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1

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: Today at 09:33:37 »

Another week, so Chiltern oppsing Railways again.

Piss up and brewery spring to mind

2

General Car Chat / Re: Stellantis to bring back diesel

« on: Yesterday at 21:00:09 »

Planet killing soot chucker's should meet the same end as the dinosaur.

Nothing used to hear me up more when I was in the Battlebus - before DTM fixed it - of lifting then flooring the throttle, covering the car following too close behind in a cloud of soot.

I always used to chuckle


Wasn't half as much fun after DTM made the Battlebus work properly, but was a damn site quicker

3

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: Yesterday at 20:56:43 »

I am absolutely certain you can port your number in the same way you can with a mobile.  Obviously, you can't port it to a copper lined analogue supplier who uses the Openreach Network due to a stop sell of all all-copper products from Openreach.

At the moment it's all on copper - which is what I mean by analogue. I'm being told that some time in the undefined future (but before 2027) it'll go digital whether I like it or not. BT will convert my current analogue phone number to digital but when that happens I'll lose my plusnet interweb access.

Now of all things, the phone number is most important to me. Had it for 50 odd years and don't want it changed. Can't move it to anyone other than BT without moving the interweb at the same time - because I would have to move them to an all digital supplier. I'm strongly of the oppinion to only change one thing at a time, because when (not if) it goes wrong you know who to shout at. So I don't want to risk changing phone line and internet suppliers at the same time. I don't use any plusnet services - email, web hosting etc so losing them isn't a problem. Therefore AFAICS the safest sequence is...

1) Move the interweb to BT, leaving the analogue/copper phone line alone for now.
2) Wait for BT to downgrade everything to fibre/digital
3) Once safely downgraded, shop around for the best deal.

You'll be hard pressed to get a BT anything for the next few weeks.  EE is (currently) BT Group's consumer brand, along with Plusnet.  BT is currently the brand exclusively for Business customers. Except those that are on legacy BT products.  A mess? Yup, a proper foster cluck nobody understands.

However, you can take DV (the generic name for phones provided over the internet, as opposed to POTS, the name given to old fashioned analogue phones) from many suppliers independent of the Internet connection.  Much like taking separate electricity and gas suppliers.  My DV is not supplied by either of my 2 internet providers.


As for the demise of analogue telephony in the UK, it's inevitable.  GPT's System X is a product of the 70s, and mostly deployed in the 80s and early 90s.  Ericcsion's System Y is marginally newer and used in the UK after GEC and Plessey (2 of the 3 System X suppliers) merged, and British Telecom  didn't want a single supplier.  As it happens, GEC ended up being sold to Ericsson anyway, so still a single supplier .

This stuff is old, originally designed for a 20yr life, and most is 35-40yrs old.  Parts at a component level are getting scarce and expensive, they aren't the most energy efficient, and need updating.  Trouble is, there aren't a lot of options, and the move to IP is a viable option, with the benefit of not needing a telephone exchange every 5 miles.

There is a short term transition system being fitted in exchanges that still uses the copper lines to the customer, and it does the POTS to IP at the exchange itself.  The disadvantages of this are that the Nokia equipment being deployed goes out of support in about 5yrs, still requires an exchange every 5 miles, complete with the building, batteries, generators and so on.  Hence it really is a transition solution.

DV tends to offer advantages in voice clarity due to better bandwidth, modern codecs and so on.  Its disadvanatages are the customer has to provide the power (no 50v from the exchange), and most people's phones will need an adapter as they are not DV native.  They also won't work in a power cut unless the customer has some kind of battery backup for the adapter and the router and the ONT (if separate items).


Hope that clarifies

4

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: Yesterday at 08:41:30 »

Nothing a strip of gaffer tape wont put right. 

Stirrers from McDongals and some spray foam will soon see it sorted

Just for giggles I might see how much of it I can glue back together, filling in the gaps and taping it back up.  The broken aileron should be fixable with aileron tape.  The wings have suffered some damage where they are mounted inside the main fuselage, but should be able to 3d print something there.  The spine of the fuselage looks bent to me though, need to run a straight edge down it to see how badly.

If I can get it to fly-ish again, I might do some stupid things with it


Sadly, this crash wasn't recorded, as the camera unusually fell off on the previous flight so I never bothered putting it back on.

5

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: Yesterday at 08:35:34 »

I am absolutely certain you can port your number in the same way you can with a mobile.  Obviously, you can't port it to a copper lined analogue supplier who uses the Openreach Network due to a stop sell of all all-copper products from Openreach.

Who you go with depends on how you want it plugged in at your end.  If you want the phone plugged in to your router directly, you may end up having to use an ISP that provides a router capable enough - most do now as Digital Voice is the only future for fixed landlines.

If you don't mind an external adapter, you can pick any Digital Voice supplier, or SIP supplier, with the phone plugging into the adapter, and the adapter plugging into your wired network (WiFi isn't ideal).  Generally, better deals can be had by not taking out the DV service with your ISP, and shopping around.

If you have a SIP phone, unlikely now, but you may in the future, it can just plug in your network.

I've been using a SIP provider for over 20 years, mine is free rental (though this is no longer offered), about 1p per min to landlines and 11p per min to mobiles, and around 1.5p per min to my relatives the other side of the pond.


Downsides of these systems enforced upon us is they are reliant on electricity and a working, good, stable internet, whereas a traditional phone line isn't.  Most exchanges, even most of the small ones had batteries and small generators to keep the exchange up and running during power cuts, and providing enough power for non-cordless phones.

6

General Car Chat / Re: A simple disc and pad change...

« on: Yesterday at 08:22:49 »

I've hundreds of them  .... tiny 1.5mm up to 19mm & probably bigger. But as above, no 7mm or 11mm (did actaully have a 7 but it wouldn't fit in)

Same when I got the XE. One end needs a 7mm long hex key and I think that's an 11mm at the other end. Probably the same manufacturer of calipers. Fancy picking the two sizes that nobody will have in their toolbox.

Yup, XE uses Teves/ATE brakes, and are 7mm at rear and 11mm at front.  Worth ensuring you have both, and I'm staggered you haven't had to change the pads at the front yet

Additionally, when you do, the wear sensors are stupid money from JLR - something like £25 a pop last time I bothered checking.  If you're not in a hurry, they are around £2 each from Ching Chong land, which makes it almost worthwhile replacing them rather than pissing around trying to short them.

7

General Car Chat / Re: A simple disc and pad change...

« on: Yesterday at 08:18:13 »

I'd to go & buy a 7mm allen key and then later buy an 11mm allen key when I did brakes on the R Class. I went to various motor factors for them ... not a chance. Had to order off the interweb 

I have an old coffee tin with probably more than 100 allen keys in it. Yet to come across a size I don't have.....so far.

They are Teves/ATE callipers that us "less than common" allen keys.

Fords from the 80s and 90s often used Teves with the 7mm allen bolt, but with discs and callipers getting larger, 11mm ones are becoming more common.

Most allen key sets or socket sets with allen bits do not include these sizes, hence many peiople get caught out when starting the job....

8

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 14 February 2026, 17:32:35 »

Nothing a strip of gaffer tape wont put right. 

Stirrers from McDongals and some spray foam will soon see it sorted

Sadly not satisfactorily, the nose is in a bad way, as not only is it crumpled, but its obviously had a chat with the prop during the incident....   ...which helps explain the prop damage.

Normally, I'd have superglued all that foam back together "enough" to continue and chuck it back in the air, but a) I didn't take any glue with me, b) there isn't enough solid EPO left in the nose - its crumpled badly, not obvious in photo.

As we say in the flying community when and EPO plane has a big one, snow everywhere.


I could probably repair it to an extent on the workbench but the nose would remain fragile, but the entire airframe is only £50, it's not worth the effort.  All the electronics, servos, motors etc have survived.

9

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 14 February 2026, 15:01:36 »

I've decided it was time for more electricity for it.

10

General Car Chat / Re: E-Royal Mail Vans

« on: 14 February 2026, 15:00:22 »

Actually, my first van at British Smellycom was a Morris with an A series.

What memories!

None of them good when it came to that piece of shit rotbox.

11

General Car Chat / Re: E-Royal Mail Vans

« on: 14 February 2026, 12:05:23 »

Actually, my first van at British Smellycom was a Morris with an A series.

12

General Car Chat / Re: E-Royal Mail Vans

« on: 14 February 2026, 12:04:36 »

Bring back the green (painted) GPO Austin and Morris vans, with 'A' series engines!

Complete with the restrictor!  I mean, they were as flat as a witch's tit without the restrictor

13

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 14 February 2026, 12:03:05 »

Shiny new MOT on the BMW 530d 

Well a few advisories, so not that shiny really, but a pass is a pass! 

Well, the MOT is new and shiny, even if the car perhaps isn't in some areas - always a good feeling


Much concern with the advisories?

14

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 14 February 2026, 12:00:03 »

As James May would say, Oh Cock!

15

General Car Chat / Re: Disco Sport TD4...

« on: 11 February 2026, 09:46:58 »

....
Apparently a couple of days on charge has rectified the issue. Time will tell if it's a long term fix or if it needs a new aux battery.

My car is a 14 plate & still on its original batteries  .... fingers crossed 

Clearly you don't dunk you car to the point it floats and shorts out the battery* .


*Well, the starter and/or alternator.