Welcome to and Neville Roberts' Home Page!

RSS Consultancy
Weather Satellite Images
Physics, Engineering and Technology
Audio Journalism
Technical Audio and Miscellaneous Items
Orchid Photographs

Weather Satellite Images

View the latest weather satellite images that I have recorded directly from the satellites as they pass over my location in Dorset, UK.
Saved images of storms, hurricanes and wide composites
Listen to a sample of the APT audio received from one of the NOAA satellites that contains the visible and infrared information used to generate the images.

Physics, Engineering and Technology

The Institute of Physics Home Page

(formerly The IEE) The Institution of Engineering and Technology Home Page

The Engineering Council

RSS Consultancy

Audio Journalism

Hi-Fi Choice Magazine

Copies of articles are available to subscribers on the Hi-Fi Choice website.

May 2012 ->	Issue 358 ->	I am a monthly contributor to Hi-Fi Choice magazine.
June 2018	Issue 437 sample	Going Live! Excerpt from my Vivaldi in Venice recording review and download an audio excerpt of the Interpreti Veneziani recording.

Stereonet Web-based Audio Publication

The on-line publication is available in several editions: US/Canada, UK, Australia/New Zealand and Asia.

December 2019	Stereonet UK	Reel-to-Real
March 2020	Stereonet UK	Valve amplifiers
May 2020	Stereonet UK	Setting up turntables
August 2020	Stereonet UK	Falcon Acoustics IMF100 Loudspeaker Kit Review
November 2020	Stereonet UK	Chasing The Dragon Vivaldi in Venice Vinyl Review
March 2021	Stereonet UK	Recording On Location
April 2021	Stereonet UK	Falcon Acoustics Q7 Loudspeaker Kit Review
September 2021	Stereonet UK	Falcon Acoustics IMF 200 Loudspeaker Kit Review
November 2021	Stereonet UK	Nordost Blue Heaven RCA Interconnect Cable Review
December 2021	Stereonet UK	Silent Angel N8 Network Switch Review

The Reel-to-Reel Rambler Web-based Audio Publication

I contribute technical articles on professional open reel tape recording and tape reviews.

August 2018	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	A Lifelong Reel Obsession
September 2018	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Recording Chasing The Dragon’s 'España'
October 2018	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Yarlung Records’ philanthropic approach to recording excellence
February 2019	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Vivaldi in Venice - The challenges of making live recordings
June 2019	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Capturing ambience
December 2019	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	A chat with me at the Ascot Hi-Fi Show Live 2019
December 2019	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Recording the Bach Cello Suites
March 2020	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	'A Day in the Life' Quentin Collins recording
September 2020	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	A review of the new Chasing The Dragon sampler tape
November 2020	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	‘Yuko Mabuchi plays Miles Davis’ from Yarlung Records
April 2021	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	RX Reels' carbon fibre tape reels
October 2021	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Studer MPU Boards review
March 2022	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	A recording with a difference - Mendelssohn's Octet and recording techniques comparisons review
March 2022	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Bert Kaempfert's 'Bye Bye Blues' from Horch House
November 2022	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Lyn Stanley – Novel Noel – A Cool Jingle Jazz Celebration
July 2023	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Chasing The Dragon’s new tape recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
February 2024	Reel-to-Reel-Rambler	Lyn Stanley – Black Dress Ballads

audioXpress Magazine (USA)

Copies of articles are available to subscribers on the audioXpress website.

July 2008	audioXpress	CDs Under Canvas - The Tentlabs DIY CD Player
November 2009	audioXpress	A New Approach to Tube Design
November 2016	audioXpress	The Vinyl Frontier
June 2017	audioXpress	Head Space
February 2018	audioXpress	The Reel Thing
August 2018	audioXpress	The Challenges of Live Recordings

I have also written a number of guest editorials from May 2018 to March 2020 for the audioXpress online newsletter - The Audio Voice

Australian Hi-Fi Magazine (Australia)

Digital copies of the magazines are available via the Australian Hi-Fi subscription website.

Sept.-Oct. 2019	Australian Hi-Fi	A Pressing Problem... With LPs
Jan.-Feb. 2020	Australian Hi-Fi	The Vinyl Frontier

Hi-Fi World Magazine

April 2001	DIY Supplement 57	Design and Construction of a Quality Stepped Attenuator
November 2001	DIY Supplement 61	Building Quality DIY Mains Power Leads
November 2001	DIY Supplement 61	Upgrading the WAD Series II Modular Preamp
April 2002	DIY Supplement 64	Review - Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD Player
April 2002	DIY Supplement 64	A Moving Coil Cartridge Head Amplifier
May 2002	DIY Supplement 65	Review - Origin Live Turntable Kit
August 2002	DIY Supplement 67	Upgrading the Njoe Tjoeb 4000 Valve CD Player
February 2003	DIY Supplement 71	Cartridge Alignment with the Vinyl Essentials Test Record
October 2003	DIY Supplement 75	Upgrading the Upgrade - The New Origin Live Turntable Motor
April 2004	DIY Supplement 78	The New Origin Live Ultra Turntable Power Supply
December 2004	DIY Supplement 80	Stepped Attenuators - The Final Instalment?
February 2005	DIY Supplement 81	A Touch of Glass
April 2005	DIY Supplement 82	The ProLogue One AABB Upgrade
April 2005	DIY Supplement 82	Tube Hoops
August 2005	DIY Supplement 84	HD83 Extreme Makeover
October 2005	DIY Supplement 85	Book Review - Sound Design by David Attwood
October 2005	DIY Supplement 85	An Eighth-Wave Transmission Line Loudspeaker
March 2006	Vol.16 No.1	The History of Vinyl & Phonograph Cylinder Recording + audio samples
April 2007	Vol.17 No.2	Rewired for Sound - rewiring a tonearm
April 2007	Vol.17 No.2	On The Run - the evolution of my Hi-Fi system
June 2007	Vol.17 No.4	Soundbites - Logitech Wireless Hi-Fi Link
August 2007	Vol.17 No.6	Soundbites - Black Rhodium Cables
September 2007	Vol.17 No.7	Arms Length Review - The Audio Origami Tonearm
September 2007	Vol.17 No.7	Soundbites - Sennheiser OMX90VC Earphones
September 2007	Vol.17 No.7	Glass Time - The SuperTubeClock Valve CD Clock Upgrade
February 2008	Vol.17 No.12	Olde Worlde - The Reel Thing - The Sony TC-377 Open Reel Recorder
October 2008	Vol.18 No.8	Soundbites - Philips GoGear MP3 Player
October 2008	Vol.18 No.8	Soundbites - Ringmat CDi Blue Statmat & Dampers
January 2009	Vol.18 No.11	The Holy and the IV - The PrimaLuna ProLogue Eight Upgraded
March 2009	Vol.19 No.1	Soundbites - TJ Full Music Valves
June 2009	Vol.19 No.4	Soundbites - Sonic Freedom Offspring Spikes
June 2009	Vol.19 No.4	Soundbites - Black Knight Figure of 8 Powercord
October 2009	Vol.19 No.8	Buy buy Blackburn! - A New Valve Range from Blackburn MicroTech Solutions
December 2009	Vol.19 No.10	A History of Test Card Music
January 2010	Vol.19 No.11	Spinning the Bottle
January 2010	Vol.19 No.11	Kinetik Energy - The New ISOkinetik Modular One Turntable
February 2010	Vol.19 No.12	A New Concept? - The Clearaudio Concept Turntable
February 2010	Vol.19 No.12	Review - ISOkinetik Upgraded Rega Turntable
March 2010	Vol.20 No.1	The Rega RB1000 Tonearm
May 2010	Vol.20 No.3	TEAC for Two - The TEAC T-H380DNT Stereo Tuner
March 2011	Vol.21 No.1	Out of the Blue - The Kiseki Blue NOS Cartridge
July 2011	Vol.21 No.5	Cable Sound - Do Cables Make a Difference?
December 2011	Vol.21 No.10	Squeezing More Out of a Squeezebox!
September /October 2012	Vol.22 Nos.7 and 8	Trough-Line Triumph! - How to restore and upgrade this legendary FM tuner
September 2022	Vol.32 No.7	Letters & Emails - A mention of the Trough-Line articles in the final issue of Hi-Fi World

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Technical Audio and Miscellaneous Items

Stepped Attenuator Calculators

For Hi-Fi enthusiasts wishing to build their own stepped attenuator to replace the volume control in their amplifier, I have written two Javascript programs to calculate the values of the resistors required; one for a resistor string attenuator with up to 24 steps and the other for a shunt attenuator with up to 50 steps. I hope you find them useful.

300B Triode Testing

If anyone wants to test 300B triodes on a valve tester that doesn't support these valves, click here to read how I solved the problem with my B&K Dyna-Jet Valve (Tube) Tester Model 606.

For anyone interested in television engineering, I wrote an article for Wireless World back in 1979 on the design of a unit to electronically generate colour television pictures from a black & white source. More recently, I wrote an article for the Test Card Circle on Baird 30-line television and have included both articles below.

August 1979	Wireless World	Colour Synthesizer Design for the PAL System
April 2004	The Test Card Circle Magazine	30-Line Television: Baird for All to See!

Colour Bar Test Generator

If you need a simple colour test pattern on your monitor, click on the Colour Bar Generator link, or on Colour Bar Generator with Tone for the colour bars with 15 seconds of 440Hz tone followed by 5 seconds of silence. Press F11 to toggle between full screen view and normal window.

Hi-Fi and Professional Audio Equipment Maintenance

If you have any high-end audio equipment that needs to be repaired, calibrated, maintained or simply set up correctly, then look no further than The Audiophiles Clinic, who can offer a complete service for any professional recording studio or high-end audio enthusiast. Owned and run by a highly-experienced electronics engineer, acoustic engineer and self-confessed music geek, he certainly did an amazing job restoring my Studer A810 professional tape recorder to 'better than new' by using modern audiophile components in the restoration process.

As I have an EPROM programmer, firmware images of three versions for the Studer A810 (25/86, 01/88 and 25/91) plus a few of the correct type of blank EPROMS, I have been able to upgrade my machine's firmware from version 25/86 to the most stable version 01/88. For more information, click here.

Music

Other interests include light and classical music, especially baroque. My classical recordings are listed in Album_Details.PDF.

I also have a comprehensive collection of the excellent quality light music used to accompany the BBC test card and am a member of the Test Card Circle. I have a copy of virtually every tape from 1959 through to 1982 on CD. The tapes were 1/2 hour long up until 1972 and then were 1 hour in length. Most of these CDs have been made from the original BBC coded music master recordings and the later ones are therefore in stereo!

In addition to the BBC test card music, I have copies of the music used to accompany the Channel 4 test card when the channel started broadcasting on 2 November 1982. I have copies of the first nine 1-hour tapes used, again from the stereo masters, as well as the original Channel 4 theme. I also have a collection of library music recordings (recordings that were not commercially available) and much of it was used for television theme tunes and interval music.

UK Speaking Clock Emulator

To indulge in a little nostalgia, I have written a program that emulates the UK Speaking Clock 'TIM'. The Visual Basic program should work on any PC running Windows 11, 10 or 7. Pat Simmons was the voice of the United Kingdom's Speaking Clock from 1963 until 1985. The program uses your computer's clock as the reference and speaks the time using recordings of Pat Simmons' voice - just as you would have heard if you had dialled 'TIM' or the number 846. You can download the program from here as a 16Mb ZIP file - save it on your computer and unzip the contents, then run the Install file to install it on your PC and click the 'Install' button. If you get Windows Smartscreen 'Windows protected your PC' warnings about running the installation and the first time the program runs, click on 'More info' and then 'Run anyway' (it is quite safe!) - you will only need to do that twice - once for the install and once to run the program for the first time. You can remove it at any time using the uninstall feature of Windows Control Panel 'Programs and Features' in the usual way. When installed, the program will be available in your list of programs under 'Speaking Clock'. Enjoy!

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Orchid Photographs

Prior to 2000, the orchid photographs were taken on a Nikon FE 35mm camera using the standard Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens with off-camera flash and extension tubes as necessary. The photographs were taken on Fujichrome 'Sensia' ASA100 or 'Sensia II' ASA200 colour slide film. These slides were then scanned on a Nikon 'Coolscan' scanner.

From 2000 until 2004, the photographs were taken on a Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera. From 2005, a Nikon DSLR camera has been used (a D70 from 2005-2009, a D90 from 2010-2011, a D7000 from 2012-2017 and a D7500 from 2018), together with an AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f2.8 D lens. For illumination, either an off-camera Nikon SB600 flash unit with diffuser or a ring LED unit on the lens was used.

Click on the thumbnail to download the picture.

Tropical Orchids

Brassia verrucosa	Cattleya Braziliensis	Cattleya velutina x Laelia Crispa	Coelogyne Cristata	Coelogyne Cristata 'Alba'	Coelogyne fuliginosa
Coelogyne fuscescens	Coelogyne Intermedia	Coelogyne lawrenceana	Coelogyne Massangeana	Cymbidium hybrid	Cymbidium hybrid yellow
Cymbidium hybrid yellow (focus-stacked)	Cymbidium Alexanderi 'Westonbirt'	Cymbidium Alexanderi 'Westonbirt' (7 blooms)	Cymbidium Minneken 'Pink Tower'	Dendrobium Ainsworthii	Dendrobium Delicatum
Dendrobium Delicatum spray	Dendrobium Golden Blossom 'Sunset'	Dendrobium Hastings	Dendrobium hybrid	Dendrobium kingianum	Dendrobium Maihime Beauty
Dendrobium Nobile	Dendrobium Pink Doll 'Elegance'	Dendrochilum latifolium	Encyclia cochleata	Epidendrum ibaguense	Epidendrum Prismatocarpum
Laelia virens	Laeliocattleya Meadow Gold	Lycaste Skinneri	Masdevallia Teipels Mary Candy	Maxilaria Praestans	Miltonia Kasserine x Franz Wichmann
Neobenthema gracilio	Neobenthema gracilio spray	Odontioda Fireflower x Odontoglossum Hallii	Odontioda Flintstone	Odontioda Galaxy	Odontioda Harry Baldwin x Carl Keyes x Elaine Herioda
Odontioda Honiton Lace	Odontocidium Tigersun	Odontoglossum Bictoniense	Odontoglossum Luto Purpureum x Mach Two	Odontoglossum Pulchellum	Odontonia Susan Bogdanow
Oncidium goldiana	Oncidium maculatum	Oncidium ornithorhynchum	Paphiopedilum gratrixianum	Paphiopedilum lawrenceanum x ciliolare	Paphiopedilum King Arthur 'Bourgogne'
Paphiopedilum leeanum	Paphiopedilum Maudae	Paphiopedilum Petronella x Queen Anna	Paphiopedilum Nitens	Paphiopedilum Prince Edward of York	Paphiopedilum Rosy Dawn 'Alba'
Paphiopedilum Rosy Dawn	Paphiopedilum Rosy Dawn (2 blooms)	Paphiopedilum rothschildianum	Miniature Phalaenopsis hybrid	Phalaenopsis hybrid	Phalaenopsis hybrid
Phalaenopsis hybrid	Phalaenopsis hybrid	Phalaenopsis Sussex Pearl	Phragmipedium Ainsworthii	Phragmipedium Calurum	Phragmipedium Don Wimber
Pleurothallis	Polystachya Pubescens	Rossioglossum grande	Sarcochilus Fitzhart	Sophrolaeliocattleya Jewel Box	Stenoglottis longifolii
Vuylstekeara Cambria 'Orange'	Zygopetalum intermedium	Zygopetalum 'Ladybird'

'Hardy' Terrestrial Orchids

Anacamptis pyramidalis	Anacamptis pyramidalis (Badbury Rings, Dorset)	Anacamptis pyramidalis (spray)	Bletilla striata	Bletilla striata 'Soryu'	Calanthe Kozu (focus-stacked)
Cypripedium Emile	Cypripedium fasciolatum	Cypripedium formosanum	Cypripedium Gisela	Cypripedium Gisela plant (focus stacked)	Cypripedium Hank Small
Cypripedium Lucy Pinkepank	Cypripedium parviflorum v pubescens	Cypripedium Ulla Silkens (in garden)	Cypripedium Ulla Silkens	Dactylorhiza fuchsii	Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Badbury Rings, Dorset)
Dactylorhiza fuchsii (spray)	Dactylorhiza fuchsii (St.Leonards, Dorset)	Dactylorhiza praetermissa 'Anada' (in garden)	Dactylorhiza praetermissa 'Anada'	Disa Diores 'Inca Warrior'	Disa Kewensis
Disa Kewensis 'Ann'	Disa Kewensis 'Mandarin'	Disa uniflora 'Firebird'	Disa uniflora 'Marguerite_Kottler'	Epipactis gigantea (in garden)	Epipactis gigantea plant (in garden)
Epipactis gigantea	Epipactis Renate	Habenaria radiata	Listera ovata (Batcombe, Dorset)	Ophrys apifera (in garden)	Ophrys apifera
Orchis mascula (Badbury Rings, Dorset)	Orchis morio (in garden)	Orchis morio	Platanthera chlorantha (Badbury Rings, Dorset)	Platanthera chlorantha & Dactylorhiza fuchsii	Pleione praecox
Pleione tongariro	Serapias lingua

Orchid-related Links

Bournemouth Orchid Society	Hardy Orchid Society	The North of England Orchid Society	The Orchid Mall	Orchid Research Newsletter - Kew	American Orchid Society
Bournemouth Natural Science Society	British Orchid Council	Wessex Orchid Society	Orchid Accessories	British Paphiopedilum Society	Elite Orchids
Orchid Alchemy	Isle of Portland Orchids

I have written an article on orchids entitled "In Love with Orchids" for a Chinese lifestyle magazine, UK Laomao. This is the same article as published in Chinese.

Thank you for your interest!

This page has been accessed times since September 2004.

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(c) 1998-2024 Neville Roberts BSc CEng CPhys FIET MInstP