Secondly I was going to post about our new streetlights but my XYL's new BLOG on the environment says far more about it than I could.. have a look here

Kath my dear XYL has been reading all the governments Green documents regarding Peak Oil, She has been reading many bits and bobs out to me. It got me thinking about where the Government are planning certain things.

Nuclear Power stations are all pretty much in the North of the Country. Why the North simply because the east coast is erroding and this will accellerate as the water levels rise. The south of the country is sinking. Funnily the North west is still still rising from the last Ice Age when the plates where depressed by Ice sheets. I can intuit that we have already hit Peak Oil, and the Government didn't do anything until it was too late. Worse they still won't admit it because its is an election killer. So what is going to happen now? well we have two options, one we find a solution that doesn't use nuclear. If all the worlds proposed nuclear power stations where brought online together we would only have three years worth of power Left (Source the http://www.energyfiles.com). Two: We can continue going the way we are and as oil runs out there will be riots, murders and deaths, potentially civil war, or even a global war. Riots and wars will result in polution! **

Transition from Nuclear and Oil needs to be implemented not tomorrow but yesterday. If every house could put a wind turbine up we would resolve some of the problems of power. But why don't we? because if there was legislation the government would be responsible for putting the power companies out of business.

How can we force change?

• Use local suppliers Not Supermarkets.
• Refuse Plastic wrappers and remove packaging at the point of sale, leaving it for the store to deal with.
• Get rid of the car and use public  transport or walk*
• Shun air travel
• Holiday in your country
• Install a water butt in your garden and don't waste water.
• Consider the viability of a Composting Toilet
• Consider a eco house
• If you have children, why not take them walking, or kite flying instead of to the fun fair etc.
• Buy a wood burning stove
• plant trees
• Get rid of all petrol and desiel mowers and strimmers.
• Use only recycled paper
• Recycle more
• Stop buying things for the sake of buying a new gadget
• Join your local freecycle group, and offer things there instead of dumping it at the tip to go into the local landfill.
• Cook only what you need, if you have leftovers can they be reused
• Grow your own Vegetables, barter with your friends instead of paying  for stuff.

*Even disabled people can get about without a car, taxi's have access ramps as do busses, get involved in a car sharing scheme or car pool.

Remember that even Currency is threatened by the changes happening now, it is no suprise that the recession has hit now.

An other thing to think on is the fact we all have pc's all keyboards and mice are plastic, why, wood would be much better. The radio's we use could ask the manufacturers for wooden faces, less plastic all round.

** Polution effects the water table, we need water to live, there is already too much polution in the water table already, what would the effect of a chemical attack or dirty bomb really be.

 [Edit] Thank you Simon & Olivia, my beloved children who helped on this post [/Edit]

If you look at the ones with three verticals and diagonal cross peices and your neighbours might complain why not put some hanging baskets on the base of the tower. Now hows that going to benefit you?

• Adding more weight to the base of the tower will add to its stability.
• putting herbs, fruit and small veg will make your shopping bill lower.
• Adding to the 'Green suburbia' ideology will make planning permission easier.
• even the smallest yard can look nicer with a few plants, and your partner is less likely to complain.
• By using vertical planting you get the most out of the space available.

All good enough reasons to attempt to get a mast of this type.

• www.uk.freecycle.org/ Join your local freecycle group, you often see ladders, poles, 1/2 bags of concrete, bricks etc. I even got a solar panel!
• Join your local Amateur Radio Clubs, you can get some decent reusable bits either free or for very little cost.

Now we are planning a Special Event Station, the kit involved in that is a TS-480SAT (100w) with external tuner, a FT290R MKI for 2m and a 4m FM rig. the TS-480 is run by Ham Radio Deluxe, the power for the laptop will be coming from an invertor that has been wired to a battery again. We need to take into account that the PC is also handling logging and so is a Eee Netbook, so there drain on the batteries needs to be worked out, but taking ten or so batteries just in case of emergencies is going to be excessive and potentially dangerous, battery boxes are really essential as is a tub of baking soda to nutralise any acid spills (Battery acid ate my leather trousers).  I use a Solar panel to keep the batteries topped up, but intend on adding more plus a wind turbine.

Remember that all cabling needs to be short run, and preferably either above people or buried, remember though if your using public sites to a) ask permission of the landowner first, and b) leave the place in the condition you found it (or better)

Create a checklist of what you need ie, mast, guys x3, pegs, antenna's, feeder, patch leads, battery connectors, re-useable cable ties, screwdrivers, adjustable spanner, hammer, transciever x3, power cables, interface cables, paper logbook, solar panel, batteries, safety signs, first aid kit, morse key, food and drink. I am sure there are bits missing, but I write a different list for each event.

Remember to scout the event site out in advance and leave plenty of setting up time.