remove all non-geographical entries. These are frequencies and users allocated on a nationwide basis, and hence have no position information for Google Earth to work with. Second, remove all duplicates. In this case, a duplicate entry is one where the same user, is listed with the same frequency, in the same location. A frequency can be used by the same user in a different location, thats a valid entry, as is a different user using the same frequency, etc. And third, split the file into manageable chunks.

The first two operations have been done using the data handling tools in Microsoft Excel. The third needed some thinking about. I opted to split the file into separate files based on area, and chose to use the Ordnance Survey 100km gridsquares

Most areas, this creates an easily handled file size. The exception is grid TQ, which covers that there London. The density of allocations in London is such that I have had to split that file into four, and perhaps even more, based on frequency band.

The resulting .csv files, can be imported direct into Google Earth. Ultimately, I wish to convert them to .kmz files that are native to Google Earth and can be distributed, such that any user can just open the file and it will work. Imported .csv files require some setting up.

The above pic is a screenshot of my Google Earth Pro with three of the gridsquare files imported and enabled.

Can my blog save you money?

Quite possibly!

Just recently, I received an email from British Gas, my energy supplier at the time. This email informed me that my gas and electricity bills were not only going to go up by a extortionate amount, but also that they were ending the dual fuel discount as well. The general gist of the email was "pay up or sod off"...


... so I sodded off!

After a lot of research, trawling comparison sites and the like, I narrowed down a number of new suppliers, which were smaller, much cheaper, and it seemed more ethical than British Gas. And out of these, one caught my eye - Bulb.

Bit of a gimmicky name for an electricity supplier! But, the more I read, the more I liked what I was reading. Committed to customer service, committed to renewable energy sources, and online open forum for customers and non-customers alike. So, after looking at my potential savings, I signed up with them.

The link below ive provided for anyone who is considering switching suppliers, to take a look and do your own research into them. Take a look at their reviews online as well.

https://bulb.co.uk/

This was just over a month ago, and ive just submitted my second set of meter readings. All seems to be going very well so far, and any queries ive had have been dealt with by their team via the forums swiftly. So far im happy with them and alls going well. Im on a list for the trial of next generation smart meters as well. The only odd part is that payments are done initially by debit card, but you can call and set up a direct debit (I must remember to do this!), and also, they work on an advance payment system, which means you actually pay up front, and if you overpay either it holds on your account or you can ask for it rebated. This seems very odd at first, but in many ways it does make sense.

So, your thinking, all well and good, but how does that help your readers save money?

Well, its simple - If you sign up to change your supplier to them, using a link that I will provide below, they give you a £50 initial credit! And, whats even better - they give me one as well!

Heres the link -

bulb.co.uk/refer/martin7906

I would suggest this - If your considering changing your energy supplier - go and research Bulb online, also research other suppliers, and find the one that is right for you. IF, you find that Bulb suits you, then use my link above to get yourself, and me, fifty quid!

Im not going to try to convince you, coerce you, or force you! But, it makes sense to me to take up an offer if your switching anyway, so my referral link is there above for you, should you choose to use it.

Clear as mud

Well, for some reason, the plum wine isnt clearing. Wine making has taken up pretty much most of my spare time recently, and shortly some beer brewing will also join my activities, now I have a nice big fermentation bucket!

Thats not to say there is no radio planned! Due to workload, and my walking mate Bob M1BBVs change of career, walking and field radio have been rather sparse. However, hopefully soon (next few weeks) we will be back out there. A few rail trail walks and some long outstanding SOTA is on the horizon!

Anyway, back to the wine! It would seem the problem here is a protein or pectin haze. As this wine has already has two-part finings (isinglas/gelatine and keiselsol) ive decided to try another electropositive fining agent,  this time Bentonite, which is known for its ability to drag proteins out of suspension. Its a bit more faffy to use than other finings, as the extremely hygroscopic particles of this volcanic clay must be hydrated into a slurry prior to use.

But, it does also give me a chance to exchange the airlock and bung fitted, with a solid bung, freeing up the airlock for other use. Hopefully now this wine will clear over the next couple of days, and can then be bottled - which will free up the demijohn for racking off one of the other wines!

Variant "WOW" wine

Ive not been on here much lately, mostly due to work and the like, but that doesnt mean ive not been busy,

I have, just not with radio!

Instead, Ive been wine making. This is something I always intended to to do, but never got around to, despite my experiences of it as a kid helping the chap over the road.

But it occurs to me that my blogs are a good place to record experiments in this line. To date ive completed and drunk a 5L kit Cabernet Sauvignon, I have an apple wine, using my own fruit, bottled. A plum, again using my home grown fruit, in the process of clearing. I have a kit chardonnay bubbling away in early secondary, and a strawberry getting close to the end of fermentation.

This morning, I decided to quickly throw on a "WOW" variant. Now, WOW stands for Wurzels Orange Wine, and in its pure form of course uses oranges. A 'variant' generally refers to a wine made using store bought juices. This is what I have gone for.

This will be an Apple, Watermelon and Raspberry wine. No messing about with hydrometers for this one! Just 3L of 100% juice and 1100g total sugars.

Heres the recipe -

1L 100% red grape juice
2L 100% apple, watermelon and raspberry juice*
820g granulated sugar
1L water
1 cup strong tea (tannin)
1/2 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp glycerine
2 tbsp lemon juice (acid)

*1L in must, 1L in fridge for topping up

A general purpose wine yeast, activated in a  cup of warm water with 2 tsp sugar, was the first thing to get started. After that, the demijohn, airlock and other needed kit was sterilized. Luckily these days, with everyone so health conscious, cartons of juice have the sugar content printed on them. So, I knew I had 308g of sugars in the juice, so needed to add around 808g. With the variability of scales, I probably put 820g in. I didnt mix the sugar well enough with the 1L extra water, so have just had to spend 5mins swirling the must to dissolve the excess. With all the additives, sugar, water and first two juices in, theres a bit over 3L of must, coming to just below the shoulder of the demijohn. The lemon juice provides the acidity, whilst the strong cup of tea provides the tannins. A bit of glycerine to improve mouth feel, and some pectolase enzyme to help break down any fruit pectins.

I pitched the yeast once everything else was in, and when checked this afternoon (about 6 hours later) it was bubbling at about four every minute. So, after getting all the extra sugar dissolved, ive now transferred the demijohn to my usual 'production line', where it can now stand and crack on with primary fermentation. As WOW wines can often become somewhat 'lively', this one is stood in a drip tray!

Once its done with primary, maybe three days or so once it gets properly started, i'll top it up with the remaining juice. This wine should complete secondary in under two weeks, and once cleared should be drinkable more or less straight away.