Usernames

[Inundated]

I got many (not so very funny) nicknames in my youth: my familyname is Awater, so I got names like Afwaswater (Dish-water), Slootwater (Ditch-water), etc.
But 40+ years ago I got the nickname Plons (Splash) from a collegue. And I loved it Thanks, Arie
Since then I use Plons on fora. And am still happy with it.

If I ever need a new nickname, it will be from H2G2. As a token of appreciation for the many smiles and laughs I had and still have on Douglas Adams books.

Nard

Ah, your hometown resonates with me, in Ohio in the United States...due to a certain shortwave radio station which was based there. I listened to them as a teenager, though the North America-targeted broadcasts (in English) came from a transmitter in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles.

I miss RNW! Sadly, I don't believe they have been around in any form for years, even in the post-SW Internet world.

[Plons]

I live just 2km from the former RNW studio and the radio tower. Yes, RNW stopped a few years ago. I needed to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Net ... _Worldwide to find out when exactly
Cheers,
Nard

[Inundated]

I live just 2km from the former RNW studio and the radio tower. Yes, RNW stopped a few years ago. I needed to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Net ... _Worldwide to find out when exactly

That reminds me that they did some English programming in connection with a public radio station in the United States before the SW shut down.

I even thought about learning some Dutch, though the only Dutch I actually retained was "Radio Nederland Weredomroep".

I actually sent away for Tom Meijer's "Happy Station" record, a plastic 45 which featured him covering a Billy Joel song...as I recall, Tom did the show in English and Spanish ("La Estación de la Alegría"), taking over from the founding host I was not old enough to hear, Eddie Startz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Station_Show

Great memories! Thanks!

[BG405]

Here in Blighty I spent many happy hours during the 1980s listening to the European stations on medium wave and from the late eighties onwards, the more exotic ones on short wave as well. Atlantic 252 on long wave was also a good one (their slogan was "The Best Music is on Long Wave"); that transmitter now broadcasts RTE Radio 1. I think they cut the ERP in the southeast direction a bit (will need to verify this) but it's still listenable as far as London as far as I know; I'm in a valley in the Midlands and can receive it OK even on the bottom floor.

I probably missed out on some of the best years of radio DXing & definitely did with 405-line VHF TV (which as I previously mentioned is the reason for my username). I really wished I'd ignored the advice that "there was nothing else available" & clunked the channel knob round on our old set just to see; doing the same on UHF years later I found I could get other stations .. Anglia from Sandy Heath, Yorkshire from Emley Moor & regular apperances from Thames/LWT, TTTV from Bilsdale & even HTV from Moel-y-Parc on one occasion. Also several Eastern European VHF stations.

On another Forum I've not visited in a while, a lot of usernames are based on ham radio handles (vintage TV & radio; I've been too out of kilter for the past few years due to several quite serious injuries/health issues & have been concentrating on keeping my brain in good order with computer stuff, the TV stuff requies lifting heavy stuff! And having somewhere cat-safe to work on it).

Out of interest, BBC Radio 4 Long Wave (198KHz) can be received quite well as far out as Barcelona, from half-way up a 10-storey building near the top of La Ramblas. My world-band radio went everywhere with me, until my ex nicked it .. guess it's in Nairobi now (the radio, not my ex) .. suppose it'll still be able to pick up BBC WS on short wave!

[Telyx]

Mine is my Dungeons & Dragons character (cleric/assassin, level 19) from about 1984-87.

[Flemur]

I'm a contraction of a typo.

[BenTrabetere]

I'm a contraction of a typo.

Awww, come on now....

You can't just lay that out there without an explanation that I hope it is up to the level I would expect from a Potemkin Villager sporting a Bob's head.

[Flemur]

I'm a contraction of a typo.

Awww, come on now....

You can't just lay that out there without an explanation that I hope it is up to the level I would expect from a Potemkin Villager sporting a Bob's head.

No, no, it's really quite boring,

Incarnat Floyd, Le Mur

[RollyShed]

As it has a bit of a story, I'll explain. My usual pseudonym is the sea kayak design I paddle. This time a little different. The first bit is part of the name of the town where I am and the second refers to the Men's Shed where there are a lot of computers running Linux Mint.

We load Linux Mint on to member's computers to save them from a fate worse than Windows and we also have a number of donated laptops for distribution.

The Men's Shed is an idea from the West Island, remembering there are a group of islands in the South Pacific - North Island, South Island, Stewart Island and West Island which is often called Australia. Men's Sheds are now common in civilised English speaking countries, Australia where they started, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland and Canada.

Besides our computer setup for teaching our members, there are the usual things, wood work projects, metal work including a project for the town, art in the form of stick figures designed by a local school's children, 23 full sized figures to be welded up from tubing.

[CoffeeFiend]

I like coffee. A lot.

[lsemmens]

The Men's Shed is an idea from the West Island, remembering there are a group of islands in the South Pacific - North Island, South Island, Stewart Island and West Island which is often called Australia.

So, what you are saying, you are in a suburb of Eastern Sydney. In the slums.........

[BG405]

the second refers to the Men's Shed where there are a lot of computers running Linux Mint.

I'd never heard of those. Will have to look in to it & see if there are any in my area; however they would be better named as "Mens' Workshops" as the term "shed" is usually used here to refer to a storage building i.e. gardening equipment, or a coal shed etc. i.e. nothing special. As a youth I objected to people referring to my pride-and-joy rebuilt, panelled & wired-up electronics, computing (C64) .. and sometimes communal crash-out space .. "workshop" as a "shed" .. just might get a bit more serious attention here in the UK.

[RollyShed]

the second refers to the Men's Shed where there are a lot of computers running Linux Mint.

I'd never heard of those. Will have to look in to it & see if there are any in my area; however they would be better named as "Mens' Workshops" as the term "shed" is usually used here to refer to a storage building........

James May and the use of the term Shed -
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... ct-slow-tv

His referral to the Cardington hangers as "sheds"
https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=T7w ... on&f=false

The Shed I "inhabit" -
https://rollestonshed.wordpress.com/
(yes, I'm fiddling about with the site's theme which might be changing - again)

Where Sheds came from -
https://mensheds.org.au/
or
https://mensshed.org/

Your British Sheds
https://menssheds.org.uk/

[BG405]

.. some interesting stuff!

Thanks for those links! I'll go through them later, got some catching-up to do (as usual).