midwales richard

We have trackers fitted to most of our vehicles and large equipment that will notify us if they are moved and hopefully therefore see them recovered if stolen. Police appear to respond very quickly if you can link them up with your tracker provider in the event of a theft unlike their normal apparent response/interest. We have ordered an additional unit today and whilst on the phone to the provider I mentioned Arbtalk and asked if they would offer any discount for Arbtalk members. They were happy to do so. The normal unit (which you fit yourself) retails at £249.99 including the first 3 months contract (£10 a month thereafter). If you quote code ARB14 when ordering they will discount them down to £125, also including the first 3 months. Skytag GPS can be found online at GPS Tracker or on 0845 388 6062. I should stress that I have no links with this company, I just use their product already and am very pleased with the service they offer. I also got a discount off our last insurance renewal for having the trackers fitted. Finally, if you have 3 units or more you can get direct access to the tracking software yourself as a fleet user. Moderators-hope this is of help to members, please move to a different area of the site if you think this fits better elsewhere.

PM sent-thanks.

Google skytag GPS. We have their units on all our vehicles and plant. We use mainly to alert via text if moved out of hours but I think they do real time monitoring too though I don't think they advertise this option widely.They are easy to install yourself and the phone support is good too if you need to change alert parameters. Our insurer also gave a premium discount for having them.

I'd recommend Euraccess in Bristol too. They've just serviced and LOLER'd our 18m spider. Very pleased with their service, gave them a list of intermitent faults and they have identified the cause and fixed in every case- all were electrical and sensor related. Ask to speak to Chris.

Sorry to sound stupid but I thought proper creosote was illegal to import or use now?-even though it's the best thing to stop posts rotting in the ground.

Hi Guys. Great new thread. We run a John Deere 455 with a 48" deck. It gives a really nice cut and collects well but at end of last season we started to get a narrow line in the cut as if two of the blades weren't quite cutting all the grass where they should (I assume) overlap the cuts. Is there a specific orientation the blades should be set at. Blades are sharpened regularly and all the bearings in the deck feel OK. Any suggestions. Thanks

Hi Steve The Arbtalk app appears to have stopped working on ipad. It was all fine but today when clicking to open the app I just get the initial brown page with the tree and arbtalk on and the spinning "loading" symbol, which eventually changes to a message saying the app is restricted contact administrator. Are you aware of any problems or is it a problem local to my device? Any advice appreciated. I can log in as normal via the web hence being able to post this Thanks Richard

A large Beech we were taking down this week for a client with this at its base. Tree was on top of a dry stone retaining wall and about 6 foot from the house, playing havoc with the roof slates and chimneys (old farm house about 100 years old). Tree had quite a lot of rot and dead branches. Almost brown in colour now but client reports it was more yellow/yellowy brown earlier in autumn. Would this be Meripilus giganteus? If it is I assume the root plate is effectively rotting and therefore at risk of failure, is that right? Any advice or confirmation would be great. Always keen to improve my very limited knowledge of fungi. Thanks

Hi. We have done a few jobs like this this year. We have a 35 hp compact tractor, cut with a 510 teagle topper then row up with a conventional Tedder. Picking up the rows onto a trailer to move to composting site is then quite quick and easy even if it is a little boring doing it by hand. Leaves a tidy job without needing to take any heavy kit onto the meadows. Using this technique we have gained "approved contractor" with our local meadows group!

Which is why having a removable accessory that the insurer is aware is only used off the public highway is better than having something permanently bolted to the front of the bumper which might be considered a modification. Asked my broker about mine and he confirmed no issue in writing.

]Pictures would help, I'm struggling to visualise that. Cheers I'll get some tomorrow and post them-very simple really just my poor description!

I've got a front mounted ball hitch but have it removable. Slightly different set up as I have a heavy duty winch bumper. The bracket I had fabricated is a flat plate with a length of box section welded to it. The plate bolts onto the bumper using the same bolts that hold the winch on. Then have a second (smaller) piece of box section with a bar to bolt the hitch onto that slides into the one on the bumper and have a 12 mm pin to hold it in place. Works well, takes a good heavy trailer no problems. Not sure if this would work for your bumper but happy to take some photos tomorrow if that's helpful.

Assuming this is a main dealer then they are pulling your plonker. They will have what is called a gate release date, this is the date the vehicle physically rolls out of the factory gates. They should have a forecast gate release date and then an actual gate release date if it turns out to be different. Once they have the actual release date they should be able to track the movement of the vehicle by boat, compound and then UK movements to dealership.

Thanks all for coming back to me. I'll let you know how we get on.

Come on guys-anyone else out there used one of these?