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Hobbies 2021

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Pedrocut said:
Anyone play the Jews Harp ?

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Wonderful! Friend is learning to play the bodhran must enquire how she is getting on. She has learned to play the zither. I have a small bodhran, a souvenir gift but it doesn't resonate.
I always wanted to play the castanets too. I can't. And the harp!
 
Nico,

Never try to learn on a souvenir instrument - it will prove to be most frustrating (and probably made in China).

Maurice :cool:
 
I have had a go with them, quite good fun. You can still buy them.

It was Rolf Harris who played them on TV and David Bowie who used one on in his hit Space oddity.
 
I remember the name but not what they are. And Vibraphone,. I played the xylophone at school Again like a piano.
 
The stylophone is just a single transistor oscillator, the various note shapes were etched into a piece of printed circuit board using ferric chloride, and the notes were connected to a series of resistors allowing the ocsilator to operate at the correct frequencies to produce a chromatic scale, i.e. all the black notes and white of about an octave of a piano.

Pretty simple to build if you have a small soldering iron, though most people wouldn't bother as in the day they cost a fiver and that included putting it into a box and plating the copper so that it wouldn't corrode. A simple circuit used to be reproduced in magazines such as Practical Electronics back when they were popular. Slightly more effort than building a crystal set!

Maurice :cool:
 
Love the composites (or whatever the technical name is !) you create OldMohawk. Just being able to browse in that way is fantastic. A nice hobby. I think they’re worth putting into one separate thread if you want to do that (suggest MADE IN Brum/Brum as it was). I’m sure others would enjoy them in that format,

Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Love the composites (or whatever the technical name is !) you create OldMohawk. Just being able to browse in that way is fantastic. A nice hobby. I think they’re worth putting into one separate thread if you want to do that (suggest MADE IN Brum/Brum as it was). I’m sure others would enjoy them in that format,

Viv.
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I have requested the same for oldMohawk's composites in the SteveBhx photos thread
 
Thanks Rob. Agree it’s worth doing. Let’s see what OldMohawk says first and then if SteveBHx agrees to his photos in the same format. Viv.
 
SteveBhx said:
Apologies just came across your post thanks for that - I am sure it will help me check I have not double posted !!
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If OldMohawk and SteveBHx agree, could we put these into the MadeInBrum/Brum As It Was section please ? It’s a wonderful quick reference tool as well as fun to browse. A nice addition.

Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
If OldMohawk and SteveBHx agree, could we put these into the MadeInBrum/Brum As It Was section please ? It’s a wonderful quick reference tool as well as fun to browse. A nice addition.

Viv.
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Thats fine by me can someone send the link to Chadru so he can find it too please
 
Vivienne14 said:
Love the composites (or whatever the technical name is !) you create OldMohawk. Just being able to browse in that way is fantastic. A nice hobby. I think they’re worth putting into one separate thread if you want to do that (suggest MADE IN Brum/Brum as it was). I’m sure others would enjoy them in that format,

Viv.
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Yes no problem Viv,
I will find and post the links to where they are on the server. The one's with small pics are really for show ... :)

I have got one (text file descriptive names only) for the few thousand pics in the 'Old Streets' and 'Courtyards' threads but a change in forum software stopped it working. The reason for use of pdf files is they are easy to search and also to link from.
 
The current forum software makes it easy to search indirectly for forum pics. The method I use is below but there might be better methods.

Using the Search Box
1) Type the word attach in the top line of the Search.
2) Type a member's forum name in the bottom line.
3) Click search

This will find 200 recent posts in which the chosen member has uploaded 'inserted' pics. It does not find pics that are 'attachments'.

If you don't type in a member's name it will find the 200 recent posts in which pics have been inserted by anyone.

You can also limit it to a particular thread search.
 
Thanks OM. Shall leave it with you to add to the Made in Brum section as and when. Viv.
 
anti social 1.jpg

Joking aside I've had a busy 12 months. The wife went back into nursing at the start of the outbreak so there was me, ham radio and I got back into restoring old Primus type stoves but the big thing was home schooling the grand children; the parents are front line workers so I had a 7 year old girl and 12 year old lad between 1 and 5 days a week depending on their parents shifts and truth be told it has been a fantastic experience (pandemic aside). Not many granddads get the chance to bond with their grandchildren as I have and there's no way they'll forget me when I'm gone :) They're back in school so I'm on the ham radio and a glass of afternoon wine now.
 
richardinwales said:
View attachment 155865

Joking aside I've had a busy 12 months. The wife went back into nursing at the start of the outbreak so there was me, ham radio and I got back into restoring old Primus type stoves but the big thing was home schooling the grand children; the parents are front line workers so I had a 7 year old girl and 12 year old lad between 1 and 5 days a week depending on their parents shifts and truth be told it has been a fantastic experience (pandemic aside). Not many granddads get the chance to bond with their grandchildren as I have and there's no way they'll forget me when I'm gone :) They're back in school so I'm on the ham radio and a glass of afternoon wine now.
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great stuff om. 73 hi
 
Vivienne14 said:
If OldMohawk and SteveBHx agree, could we put these into the MadeInBrum/Brum As It Was section please ? It’s a wonderful quick reference tool as well as fun to browse. A nice addition.

Viv.
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Hi Viv,
I'm easy about whether the files stay here or go in a separate thread. They were simply experiments creating pdf files with links to posts on the forum. I first had a home computer in 1979 and played (and worked) on computers ever since. Pdf files display on any device and are easy to search. Years ago, forum searches were not easy but recent upgrades have made searches easy and fast. Links below to the Pdfs. All link targets are within the forum - no links go to external sites.

The photos of Sutton Park

TQ's aerial photos taken from his light aircraft flying from Elmdon in the 1970s

An amusing look at the people in some old street photos.

Photos at the old Summer Hill/Spring Hill Ice Rink

Bus Finder

The Shoothill Images. This is text based, use it to search for a title line. Click the line to see the image

Old Birmingham Photos From STEVEBhx

Keith Berry's Photos

Group Photos

We all use our computers differently so only general instructions for Windows 10.
PDF files are best viewed with a browser and the Edge browser works best because it has a 'search icon'. Chrome 'search' has to be opened by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the F key. Internet Explorer also works.

A left click on a photo in a Pdf file opens the target forum post in your default browser. To return from target post click the browser back arrow (usually top left) for return to the PDF.

If using a mouse with a clickable centre wheel … click the wheel on a pic and the forum post appears in a separate tab. Close the tab and it returns to your main page. The most useful feature of a Pdf file is the easy search function for finding words in the files. I don't use track-pads so not sure if they work.

The Pdfs work on iPads/iPhones etc.
The Pdf files can be saved. Need to be logged-in to fully use them!
Have a play !! ... :)
 
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oldMohawk said:
Hi Viv,
I'm easy about whether the files stay here or go in a separate thread. They were simply experiments creating pdf files with links to posts on the forum. I first had a home computer in 1979 and played (and worked) on computers ever since. Pdf files display on any device and are easy to search. Years ago, forum searches were not easy but recent upgrades have made searches easy and fast. Links below to the Pdfs. All link targets are within the forum - no links go to external sites.

Old Birmingham Photos From STEVEBhx
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Thanks Old Mohawk - so laid back about what you have done - its a dark art to many of !!

Are we able to pin my page to the first page of my entries please?
 
After a gimp update I tried out colour addition on a photo posted by Stevebhx. In the 1950s I bought an oil-stone from the hardware shop in the photo - used it to sharpen my ice skates. Owners of small hardware shops all seemed to be slightly grumpy - perhaps it was because they moved all that stock in and out of their shops every day.
29 and 29a buses used that stop and I travelled on those buses for school ...
8-27.jpg

Steve's pic in the thread below which also has posts showing what the shops look like now.
SteveBhx said:
I have started to scan the shop photos so a few of them and a few of the others!!
This is 214 - 216 Kingstanding Road - 1974, much a photo of times past - your local hardware store - they are still around but battling. Interesting they seem to be two seperate properties both doing the same thing.
index.php
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The shops selling the same products seem to be owned by the same person i.e. R.W.Griffin. The wording on the fascia board "Liden" refers to well known - at the time - whitewood furniture manufacturer based in London.
 
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