Return-Path: Received: (qmail 83104 invoked from network); 31 Aug 2004 09:51:27 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ptb-spamcore02.plus.net) (192.168.71.3) by ptb-mailstore01.plus.net with SMTP; 31 Aug 2004 09:51:27 -0000 Received: from mailnull by ptb-spamcore02.plus.net with spamcore-l-b (Exim 4.32; FreeBSD) id 1C25Ia-000GAS-IC for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:51:32 +0100 Received: from [192.168.67.2] (helo=ptb-mxcore02.plus.net) by ptb-spamcore02.plus.net with esmtp (Exim 4.32; FreeBSD) id 1C25Ia-000GAP-FX for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:51:32 +0100 Received: from post.thorcom.com ([193.82.116.20]) by ptb-mxcore02.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1C25IU-0004XQ-Nn for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:51:26 +0000 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 4.14) id 1C25Ht-0004KV-GZ for rs_out_1@blacksheep.org; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:50:49 +0100 Received: from [193.82.116.30] (helo=relay.thorcom.net) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1C25Ht-0004KM-3e for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:50:49 +0100 Received: from olympus.pncl.co.uk ([195.224.180.233]) by relay.thorcom.net with esmtp (Exim 4.41) id 1C25Hp-0000KV-Hk for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:50:49 +0100 Received: from 6332020 (host-83-146-12-187.bulldogdsl.com [83.146.12.187]) (authenticated bits=0) by olympus.pncl.co.uk (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i7V9ocE9002453 for ; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:50:38 +0100 Message-ID: <000e01c48f3f$f79a1b40$2601a8c0@6332020> From: "Walter Blanchard" To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org References: <004b01c48f1c$de9e7780$04540150@captbrian> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:58:49 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-Pinnacle-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-Pinnacle-MailScanner: Not scanned: please contact your Internet E-Mail Service Provider for details X-MailScanner-From: blanch@pncl.co.uk X-SPF-Result: relay.thorcom.net: 195.224.180.233 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of pncl.co.uk X-Spam-Score: 0.5 (/) X-Spam-Report: autolearn=no,HTML_20_30=0.474,HTML_MESSAGE=0.001 Subject: LF: Water softeners Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on post.thorcom.com X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.5 required=5.0 tests=HTML_20_30,HTML_MESSAGE autolearn=no version=2.63 X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group X-SA-Exim-Rcpt-To: rs_out_1@blacksheep.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No; SAEximRunCond expanded to false X-Spam-Filtered: by PlusNet SpamCORE (v3.00) Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit

I've been plagued for some years now by a "water softener" that puts up drifting jaggies every few kHz all the way up the HF spectrum to at least 30 MHz. The only redeeming factor is that they drift so much they don't jam me for long. The culprit is owned by a little old lady who is a great friend of mine and lives about 500 metres away. She is absolutely convinced it works and I haven't the heart to tell her it's rubbish. Our water here is neutral and doesn't need softening but she got talked into it by a water heating "engineer" who mended a broken pipe for her. She has what I call the "elephant-gun syndrome". For those who don't know it:

A man is seen carrying a huge "elephant gun" around Victorian London. After a while his friends get curious and ask him why he's always carrying it. "To keep London free of elephants, of course", he replies. "But there aren't any elephants in London", they tell him. His retort? "There you are - it works!!!"

There's an awful lot of that about these days!

Walter G3JKV.