Well that's it, I finally made my mind up to take a break from radio all together. Been at it since the late fifties, but it just doesn't seem to do it for me any more. Seems I'm just firing up the shack out of habit now and invariably just sitting about waiting for the odd sstv pics to appear.  Figure it's time to get away form it completely for a bit at least.  Maybe if I had serious money to spend I would get some enthusiasm with new kit of some sort, but the days of being able to splash out hundreds of pounds seem to be a thing of the past and we do seem to talking 'hundreds' whatever the kit.  A pension just does not cut it and all credit cards were destroyed on retirement.

Anyway, yesterday I packed all the gear away and decided to play with my model railway stuff that I had collected in the past when I was erm....flush hi instead.  I'm still not sure whether to devote the whole room to a layout though, so meantime I'm experimenting with computer and infra red control on the desk.  I have Hornby Railmaster software set up on the note book and already I'm successfully controlling loco's through E=Link interface.  I've tried my Bachman infra-red contoller, which also works ok.  I also have the option of a Digitrax controller (Also works) and associated units.

I think I prefer the latter in use, but the beauty of Ralmaster is I can program the loco's to operate a sequence of events, of which I'm going to experiment this afternoon.   If I had a bigger room I think there would be no question. Build a layout and goodbye radio once and for all.  However, my shack is not suitable for such a big decision as that, so it's stand back and assess the situation time.

I'll leave the radio pages on line for the time being. Maybe something of use to someone out there. Never know I might get back into it one day anyway.  Meantime it's 73 to all my reader hi.

Brian