h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some folks might think that is one talking to themselves.

Anyway, we know that we share mutual friends, and some aquaintances. So I thought it was hight time that I dropped in and said "Hello". Wishing you and your closest tribe the very best and festive of the season.

ta! nick, but I'm now wondering ??

Canuck is that a reference to yours or my nationality ?
and in some cases concidered a insult ??? but not by many



and PS: yep! I have/we share mutual friends and some aquaintancies, but I also have relations on here as well,though not living close enough to visit

I've only heard of 'Canuck' as a side-name for us Canadians, and not met anyone bothered by it. Does it sometimes get applied to folks on your side of the Atlantic Puddle?

So far as I know, I have no relations on hootoo, but then, ... unless they admit it, how would I know, eh?

mainly yanks calling you lot/french or us it, but apparently, it's from the french, in the first place


I treat all insults as compliments anyway, that way I get more

I see. I've worked with a lot of 'Murican folks, and deal with quite a lot as sources of information and replacement parts. And never saw stuff as an insult. But then, I too have a pretty thick hide. With some of the regions and winters in this country that I've seen, you need one.

replacement parts ?your house full of arms and legs etc then

Oh yeah, when you get to my age, you can never have too many limbs, joints and just secondary bits.

Actually, my work is about the same as it's been for 30 plus years ... repairing and maintaining military radio and radar equipment. And some of it is getting rather old, and replacement parts are only to be found at limited sources.

30 year, ain't they updated yet - it's the digital age now you know, not valvesand run on gas


away to kip nick, catch you latertime here

Oh, we're far too modern to call them valves here, though some of the schematics still do.

G'night, sir. See ya around the common journals and stuff.

I used to hate working out V.I.R., I preferred the stock faults, straight forward then

Even after this long, I enjoy the mental challenge. Once in a while, a problem will really have me stumped ...

your kidding, everything is done by jigs and processors, for fault finding, even tv guys are glorified delivery men now, glad I got out in the mid 70's

That does seem to be the way of it, at the operating sites. But someone has to do the component level repair, ... you know, 3rd-line, factory level stuff? That's me.

second fiddle to a computer, like most are going now a days

Perhaps. One day, the factories will build the mind that finds the actual problems, and machinery to fix 'em. But until then, especially with government purchased equipment, I think I have a working position.

Somehow, when equipment passes a certain frequency or power level, the BITE just doesn't do it.

wd40 and a Manchester screwdriver works wonders on any electrical appliance

Yer common kettle, toaster or even dot-matrix printer, perhpaps. But these silly 10 KW and 25 MWatt systems get so uppity to brute force.

It is an oddity, that any levels of precision of BITE can be built for low-level, digital circuitry. But once it transitions into old-fashioned analog stuff ... which RF kinda depends on, ... the programmed test stuff shrugs shoulders and says "that stuff is bad". Well, whoo, that doesn't fix it and get it live again.

it all ends up as amplitude modulation in the end, so why go FM and digitalin the first place

Indeed, a lot of today's stuff gets digitized, multiplexed, encoded and what-ever else. And yet, it needs the AM or FM to carry it across the air-waves.

I do find so many changes cool though. In the late 70's, 10 KW HF was the way, and yet 1 KW does the same job today. The "crown" paid ridiculous rates for specially conditioned phone lines to carry 2400 baud, and yet my 1940's grade copper brings 4 MB/sec DSL to this computer.

never got that far down the linehouse calls was my job, spray it, thump it and have a cuppa