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Old 30th Apr 2020, 9:38 am   #1
Radio Wrangler
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Default One of my radios in action

For a day-job I design the transmitters and receivers of aircraft radios and transponders.

Using one of the webpages like Flight Radar 25, you can see what aircraft are in flight from a network of private receivers around the world. Occasionally I come across a plane I know to have one of ours fitted. Just having a nosey this morning at how little aviation is going on in current circumstances, I spotted a light single near Peterborough.

Registration LF363, Flagged as British.

Oh? Not a G- prefix? Odd... look it up...

Hurricane, believed to be the last delivered to the RAF in the war. Part of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight. They have our radios fitted.

Hello, hello, hello, where's he going?

He lurked a bit south of Bletchley then flew straight and level towards Bedford at 08:30. There was a news chopper hanging about in the vicinity.

So it looks like I happened to see Captain Tom Moore's flypast, and contributed in a small way. It wasn't by intent, just simple luck.

So there's a connection between this group and something you might see on the news today. The radio gear's modern but the technology it's supporting (BBMF) is vintage and absolutely classic.

It seems a company restoring Spitfires planned a flypast but got blocked by D of Transport as a non-essential flight. So the RAF stepped in.

I've got a painfully big smile on my face!

David
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 9:41 am   #2
M0FYA Andy
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

I watched the flypast on BBC Breakfast - an excellent tribute!

Andy
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 12:30 pm   #3
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

I use Flightradar24 .
It's fantastic especially as I live opposite an airport.
So much information and goes well with my airband radio which I use a lot .
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 12:44 pm   #4
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

Quote:
I've got a painfully big smile on my face!
And people wonder why we love engineering (even some engineers).

I like to receive the transponders directly, easy with a few low cost bits and I can feed into Flight24, as they say, "every byte counts".
 
Old 30th Apr 2020, 1:05 pm   #5
kalee20
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

Brilliant, David!

May have been, as you modestly put it, a contribution "in a small way." But an important part, and one to be proud of!
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 11:09 pm   #6
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

You may or may not have had the impact Cpt. Moore has had but still something to rightly be proud of. Shame on DfT for blocking the Spits though, maybe not strictly "essential" but just as much so (if not more than) people travelling to applaud the NHS at hospital sites around the country.

SWMBO monitors flights on occasion too & we've actually been surprised at the amount of aircraft that ARE up, all things considered
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Old 1st May 2020, 8:23 pm   #7
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

Many orders of magnitude less impact, and other people designed the digital bits and software for that gear. It's a small company on the outskirts of Edinburgh doing product design and marketing. Our manufacturing has had to be moved out of the UK to maintain its formal certification as legal for flight - as we are no longer covered by any certifying body. There's about 600 firms caught out in this particular trap according to the IET, the best known being Rolls Royce as in aero engines. They're now a German company. We went Dutch so to speak.

David
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Old 2nd May 2020, 2:10 pm   #8
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

I didn't quite get your comment about the certification issue David. Did you mean that there is no UK body qualified to certify products for aviation use?
In any case, it seems crazy to me that a company would be forced to move a major part of its operation abroad in order to keep trading.
Mark.
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Old 2nd May 2020, 5:32 pm   #9
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

True, and crazy.

Not only is there no body to certify new products, but existing certificates for products and organisations went void.

The base cause is not for discussion on this forum, but the consequence is that a significant part of the RF and electronics industries have just had to move out, close down, or find a different sort of product to make. No headlines, no ripples on the pond, just gone. No-one outside the industry seems to have noticed. But after consumer electronics went Eastwards, this is a big blow to what was left.

I've lost part of my job, becoming a part timer. Our firm is keeping R&D here, for as far as they can plan.

I've said as much as I can.

David
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Old 2nd May 2020, 7:05 pm   #10
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Default Re: One of my radios in action

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
Occasionally I come across a plane I know to have one of ours fitted. Just having a nosey this morning at how little aviation is going on in current circumstances, I spotted a light single near Peterborough.

I've got a painfully big smile on my face!

David
Great stuff! And I hope you get many more big smiles.

Peter
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