Pompey Mick

The Milton Homing Society is based in Portsmouth with Headquarters at the 'Old House at Home' PH. It has currently 25 racing members and races with the Solent Fed across the Channel and the Southampton & Dist NR Fed up to Scotland.

After a ring assignment I always synchronise back to the computer to get the ets rings on file for backup purposes.

Nice to see someones got good weather, all the best.

This years race programme is: Fougeres May 11th Cholet June 8th Bergerac July 12th Truro YB Aug 31st Prize Money for these races will be; 1st: £100.00, 2nd: £50.00, 3rd: £25.00, 4th: £15.00 5th: £10.00, & 6th: £5.00 There will also be a £100.00 prize for best average all races Last year the Club paid out £2747 prize & pool money, and its only £15.00 annual fees with no birdage charges. Can you afford not to be in it ? Contact George Smith, Sec. 15, Brewers Lane Bridgemary, Gosport Hants. PO13 0JU

The non fanciers who report pigeons usually have a lot more concern for the birds welfare than some fanciers, it don't take too much time to gently explain that catching a pigeon in the open is usually very difficult and it would be much better if the bird can be trapped in a shed where it can be caught easily. I once had one of my YBs,lost first time off the loft, reported by a non fancier 3ml away. When I got there it was imprisoned under an upturned washing basket being flown out and dehydrated, she told me she had a phobia about birds and couldn't go near them. I asked her how she managed to read the wing stamp if that was the case. Oh. she said I didn't read it, the chap next door is a pigeon fancier and he read it for me, and promptly put it back under the washing basket! That poor YB spent the best part of a day under that basket because of a so-called pigeon fancier. I was going to knock his door but I would have ended up knocking more than his door.

Could possibly be a PeTA activist, some pretty strong things have been said about Peta on PigeonChat. Wouldn't put it past them at all.

Still down this morning, perhaps Peta has struck.

At last it looks as if Portsmouth Football Club will live to play another day with a victorious outcome in the High Court today giving the Portsmouth Fans Trust the go ahead to purchase Fratton Park. At least we will be masters of our own destiny, the only way is up.

This is the one we built when we were moved in 1965.

This is mine in 1963.

Do the Chinese know something we don't, while all other military pigeon lofts have been disbanded they are increasing theirs. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8356921/China-trains-army-of-messenger-pigeons.html

The Solent Fed is due to start on the 13th but luckily the Southampton & Dist NR Fed are not due to start till the 27th.

Never trust the Tories with anything, is it any wonder that the two major growth areas since they have been in power are Millionaires and Rolls Royce sales figures. We are not in recession we are in a planned squeeze which will not end until just before the next election.

Since when can Pigeon racing ever be classified as a 'sadistic blood sport'. Only in the minds of these carrot crunching activists wearing their cardboard shoes. The world they strive for is so far removed from the natural world as to be laughable. They rope a few fame seeking celebrities into their cause, chuck in a few naked bodies for good measure and optimum press coverage and there you have it, the lunatice are really taking over the world. For all their pontification I don't see them facing up to the American Hunting Lobby, minority pastimes are their forte not the big boys. The 'source' of most of their (mis)information on Pigeon Racing came from attending a convention with alcohol the main culprit for the misinformation they were fed. I'm very surprised at the lack of reaction from Pigeonbasics members on this post,unfounded sensationalism in the extreme as it is.

ETS pads are virtually self policing in reference to the positioning of them. The birds must walk over the pas to ensure that it is recorded,and the only place you can guarantee that to happen is at the loft entrance. Even then the pad needs to be on the inside with an entrance hole of a size to force the bird to land and walk across the pad. Pads positioned outside the entrance hole can be 'skimmed' by a keen bird with the result that no time is recorded. Trapping and ETS should never be mentioned in the same breath. ETS has done away with the need to 'trap' a pigeon because there is no need to grab a bird on return to forcibly remove a rubber race ring and clock it in. That is the way it used to have to be done, no longer the case as we have progressed to the 21st Century and it's time to let go of the past.

Snow on roofs & sheds but not laying on the ground,cold gusty wind blowing it all about. Coming in off the Channel.

I use Limestone Flour, can be got from most equine supplies, used to be £5-£6.00 a 25kg bag now it's up to £9.00+. They've had a bad harvest as well?. It's used as a food additive and is very heavy, doesn't blow about at all. A bag lasts for ages.

It's an industry wanting a return on their investment that decides the price, not the basic cost of producing an item. We are a minority sport with a minority customer base, costs are always going to be higher I'm afraid. Unikon are dearer because they are maintaining a UK based workshop, all the others run through Agents.

Someone in your Club must have the cable, Unikon do not loan Club bases to individuals only to clubs and the cable would have been part of that equipment. All Club equipment remains the property of Unikon. When you contact Unikon they will give you the previous contact details and you should be able to chase up what you need. When you contact Unikon for an activation code make sure you have the system powered up, they will ask for some details so make sure you have both the marker & base registration numbers to hand. Considering this system was in use last year I feel someone is slow in coming forward unless the persons concerned have left the Club.

If your Club is using East Coast Software then you can do ring assignment through that as well as race downloads. The Base Station normally belongs to the Club and will have a registered user, whoever used it last year had to get an activation code, so you will need to find the deatils of the registration. That person would have received an activation code by Email early this year. Someone, other than the previous owner, in your Club must have the information required, usually the Secretary.

Do yourself a favour and make it thimbleless, its a no-brainer not to.

This was the ultimate pigeon training vehicle, my Dad with his carrier bike, many trips were made by me to Fratton Railway Station with the birds to put them on the train for a toss.

Last year I lost two red cocks, a mealy cock and a mealy hen from 20ml training flights (OBs), reds & mealies are the minority colours in my loft, (even more so now)and there is a chain of thought that the hawks can 'fix' more on a colour that stands out from the rest of the birds than one of the more predominate colours. I read that in the USA they colour train by putting the pigeons into colour co-ordinated groups when training.

If you are taking that attitude then there is very little chance of your application being successful. The fact that the Club has ETS available for you makes your stance even more puzzling as it's normally the initial cost that is off putting. The fact that you have a T3 and you expect an official to set & check it, although the Club is all ETS, will be very difficult to enforce. Clubs can refuse ETS on the grounds that they have no-one competent to operate it, so surely the same ruling can be applied to manual clocks. When joining a Club the best policy is to go with the flow, not be antagonistic as soon as your foot is through the door. In any of your prospective new fellow Club members are reading this post then I'm afraid you've well & truly blotted your copybook.

You'll miss none of the excitement when using ETS, you or the birds will not miss having to rip a rubber ring off an unsuspecting pigeons leg. Manual clocking was a necessity not a pleasure and it the first thing you're glad to see the back of when ETS is used. You're are in the enviable position of having an ETS clock available free of charge. Grab it with both hands, you will find the cost of ETS rings a small price to pay.