Mobile Internet

In 2010 I had given some consideration regarding our internet access requirements on our planned narrowboat.  UK mobile phone coverage was ‘patchy’ and I had decided to purchase an Australian made outback 3G mobile phone antenna.  These were normally found on outback 4WD vehicles.  The antenna would be fitted to the roof of the boat and connect to a mobile phone which would in turn be connected to a battery powered wifi router. 

Within a week of arriving in the UK I had identified the wifi router was superfluous as the mobile phone could be configured as a wifi hotspot.  This setup worked and I can’t recall many occasions where we didn’t have internet coverage.

Time and technology move on and we’ve already progressed from 3G to 4G and now 5G.  This new technology means I can no longer connect an external antenna directly to a mobile phone if I want to receive good coverage. 

Most modern wireless routers now contain two antennas using a technology known as MiMo (multi in multi out).  This means an external MiMo antenna will also have two antennas combined into one casing with two leads from the antenna to the router.

Switching from a mobile phone hotspot to a wireless router doesn’t particularly bother me as we rarely made phone calls on the boat.  Moreover there has been a change in rules regarding the ability of mobile network providers to separate phone and data services.  Simply stated a UK SIM card will work in a phone or a router.

For narrowboats and motorhomes the relevant antenna types are Yagi and Omni.  Yagi antennas are directional.  for example, the TV aerial on the roof of a house is a Yagi.  It points in the direction of the TV Transmitter mast.  We had a small Yagi TV antenna on our narrowboat which looked much like a shark’s fin.  I would stand on the gunwale and rotate it until it was pointing at the TV Transmitter mast.  The external mobile phone antenna was an Omni.  This type of antenna has 360deg coverage meaning no requirement to point it at the transmitter.

If mobile phone coverage is good then an omni antenna is suitable.  However if the coverage is weak then a yagi will provide a better signal.  Most wireless routers have an internal omni antenna. 

As we would likely want to use the internet whilst moving we would need an omni external antenna and the logical place to locate it is on the roof.   Now we get to the interesting part.  All antennas are designed and manufactured with a gain measured in dBi.  Most antennas are manufactured with dBi gains between 0 and 25.  The higher the number, the greater the gain or ability to reach out and receive a transmitted signal.  One might think the best antenna is one with the highest gain.  However this isn’t true.  A low gain antenna has a signal receiving profile shaped like a dome.  It can reach up for a signal or outwards.  But not as far out as a high gain antenna.  In contrast a high gain antenna can reach out further but not up.  Essentially its signal receiving profile is like a DVD, whereas the low gain is like an upturned soup bowl.  Therefore if you were travelling over very flat terrain a high gain antenna would be the better option.  But if you are in hilly terrain then low gain is better.  Lack of mobile phone coverage is usually caused by intervening hills so a low gain antenna would be the preferred option for a motorhome.

Having decided on an external low gain antenna, say 5dBi, it would also need to be MiMo.  I would also want a low profile antenna as a tall antenna on top of a motorhome is likely to be regularly struck.  The ‘puck’ style antenna appears to be the best option.   Prices vary wildly.  I’ve seen them advertised for $100’s in the UK and less than $25 from China.  The chances are the connectors on the end of the antenna leads will be incompatible with the router.  This will require patch leads to achieve the connection. 

In summary

• MiMo technology
• Omni style antenna
• Low gain

Smoke

Visibility in our suburb has been very poor over the last two days.  Actually this is true for the entire Perth region.  The cause is a combination of controlled burning and a weather inversion.  Currently there are some 46 controlled scrub and forest fires in the region.  This is an annual autumn event where the relevant authorities attempt to remove summer bushfire risks by burning ground based fuel during the cooler months.  Unfortunately this year it’s been accompanied by a weather inversion which traps the smoke close to the ground.  Jan is suffering and we’ve made a decision to stay indoors until there is a weather change.  We’ve also just come out of lock-down so it’s not much of an issue to wait a few more days.

I did venture out yesterday morning to receive my first AstraZeneca injection before fitting a temporary “condom” to the dust extractor lean-to.

 

 Molly has check it out and apparently it’s OK.  Hopefully I’ll have it clad by next week. 

    

 

Saw Insert and the Router

Treated ourselves to a homemade ‘Spoons’ breakfast this morning.

It was delicious!  No doubt the colon will complain later today

I’ve made a blade insert from some scrap Jarrah timber for the DeWalt table saw. 

You can see the difference in the width of the saw blade slots between the original yellow insert and my homemade version.  The purpose of the new insert is to reduce the amount of sawdust and scraps dropping down beside the blade.  It should also provide better sawdust extraction as it should limited the amount of sawdust being thrown upwards and onto the table saw top.  Finally, it’s supposed to reduce blade ‘tear out’ leaving a cleaner cut.

My new box joint maker was delivered by the courier this morning.  It fits to my new mitre saw protractor.

 

The protector is far superior to the basic one that came with the saw.  My plan is to build a new workshop table which has the DeWalt table saw and a router lift inbuilt.  I’ll then be able to sell the Triton router Table and all the router accessories.  This should give me more room inside the shed.  I also hope to create more space by installing a French Cleat storage system.

The router carbon brushes have been replaced.  It wasn’t an easy job and I suspect the router designers gave little thought about replacing them.  After disassembling the top I identified the ends of the brush cables were located inside the body of the router in a very awkward position.  .

 

Initially I thought I’d have to disassemble the entire router.  Then I rethought my approached and decided to look for a manual online.  Not easy with an old router.  Well I found something in a different language.

Unfortunately it was little use.

I managed to work the old female spade connect off the terminal only to discover the new connector wouldn’t fit.  Eventually I realised the old and new were slightly different sizes.

The old is slightly wider than the new.

My solution was to remove the new spade terminal and solder the end of the old wire on before fitting a small piece of heat shrink insulation over the join.

 

It was then a simple not so simple case of fitting the brushes and terminal connectors before reassembling the router and testing it.

Good to go for another 15 years (I hope).  Total cost of the repair was £14 (including postage to Oz).   A new Festool router with similar functionality would cost approx $1900 and a Makita $600. 

Motorhome Pt2 and the Dust Extractor

Clarification should probably be made at this point.  We have no plans to purchase a motorhome.  I’m simply going through the planning process.

It appears many motorhome manufacturers de-rate the maximum allowed weight of their products to 3500kg as this is the max allowed weight to drive a vehicle on a car licence in the UK and EU.  However there is a caveat to this.  UK drivers who obtained their car license prior to 1997 (can’t remember the exact date) were automatically provided with a C1 class licence enabling them to drive a heavier vehicle.

In many instances it is possible to ‘up-rate’ the motorhome’s maximum load capacity without doing any physical modifications to the vehicle.  A qualified engineering company can do this and provide a new plate for the vehicle.  Of course if the total weight of the vehicle is increased beyond 3500kg then a C1 license will be required. 

I next visited the Ford UK website to check the load specifications for the Ford Transit single cab/chassis.  Unsurprisingly there are many variants.  The basic vehicle is front wheel drive and has a maximum load of 3500kg.  The heaviest load is almost 7 tonnes with the vehicle having rear wheel drive and dual wheels at the rear.  More research on the Bailey Adamo motorhome identified it was front wheel drive.  I suspect Bailey have used the base model Ford Transit.  This is logical as they would be looking for the cheapest option.  I considered whether it might be possible to replace the existing rear axle with a dual wheel one.  However after looking at photos of the Adamo it suggests to me dual wheels wouldn’t fit in the rear wheel arches. 

My conclusion is it may be possible to increase the Adamo load capacity, but it would probably involve engineering modifications.  Next step is to revisit mobile internet options.

Lock Down

The State has come out of the three day lock down, however some restrictions are still in place.  More information has been made available about how COVID escaped from hotel quarantine.  Apparently a Victorian resident had returned from overseas and completed 14 days hotel quarantine in Perth.  He was tested for COVID on day 12 and was negative.  On day 14 he was released into the community.  He then spent five days in Perth travelling around basically sightseeing.  Unbeknownst to him and the authorities he had contracted COVID after Day 12 from a couple in the hotel room opposite his.  As a consequence he spent five days in Perth as a super spreader.

I’ve previously mentioned the risks associated with using hotels as quarantine facilities.  In my opinion this incident confirm their lack of suitability.

The couple who were infectious with COVID had returned from India.  The annoying part of this (to me) was they had gone from Australia to India to get married.  The Federal Government has been quite clear that citizens are not allowed to travel overseas except for essential reasons.  There are couples in Australia who have delayed their wedding day multiple times because of quarantine restrictions and yet this couple were allowed to leave.  The media are also reporting there are a number of Australian cricketers participating in the Indian Premier League.  They will have been allowed to leave Australia and now some want to return.  To me; cricket doesn’t seem to be essential travel.

I do accept John Jenks comment in a recent post where he suggests we should be more proactive regarding obtaining the vaccine.  I’ve probably been too passive expecting to be contacted by the relevant authorities.  This morning I emailed my GP surgery to enquire about the vaccine and they phoned me back at noon with the offer of an appointment for 8am tomorrow. 

Sawdust Extractor

The sawdust extractor project has been paused as I need to buy some hinges and a hose connector.  Whilst lock-down is over we have decided to wait another couple of days before venturing away from the house.

The dust cyclone and filter bag have been fitted.  I’ve also temporarily propped the steel rubbish bin to the base of the cyclone. My plan is to hinge the white timber base under the bin in a trap door style arrangement.  The fan electrics have been re-wired which enables me to now operate the extractor from inside the shed.

Whilst this project has been paused I was fortunate enough to receive a small package in the post today.  This will enable another paused project to proceed.  The carbon brushes on my old woodworking router had worn away and I couldn’t find a supplier in Australia.  Eventually I found one in the UK, but they wouldn’t ship to Australia.  Our youngest son in Manchester kindly bought them and they arrived today.

I

I now have something to continue with.      

Motorhome Thoughts

Recently I started thinking about what we might do if we returned to the far side of the world for another holiday and to see family.  Having followed a number of blogs where the writers own a motorhome I started thinking about a motorhome holiday in Europe.  My research was progressing quite nicely until I discovered many of the rental companies have an upper age limit of 70.  By the time international travel is readily accessible I’ll be a year or two beyond that.

Not being disheartened I started looking at alternative.  I know of at least two antipodeans who have purchased motorhomes in the UK and then shipped them back home.  More research suggests this is easier to achieve when the destination is NZ rather than Australia. 

Interestingly if a new motorhome is purchased in the UK and exported within 12 months it is VAT exempt.  One can apparently privately import a motorhome into Australia provided it is at least 12 month old and has been used.  Import Duty is payable and GST (VAT) at 10% is  charged on the combined cost of the paid price of the vehicle plus the GST.  Obviously there is also the cost of preparing and shipping the vehicle along with the cost of modifications (gas & electric) to make it comply with Australian standards.  Planning the shipping would obviously be critical.  It would need to leave the UK before it was 12 months old and arrive in Australia after 12 months.

Using our narrowboat experience I started working on criteria.  It would need to be:

• Short enough to travel on European roads and fit into urban parking areas and camping grounds.  Not more than 7 metres
• Weigh no more than a car licence holder is legally able to drive (3500kg)
• Have sufficient interior room to live in for a year
• Have an automatic transmission.  Whilst I prefer to drive a manual, I suspect coping with driving on the right wrong side of the road will require more concentration than usual and an automatic will make this slightly easier.
• Be a vehicle (engine, transmission, etc) readily available in Australia as it might be hard to sell an orphan.
• Separate shower and toilet compartments (ie, not a wet room)
• Good storage for everything we will need to carry on board for a year.
• Cabin access from the left.  This is a legal requirement in Australia.
• If possible; multipurpose use of compartments.

Using the above criteria I started searching European motorhome manufacturers which eventually resulted in me selecting a motorhome from Chausson.  Then I discovered the Chausson has the cabin door on the right.

Further searching identified the 2021 Bailey Adamo 69-4.  

It has an automatic transmission and is based on a Ford Transit cab and chassis.  The vehicle is available in Australia.

The Adamo 69-4 has a dual purpose lounge and bedroom where the bed lowers from the ceiling when required.  It also has a large “garage” at the rear and separate shower/toilet compartments. 

The GVM (Gross vehicle Mass) is 3500kg and the MRO (Mass in Running Order) is 3090kg which includes a driver at 75kg and the fuel tank 90% full (81kg) with one full gas bottle (14kg)  Note the vehicle can carry two bottles.  The MRO also includes fluids for the heating system at 10kg.  This leave an available payload of 210kg.  It also assumes the fresh water, grey water and toilet cassette are empty.  However this doesn’t provide a true picture as the following weights needed to be added.

• Passengers  (our combined weight is probably 210kg less 75kg = 135kg)
• Additional fuel when tank is full = 9kg

Another 144kg to deduct from the available 210kg leaving just 66kg for everything else (clothing, bedding, food, crockery, cooking gear, bikes, TV, electronics, souvenirs, accessories such as an awning, etc)  Even if we both did some serious dieting we’d only add 50kg to the available payload. 

Realising there was a potential weight issue I started looking at motorhome forums.  On one forum an owner had listed their additional weights

• Passenger weight 75kg
• Dog 15kg
• Clothing shoes and essential items 60kg
• Bedding and towels 10kg
• Food for one week 40kg
• Cooking and dining equipment 15kg
• Bottles and cans of drink 5kg
• Total 220kg

Even this figure exceeds my calculated available 210kg by 10kg

I assume there are many overloaded motorhomes driving around Europe? 

It appears I need to do further research into uprating of the stock vehicle beyond 3500kg.  However may then require a different driving license. Another consideration is mobile internet access.  what is the cheapest option with the best network coverage?

Meanwhile, despite the heat, I’ve made further progress with the relocation of the sawdust extraction system.

I cut the length of spare fencing panel in half and painted the bare metal edges before installing it as the roof.  Next I made a panel on which I mounted the fan  before connecting it to the shed ducting.   The cyclone mounting box has been made and that’s when I ran out of energy.  It was just too hot and the salty sweat kept running into my eyes. 

More Room Required

There isn’t sufficient room in my “man cave” for all the projects I have planned.  After reviewing all the shed’s contents I decided the sawdust extractor was taking up too much room and needed to be relocated outside.

After digging out some turf beside the shed I got lazy used my initiative and fixed the boxing for the concrete pad to the timber baseplate.  I also fitted the retain bolts to the baseplate allowing them to dangle down into the void where the concrete footings will be poured.  I don’t intend to remove the boxing after the pad has been poured.  It can rot away.

My boxing and baseplate. 

The white pipe connects to the middle of the concrete pad inside the shed.  I installed the pipe before the shed floor was poured in anticipation one day I might want the bench saw to be connected to the dust extractor system.

After hand mixing seven bags of concrete in the wheelbarrow I had the footings and pad poured.  Then I erected the timber framing.

I’m going to use two sheet metal offcuts from the new boundary fence for the roof.  The three walls will be clad in fibre-cement sheeting.  However before I do that I need to make two access doors.  One for the motor and the other for the bin and filter bag.  I’ve already cut two circular holes through the shed wall.  One for the sawdust extractor pipe and another for the motor 240V power cable. 

The project will likely pause in the next couple of days as we have gone back into lockdown.  Another incident of COVID spreading in hotel quarantine.  The Perth and adjacent Peel regions of Western Australia have gone into lockdown until at least midnight Monday.  It’s a long holiday weekend and thousands fled the city before the curfew commenced at midnight last night.  Many of those that didn’t flee raced to the supermarkets and stocked up on toilet paper. 

I shake my head in disbelief that the State government persist with this hotel quarantine system.  Most hotel rooms have windows that do not open.  Air is pumped into the rooms through ducting systems that do not have filtering systems capable of trapping airborne COVID-19 particles.  The rooms are therefore slightly over pressurized which means the air has to leave the room,  mostly via the doorway or gaps around the door.  This has led to cross contamination between rooms infecting otherwise healthy guests.  The risk is then compounded because the hotels are almost all located in the middle of the city; a densely populated area.  Logically quarantine facilities would be located in a less densely populated location, in a facility where those in quarantine were sufficiently separated thus avoiding cross contamination.  But who am I to feed chocolate to donkeys!

The Federal Government COVID-19 Vaccination Program is starting to look farcical.  I suspect the Federal politicians wanted to take credit for the vaccination response and accordingly wanted to retain control of the plan and implementation.  This appears to have backfired spectacularly as actual vaccinations are well below the targets set by the Federal Government.  My assessment is there are two major issues.  The first is a very poor communication plan resulting in people not knowing where and when they can have their vaccination.  The second is a reluctance to have the vaccine as a result of the blood clotting risk.   Obviously if COVID was rampant in Australia people would decide the risk of contracting COVID was greater than blood clotting and would be clamouring to have the vaccine.  The situation gets even more complicated when the government tells the population the vaccine with the blood clotting risk (AstraZeneca) will be reserved for the elderly and Pfizer will be offered to the remainder.  Their logic is the potential for blood clots occurs in those with a strong immune system.  As the elderly have a weak immune system they are less likely of suffering from clots.  Moreover the elderly are more likely to suffer serious consequences if they contract COVID.  It appears many of the elderly aren’t buying the argument. 

I’ve done some research and it appears the risk of suffering from blood clots is greater from air travel than from the vaccine.  I’ve travelled by air quite a bit and I’m also on blood thinning medication, which leads me to believe the risk of me suffering from blood clots, if I have the AstraZeneca vaccine, are quite low.  But then no one has contacted me about having the vaccine.  Frankly, I think the Federal Government is three tomatoes short of a salad!

 

Maintenance, the Prince and the Cat

Jan mentioned I must have been tired when I wrote the last blog post as it’s riddled with errors.  Yes, I was tired!

The more positive news is I worked out how the disassemble and clean the two Daiwa surf casting reels.

The 40 year old grease was almost solid, but that has now been rectified.  I don’t intend to be around in 40 years so the next change will be someone else’s problem.

Whilst both reels are Daiwa 7000 models the silver one has roller bearing whilst the black has nylon bushes. 

I can’t left Philip’s passing go bye without mentioning a couple of humorous  incidents.  The year was 1958 and my father was a NZ Army officer attending the British Army Staff College.  The Queen and Prince Philip made an evening visit to the college where drinks and hors d'oeuvre were served.  Philip had joined a small circle of officers which included my father and was enjoying himself immensely conversing with men of his own experience.  Over his shoulder, on the other side of the room, my father could see the Queen who was starting to look rather bored.  She had done her duty and obviously wanted to leave.  Her equerry came over to Philip and quietly mentioned “I believe her majesty would like to leave Sir!”   To which Philip loudly replied “Yes Please!  I will have another gin and tonic”

On one of his early visits to Australia Philip was informed by the immigration official that he would be treated no differently to any other arrival.  Quite rightly, as Australia is an egalitarian country.  Philip was then asked “Any criminal convictions?”  To which he replied “I didn’t realise it was still a requirement!”

Now to the photo below.  I believe it is a compilation of statues where Hercules is attempting to give his cat a pill.

 

 

Fishing–Day 2

Once I’d finished watching Ken sort out the flood mess around his half of the campsite we headed down to the beach with the intention of completing some serious fishing.  I was anticipating BIG fish!

We must have driven 3-4 kilometres along the beach looking for a good spot that wasn’t already occupied.  Ken identified a promising gutter and we set up all the gear.  We spent a good four hours feeding the crabs the pilchards and squid we'd bought as bait.  Well we did catch a few fish.  Mostly silver bream, all undersized, which we returned.

That night I was chef reheating the frozen meal prepared by Ken’s lovely wife.  It was about this time I realised we had a problem with the trailer storage battery.  Minimal sunlight meant the battery was being depleted.  Eventually we decided to halve the load on the battery by turning off the freezer and transferring its contents to the fridge or Ken’s cooler bag.  I gave the ice creams to our camping neighbours children.

That evening I quadruple folded a blanket lengthwise laying it on top of the foam topper and under the sleeping bag.  Either I was more tired or the additional layers worked, because I had a reasonable nights sleep.

The next morning we opted to do some cross country sand track driving rather than go back to the beach.       

The easy part

Some very interesting sand driving occurred with Ken stopping on two occasions to let more air out of the tyres.  Eventually we reach “The Gap”, an isolated cove only accessible by 4WD. 

Here we spent several successful hours fishing for Herring from the rocks.  I’m not a fan of fishing from rocks as several rock fishermen drown annually after being swept away by a rogue wave.  However this rock formation was rather sheltered.  We caught 14-15 Herring before deciding we should leave the rest for another fisher (OK… they had gone off the boil)  Ken then fillets the fish under my supervision before we returned to the campsite.  I again cooked dinner.  This time it was ‘boil in the bag’ lamb shanks with corn on the cob. 

The following morning we had Herring fillets on bread for breakfast.  Ken dusted the fillets in flour and I cooked them in butter using the frying pan.  They were delicious!

On the 3rd Day we drove to ‘Blue Holes’.  Another isolated beach in the National Park only accessible by 4WD.  Two groups were already on the beach and catch herring.  We wanted Salmon.  After driving up and down the beach we settled on a promising spot and started fishing.  It didn’t matter whether I tried trolling with a lure or a set line using pilchards or squid; I never got a bite all day.

Meanwhile Ken had tossed out a set line and started surf casting with a lure.  That’s when this enormous salmon decided to commit suicide on his set line.

This is the size fish I wanted to catch.  It’s also the second time I’ve been fishing with Ken where he catches the fish and I catch a cold

That evening Ken filleted his salmon which I then vacuum sealed in bags before placing the fillets in the fridge.

Again I cooked dinner.  This time it was a frozen stew Jan had made accompanied by tinned potatoes.  For breakfast we ate the last of the sausages, bacon and eggs.

I suspect Ken was feeling guilty about catching all the fish and suggested we try our luck by detouring to Hamelin Bay  on the way home.  We had almost reached Hamelin Bay when I pointed out to Ken it was 2pm and we still had a four hour drive back to Perth.  There wasn’t enough time to fish.  And so we drove home.   Just to rub salt in the wound Ken gave me his Salmon fillets.  He also gave me some advice, suggesting I should do some maintenance on my fishing reels.  Apparently you should complete annual reel cleaning and maintenance.  I haven’t done that since they were purchased in 1981.  Another job to be added to the list.

 

Down South

Yes it has been almost a fortnight since the last blog post but I have a great excuse.  I’ve been fishing down south with Ken.  He suggested we travel south to Peaceful Bay on the coast of the Great Southern Ocean and fish for Australian Salmon.  This isn’t the type of salmon found elsewhere in the world.  Actually it’s not related in any way to salmon.  In New Zealand it is known as kahawai.  Around this time of the year the Australian Salmon start migrating north and I wanted to catch some.

Peaceful Bay is almost 500km south of Perth.  We booked two nights in the local caravan park.

The router south took us through a number of small rural towns.  They would probably be known as villages in the UK.  Much of the latter half of the route takes you through forests.  These are mostly Eucalyptus forest which are man made.  The original trees would have been hardwood Jarrah and Karri.  Most of this hardwood was felled and milled a century ago.  Vast quantities were shipped to England where it was used for floorboard.

The first european settlers initially built homes in the english style before quickly realising the design was inappropriate for the Australian climate.  They adopted the principle of thick wall and small windows with a steep pitched roof and a wide veranda around the exterior.  

A combined service station and pub

It took us 5½ hours to reach Peaceful Bay and the first task was to establish camp.

Ken had decided he didn’t want to share the rooftop tent with me opting instead for his red gazebo.  I hadn’t booked a powered campsite anticipating we could use the solar panels to keep the battery charged.

In the early evening we decided to check out the local beach.  It’s very long and the firm sand made driving relatively easy.

 

Two things happened that night.  The first was I discovered the “firm” mattress in the rooftop tent was like sleeping on a steel plate……. even with the 30mm foam topper pad.  The mattress also stank of new rubber.  The second was a major storm, which created quite a flood through the campsite.  It didn’t affect me as I was two metres above the ground.  However Ken had to get up during the night as his bed was almost in the middle of a small stream.  Neither of us got much sleep.  However it was a good test of the rooftop tent’s water resistance.

More in the next post.

English Treat

A 30km drive north to Merriwa this morning.  We went early as the temperature was forecast to be in the high 30’s.  These northern suburbs of Perth are known for having a relatively high number of UK immigrants and we were on a mission to find some traditional English food.  There is nothing special about the Merriwa community shops.

However we were looking for one special shop

The Yorkshireman’s Pie and Bakery

I acquired quite a taste for pork pies whilst we were living on Waiouru and they we quite easy to obtain.  Finding one in Perth isn’t nearly so easy!  Jan had obviously anticipated this because she bought a timber pork pie mould before we left the UK. 

The young lady behind the counter asked if I wanted a pie with or without jelly.  Why should I be restricted to only one pie? 

 

I’ve already eaten the pie without the jelly and to be honest it was slightly dry.  They are also smaller than the standard sized pies I remember buying in the UK.