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| Public domain image from Canva |
The Google Maps measuring tool can be used to measure the distance between two points, and the result is displayed in feet and metres. Alternatively, values are displayed in miles and kilometres if a user zooms out to view a greater-sized region of the map.
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| Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech |
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| Kippure in the Wicklow Mountains, photographed from Kilcullen. © Eugene Brennan |
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| © Eugene Brennan |
We often hear about analogue and digital in the context of communications, sound recording, cameras, TV, radio, and electronic devices. But what exactly is the difference, and is digital better than analogue? Why has digital replaced analogue in audio, digital imaging, and electronic communication?
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Why is binary used in electronics? Geralt via Pixabay.com |
The binary numbering system is the basis for the storage, transfer and manipulation of data in computer systems and digital electronic devices. This system uses base 2 rather than base 10, which is what we are familiar with for counting in everyday life.
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| Binary number and its decimal equivalent. © Eugene Brennan |
The base 2, or binary numbering system is the basis for all binary code and data storage in computing systems and electronic devices. This guide shows you how to convert from binary to decimal and decimal to binary.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
The base 16, also known as hexadecimal (abbreviated to hex) numbering system is regularly used in computer coding for conveniently representing a byte or word of data. This guide shows you how to convert from hex to binary and binary to hexadecimal.
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| Connection speed required for YouTube. Image from Google Help |
Unless you have lots of people in your home feeding off your Internet service and sharing the bandwidth, ultra-high-speed connection promotions such as "Gigabit broadband" are just marketing hype. The table above shows the recommended connection speeds from Google for streaming video from YouTube. Vodafone keeps trying to sell me such a service using a fibre-optic connection that replaces copper wires to the cabinet and which would increase my speed from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, but I'm stubbornly refusing as the current speed is perfectly adequate. A faster connection probably increases upload speed (which I think is normally about one tenth of download speed), but most people aren't in a hurry when uploading, unless they can't wait to backup thousands of photos or put their latest video online. Eventually I'll have to give in, because copper lines, which Vodafone rent from Eir, will ultimately be replaced. The process is slow, because there are legacy systems that still require them.
I ring Vodafone every year, three months before my contract is due for renewal and negotiate a loyalty discount, getting a six-month discount. It's only €5 per month for 6 months, but better than nothing.
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| Generated with Bing Image Creator. |
You may have heard Joe Duffy’s
Liveline segment in July last year about the centenary of the
BBC Shipping Forecast. It’s broadcast at 00:48 on BBC Radio 4,
preceded by a short piece of light music, Sailing By, before
the station closes down at 1 am. On long wave (LW), the frequency
then carries the BBC World Service. For some, the forecast is like a
soothing mantra, the repetitive structure and intonation of the words
easing them off to sleep.
The forecast is also broadcast
later in the day at 05:20, 12:00 and 17:55, and provides detailed
weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles
and surrounding European waters. (The “British Isles” is a
contentious term, but then there’s the “Irish Sea”, so we’re
sort of quits.)
In a documentary from January 2025,
Kilcullen man Al Ryan, a BBC presenter, was among those who spoke
about the Shipping Forecast. It celebrated its 100th birthday in the
early hours of 4 July last year, expertly read by Al, who always
signs off with oÃche mhaith, before the national anthem is played
and Radio 4 closes down.
The BBC World Service originally
broadcast on short wave (SW) in Europe, but transmissions on the SW
bands ceased in 2008 because, according to the BBC, “increasing
numbers of people around the world are choosing to listen to radio on
a range of other platforms including FM, satellite and online, with
fewer listening on short wave”. It also broadcast to Britain on MW,
but transmissions ceased in 2011 on 648 kHz due to budgetary
constraints.
It still broadcasts on 198 kHz LW when BBC
Radio 4 closes down at 1:00 am and the transmission network is handed
over. This was useful for anyone with a bedside radio having an LW
band. I’ve been listening to it and Radio 4 on and off since the
1980s, originally on my father’s old Philips car radio, with a car
battery attached that I’d charge up every so often. An aerial
strung between my bedroom window and a large apple tree improved
reception.
FM wasn’t common on car radios that dated
from the 1960s. However, with the amount of electronic gadgets in a
house nowadays generating electromagnetic interference (EMI),
including phone chargers, burglar alarms and broadband modems,
listening on long wave has become increasingly difficult due to
interference.
By the early 1990s, reception of Radio 4 and
the World Service had become available on FM in most of the UK.
However, it is only possible in some parts of Ireland or by
increasing signal strength using an antenna.
Radio 4
transmissions on the LW band were scheduled to end because of
increasing costs of maintaining the network, although the BBC had not specified a date in an article from 2023. Transmission is
energy-intensive and parts for transmitters are becoming harder to
come by due to the legacy equipment used. According to an article in The Guardian from 2011, only a small number of parts are still
available for the transmitters. There is also a shift from listening
on radio to online, and many radios no longer have an LW band.
A
transmitter in Worcestershire and two additional transmitters in
Scotland are operated by a private company, Arqiva. According to a
more recent article on the website Keep Longwave:
“In
personal correspondence seen by the Campaign to Keep Longwave, a BBC
representative stated, ‘we have not made a firm decision as to when
we will close the Radio 4 LW service’.”
On 11 May this
year, the BBC finally confirmed that:
“Radio 4’s Long
Wave (LW) service will close on 27 June 2026. We will broadcast daily
on-air reminders to help everyone switch to other ways of
listening.”
For those who have listened to the radio
station on a bedside radio, it’ll be necessary to leave a modem on
at night and use a tablet or phone for reception. The alternative is
a radio capable of tuning to internet radio stations. A clock radio
that also has presets for storing regular broadcast channels and
internet streams may be even more difficult to find.
Apparently,
Trident submarine commanders have a hand-written “letter of last
resort” written by the British PM, detailing what to do if there is
a nuclear attack. Supposedly, one of the checks to establish the
continued existence of a government is to monitor Radio 4
transmissions, the long wave signals having a large range and
subsurface penetration.
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| Image courtesy Amazon.ie |
This sort of gadget might be useful for those of you who have older hi-fi systems and want to stream music from your computer or mobile device. It's a Bluetooth receiver that has left and right, line-out outputs with RCA connectors for connecting to red and white line-in (sometimes called "Aux" ) connectors on audio equipment such as a hi-fi system. Cables are also available (or can be made up) to convert between line-out and DIN 41524, 5-pin connectors, sometimes used for auxiliary input on older equipment.
An alternative is to simply use a modern TV (which will have WIFi and Bluetooth connectivity) to generate the line-out signals for connecting to a hi-fi. Some modern TVs don't have red and white line-out connectors, just a digital optical output, however adaptors are available for converting this back to line-out for connecting to an older hi-fi system without optical input.
My old Sony hi-fi from circa 1993 doesn't have twin line-in input connectors, just RCA phono connectors for the turntable. Although the connectors are physically the same as the RCA type used for line-in/line-out, phono inputs only accept low-level signals of a few millivolts (mV) generated by the cartridge on a turntable (the cartridge isn't powered and the signal isn't amplified). Apparently vinyl recordings use what's known as RIAA equalisation, low frequency sounds being attenuated during recording. The input pre-amp in a hi-fi or "stereo" that's connected to the phono input then does the reverse: cancelling the attenuation of low frequencies that was done during recording by boosting low frequencies on playback, resulting in an overall flat response. I won't explain why, but you can read more about it here.
Gadgets like this one are available that convert line level signals (from e.g. a TV) that are typically almost half a volt peak to the mV levels required by the turntable input. They also use a passive filter to attenuate low frequencies, simulating RIIAA equalisation.
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| Image courtesy Djbox.ie |
I haven't personally used any of these converter adapters. Depending on what you pay for them, some are probably better quality than others and like like any intermediate system that converts and filters signals, noise and distortion will be added which degrades the final output. So sound quality won't likely be as good as when directly connecting line-out from a device to line-in of a hi-fi/amp.
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| Generated on request by Bing image Creator. |
A debate on the subject here.
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| Circuit board from a computer mouse. © Eugene Brennan. |
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| Eugene Brennan |
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| © Eugene Brennan |
In this episode, astronomer
Seth Shostak and co-host of BPS, Molly Bentley take a ride in a Waymo
self-driving car. Seth also talks with Witold Rybczynski, professor
emeritus of architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania
and author of the book, The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car.
Generated with Bing Image Creator.
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| Data centre. Image produced by Bing Image Creator |
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| Image generated by Bing Image Creator. |
I was just looking at the small versions of these on shelves in Eurospar the other day. The price of an offer was missing and I asked an assistant to do a price check. He said there was a problem sending the price to the device. I hadn't realised they were screens until then, although I was aware of the technology of intelligent price display labels. Presumably the display is similar to the E-ink types used on a Kindle, not needing a backlight and visible in bright ambient lighting conditions. I thought they were just pieces of card.
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| Image created by Bing Image Creator |
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| Generated on request by Bing Image Creator. |
I heard the first part of this at 2:30 am this morning on the BBC World Service, then fell asleep. Pioneering computer scientist Sasha Luccioni has just been announced as one of the people on the BBC 100 Women list. She was talking with presenter Zoe Kleinman about the increasing amounts of energy being used by AI.
The BBC World Service originally broadcast on shortwave in Europe, but transmissions on the SW bands ceased in 2008. It also broadcast to Britain on MW. It still broadcasts on 198 kHz LW when BBC Radio 4 closes down at 1:00 am. This was useful for anyone with a bedside radio having an LW band. I've been listening to it and Radio 4 on and off since the 80s. However with the amount of electronic gadgets in a house nowadays generating EMI, including chargers, burglar alarms and broadband modems, that's increasingly difficult because of the interference. However next year it's planned that transmission will cease on LW, so we'll have to listen using an app or Internet enabled radio.
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| Illustration on request by Bing Image Creator |