Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 2]

[TheEnd]

It's more likely that it is sensitive enough to pick up the noise, but in an entire ocean of noise and ships and apparently even fish farting, they'd never be able to accurately pick it out of the background.

[Feirny]

During Radio2 Sally Traffic announcements, what do the "pings" mean?

We have a theory it's related to local traffic updates etc.

[johnymac]

Feirny said:

During Radio2 Sally Traffic announcements, what do the "pings" mean?

We have a theory it's related to local traffic updates etc.

They only appear on the Steve Wright show and he plays it whenever the traffic reporter mentions "Knock on effect".
Just him having a bit of fun.

[LivingTheDream]

johnymac said:

Feirny said:

During Radio2 Sally Traffic announcements, what do the "pings" mean?

We have a theory it's related to local traffic updates etc.

They only appear on the Steve Wright show and he plays it whenever the traffic reporter mentions "Knock on effect".
Just him having a bit of fun.

Bizarrely I read these two posts just as Sally was reading the traffic and my dog kept lifting his head with his ears cocked as the pings went off!!

Just a coincidence really!

[Feirny]

johnymac said:

They only appear on the Steve Wright show and he plays it whenever the traffic reporter mentions "Knock on effect".
Just him having a bit of fun.

Had noticed it only on Steve Wright's show, cheers!

[mattdaniels]

Feirny said:

During Radio2 Sally Traffic announcements, what do the "pings" mean?

We have a theory it's related to local traffic updates etc.

Not heard those traffic reports but are they three tones at the beginning of the report and three at the end of the report, that sound similar to the DTMF tones that a touch-tone telephone makes?

If so they are the Traffic Announcement (TA) tones which RDS radios use to interrupt whatever you're listening to and switch to the radio station giving the travel news, and then back again.

Edit: According to this BBC stations don't need to broadcast the DTMF tones so it's probably not that.

Edited by mattdaniels on Tuesday 21st October 16:03

[kowalski655]

mattdaniels said:

Not heard those traffic reports but are they three tones at the beginning of the report and three at the end of the report, that sound similar to the DTMF tones that a touch-tone telephone makes?

If so they are the Traffic Announcement (TA) tones which RDS radios use to interrupt whatever you're listening to and switch to the radio station giving the travel news, and then back again.

Edit: According to this BBC stations don't need to broadcast the DTMF tones so it's probably not that.

Edited by mattdaniels on Tuesday 21st October 16:03

What they DO need to do though is turn on the RDS bit at the right time,Radio Jockland for example often has 5 minutes of sport or news before the traffic,and weather too, and you cant turn the RDS off and on again as it wont pick up the start of the actual traffic.
Pressing the button is probably down to the junior work experience twonk in the studio,just so he has something to do

[MissChief]

Talking about Petrol pumps, has the 'flow rate' been slowed down since petrol has increased in price to make it easier for the disillusioned to hit the closest whole pound? I seem to be standing longer at the pumps than I used to 19 years ago when I passed my test. Or am I imagining it?

[98elise]

fomb said:

vournikas said:

How the fkitty fk is that possible?!?

Whilst it can probably detect (i.e "hear") it it probably can't do much with that information due to the natural factors involved. Salinity, thermal currents, other noise so on and so on. But, is there really any use to being able to hear that far if you can't take any action. I dare say they're able to reliably detect and monitor things a reasonable distance past maximum weapons range.

Its very useful for tracking enemy vessels without sending out a loud "ping" every few seconds. Each ship/sub has a signature, often specific to the vessel rather than the type. Warships are very careful about radiated noise for this reason.

As to long range detection being of any use. You want to detect the enemy way before they get close to you, that means as far away as possible. Even if your not sure exactly where something is, its useful to know that its on the move, and how far away it is.

[98elise]

scarble said:

I er.. I second that question!
It's basically just a really really really really good microphone (or hydrophone if you prefer), so it'll pick up all kinds of noise from everywhere and technically all of that noise, if it's above a certain very low threshold is technically detected, it seems a bit of a stretch for any noise to get that far and still be at a detectable level but sound travels further under water and whales communicate over ridiculous distances, so if it can get that far, the challenge is in then picking it out from all the other noise, all the closer ships and other sea like noises.. like um.. whales talking and uh.. seaweed swishing in the.. currents.
Perhaps what they actually mean is that once they were able to isolate a noise similar to prop noise or engine noise and on the right bearing from all the other noise which correlated with a known departure of a ship from NY? It's much easier to find something if you know when and where to look for it.
Or maybe it's complete BS as documentaries often are

Surely there is an sonarist somewhere on PH who can explain this?

Anyone with genuine knowledge of the distances involved will not be able to tell you. Even if stuff is in the public domain you would likely breaching the official secrets act to confirm any figures.

[MissChief]

vournikas said:

How the fkitty fk is that possible?!?

In conjunction with other replies I suspect what they mean (and in typical Journalist vagueness) is that, given ideal conditions, with no other sources of noise or interference and given that Commercial ships don't care about noise, only efficiency, it could hear a merchant ship leaving New York from Southampton given ideal conditions and a clear 'line of sight' between the two. I suspect the information was given as a range figure and someone said 'oh that's about the distance from Southampton to New York, say that instead'.

I'd also be very surprised to find that the Astute has no Active Sonar whatsoever. Most submarines that I've ever read about do have both but Passive is far better because it's possible to hear without being heard if your Sonar is very good.

[mattdaniels]

kowalski655 said:

mattdaniels said:

Not heard those traffic reports but are they three tones at the beginning of the report and three at the end of the report, that sound similar to the DTMF tones that a touch-tone telephone makes?

If so they are the Traffic Announcement (TA) tones which RDS radios use to interrupt whatever you're listening to and switch to the radio station giving the travel news, and then back again.

Edit: According to this BBC stations don't need to broadcast the DTMF tones so it's probably not that.

Edited by mattdaniels on Tuesday 21st October 16:03

What they DO need to do though is turn on the RDS bit at the right time,Radio Jockland for example often has 5 minutes of sport or news before the traffic,and weather too, and you cant turn the RDS off and on again as it wont pick up the start of the actual traffic.
Pressing the button is probably down to the junior work experience twonk in the studio,just so he has something to do

The tones are now usually part of the traffic jingle. Back in the early days, stations got smacked noses from the Radio Authority for firing the tones then playing an ad break before the travel news, so that the ads got broadcast to more listeners.

[Dr Jekyll]

Why do so many pubs have sticky tables? (Apart from the fact that I'm obviously going to the wrong pubs).

[scarble]

.. because people spill beer on the tables?

[Funkycoldribena]

How much would it cost in AA batteries to run an average house for a day/year instead of electric?

[Blib]

Funkycoldribena said:

How much would it cost in AA batteries to run an average house for a day/year instead of electric?

Pound shop batteries or Duracel?

[Funkycoldribena]

Blib said:

Pound shop batteries or Duracel?

You choose.

[MissChief]

MissChief said:

Talking about Petrol pumps, has the 'flow rate' been slowed down since petrol has increased in price to make it easier for the disillusioned to hit the closest whole pound? I seem to be standing longer at the pumps than I used to 19 years ago when I passed my test. Or am I imagining it?

Well I tweeted Tokheim as I was curious and they said the flow rates haven't changed so maybe I was just imagining it.

[Dr Jekyll]

scarble said:

.. because people spill beer on the tables?

Well yes, but is it that beer is impossible to clean off, or that most pubs don't bother? Or is it the cleaning stuff that makes tables sticky? My favourite pub currently has non sticky tables, any chance it will stay that way?

[singlecoil]

Dr Jekyll said:

scarble said:

.. because people spill beer on the tables?

Well yes, but is it that beer is impossible to clean off, or that most pubs don't bother? Or is it the cleaning stuff that makes tables sticky? My favourite pub currently has non sticky tables, any chance it will stay that way?

One possibility is that whoever is going around wiping the tables is using a cloth that is insufficiently wet, and/or not rinsing it often enough, with the result that they are wiping the tables with slightly diluted beer. Laziness, basically.