Pompey Mick

Down here in Portsmouth, 08.30, its high broken cloud with a fair bit of strong sun, still quite cool, Lt SW wind. Update at 9.30 for Rennes birds with the Solent Fed

First Channel race for the Solent Fed from St Malo 160ml, held till 12.30 due to weather, birds about 1hr slower than anticipated. Returns at clocks was about 50% , birds were still working in up to dark and next morning. I got 11/14, my Uncle got 16/16 but some fanciers weren't so lucky. We were expecting 50mph plus but the Fed winners were just above the 40mph. Looking at the Solent early times the birds seem to have kept to the French coast before crossing east of the Isle of Wight. The wind in the Channel must have been stronger West and colder than we thought. I was well off the pace but happy to clock, not what was wanted for our first Channel race, bound to affect birdage next week. http://www.kdwebsolutions.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37

Here in Portsmouth 08.30 its a lovely sunny morning with a light WNW wind. Unfortunately its not looking so good in France with light rain and cloud about. We are at St Malo with the Solent Fed, waiting for news.

Were the loft clocks updated before the race was marked, Unikon emphasize that members must update their bases before an official race.

Flying in the Milton HS with the Solent Fed we pay Fed Charges plus 20p for prize money, the Fed charged 30p for Kingsdown last week so we paid 50p. To make things easy we prepay £1.00 a bird every race and hopefully at the end of the season there will be a surplus for every member. After this weeks Exeter, every OB race will be a Channel race and costs will rise considerably with the Ferry costs as they are. Last year birdage charges went through the roof due to the 7Day rule but we are hoping that birdage charges will be much lower this year with the anticipated extra birdage.

11/12 From Exeter with the Solent Fed.

On EastCoast Software you cannot alter the Liberation date until all the clocks are downloaded. This is because the computer will not find the race in the ETS clock if you alter the lib date. You will obviously end up with a false result with very low velocities. Once download is complete you have to go to race edit and then alter the Liberation date. This also happens if the Race Point has to be moved, i.e. birds brought back due to weather.

Portsmouth 09.00, Still bright and sunny after overnight rain, fresh SSW wind. We're at Exeter hoping for a Liberation about now.

I think it's a great idea for the working fancier, especially self-empoyed lads trying to fit in racing pigeons as well as earning a crust. This week, we were at Kingsdown and getting regular info on the probability of a lib. In the end we liberated at 13.30 , if there was a text messaging service available then anyone trying to fit in a shift at work would have had enough info to enable him to do so. Not every fancier is sat in the bar waiting to be told when to go home, there are plenty out there trying to keep their heads above water and race their birds. I will try and implement it for my Club members who would benefit from this type of communication.

Portsmouth 08.15, Cold, Total grey overcast Lt NE wind, promises to brighten later, not much sign of any improvement yet. We're at Kingsdown 93mls to the West. Could be a long wait, No lib yet (Thanks for small mercies) update at 10.00

As a Secretary is basically a servant of the Club, I would have thought it best if he/she were non-flyers. They could then concentrate on the administration side of things. Any affiliation fee necessary would become part of their remuneration. The General Manager of the RPRA is a total non-pigeon fancier who just does as he is told and deals solely with the adminstrative side of the RPRA with no personal agenda or opinion on pigeon related topics at all.

Portsmouth, weathers finally cleared into blue skies after another murky start. Managed to get a first toss in this morning for the widowhood cocks, still a chill in the air though. Here's a website for views across the Solent from the IOW to Southern Hampshire. You need to load up firts and it takes a bit of time but once you've done that it loads straight away afterwards. http://www.cowesharbourweather.com/webcam.aspx

08.00 Portsmouth, Heavy overcast, light drizzle, little or no wind, no sign of any immediate improvement.

Portsmouth 08.30 Completely overcast, very little wind, no breaks yet in the cloud cover.

Did you update the loft clock before running the race, I had the same problem when I ran a dummy race and put the pocket clock in the base, which was then updated. I 'clocked ' a pigeon and no time was shown on the print out. I did another dummy race after and all was OK. Unikon do say that base clocks must be updated before racing. I do agree with your sentiments on the timing, much too near racing for my liking, doesn't give a chance to sort out any problems. Trouble is the majority of members dont get the hassle only the poor ETS administrators.

ECS has just released an update to make it compatable with this update (apart from pools). As for the Unikon manager I wouldn't think ECS users need bother with the update as we dont use it at all. Looking at the update it looks as if ECS will now accept assigned rings from the Unikon system.

The original 3way test was designed for testing the balance wheel on the wind-up clocks. You had to test the balance wheel in the horizontal position, then in the vertical position on its right hand bearing and then once again in the vertical position on its left hand bearing. This was necessary because, in the older clocks, the balance wheel could become worn and there could be a marked difference in variation depending which way the balance wheel was aligned. Unscrupulous fanciers could use this knowledge to gain vital seconds. The 3way test was designed to check for any discrepancies. The more modern quartz, having no balance wheel, needed only a one-way test for 24hrs. Apart from running the clock, it should have always been checked for any physical security breaches, bit like an MOT. As for the ETS systems, I can see no real reason for tests, as it is all electronically secured and is self certifying. The only test you could put on an ETS system is a diagnostic test which could check the software within the clock,bit like an anti-virus program, perhaps this will come.

I compared my loft location to a SatNav one, Google Earth, and Windows Live Maps. All the Electronic ones were similar, the RPRA map one didn't match any of them. It put my loft about 200yds SE of its Google position. I tried it with another members loft with similar results. If we did go to GPS mapping then everyone would need to done over one close season, a tremendous workload similar to when the calculation method was changed. We couldn't have either/or, it would have to be all GPS or all mapping. No picking and choosing.

This is a site for amateur weather sites, dont give forecasts but very handy for live line of flight on race days. http://wdworldmap.com/gmap-uk.php

Whilst travelling to work about 6yrs ago I spotted a large black animal slinking through the bushes on the side of a hill just North of Bordon on the Hants/Surrey border. Its gait was unmistakeably of the large cat family and its coat was ink black. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My co-worker in the van with me also saw it in the short time it was on view. I believe in my own mind that it was definately of the panther family even though at the time I couldn't believe myself what I had witnessed.

Mine is about 15ft from my backdoor.

Hours of Darkness come into force when the race runs into two or more days. They are a non-flying allowance which is deducted from the time elapsed since liberation to obtain an Actual Flying Time to calculate velocities. It is the period whereby it is deemed that pigeons will not fly and is stipulated by the organisation you race with. i.e. 22.00hrs-05.00hrs The HOD vary with the time of year and also how far North you are located. It is very inexact, and can vary considerably with weather conditions, sometimes to your advantage, sometimes not.

Here on the South Coast the majority of our races are cross-channel. The birdage last year was astronomical, mainly because of the 7day rule and administration costs, hopefully this year with weekly racing and a new administration in place there will be a significant reduction. Race Point Birdage Kingsdown 0.82 91mls Lessay 1 0.51 110mls Picauville 0.55 100mls Falaise 1 0.65 137mls Falaise2 1.27 Messac 1 1.58 208mls Lessay 2 1.25 Tours 1 1.54 250mls Tours 2 2.0 Lessay 1.07 Saintes 1.90 350mls Lessay 1.35 Bergerac 3.78 417mls Kingsdown 0.41 Exeter 0.46 108mls Guernsey 1.13 112mls Yelverton 0.93 133mls Kingsdown 0.42 Exeter 2 0.62 Yelverton 2 1.17 Guernsey 1.73 As you can see we dont get many miles for our money. Over the season I sent 175 pigeons and my total fed bill was approx £190.00 plus £28.00 Fed Fees.

Haven't got mine yet, I was told to phone Mon to get another one posted to me. Normally always comes in Thursday post.

Jack needs a new loft, so come on you loft builders, get some free advertising and supply Jack Duckworth with a decent loft to be proud of, for everybody to see.