Ah, SWEB. I remember it well. I did 10 years in the Plymouth SWEB. Looking back, there were some good and bad times...
Smart meter con ?
- Thread starter woodieallen
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woodieallen
Established Member
Interesting as I’m reading Peter Rice’s book ‘An engineer imagines’. Did you know him?
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
I remember visiting Tottenham Court Road with my dad in the seventies and have always wondered why those shops all congregated there? On one trip we bought all the components for a Crystal Set Radio - the days before iPads!
woodieallen
Established Member
A couple of interesting threads from elsewhere
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/...lisle-st-tottenham-ct-rd-in-their-prime-(uk)/
https://oddsnsods.net/blog/?p=204
woodieallen
Established Member
Trying to remember the name of that company that sold mail-order all sorts of nails, screws, bits and bobs....Whiston's ? Google suggests that is wrong
I met him on a number of occasions as I worked on the Sydney Opera house design and construction.
woodieallen
Established Member
Working on that must have been fascinating. Reading his book sounds like Arup are/were a good company to work for.
HOJ
Established Member
Having worked for Eastern Electricity many many moons ago I was part of a team that went out looking at "alleged" meter fraud, (the tamper squad!)
And disconnected quite a few hot wired transformers from supplies, along with finding other methods that people had adopted, to include the pin through the side, and the back, which wasn't so obvious, and in those days the coin meters which were rusting out, where they had made and used ice moulds of coins.
My guys were called the "tamper team". If they got a good one they used to call me in to take evidential photographs with the office Pentax for possible prosecution. This was rare though as Board policy was to let them off with a warning if they paid back the estimated arrears. Most did but their names also went on a blacklist.
One of the favourite "foreign object" devices on our patch was a knitting needle through a hole strategically drilled in the side. They would then carefully peel off a cert sticker from the front and stick it over the hole when the needle was out, replacing the needle when they wanted to use anything high powered, the oven for instance, craftily trying not to reduce consumption by enough to raise suspicion. The scratches on the disc were a dead giveaway though.
It was an honour to work for them, throughout my working life saying I trained with Ove Arup had a cachet that others did not have, it was in the days when Structural Engineers and Architects had to spend at least six months on site to learn what construction really involved to join their respective institute/association.
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Diver Fred
Established Member
In a former career I was 'Device' (mobile 'phone handsets) manager for my then employer - a not so well known UK cellular phone operator. In my section of the company we commissioned an independent body to do ICNIRP research* on handsets. In the late 2000's we had a number of cell sites questioned due to their placement (along with the big 4 operators). I, along with with engineers from those operators gave presentations on why we chose those locations for the Cell base station sites - the 'Masts'. Most of the objections we had to counter were from concerned parents when the selected site was either a school or close by.
At the time I had access to the handsets 'engineering & faulting' tools so could demonstrate how the handsets transmit power varied with the received signal levels. Also as part of the presentations I/we explained basic antenna performance so when close to a site the majority of the transmitted signal is directed above the user (see https://www.researchgate.net/figure...a-typical-Mobile-Tower-Antenna_fig1_370338276)
so actually having the cell site at or very close by the school was a benefit and not just for the service performance. That really went over many of the more argumentative objectors heads
!A few memories from those meetings;
The number of people who didn't know, and on 2 occasions disputed, that a mobile 'phone and for that matter cordless 'phones are transmitters as well as receivers;
The number of kids who had expensive 'Smart' phones (read, very much that years model);
The most intelligent questioning was from the pupils and staff at a 'public' school.
*this link is a current document on ICNIRP not related to the one my employer commissioned in 2001.
https://www.icnirp.org/cms/upload/publications/ICNIRPrfgdl2020.pdf
Or a 7 minute presentation
https://www.icnirp.org/en/activities/news/news-article/rf-guidelines-2020-published.html
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John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
I'm sorry, but that pdf really is a case of too long, didn't read!In a former career I was 'Device' (mobile 'phone handsets) manager for my then employer - a not so well known UK cellular phone operator. In my section of the company we commissioned an independent body to do ICNIRP research* on handsets. In the late 2000's we had a number of cell sites questioned due to their placement (along with the big 4 operators). I, along with with engineers from those operators gave presentations on why we chose those locations for the Cell base station sites - the 'Masts'. Most of the objections we had to counter were from concerned parents when the selected site was either a school or close by.
At the time I had access to the handsets 'engineering & faulting' tools so could demonstrate how the handsets transmit power varied with the received signal levels. Also as part of the presentations I/we explained basic antenna performance so when close to a site the majority of the transmitted signal is directed above the user (see https://www.researchgate.net/figure...a-typical-Mobile-Tower-Antenna_fig1_370338276)
so actually having the cell site at or very close by the school was a benefit and not just for the service performance. That really went over many of the more argumentative objectors heads
A few memories from those meetings;
The number of people who didn't know, and on 2 occasions disputed, that a mobile 'phone and for that matter cordless 'phones are transmitters as well as receivers;
The number of kids who had expensive 'Smart' phones (read, very much that years model);
The most intelligent questioning was from the pupils and staff at a 'public' school.
*this link is a current document on ICNIRP not related to the one my employer commissioned in 2001.
https://www.icnirp.org/cms/upload/publications/ICNIRPrfgdl2020.pdf
But I do remember trying to explain that sitting the antenna in the roof of the school would be safe.
But hey ho, nobody believes in science these days...
In my opinion I don’t think there is any difference in the metres. The reason they want everyone to change to the new ones is theft. John brown and HOL have hit the nail on the head. We used to call in an auto electrician for cars on a regular basis and he once showed us a devise made from a battery charger that made the metre go backwards and he was selling them. No I didn’t buy one.
woodieallen
Established Member
Don't anyone tell Jacob that
