VW.

I took the photos above (click on any one to see a larger version) last Sunday afternoon at the VW vehicle show which was held on the pedestrianised part of Bexleyheath Broadway. Despite being poorly publicised, the event was well attended. The show, which exclusively featured vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen is an annual event run by VW enthusiasts who operate Vdub Radio - a specialist station - you can see their website here. I welcome the fact that the Broadway is now being used for more public events and exhibitions. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I know that I have a fairly large number of Radio Amateurs amongst my readership; As many may know, I too am a Radio Amateur, though not a particularly active one. Something that has come to my attention that should be of concern to anyone with an amateur radio licence is that radio equipment that is only to be used by qualified and licenced individuals under the terms and conditions of their licence is being sold online with no check as to the purchaser, and whether they are allowed to own and operate the equipment. Test purchases have been made on Amazon, and no questions as to the customers licence type or call sign were made when an order was placed for a 2m VHF and 70cm UHF transceiver of the type illustrated in the photograph above. It strikes me that it would be very easy for anyone to purchase amateur radio equipment online and use it without the necessary training or qualifications in how to operate it properly and within the law. One might argue that in the past, many prospective radio amateurs started off pirating - mainly on the two metre VHF band. The difference in the past was that even basic equipment was relatively expensive - a handheld transceiver similar to the one pictured above would cost several hundred pounds. This meant that only fairly serious people would try to purchase such a unit, and they would usually be asked for their licence details. Obviously they could use someone else's call sign - the checks were fairly rudimentary - which had the effect of making a purchase, even for someone unqualified, quite a challenge. Those unlicensed people were committed, and almost invariably they went on to study for the Radio Amateur Exams (RAE). I am pretty certain that a "blind eye" was turned to these individuals in many cases, as it was regarded as one way of bringing new blood into the technical hobby. Circumstances nowadays have changed remarkably. The handheld radio above is currently on sale on the Amazon UK website for £23.99. That is not a misprint - one can buy the radio for just under £24. Price is no longer a bar to purchasing, and when this is added to the complete lack of eligibility checks, it creates a worrying situation. Non - radio amateurs do have access to some very good two way radio products, the first of which is Citizen's Band radio. Citizens’ Band (‘CB’) radio operates in the 27 MHz band. It is a short-range radio service for both hobby and business use. It is designed to be used without the need for technical qualifications. However, its use must not cause interference to other radio users. You can read more about Citizen's Band radio in the UK by clicking here. The other radio service offered to unlicenced people in the UK is PMR 446 ("Private Mobile Radio, 446 MHz") is a licence exempt service in the UHF radio frequency band and is available for business and personal use in most countries throughout the UK and the European Union. PMR446 is typically used for small-site, same-building and line of sight outdoor activities. Equipment used ranges from consumer-grade to professional quality walkie-talkies. Depending on surrounding terrain range can vary from a few hundred metres (in a city) to a few kilometres (flat countryside) to many kilometres from high ground. You can read more about PMR 446 radios by clicking here. The point is, that there are very good alternatives to amateur radio if you want wireless two way communication without the need to study, sit three exams and get an amateur radio licence. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

You may have seen the advert above - or something roughly similar recently. It promotes a smart TV receiver unit that makes some very interesting claims over what it can do. The advert has been placed on social media sites including Facebook and TikTok, and has also appeared on tabloid newspaper websites. You can see the full advert by clicking here - if it has not been taken down by the time you try to access it. Last December I featured a similar device from an almost identical fraudulent website. Both that advert and the one above are scams. The device advertised above is nothing more than a cheap Freeview antenna dressed up to look like something high tech, which it absolutely is not. In the web advert, the device is priced at "At the moment of writing this review, you can get WaveMax for as little as £39.95. And that’s just one-time cost! If you select a 3-pack, you will only pay £89.85 (which turns out to be just £29.95 per antenna). Usually, this pack costs £242.84 but the price has been reduced to £89.85 for a limited time only – that’s a BIG 70% discount!" - when you can go to a legitimate online seller and get a similar device for around £10. Incidentally the small stick on antenna will only function if you happen to live in close proximity to a Freeview transmitter - most of the UK population would find the device utterly useless. In any case a very high percentage of TV's in the UK are already equipped with internal Freeview decoders, and have superior roof or chimney mounted TV antennas already. The scammers rely on running compelling yet highly deceptive ads on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube that present the device as using advanced artificial intelligence to crack encrypted feeds from cable networks. The American based scam relies on convincing language, fake discounts, and a sense of urgency about time-limited deals to generate impulse purchases before prospective buyers thoroughly research the questionable pop-up companies behind the adverts. Refunds are notoriously difficult to obtain after falling victim when the devices inevitably fail to perform as advertised. The scam starts with carefully designed social media ads portraying the WaveMax and other such devices as a remarkable innovation allowing unbelievable access to premium channels. The scammers routinely run ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. These compelling ads tout things like “access any channel for free” and leverage fake reviews and authority claims to portray the devices as incredible cable replacements powered by advanced technology. Fake reviews and perfect 5 star ratings to fabricate social proof. The goal is to present an extremely exaggerated depiction of the capabilities in order to generate a flood of clicks driven by the hype. But it’s carefully orchestrated deception. The fake social media ads funnel victims to dubious websites packed with more fake demonstrations, false claims, fake discounts and reviews as well as aggressive up selling urging purchase before fake timers run out. Many report the sellers instantly disappear after taking payment, leaving no way to contact them when the fraudulent device arrives and fails to actually unlock free access to cable channels as depicted in the deceptive and illegal adverts. It is an example of the time worn old adage - "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" - you have been warned. 

I took the photograph above outside of Bexleyheath Central Library at the junction with Townley Road on Wednesday afternoon at about 3:15 p.m. It shows one of the first roundabouts in Bexleyheath which are being rebuilt in order to make themselves safer for road users. What struck me at the time was that no work was being undertaken and there were no construction workers on site, even though it was in the middle of the afternoon. As I wrote last week, there is going to be extensive further work on the traffic systems and roundabouts in the centre of Bexleyheath allegedly in order to improve safety in the public realm. From what I understand, this will mean that some of the pseudo roundabouts and public crossings, which have been so widely disliked, will be removed. Conventional roundabouts and crossings will be installed, which if it does happen will be quite a large climb down by Bexley Council. However, only time will tell, and I will be reporting back on this matter in the near future.

Last week I wrote about how the Home Land domestic goods store had relocated from Bexleyheath Broadway Shopping Centre to the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. The unit they recently vacated in Bexleyheath has already been taken by another retailer, as you can see in the two photos above - click on either to see a larger view. The new store is called MenKind; the retailer describes itself thus:-"Hi! We’re Menkind, a gift and gadget retailer that’s all about fun, geeking out, embracing your inner child, and being weirder than broccoli-flavoured ice cream. We stock original gifts for original people, which range from licensed products to personalised items to tech. And, if we can’t find an existing product that we want to sell, we just create it ourselves! Menkind started in 2001 as a gift shop that offered I’d-really-like-that-for-myself kind of gifts, and that’s still our passion. We aim to offer an all-out fun experience for anyone who shops with us. But, since we began, we’ve grown a lot, expanded our target audience, and even had tech brand RED5 join our ranks. Not to brag, but we have more stores than a busy squirrel in winter. Our shops are spread across England, Scotland, and Wales and we also have numerous concessions in places like Hamleys and Selfridges. Also, much like an eccentric relative, we like to pop up at Christmas! We open an additional 30 or so pop-up shops over the Christmas period, making sure that we’re as present as Father Christmas himself".

E-bikes and e-scooters setting alight are London’s fastest growing fire risk with more than 130 incidents recorded so far this year. The London Fire Brigade attended 143 e-bike fires and 36 blazes involving e-scooters in 2023. The London Fire Brigade stated that the new legislation which it emphasised would allow the Government to introduce better regulation of e-bikes and e-scooters, particularly for conversion kits, batteries, and chargers, with increased safeguards on online marketplaces to protect people from buying dangerous products. The brigade highlighted: “Presently, the use of e-bike conversion kits are a real fire safety concern for LFB. The kits enable people to modify regular bikes to e-bikes, these can be fitted personally or by a provider. People often source a battery and/or charger separately, and often from online marketplaces, which may not meet the correct safety standards. These batteries are more susceptible to catastrophic failure if incorrect chargers are used.” EBay is to restrict the sale of e-bikes and e-bike batteries on its UK platform from October 31, it has announced. The site said only “eligible business sellers” will be allowed to list them after this date.

The end video this week is some footage of the VW Vehicle Show that I featured at the start of this update. It gives a very good impression of what the event was like. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.