Leaderboard

They do hardware NVR's as well. https://www.milestonesys.com/solutions/hardware-and-add-ons/network-video-recorders/ It was a bit slow to load this morning so give it a moment... I think this is folks not understanding wifi correctly, but I'll comeback to that. I too have heard reports about "reliability" although I have not been able to pin anyone down who can give me a good technical explanation. Now... settle in and we'll get back to wifi... Most folks looking at wifi look at the signal strength bars on their device. More than a couple of bars and it should work OK, right? Wrong! Wifi is a two-way conversation. Router talks to phone/tablet/doorbell which registers a signal. With wifi THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER is that phone/tablet/doorbell has to talk back to the router. If the return signal isn't measured, how do we know the signal from the phone/tablet/doorbell is even reaching the router? Most phone/tablets have around 50% of the transmit power (yes that's a sweeping statement but I need somewhere to start) of a home wifi router and a bit less than that of a professional grade wifi access point. The Ring doorbell transmit is what? So the phone/tablet/doorbell may well be able to see a wifi signal from the router but so what? It won't be able talk back because whilst the phone/tablet/doorbell is in range of the router, the router isn't in range of the phone/tablet/doorbell. So you can stand outside your front door (with it closed of course) and see a wifi signal on yer phone but does the router buried under the stairs or in the rear lounge or behind the telly see the phone talking back? Maybe yes, maybe no. But the SECOND MOST IMPORTANT THING about wifi is that once signal strength starts to drop, we start to see packet loss, that is data that doesn't make it all the way back to the router and this causes the connection to appear slow and in the case of streamed data (usually voice or live video) you will see buffering/jerky playback or simply a frozen image. And yes I do realise that having a wifi router on display is not everyones bag but the minute they are put out of sight the signal coming from them is compromised. So how powerful is a home router transmit power? The law has them max out at 100Mw. That's 1/10th of 1 watt and most of them don't transmit at that rate or anything near it. Phones/tablets run at abut half that as mentioned. Some deft Googling will reveal power numbers for most devices listed in dBm. How do I explain that to customers when "the wifi is crap..."? Like this: Imagine the Mw (or simple Watts) signal strength is measuring light bulbs. A 60 watt bulb is pretty bright. How bright is a 0.1 watt bulb? How bright is a 0.050 watt bulb? These are the power levels we are talking about for wifi (that's wifi, NOT 3g/4g which are more powerful and lower frequency so the signal travels further). So we are dealing with very low power. By the way, when asked if wifi can cause medical issues, the answer is no. It's nowhere near powerful enough and even if it was it is non-ionising radiation. Non-ionising means it CANNOT alter human DNA, so it CANNOT cause DNA mutations. It's more dangerous going out in bright sunshine than sitting next to a wifi router. When looking at signal strength using any of the free wifi testing apps (and currently the one I Iike best is by Ubiquiti, called WifiMan) remember this. dBm is a logarithmic scale. 3dB difference between signal strength is HALF the power. 10dBm (rather satisfyingly) is 10 times (or 1/10th) the power. I try to keep signal strength measured at the phone/tablet to -67dBm or lower. A -50dBm strength is excellent and anything numerically lower is a proper banging signal. But -67 is very good and should pass any test, even for voice/video streamed traffic. What perspective am I coming from? I design, configure, deploy, commission and support large wifi and network/internet deployments for a living including CCTV. For anything even remotely security related I insist on wires for EVERYTHING and that includes doorbells. I do appreciate that wireless is very convenient and makes DIY installation of CCTV and the like very easy. But if you want reliability and performance, get as much stuff off the wifi as possible. If I was to fit a Ring (or Nest or any other "security" doorbell/camera/"smart-home device), I'd make the effort and pull some cables or use TP Link (or similar) home plugs to extend WIRED connectivity. Yes they do wireless extenders too but that's a whole other set of things to worry about. Too many wifi points is just as bad as not enough.

The programme was on as I got ready to leave the house for Stoneleigh and the Race Retro Show yesterday morning. I pressed the "Record" button (telling my wife it wasn't one of my usual "accidents" with the Sky box that she was not to erase) and have watched it through earlier this morning - whizzing through the local and Brexit news of course. A really excellent, moving, warming story, as Andrew said, arising from a chance meeting in a park. Tony Foulds has carried guilt with him for 75 years and has tended the memorial to the ten US airmen who sacrificed their lives so as not to plough through children (one of whom was an eight year old Tony) playing in the Sheffield park as they searched for a green space to set their crippled Flying Fortress down within a densely built up area. Family members of the airmen had come from America, thousands of people attended, some with memories of 75 years ago and an emotional flypast of UK and US aircraft topped off the morning. I thought that the whole programme was excellent, despite frequent recaps to suit the "rolling news style". Well done BBC who captured so many emotiaonal moments so well and particularly well done to Dan Walker (and his dog) for stumbling across the tale. To Tony Foulds whose commitment is astonishing, who presented himself with humour and dignity (and quite a few tears) I truly laud you and sympathise with you. Simon

A quick gather together and then it was up to The Barrel Inn for a coffee and a catch up on everyone's news The Barrel Inn At The Barrel Inn, parked on the 'sea front' there are wonderful views if the fog would just do one please Then we went for a drive round, the roads were nice and quiet but we did follow a wobble box for a short while, pah, it is February, caravans are not allowed in the Peak District until the summer. The good news is that we did not find any cow poo. We arrived at The Yonderman and most of the motorbikes had already left, apparently it was packed earlier, it is a bit of a breakfast place though and we had come for lunch. The Yonderman Most of us had a full English breakfast for lunch, which set us up nicely for cake time, for which we went to the Insomnia Cafe. Appropriately named because Martyn had a little sleep while Glen held his nose. Coconut and chocolate bar, lemon drizzle, fruit cake and a pecan sponge cake were enjoyed as we sat outside in the sunshine. I had to pity poor Mo, sat at a crossroads with a load of car enthusiasts, who proceeded to name every kind of interesting car that went past. It was surprising just what we all saw, the weather brings them all out I think. We had a laugh though with Glen and Sue and their 'was it a snake or was it a hosepipe story'. We might be a bunch of old farts but we covered some strange topics and had a good laugh along the way, so thank you Chris and Mo, Martyn and Sue for being fabulous company for us.

I've added an old monitor and Raspberry Pi as a fixed CNC controller- killed 2 birds with 1 stone because it gives me TV in the garage, too

It's survivor's guilt but writ large because he is firmly convinced that the crew died for his and his pals' sakes. If the world was made of people like him wouldn't it be a far better place? Moving is an understatement.

Nice morning changing the oils and filter, quick drive to Lymington to the pub in the sunshine just lovely

Hi everyone Just saying hello as I have recently bought my first Westifeld, a 2l Zetec black top with Jenvey throttle bodies and an Omex ECU and it was love at first sight! I was very lucky to buy it from a community member who had built it with care and attention and who will be keeping up to date on its progress @Jon Parker Really looking forward to getting involved in the community and meeting other owners and have found it a really good resource already. Thanks all!

Hello everyone, Reading past posts etc all seem a good bunch. After years of dreaming of owning a Westfield the time has come to make the move. I have a little more time on my hands, some spare cash and most importantly a nice dry and secure garage. I am looking for a widebody model preferably, nothing too mad (my budget won't allow) just a nice tidy example something to get me on the first rung of the Westy ladder. My budget is up to 7k does anyone out there have one that needs a new home?

Spent the day doing them outdoor jobs that needed doing as the weather is nice and tomorrow I’m hoping to finish off the little tinkering that I had started on the Westfield 2 month ago. I hope to be out soon.

Just spotted Brexhaustion.

Yup. Especially our type of clients There's no way this problem is with their gear. Oh no, it has to be "the network". Yes, of course it does...

That's for me, not the car.

A day off work today gave me a chance to complete another couple of jobs. First task was to make a bracket for the throttle cable. The new master cylinders I'm using have a taller reservoir compared to the original parts which meant they would fet in the way of the throttle cable run to the pedal. The easiest solution was to make a bolt on extension bracket for the oringal mounting that would raise the mounting slightly so it would clear the top of the master cylinder. The other job for the day was fitting the windscreen. I'd had some screen blanks made recently by the laser cutters from perspex but these needed to be formed to the correct shape. I'd been hoping to use the oven but the blanks were slightly too big to fit so I had to resort to using the paint stripper gun to soften the perspex. Once softened sufficiently it was laid over a curved former that I'd made using hardboard and then left to cool. (Sorry for the lack of pictures from this process).

I love you too, Stephen *makes new "StephenH" page in revenge book*