Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

rick_chasey

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Pretty good actually from my experience driving around using my phone as a sat nav

Pross

rick_chasey said:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/dec/14/uk-4g-coverage-worse-than-in-romania-and-peru-watchdog-finds

6 years ago but I'm confident it still stands, even if the details are different:

Britain’s 4G mobile phone coverage is worse than that in Albania, Panama, Peru and Romania, with users able to connect barely half the time, a government infrastructure watchdog has found.

In a major new report, the National Infrastructure Commission said the UK is being held back by poor mobile phone connectivity, as it called for an end to “digital deserts” in places that should have adequate signals such as rail routes, roads and city centres.

Countries including the US and Japan already have data volumes four to five higher than the UK, the report found.

Hardly a surprise that countries with less stringent planning laws are able to put up more phone masts it it? The UK likes to consult the public on everything which sounds good in theory but generally means everything takes much longer or doesn't get done at all not to mention things like housing shortages and stupid results in referenda being enacted.

briantrumpet

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

orraloon

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

What about that Giro stage when Bernal made a big break but there was zero coverage?

orraloon

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Erm, did you mean Sardinia? Corsica not being, like, Italian.

Pross

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

That does show the lie of how 'over-populated' the UK is, it would be good to have it overlaid on some kind of relief map though.

Tashman

Pross said:

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

That does show the lie of how 'over-populated' the UK is, it would be good to have it overlaid on some kind of relief map though.

Spain has room for everyone it seems

Munsford0

Looks like Albania's completely empty.....

surrey_commuter

Munsford0 said:

Looks like Albania's completely empty.....

because they are all over here

First.Aspect

orraloon said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Erm, did you mean Sardinia? Corsica not being, like, Italian.

That would be a yes.

Ben6899

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

This map is great. Point of interest for me: the densest areas of Leeds are as dense as the densest areas of London.

briantrumpet

Ben6899 said:

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

This map is great. Point of interest for me: the densest areas of Leeds are as dense as the densest areas of London.

I compared my two chez moi's... given one is mostly rural Devon, it makes you realise how sparsely populated great chunks of France are. Mostly pretty good mobile coverage there, but, as Pross says, mobile masts don't seem to be restricted to the same extent, and go up in prominent positions, which is just as well, as they'll be turning off the copper phone network in the next few years, so it'll be either mobile or fibre.

morstar

rick_chasey said:

morstar said:

Can’t fly with Bluetooth.
But agree the Sonyvones are awesome. Have mx3.

Mrs suggests I upgrade and hand mine down. But can’t see a reason to upgrade.

Connecting to two devices simultaneously is surprisingly useful

Are you an enabler?

Ben6899

briantrumpet said:

Ben6899 said:

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

This map is great. Point of interest for me: the densest areas of Leeds are as dense as the densest areas of London.

I compared my two chez moi's... given one is mostly rural Devon, it makes you realise how sparsely populated great chunks of France are. Mostly pretty good mobile coverage there, but, as Pross says, mobile masts don't seem to be restricted to the same extent, and go up in prominent positions, which is just as well, as they'll be turning off the copper phone network in the next few years, so it'll be either mobile or fibre.

France is a huge country. Same can be seen for Spain and - less so - for Germany. Even in Germany, the population densities in the big cities are relatively low.

rick_chasey

Bit of fun...



chocolate consumption against Nobel prizes

veronese68

Struggling to read the text due to image compression I had to guess what some of the words on the graph were, before reading the comment underneath I thought it was modal laziness against chocolate consumption.

First.Aspect

briantrumpet said:

Ben6899 said:

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

This map is great. Point of interest for me: the densest areas of Leeds are as dense as the densest areas of London.

I compared my two chez moi's... given one is mostly rural Devon, it makes you realise how sparsely populated great chunks of France are. Mostly pretty good mobile coverage there, but, as Pross says, mobile masts don't seem to be restricted to the same extent, and go up in prominent positions, which is just as well, as they'll be turning off the copper phone network in the next few years, so it'll be either mobile or fibre.

That's just Devon in the summer vs Devon in the winter isn't it?

Ben6899

rick_chasey said:

Bit of fun...



chocolate consumption against Nobel prizes

A strong trend...

Pross

I feel like I'm doing more than my fair share of the chocolate consumption for the UK now!

rjsterry

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Pretty sure mobile signals have a wavelength close to the scale of hills so are likely to be diffracted by them. I may be misremembering.

rjsterry

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Pretty good actually from my experience driving around using my phone as a sat nav

Different network.

rick_chasey

rjsterry said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Pretty good actually from my experience driving around using my phone as a sat nav

Different network.

given the app runs partly off 4g, I doubt that.

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

Re population density - Europe mapped in a 1km grid... https://dancooksonresearch.carto.com/u/dancookson/viz/49ca276c-adf9-454a-8f64-0ccf0e46eed0/embed_map

Preach!

First.Aspect

rjsterry said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Pretty sure mobile signals have a wavelength close to the scale of hills so are likely to be diffracted by them. I may be misremembering.

Not really. It's on the border between radio and microwave, but 3G, 4G and 5G are getting progressively worse, in that respect.

Same reason you get FM, DAB and Freeview blackspots everywhere, but you can still get test match special on 198LW.

rjsterry

rick_chasey said:

rjsterry said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Pretty good actually from my experience driving around using my phone as a sat nav

Different network.

given the app runs partly off 4g, I doubt that.

The GPS bit doesn't run off 4G. I can still see where I am in the 4G black hole that is Herne Hill and when travelling cross country.

rjsterry

First.Aspect said:

rjsterry said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Pretty sure mobile signals have a wavelength close to the scale of hills so are likely to be diffracted by them. I may be misremembering.

Not really. It's on the border between radio and microwave, but 3G, 4G and 5G are getting progressively worse, in that respect.

Same reason you get FM, DAB and Freeview blackspots everywhere, but you can still get test match special on 198LW.

Atmospheric conditions can bend light so stating it travels in straight lines is incorrect. Atmospheric conditions also tend to bend RF towards earth, meaning that you can transmit beyond the horizon. Yes, of course LW is less affected by natural and man-made obstacles: that's the point of using it. Sound quality is pretty poor, though, which is why R3 doesn't bother with it.

TheBigBean

rjsterry said:

rick_chasey said:

rjsterry said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Come on, it's 21st Century. It's never a problem in Italy.

In the well populated alpine valleys, no, nor in ski lifts. So that covers everywhere you've been.

This might surprise you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Europe#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg

Scottish Borders (where most of my riding takes me) has a population density <25 per sq. km, which is lower by about a factor of 4 than anywhere on the Italian mainland.

How is the phone signal in remote rural Corsica? </p>

Pretty good actually from my experience driving around using my phone as a sat nav

Different network.

given the app runs partly off 4g, I doubt that.

The GPS bit doesn't run off 4G. I can still see where I am in the 4G black hole that is Herne Hill and when travelling cross country.

Just to add to this, you can use a GPS without data, so if you are in a country where you don't want to pay for data you can use a maps app such as Maps.ME by downloading the map in advance and leaving data off.

However, initially it will be very slow to find you because it needs to look up the GPS values in its database. Thereafter, it works fine. Even tells you how dangerously fast your local driver is going.

The point of 4G is that it provides an approximation of the area you are in and, as a result, allows the GPS to find you much more quickly. It also allows Google to download the map as you go.

briantrumpet

That Colliford Reservoir in Cornwall is still only 21% of capacity, at the beginning of this week. The two big Devon ones are only at 36% and 41%.

One has to hope that the relentless series of heavy showery rain this week will make a dent in the deficit.

https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/current-reservoir-levels

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

That Colliford Reservoir in Cornwall is still only 21% of capacity, at the beginning of this week. The two big Devon ones are only at 36% and 41%.

One has to hope that the relentless series of heavy showery rain this week will make a dent in the deficit.

https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/current-reservoir-levels

When I visited in August the locals were telling me that it hadn't rained since May.
It might have even been March as I'm not certain. It'd take a while to replenish that.

First.Aspect

rjsterry said:

First.Aspect said:

rjsterry said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

You have a phone and 4g right?

Nope, in a lot of places close to here, no phone signal at all.

lol christ alive. Second world country.

Yes, I imagine if you live somewhere without *phone signal* then I can see why 21st century headphones are not your bag.

No there are hills here and light travels in straight lines, you d!ck.

Pretty sure mobile signals have a wavelength close to the scale of hills so are likely to be diffracted by them. I may be misremembering.

Not really. It's on the border between radio and microwave, but 3G, 4G and 5G are getting progressively worse, in that respect.

Same reason you get FM, DAB and Freeview blackspots everywhere, but you can still get test match special on 198LW.

Atmospheric conditions can bend light so stating it travels in straight lines is incorrect. Atmospheric conditions also tend to bend RF towards earth, meaning that you can transmit beyond the horizon. Yes, of course LW is less affected by natural and man-made obstacles: that's the point of using it. Sound quality is pretty poor, though, which is why R3 doesn't bother with it.

Yes Baldrick, I should have course have clarified that light travels in straight lines in a vacuum and in relation to space time.

You are conflating refraction, reflection and diffraction here. And signals bouncing off temperature inversion is is basically total internal reflection, which is a refractive effect, right?

Back to the point - how much diffraction occurs due to topography is dependent on wavelength and the size of the object(s) the radiation is interacting with. The salient point is that the wavelength of 5G is much shorter than LW radio, so the signals aren't diffracted as much, which in turn means more signal shadows in an incised valley in Midlothian than in the middle of a field on Cambridgeshire.