Welcome To My Home Page

By Andrew Westcott
Amateur Radio Callsign: MØWAN

-- Links to other pages I've written --
Home Page Radio Stuff Concert Master Coxparo Gin Traps Grimspound Rust Electrolysis National Explosives Solar Hot Water Wistmans Wood Doddi Mines Rants Dog Walker Zombies! JS Email Telephone Intercom Whetstone Mining Pulsar Zero 2250

Introduction

Greetings, people of Earth, and welcome.

The less sleepy among you may have already noticed that my name is Andrew Westcott, but in case you haven't, my name is Andrew Westcott. Among my friends I tend to get called Andy, along with a few more colourful names, most of which are less than 5 letters long and preceeded with an interesting verb or adjective. Anyhow, colourful metaphors aside, if you look at the image of me long enough, you should see me blink; let your money grabbing leeches children see it, perhaps it'll give them nightmares.

Every collection of web pages has traditionally had one named 'index.htm' or whatever extension you prefer, to act as a default landing page, and as an introduction and index to the rest of the site. (Some hosts still insist on such a page being present.) To comply with tradition, this is my index page, and as it has little real function these days, I've decided to fill it with waffle along with a site map, which some may consider to be marginally more useful.

The site map acts as a central reference to all the other pages I've written; amateur radio is one of my interests, but I have many others, and when I feel like yet another project, I'll research the subject and if that subject isn't well represented on the 'web, I'll write a web page on it; quality or quantity can never be guaranteed, but some of my pages do run to well over a hundred words, which I think is quite impressive.

At the top you'll see a load of links, each going to one of my web pages, and one showing where you are at that time, should there be any doubt. Each web page will have the same links at the top, so every page can be reached from every other page to make navigation simple, useful for simple people like me.

Below is my site map, listing all the links to my pages again but with a short description, and below all that is more personal waffle, should you be interested. If so, click here: My Personal Section to bypass the site mappy bit.

Site Mappy Bit

AMATEUR RADIO & RADIO RELATED STUFF
I'm a radio amateur, callsign MØWAN (Like anyone cares.) This page introduces some aspects of my hobby.

SUB-PAGES:
Contact info
This page has some of my amateur radio contact details and my approximate location on the planet.

40m/80m combined inverted V antenna
A page detailing my attempts to construct a combined 80m and 40m inverted V antenna, large space required.

80m antenna (on a postage stamp)
An interesting antenna design for the 80m band, if space is a bit restricted.

PLT interference
Powerline telecommunication devices cause a lot of interference; a bit of info on these.

Naturally occurring VLF signals
I have a healthy interest in natural Very Low Frequency radio signals. This page describes what can be detected in a VLF receiver, and has details of a receiver I made for detecting these signals.

CB Radio
I had a lot of fun and education courtesy of CB radio. Here's a bit about my experiences.

ELECTROLYTIC RUST REMOVAL
Removing rust using electricity. If you have an iron artefact of any value, here's how to do it proper like.

COXPARO
I love old electrical equipment; a bit about what appears to be an old generator regulator.

CONCERT MASTER VALVE AMPLIFIER
I still love old electrical equipment. Some restoration notes on this amplifier from the 1940s.

SOLAR HOT WATER
My idea for heating water using solar panels, without the expense of an over-priced and poorly-built (as most seem to be) inverter.

TELEPHONE INTERCOM
You can make an intercom from a pair of old 746 Post Office rotary telephones. This page shows you how, with some added info about these phones.

RENOVATING THE PULSAR ZERO 2250
If you happen to have one of these disco sound to light controllers kicking around, this page shows you what you can do to make it last another 50 years.

HIDING EMAIL FROM SPAM BOTS
Most web masters (I'm a web master, I can master webs!) want to put an email address on their web pages, but doing so will soon result in a lot of spam, unless you disguise it in some way so the bots don't recognise it for what it is. This details a very simple way of doing it, which has worked for me for over 25 years.

BLACKDOWN DOGS
I walk dogs for a living these days, so here is the main web page for my dog walking business.

SUB-PAGES:
About Me
An introductory page about my dog walking business.

The Walks
A bit about the walks and where we go.

Booking Me
How to go about booking me to walk your dog.

Pet Sitting
I also offer an evening pet sitting service.

NATIONAL EXPLOSIVES COMPANY
A bit about this Factory, built on Upton Towans, Hayle, Cornwall, and what now remains of the site.

GRIMSPOUND
My study of this ancient, possibly neolithic settlement on Dartmoor, England.

GIN TRAPS
I collect these rural antiques. Here's an introduction to them, with photos.

WHETSTONE MINING
My research into the almost forgotten industry of whetstone mining around the Blackdown Hills, Devon.

MANGANESE MINING IN DODDICOMBSLEIGH
My sorry attempts at researching the 19th century manganese mining activity in this Devon village; this is the introductory page.

SUB-PAGES:
Teign Mine In Scanniclift Woods
Probably the largest mining operation in the village.

Lake Farm Quarry
An open cast quarry and dressing floors possibly connected with Teign Mine.

Down Lane adit
A small exploratory adit up Down Lane.

Mistleigh copse
The remains of more exploratory adits.

A BIT OF A GRUMBLE
I like having a moan about stuff, and the older I get, the less tolerant of stupidy I become.

WISTMANS WOOD
A bit about this ancient Dartmoor woodland, with its stunted oak trees.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE PROTECTORATE
Could this organisation offer some hope for the human race?

SUB-PAGES:
Our plan
What we intend to do when the cack hits the rotating blades.

Our officers
Here we list our Officer Class members with photos and information about their unique talents.

Our merchandise
This page details the merchandise we have available to help you survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

GILL'S DOMESTICS
Busy? Ill? Can't be bothered with housework? Maybe this lady can offer you a helping hand in the home.

My Personal Bit

I live with two cats, a snake, another human and have access to quite a few offspring, both mine and my wife's, and to a number of brats of the generation below that. Our cats are called Dotty and Thomas, both rescue cats. While walking dogs, (Something I do for a living these days) I composed a little poemy thing about Dotty, and have decided to share it with whoever bothers to get this far down my page:

I went to see a pussycat,
as pretty as can be.
Her given name was Dotty,
and now she lives with me.
Her coat is soft and fluffy,
and it's all black and white.
She spends all of the day asleep,
and does zoomies in the night.

Yes indeed. Cats: things that go bump in the night.

OK, now that's out of the way, let's get down to some stuff. I was born in 1962 and was fortunate enough to have been brought up on a farm in the village of Doddiscombsleigh which is located within the Teign Valley, Devon, in the South-West of England. This gave me and my friends considerable scope for childhood exploration, with the vast woodlands, steep sided valleys and many disused quarries and mine workings in the area. I now live in a village on the south-west edge of the Blackdown Hills, Devon.

Work-wise, I've had many jobs from being a milkman to quality control, but up until a few years ago I was employed at an engineering company where I made and assembled various agricultural components, mainly bespoke PTO shafts and hydraulic hoses and related components, along with anything else too difficult or greasy for the poor sods elsewhere in the company to manage. These days though, I work as a professional dog walker which allows me to enjoy the company of dogs and get out and about as I like to do.

It's been said that I'm a little strange; I have loads of interests and hobbies, some of them perhaps a little eccentric and a few just plain weird. For example, I enjoy photography, I'm interested in astronomy, geology, palæontology, meteorology, I like messing with electronics, I'm a licensed radio amateur... in fact just about anything scientific interests me, whether it be chemistry, biology or physics, and I am interested in industrial archæology, or any kind or archæology for that matter. I don't claim to know much about these subjects, I'm just interested in them.

I also have a rather dull interest in keeping the "æ" ligature alive as you may have noticed, rather than using the modern and far less interesting "ae", so unless I've forgotten, you'll see æ used in words like achæology and anæsthesia, partly because I can, but also because of an in-built cussedness and desire to be a bit different; I'm already regarded as "special" by many people who know me, so I seem to be doing well. Incidentally, the word 'anæsthesia' doesn't currently feature on any of my pages apart from this one, but I'll see if I can ease it in somewhere.

Anyway, as I indicated earlier, photography is one of my interests despite my hair-wrenching ineptitude at it, so you'll find that a lot of images have been used throughout the various pages; in most cases they can be clicked on to load a higher resolution version of the picture if you happen to wish to see one, and in some cases, resting your mouse over the caption may reveal a 'tooltip' offering more information. This is all assuming you're using a proper computer, and not trying to view the Internet on a soddin' phone!

Way back in 2019, we went to an airshow at Dawlish Warren. One of my wife's neices is called Amelia, and while waiting for the show to begin we decided to venture out across the pebbles and shingle, bare-foot. The photo below is of the two of us, intrepid explorers as we were. Amelia's mother, Heidi, sent me this photo she'd taken of us, and attached with it a bit of text, which appears below the photo.

"Some people you meet by accident, some meetings are planned, sometimes you're born into it and the people around you are family."

"Sometimes we're blessed with good people and sometimes we struggle to see the good."

"Then sometimes, just sometimes, the perfect friend comes into your life, from outside the circle they slowly make their way in. Little by little their wit, humour, knowledge, love and passion shines through and before you know it, you find you have a special buddy for life."

I was quite moved by this little bit of text, and the way it seemed I'd been accepted by my partner's children and grandchildren, particularly little Amelia, which is why I wanted to put it here.

Messing with AI

This entire website is an 'AI text' free zone (some may say it's devoid of indications of any kind of 'I' whatsoever, and I wouldn't argue), meaning that all text has been written by me. I have to confess though that two of my web pages (in addition to this one) have images at the top which have been created using AI art; perhaps see if you can spot them, it isn't difficult.

I do enjoy messing about with AI art; it sometimes doesn't get it quite right. Here's a selection of the more interesting AI regurgitations.

Boris Johnson the professional stripper. 6-fingered, of course.

Self-explanatory I'd hope; this one came out well. Note the little thumbs!

Two old men pushing wheelbarrows. Physics is something AI has yet to get to grips with.

I requested something along the lines of, "a horse pushing a wheelbarrow." AI did the best it could.

OK, I probably do have too much time on my hands sometimes!

I can be contacted at this address:

Copyright © Andrew Westcott 2003 - 2026
I'm happy for anyone to use this material for private, non-commercial or educational purposes, but credit to the author must be given. For any other use please contact me.

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