On 07/01/2014 11:21, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 08:14:41 +0000, Jim Guthrie wrote:
In BBC Glasgow Control Room many years ago we used to do an unofficial
technical support in the evenings when people phoned up complaining
about technical problems with their radio or television receivers. If
the complaint was no sound or picture then the first question we asked
was whether it was plugged in and switched on. It was surprising how
many times there was an embarrassed silence. :-)
I've done tech support for internet services and found exactly the same thing. Some people just reach for the phone without thinking.
Rod.
Or if you work for a certain tabloid newspaper, you run a front page
story on BBC incompetence and how they have managed to lose your TV
signal.
In article <o8adnY9gRIBselbPnZ2dnUVZ8kCdnZ2d@bt.com>, MB
<MB@nospam.nospam>
wrote:
On 07/01/2014 11:21, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 08:14:41 +0000, Jim Guthrie wrote:
In BBC Glasgow Control Room many years ago we used to do an unofficial
technical support in the evenings when people phoned up complaining
about technical problems with their radio or television receivers. If
the complaint was no sound or picture then the first question we asked
was whether it was plugged in and switched on. It was surprising how
many times there was an embarrassed silence. :-)
I've done tech support for internet services and found exactly the same
thing. Some people just reach for the phone without thinking.
Rod.
Or if you work for a certain tabloid newspaper, you run a front page
story on BBC incompetence and how they have managed to lose your TV
signal.
i do remember a school being very irate that an overnight programme they
had intended to record hadn't bee broadcast. Since I knew it gone out, I
had a brainwave and phoned the elecricity supply company - yes, there had been a mains outage overnight in the school's area.
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
In article <o8adnY9gRIBselbPnZ2dnUVZ8kCdnZ2d@bt.com>, MB
<MB@nospam.nospam>
wrote:
On 07/01/2014 11:21, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 08:14:41 +0000, Jim Guthrie wrote:
In BBC Glasgow Control Room many years ago we used to do an unofficial
technical support in the evenings when people phoned up complaining
about technical problems with their radio or television receivers. If
the complaint was no sound or picture then the first question we asked
was whether it was plugged in and switched on. It was surprising how
many times there was an embarrassed silence. :-)
I've done tech support for internet services and found exactly the same
thing. Some people just reach for the phone without thinking.
Rod.
Or if you work for a certain tabloid newspaper, you run a front page
story on BBC incompetence and how they have managed to lose your TV
signal.
i do remember a school being very irate that an overnight programme they
had intended to record hadn't bee broadcast. Since I knew it gone out, I
had a brainwave and phoned the elecricity supply company - yes, there had been a mains outage overnight in the school's area.
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
Well, I never did understand why videos did not all have battery backed clocks from the start, almost, but a surprising number never did have them which meant even if the recording was when the power
was back it still never got recorded and the owner saw a flashing display on return.
Brian
One of the commonest things that got reported to the Rediffusion chaps in some of the wired areas in Wales when I worked there was everyone has squashed heads. Usually a good hard thump cured
Andy Burns wrote:
Dave Liquorice wrote:
Yes, the meters have to manually read every 6 months I think and the
supply companies get quite twitchy if the unread period gets over 12
months.
Up until 4-5 years ago the energy companies seemed fairly relaxed about reading the meters themselves, and were happy to fill-in with estimates between the customer readings. Then they seemed to get 'harder' onWe had a Water Meter fitted two years ago, (as part of a programme of converting all of South East Water fed homes to a metered supply).
reading them themselves (when did outsourced readings start?) of course they can play the "we're entitled to break into your house and do a
safety inspection" card ... strange that when the meter reader arrived after such a letter, it only took him 5 seconds of looking at the dials before he was on his way.
I read some documentation recently that indicated modern water meters have
an RFID device fitted, and to extract the reading the water board simply drive a vehicle up your road, with an active coil fitted to harvest the readings ?
Last year my lad was away for six months travelling, he left his car in its usual place, which meant the back wheel sits right on top of the meter flap. It didn't stop us getting a bill, and the meter reading on it was 'company read'. So I thought, ah it is an RFID system. Super. Last November, another bill came, with a estimated reading, and a vaguely threatening letter saying they had been able to read the meter, because a vehicle was parked on top, well yes there was, but I'm slightly baffled because someone (not least the lad himself) would have been at home, so why not ring the door bell, and ask us to shift it. Anyway they were only five units out with their estimate, so they can carry on with their estimates, if they're too shy to ring our door bell.
--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.
On Saturday, 4 January 2014 at 16:45:00 UTC, Mark Carver wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
Dave Liquorice wrote:We had a Water Meter fitted two years ago, (as part of a programme of
Yes, the meters have to manually read every 6 months I think and the
supply companies get quite twitchy if the unread period gets over 12
months.
Up until 4-5 years ago the energy companies seemed fairly relaxed about
reading the meters themselves, and were happy to fill-in with estimates
between the customer readings. Then they seemed to get 'harder' on
reading them themselves (when did outsourced readings start?) of course
they can play the "we're entitled to break into your house and do a
safety inspection" card ... strange that when the meter reader arrived
after such a letter, it only took him 5 seconds of looking at the dials
before he was on his way.
converting all of South East Water fed homes to a metered supply).
I read some documentation recently that indicated modern water meters
have
an RFID device fitted, and to extract the reading the water board simply
drive a vehicle up your road, with an active coil fitted to harvest the
readings ?
Last year my lad was away for six months travelling, he left his car in
its
usual place, which meant the back wheel sits right on top of the meter
flap.
It didn't stop us getting a bill, and the meter reading on it was
'company
read'. So I thought, ah it is an RFID system. Super. Last November,
another
bill came, with a estimated reading, and a vaguely threatening letter
saying
they had been able to read the meter, because a vehicle was parked on
top,
well yes there was, but I'm slightly baffled because someone (not least
the
lad himself) would have been at home, so why not ring the door bell, and
ask
us to shift it. Anyway they were only five units out with their estimate,
so
they can carry on with their estimates, if they're too shy to ring our
door
bell.
--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.
Anglian Water apparently has trials in Norwich, where the RFID readings
are taken by the refuse collection vehicles.
In article <suaoij$ljl$1@dont-email.me>,
Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
One of the commonest things that got reported to the Rediffusion chaps
in
some of the wired areas in Wales when I worked there was everyone has
squashed heads. Usually a good hard thump cured
The technical term is "percussive maintenance"
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
On 13/02/2022 11:01, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
Well, I never did understand why videos did not all have battery backed
clocks from the start, almost, but a surprising number never did have
them
which meant even if the recording was when the power
was back it still never got recorded and the owner saw a flashing
display
on return.
Brian
It was no longer necessary once they had teletext, the clock updated very soon after you switched on.
Well, I never did understand why videos did not all have battery backed clocks from the start, almost, but a surprising number never did have them which meant even if the recording was when the power
was back it still never got recorded and the owner saw a flashing display
on return.
Brian
--
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"charles" <charles@candehope.me.uk> wrote in message news:59b9bf43c7charles@candehope.me.uk...
In article <o8adnY9gRIBselbPnZ2dnUVZ8kCdnZ2d@bt.com>, MB
<MB@nospam.nospam>
wrote:
On 07/01/2014 11:21, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jan 2014 08:14:41 +0000, Jim Guthrie wrote:
In BBC Glasgow Control Room many years ago we used to do an
unofficial
technical support in the evenings when people phoned up complaining
about technical problems with their radio or television receivers.
If
the complaint was no sound or picture then the first question we
asked
was whether it was plugged in and switched on. It was surprising
how
many times there was an embarrassed silence. :-)
I've done tech support for internet services and found exactly the
same
thing. Some people just reach for the phone without thinking.
Rod.
Or if you work for a certain tabloid newspaper, you run a front page
story on BBC incompetence and how they have managed to lose your TV
signal.
i do remember a school being very irate that an overnight programme they
had intended to record hadn't bee broadcast. Since I knew it gone out, I
had a brainwave and phoned the elecricity supply company - yes, there had
been a mains outage overnight in the school's area.
--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle
Yes but how many had teletext built into the vcr, I had an akai like this, but it had full teletext and you could program the video with it.
Unless it was made by grundig of course who did have batteries. I also found out later on that some indeed did have a battery, but nobody knew it was there and it had not been fitted in any case, just a socket.
Brian
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