Mobile

If you are a part-time off-gridder in the UK, already paying for y0ur TV license elsewhere, then you don’t need to pay the £159 at the second address.

Your home TV licence covers your mobile use outside the home, as long as you watch TV on battery power.

If you plug your device into a mains socket outside your home, that site needs its own TV licence. But if the power  is not mains but a battery, then you don’t need to pay for a license.

Technically, this should also apply if you plug in your device to watch TV or BBC iPlayer on a train, and so on, though that would be somewhat hard to control.

The law says:

Your main home’s TV Licence will cover you unless anyone is watching live on any channel, TV service or streaming service, or using BBC iPlayer*, on any device, at the same time at your main licensed address.

In this case you will need to complete a declaration form, this should only take a couple of minutes –

Non-simultaneous use declaration form – English (PDF 92 KB opens in a new window)

This will be news to many part-time off-grid dwellers, who may have received warning letters demanding they pay the annual license for their second home.

The loophole also applies to

• Boats, touring caravans or vehicles.
• Static caravans, mobile homes or moveable chalets.
• Any device powered solely by its own internal batteries (i.e. it is not connected to an aerial or plugged into the mains).

This would include viewing TV in any shed or home which, used renewable-energy-powered batteries  (ie not the mains).

TVs and aerials are still common, but internet streaming means they are no longer required for watching television. The new licensing rules therefore cover not just TVs but PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, games consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation, streaming devices from Roku, Amazon and others, set-top boxes and personal video recorders (PVRs).…

Eastern Cape, Wednesday- Theoretical physicist Adriana Marais has wanted to board a spaceship to Mars since she was five.

One of 100 candidates selected for the now-stalled Mars One programme, Marais went deep into the Tsitsikamma forest in the Eastern Cape to live in extremity. She is doing so as part of her series of off-world simulation experiments devised to demonstrate a community living in resource-constrained environments.

Last year, Marais established the Proudly Human movement, a step towards helping her achieve her dream of exploring life beyond Earth.

Had Covid-19 not resulted in a travel ban, Marais and her team would have been preparing to leave for six months in a harsh environment to start their experiment.

“Building the cabin is a project I have called Off-World: Lockdown, to be followed by experiments in the most extreme environments on Earth, including Antarctica and the Sahara Desert.”

It has been more than two months since Marais and animal behaviourist Kurdt Greenwood have been living in a tiny cabin they built from scratch in the depths of the forest.

“In some sense, we have all been training for life in space during the lockdown, experiencing the isolation, confinement and extremity of a new and challenging environment.

“We started building the cabin earlier this year. Our goal was to build a cheap, lightweight and liveable cabin in a short space of time, in an inaccessible forest valley.

“Once the lockdown seemed imminent, we worked full-time on the construction.”

It took the duo about 300 hours to erect the structure, including carrying two tons of wooden poles, planks, cement and corrugated metal down a steep trail.

They rely on fire and gas for cooking and heating water, car batteries for charging their phones and other small devices, and a generator for their laptops.

“We collect water from the river, which is thankfully pristine, as well as our rain water tank. Our next plans are to grow food down there as well.

“Washing clothes in the river, managing a composting toilet, international video calls, where I’ve had to run up the mountain and climb a tree for better reception, while the video is running, are some highlights of our daily challenges.

“We share the space with baboons, monkeys, wild pigs, antelope, otters, snakes, chameleons, birds and many spiders and insects.

“Our nightly visitor, the genet, enjoys some scraps that we leave out.”

For Greenwood, living in the forest comes “very naturally”.

“I have been running survival schools and educational tours for many years, teaching people how to track animals, find food and build shelter in remote and wild places.

“This region has been crucial in the evolution of modern humans and we have made significant discoveries while living here. They will be made public later.”

Marais did not indicate how long she intended living in the forest. “Whether you are living in an informal settlement, …

Dave Goodwill told fellow-members on Quora how he made the choice to go off-grid:

Brexit will greatly improve my life.

I’ve been struggling with seasonal depressions during dark and wet winters, paying high rent in exchange for a tiny old property and was disappointed by my income being pretty much the same now as 15 years ago, with prices of everything being much higher.

In other words, I realised my life is a shitty rat race with bad weather and lots of traffic (Berkshire & London). My neighbours all had nice cars on finance, mortgages, crying kids and were imprisoned in “their” houses — never getting out of the prisons they were to repay until they’re too old to enjoy life.

That’s not the life I ever wanted. Brexit was the final nail to the coffin, a great eye opener and a kick up the ass. I decided to choose Europe. The sunnier, the better. So I ditched the shitty house for a luxurious motorhome and will be moving to South of Spain by the end of the year. You can see on the picture it seems bigger than a house for which I paid £1000pm + bills.

Yes, I’m lucky to have a dual citizenship so I’m staying in the EU, whether UK does or doesn’t Brexit. However I can’t see having just the British passport as a deal breaker – worst case will be a visa or equivalent of a settled status application. So if you have a similar itch to scratch – don’t let it be an excuse!

Don’t think I’d have the balls to make this decision, at least not in near future, if it wasn’t for Brexit. It’s a disaster for which in a way I’m grateful.

Edit after posting:

I’m surprised by how many people would like to join me in a motorhome convoy! Thanks for all the kind and encouraging words!…

When you’re trying to keep things simple and low tech, you want a low impact, low maintenance phone. Something that you can use in case of emergency, take a few photos with…..but otherwise largely ignore.

While you may not be interested in getting the latest models or buying from the big name brands you do want a set that supports your lifestyle, so lets take a look at phones that offer the best performance with the minimum of fuss. You’ll just need to figure out the best plan – again stay away from the high street names and try something like the SMARTY Mobile coverage plan.

Battery Life

In an ideal world you’d charge up the phone and leave it well alone until it’s needed but when you do need to make a call in an emergency it’s good to know the phone is there ready to go. If you’re looking for a phone that puts in the hours and is rugged and durable to boot, take a look at the Cat B25. This non-smartphone phone is perfect for those with active or outdoor lifestyles. It’s waterproof for up to 1-metre and it’s chunky buttons make it easy to make calls even when you’re wearing gloves.

The battery should stay for at least a couple of weeks at a time and talk time is around 550 minutes.

For a fliptop phone the Nokia 2720 Fold is another good option. This phone is smaller and even more basic than the Cat, making it a good lightweight option. The battery life is decent and because it lacks any kind of microSD memory support it’s a very affordable option.

Gadgets

If you’re looking for a phone that’s a step up from these more basic options but still in the same ballpark, then you might consider the Nokia 3310 3G. Unlike the previous phones, this one also has 3G which means you will have access to some data. With good battery life, this phone also comes with an FM radio tuner. With Bluetooth and a camera, though without wifi you can listen to your favourite music or podcasts while you work without the distraction of social media and games, though be warned it does feature the classic Nokia game of Snake.

The Lightphone 1 is a strange but nevertheless interesting phone that looks like a smartphone but doesn’t have very many of the features at all. The idea with the 1 model is that you can pair with your smartphone and just use the basic features without the distraction of the fluff of the smartphone. However if you don’t own a smartphone then the Lightphone 2 is probably the better model for you.

It’s still basic but the layout mimics that of a smartphone making it much clearer to see and use. You can add basic tools such as a calculator or music …