Bolt

At all depends on how many mobile phone cells (masts) you phone is able to contact. Your location is calculated by the relative signal strength recieved at each cell, as this allows your lovation to be triangulated. If your phone is in contact with 3 or more cells (such as along a main road or in an urban area), the accuracy can be very good (<100sq metres-ish). If your phone has a scratchy signal from just one cell, then I guess the helichopter will be performing a number of large circles. I think I will put my faith in a six figure grid ref!

I think it goes somthing like YOU.. "help, help, you've got to save me, all the blood is coming out". NICE LADY ON 112 CALL DESK.. "Don't worry sir, I have you exact location here on the screen (then under her breath) plus or minus about 2 square miles that is" Best if you injure yourself in town (or near a main road) I think!

remember this?? Unfortunately the same "advice" is being given on this forum to experts and novices alike. Yes, if you cut along powerlines week in and week out, you can get away with some stupid stuff, but DON'T be proud of it, and DON'T offer it up as advice to others . If you don't know much about powerlines and you just want facts, here they are... FACT. If you are felling a tree more than 2x their height from an overhead line (regardless of voltage) you are in no electrical danger- work normally, no need to inform the electric company of your intentions. FACT. If you are pruning a tree more than 9 metres (measured from closest twig of tree to nearest conductor) from a line suspended from wooden poles, and if you can maintain that 9m clearance throughout the job, you are in no electrical danger- work normally, no need to inform the electric company of your intentions (regardless of voltage). FACT. If you are pruning a tree more than 15 metres (measured from closest twig of tree to nearest conductor) from a line suspended from metal towers, and if you can maintain that 15m clearance throughout the job, you are in no electrical danger- work normally, no need to inform the electric company of your intentions (regardless of voltage). FACT. The above distances are called PROXIMITY ZONES. FACT. If your tree is in the proximity zone, you should... • Have NPTC “UA” utility arb qualifications. • Written authorisation by the electric company that owns the lines. • Have informed your insurance company • Informed the electric company of the location of your cutting work FACT. If you haven't got NPTC "UA" qualifications, you don't need to worry about... voltages live zones vicinity zones damp weather vegitation touching! bouncing?!? clashing!?! .... because you won't be that close will you? FACT. We are all grown ups, if we wish to go closer, bully for us, but the original question was for facts in order to "do things right and get up to date".

Wether splasy or soak Brit summer's still a joke I will just settle for longer days. Dark mornings / evenings make me dooooown. (do you think swallows use the long-range met office forcast, or are the african forcasts better?)

yes, recon its fake and silly (we will become even more semi skilled if that idea takes off). The rope coils on desent, and the anchor strop shows no sign of loading / unloading

The Story telling chair is an amazing design, with amazing carving. Superb. Also like your blend of art and heavy machinery in the photos...... .....something for everyone I think.

I got a timberwolf from Tavistock chainsaws in errrrr, Tavistock Devon. Good price and machine, and when I needed to sell it on, he managed to sell it on my behalf for mor than I paid for it... Nice!

Then there are those little slugs you find up the very top of trees. Must take them days to get all the way up there. sometimes feel a little guilty when the log they are sat on goes south.....

I am rather confused by "Ethical", as I don't consider my actions unethical. Most of my career (20 odd years) has been spent doing powerline work. Some may consider my work as butchery, and they are welcome to their opinion. I aim to cut my stumps low, I don't damage fences, I make sure the chips arn't fired down badgers sets, or bunnies holes, I don't block streams with my arisings. I treat whoever I meet with politeness and respect. I try not to make my groundy cry (or knock him out with falling branches) and I try to swear quite quietly. If I break somones property, I tell them, and if I have a Pee around the back of the garden shed, I don't aim for the sun lounger or the BBQ. Despite not leaving pegs... or rips... or spiking up the back of trees, I TAKE PRIDE in the fact that you can see that I have been, because, as I see it, I don't want the powerlines and trees to blend in, because I WANT people to notice powerlines. Its not noticing powelines (or underestimating their danger) that causes injuries that ruin lives, and fatailities than end them. As I say, others may well call it butchery. Could somone clarify wether or not I AM UNETHICAL??

as long as you, your equipment and the bits you cut stay out of the proximity zone, you don't need to infrom the network operator (and your insurance will be valid) if you are FELLING, the proximity zone is 2x tree height. If however, you are pruning / dismantling, the proximity zone is 9 metres (for a line on wooden poles, regardless of voltage). If the tree is at 10m (which you reckon it is) go-you-ahead (as they say).

Just give it a go James, youv'e already done the hard bit (i.e. get together the bits you need) Its a great way of understanding better how somthing works. My golden nugget of advice would be to take photos as to take it apart (pictures are cheep, so take loads as you go from all angles) This makes putting stuff back together sooooo much easier. As long as you don't need the saw desperately, you can give it as long as it takes.

Nice "street view". hope you got written permission from every car you rode past, otherwise I may feel the need to sit at my desk during my lunch and steal all their identities. Har Har Har, by this time tomorrow I shall rule the earth

tickover rpm...air filter...chain tension...dirt in the clutch housing...broken clutch weights...

A nasty state of affairs, especially if you have stumped up £900 in advance. It rather depends on the "nature of their problem". If they haven't got enough work to justify another surveyer, I suppose thats just how business runs. Self employment is full of unexpected and sometimes nasty hard knocks. If they haven't been straight with you from the start, its not so good. If you haven't been straight with them, well, there you go! Thing now is how to move on. Are there other companies local that may need a UA5 surveyor? It is, after all, still not that common a qualification. Even if not, you are still able to use this as a demonstration of your commitment to the right employer..... keep plodding.

For god sake don't post a "street view" of it.

was it the bent ones, I thought it was the straight ones thay didn't like

Ditto all of the above sentiments. Don’t dwell on the hinge thing. If your hinge wasn’t a problem in training, just take your time during the assessment, and “do what you did in training”. The worst thing now would be to over-concentrate on your hinge, and have, for instance, chain brake use and no-go zones go out of the window. Remember, it’s supposed to be fun. Enjoy showing the assessor what you can do. oh, and fair play to you for posting (I would have kept sthum)

1-2 meters off a sycamore sounds like a job for life. I guess its not a particularly large tree, therefore, You would do well to get youself a sturdy main anchour, one that you really trust and are happy to "push" against. That one is mainly to keep your confidence happy! As you move around the tree use additionals that are for positioning, but wont be so sturdy. Lots of people find having a few webbing slings ideal for these anchours. When you reach out to do the cuts, avoid the urge to do it "face down" as your anchours won't support you. Sit back in your harness and streach out so that you are almost in a lying position. this gives you "length" and support. what were you cutting with, saw? loppers? or Secateurs?

once got a particularly large trainee in a petzl navaho. its surprising how much expansion those little harnesses have. wouldnt really recommend it though (He made it look like a thong. not very manly!!)

*derail alert derail alert* hi mr woodpecker, which gods own county would you be in (as a matter of interest )

congrats Chris, what species was it, how much did you have off, a do you have before and after photos?

very nice. The yellow hat is very good and all..... ....but you have to go some to beat the blue glove / white coat / microscope combo! reminds me of my open university days. all in all, a thumbs up

NPTC only do assessments, and I don't believe there is any requirement for retaking assessments. If you have say, CS31, and you do a CS32 assessment, this, I recon, is considered a type of CS31 "refresher". LANTRA AWARDS (oops didn't mean to shout) have training courses for experianced operatives that are, say, a day rather than a week, so any Lantra provider should be able to sort you out a package. Check out the lantra awards website. My only experiance of training providers in the south east is Kingswood training near Tonbridge.

The combination of saw maintenance and a big hammer. Perfection from the flaming-ace camp.

never tried a camel back, do they make your back hot, get in the way or mess up your balance?