Alan de Enfield

If you are going to the trouble of fitting correct navigation lights it is important to get the right quality of light - the majority of LEDS fail to meet the specifications and only certain (expensive ones) pass, or light fittings designed specifically for LED bulbs. There was a press release from the RYA about it - from memory is was something about the colour aberations at the extremities I was close - here was the story in PBO : Replacing filament bulbs with white LEDs in tricolour navigational lights could result in vessels not being insured, the Cruising Association (CA) has warned. Coloured light fittings designed to use filament bulbs are not suitable for LEDs, claim the CA’s Regulation and Technical Services team (RATS), and therefore in the event of an incident could invalidate insurance. White LEDs do not emit the wavelengths required to correctly illuminate the red and green sectors, and, as a result the colours observed are totally outside of the IMO specifications. In addition, a tungsten filament bulb has a single vertical wire as the light source, whereas LEDs emit light path angles greater than the permitted 2 degree cut-off limit between tricolour sectors. A boat’s heading will therefore be unclear to another vessel over a significant arc, and, the merging beams will give strange colours as they overlap. This issue does not affect navigation light fittings designed to take LED bulbs.

Didn't he have a starring role in A Midsummer Nights Dream ?

It is in Ireland, they do things differently there.

Belfast’s first new navigation lock in over 250 years opening gates on Tuesday - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk The first navigation lock built in Belfast in more than 250 years will open its gates tomorrow. A small number of boats will pass through the new Number One Lock at Stranmillis on the River Lagan at 11am. It will be the first time this has happened since the Lagan Canal was closed to commercial traffic in the 1950s. The lock is located underneath the new pedestrian and cycle bridge built as part of the Lagan Gateway scheme and opened last September. Other initiatives falling under the scheme include the refurbishment of the existing weir, as well as landscaping and new path connections.

Or, its Colonel Sanders !!

'Lumpy water' chandlers are plastic lenses as well (the new ones I bought anyway)

Fixed that for you

I used to be employed as a cable designed at a cable manufacturer - we would only wrap the foil tape around the insulation as a secondary operation after the insulation had fully solidified. I know that others had the foiling wrapper incorporated at the end of the extruder, if the wrapper was set to tight and the insulation was still 'hot' than the tape could weld itself to the insulation. The foil tape itself is very weak and is normally combined (stuck) with a mylar tape to give it the strength to be wrapped it will most likely be the mylar which has welded itself to the core insulation. As Nick says - just scrape it back so there is a mm or two of insulation exposed (without foil) make sure there is no bits that can short out on the bare conductor and fix your connector.

The foil is part of the electrical screening and 'covers' the holes in the braid that allow signal leakage. Ideally the foil should be 'unwound' back to the level of the cut off inner insulation and then twisted in to the braid. Better quality co-ax cables have a much higher density of braid (you can see above has only around 45-50%) The MOD specify a 90% coverage of braid for their radio communication cables. With a high density braid you do not need to 'plug the gaps' with foil, but, it is a more expensive cable.

Well it was a 'PALTRY' effort

We had a 'poor mans Range Rover' (Talbot Mantra Rancho) quite a good looking car and drove nicely but the corrossion was horrendous - the chassis just dissapeared into a heap of red-dust.

In Asia they say the same about dogs - just sayin !

Things are obviously changing - in the past a number of folk have been banned for saying the T**T word Is it now acceptable ?

No I am not - have looked and now see you have amended it. It is important - even in the heat of a discussion to get the information correct otherwise you will just be repeatedly 'pulled up' for saying something that is diametrically opposite to what you actually mean. It was not amended when I last looked, nor did I receive any notification I had been quoted - otherwise I would not have made the point again.

Are you aware that you said :