How I improved my mobile broadband signal

Just before embarking on our last cruise I bought a "3" mobile broadband dongle. The USB extension lead supplied was only a couple of feet long, making it difficult to position the dongle in a window. That's all right, I thought, I bought a USB extension lead from Poundland just in case. That'll give me another couple of feet. Well, it gave me the length I needed, but at the expense of all signal! The lead was useless! Then, in Leicester, or possibly Loughborough, I bought a (good quality) 2m extension lead. This made dangling the dongle easy, and gave me enough slack to be able to sit inside with the dongle on a tripod on the roof. If rain looked possible I slipped a plastic bag over it. For extra peace of mind I secured the tripod to the gang plank. And it worked.

Nev of Waterlily has posted about a "3" dongle deal for a fiver. A fiver! And I thought the thirty quid for mine was a good buy! Nev also mentions that he's bought a 5m extension lead. From what I read I think that's the maximum length without a booster of some sort, so I hope it works OK. At 5m he could hoist it to a useful signal-catching height!

Here's my original post about the dongle, with a photo of all the packaging and leaflets.

Top Thirty, 2009 week 23

Here is the weekly snapshot of Tony Blews's UK Waterways Ranking Site, taken at 2030. For some reason I couldn't fit the whole of the top thirty into the screen grab this time.

1 Jim Shead's Waterways Information (=)

2 Pennine Waterways (=)

3 JustCanals.com - Forums (=)

4 Granny Buttons (=)

5 nb Ten Bob Note (=)

6 UKCanals Network (=)

7 Retirement with No Problem (+2)

8 Jannock Website (=)

9 Canal Photos (-2)

10 Narrowboat Gypsy Rover (+4)

11 nb Epiphany (+1)

12 Derwent6 (+3)

13 Waterway Routes (=)

14 nb Lucky Duck (-4)

15 Narrowboat Bones (-4)

16 Working Boat Hadar (=)

17 CanalPlanAC (+6)

18 Seyella's Journey (-1)

19 nb Warrior (-1)

20 Water Explorer (+1)

21 Narrowboat Debdale (+4)

22 Khayamanzi (+8)

23 Narrowboat Caxton (+1)

24 UK Waterways Ranking Site (-4)

25 nb Kestrel (-3)

26 nb Piston Broke (-)

27 Tony Clayton's Canal Photographs (-1)

28 Takey Tezey Tales (-9)

29 Captain Ahab's Watery Tales (-2)

30 Google Earth Canal Maps (-)

The figures in parentheses denote the number of places moved since the previous week; (-) denotes new entry or re-entry.

CanalPlanAC continues its rapid rise, up six this week (up seven last week). Tony Blews's "other" site, Google Earth Canal Maps, has made its first showing, in at number 30. And I don't think nb Piston Broke has been in the top thirty before: here it is at number 26.
Halfie is at number 41 (that's what I get for not blogging more frequently); there are 71 sites listed altogether.

Hold-ups at Frog Island

When we left Leicester on Thursday 2nd April 2009 on our cruise to Chester my eye was caught by a couple of things. First, the name "Frog Island"; and second, next to the boarded-up North Bridge Tavern, the manufacturer of belt and braces. I'm now trying to think of an example of using belt and braces.

(Thinks.)

Got it. You can find a reference to Richard Kew and Albert Thurston here: http://www.suspenders.com/promo5.htm, or you can click this link.

Albert Thurston's website doesn't mention Frog Island. There's a fine reproduction of a page of an 1870s catalogue, detailing the India Rubber Albert Brace here, and a testimonial from a few decades later:

When asked for his reaction to the outbreak of war in 1939, actor Sir Ralph Richardson replied that he had gone straight to his tailor on Savile Row and purchased half a dozen pairs of Thurston braces in case they might be in short supply.

(this post edited to add more stuff)

Top Thirty, 2009 week 22

Here is the weekly snapshot of Tony Blews's UK Waterways Ranking Site, taken at 0945 this morning.

1 Jim Shead's Waterways Information (=)

2 Pennine Waterways (=)

3 JustCanals.com - Forums (=)

4 Granny Buttons (=)

5 nb Ten Bob Note (=)

6 UKCanals Network (+1)

7 Canal Photos (-1)

8 Jannock Website (+1)

9 Retirement with No Problem (-1)

10 nb Lucky Duck (+6)

11 Narrowboat Bones (-1)

12 nb Epiphany (+3)

13 Waterway Routes (-1)

14 Narrowboat Gypsy Rover (-3)

15 Derwent6 (-2)

16 Working Boat Hadar (-2)

17 Seyella's Journey (+3)

18 nb Warrior (=)

19 Takey Tezey Tales (=)

20 UK Waterways Ranking Site (+1)

21 Water Explorer (-4)

22 nb Kestrel (+1)

23 CanalPlanAC (+7)

24 Narrowboat Caxton (-2)

25 Narrowboat Debdale (+1)

26 Tony Clayton's Canal Photographs (-)

27 Captain Ahab's Watery Tales (-)

28 NBNorthernPride (=)

29 Lazy Days (-2)

30 Khayamanzi (-5)

The figures in parentheses denote the number of places moved since the previous week; (-) denotes new entry or re-entry.

Halfie is at number 34; there are 72 sites listed altogether.

Kilby Bridge to Leicester

Wednesday 1st April 2009

I've got very behind with the photographic record of our recent cruise from Stockton on the Grand Union to Chester, so here's some of what we saw on our way to Leicester. The contemporaneous post is here.


about to go into Freeman's Lock, with the large weir taking the River Soar away from the cut


Just downstream of Freeman's Lock are these buildings with curious roofs - and even more curious chimneys


Tied up to the floating pontoon at Castle Gardens in the middle of Leicester


Leicester Cathedral reflected in the windows of BBC Leicester


Leicester Cathedral, where we attended Choral Evensong

edited for spelling

Not another stolen narrowboat

When I looked at Andrew Denny's Granny Buttons blog I was interested to see that Granny was "Not found", according to the Granny locator box.

Of course, it now says Granny's in Streethay, where it's been for a few days.

What are the 403 other errors, and why don't we ever hear of them?

I imagine it's not always like this

This is where the River Trent joins the Trent and Mersey Canal at Alrewas. It was a lovely day when we cruised past last month, and the river was placid. I understand it's not always like this!

I've been putting some more photos onto the original blog post for this day, 5th April 2009, and you can find them here. I've been wondering what the best thing to do is: when I made the original posts, from on board during the cruise, I found it was taking too long to post the photos at the same time (lack of familiarity with the ways of the PC). I want the photos to go with the original text, so do I just add them to the original posts (as I have done for 5th April 2009), or do I repeat the text and make fresh posts out of it all? Or, indeed, do I do both?

Top Thirty, 2009 week 21

Today's snapshot of Tony Blews's UK Waterways Site Ranking chart shows no change at the top; little change elsewhere; and NBNorthernPride making its first appearance, entering the top thirty at number 28.

1 Jim Shead's Waterways Information (=)

2 Pennine Waterways (=)

3 JustCanals.com - Forums (=)

4 Granny Buttons (=)

5 nb Ten Bob Note (=)

6 Canal Photos (+1)

7 UKCanals Network (-1)

8 Retirement with No Problem (=)

9 Jannock Website (=)

10 Narrowboat Bones (+4)

11 Narrowboat Gypsy Rover (+1)

12 Waterway Routes (+3)

13 Derwent6 (=)

14 Working Boat Hadar (-4)

15 nb Epiphany (-4)

16 nb Lucky Duck (=)

17 Water Explorer (+1)

18 nb Warrior (+5)

19 Takey Tezey Tales (+1)

20 Seyella's Journey (-1)

21 UK Waterways Ranking Site (+1)

22 Narrowboat Caxton (+4)

23 nb Kestrel (-2)

24 Narrowboat Mr. David (+4)

25 Khayamanzi (=)

26 Narrowboat Debdale (+1)

27 Lazy Days (-)

28 NBNorthernPride (-)

29 Zulu Warrior (-)

30 CanalPlanAC (-13)

The figures in parentheses denote the number of places moved since the previous week; (-) denotes new entry or re-entry.

My humble offering to the blogosphere is at number 35; there are 71 sites listed altogether.