EPISODE 435 IRELAND PICS AND STORIES #2
alan skeoch
sept. 2021
GROUP NUMBER 7: MEMORY TEST AFTER 61 YEARS: SHORT PRIMER ON THE TURAM….A SWEDISH GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEM TO FIND UNKNOWN PHENOMENA (ANOMALIES)
USING ELECTRO-MAGNETISM
Farmers were not too pleased to discover our crew tramping down barley. This side view shows
the discomfort of Turam exploration .. battery pack on my back, heavy copper coil on my right leg, console on
my stomach, earphones on my head…and, unseen, a notebook to record readings every hundred feet.
In the distance is our lead man who also had a copper coil hanging from his belt. We were able to
detect anomalies…unusual blips beneath us. Our motor generator was hooked to a mile long copper wire base line
that was grounded at both ends setting up a loop emitting readable signals. At least that is how
I would explain the system.
This is Barney Dwan laying our base line which was usually a mile or more in length with
3,000 foot “lines” set up at right angles to the base line. This base line was a pain in the ass
in Ireland. But absolutely necessary. The reason? was at times funny …. at other times troubling…and always frustrating. Why?
The cows…yes, the cows were our biggest problem.
At one end of the base line set up our motor generator after driving grounding rods a couple of feet into the earth. The set up
pictured above was not a good one. Loose sand meant weak signals.
we also used a volt meter to make sure the base line was working as it should. The base line broke so often in Ireland that
we hired extra men just to patrol the line and ensure the generator was fine.
DANGER SIGN. The Irish government insisted we get this danger sign in both Irish and english. That was difficult but I managed
to find a sign painter n Dublin. The Irish cattle could not read the sign so many of them got a rude shock…some were knocked
over according to some Irish farmers. I never saw that happen.
SCIENTFIC EXPLANATION OF TURAM
The Turam method is one of the oldest geophysical electro-magnetic methods used for mineral exploration, devised by Erik Helmer Lars Hedstrom in 1937.[1] Its name is derived from Swedish “TU” (two) and “RAM” (frame), referring to the two receiving coils.
Method[edit]
An insulated cable a few hundred meters to several kilometers long is laid parallel to the geological strike direction. The cable is either grounded at both ends or laid out in a large loop, and energized at low frequencies (less than 1 kHz). Two receiving coils are moved on lines outside of and perpendicular to the long side of the loop or grounded cable and two components of the resultant field are measured. The primary field generated by the large loop or cable interacts with the soil and subsoil and with a conductive body if present which could be a mineral and creates a resultant electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field is measured according to two values: the Field Strength Ratio and the Phase Difference occurring between the two receiving coils . It is a fixed source horizontal loop method. Separation of the two moving coils is usually from 10 to 30 metres. Using an AC bridge (also called compensator bridge), Field Strength Ratio is measured in percent and Phase Difference in degrees. In-phase (Real) and quadrature (Imaginary) values can be calculated from these data. Observed field strength ratio readings are used to calculate reduced ratios using a formula determined by the loop size and shape or the grounded wire length and the position of the receiving coils relative to the loop or grounded wire. The Turam method is a frequency domain method and in a way is the precursor of the time domain fixed loop methods. It is claimed to have detected large flat lying conductors to a depth of 400 metres.
References[edit]
- ^ 1937, Hedstrom, E.H. Phase Measurements in Electrical Prospecting. AIME Tech. Publ. 827
This young boy was severely handicapped due to a blow on his head when he was young. He was the perfect guard for our motor generator. Cute
to see how much he loved the job.
GROUP NUMBER 8 THE IRON LADY… THE KENNEDY FAMILY…OUR HOSTS IN BONMAHON
Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy in front of their (her) general store…only store inthe village. She rented the
floor above the store to us for the summer…bed rooms and huge sitting room. We dined in a small
dining room on the main floor. Mrs. Kennedy made my lunch everyday. For the first few days I found lobster sandwiches in
my bucket. Never had lobster before.
“What is this sandwich, Barney?”
“Lobster.”
“Never had that before…couldn’t she make peanut butter and jelly?
“Ask her…Mrs. Kennedy thinks lobster is special.”
“Could you make peanut butter sandwiches, Mrs. Kennedy, please.”
“Peanut butter…never heard of it, Master Skeoch…I will get some from Waterford or Dublin…order it.”
(She called me Master Skeoch for some reason…flattering)
Mrs. Kennedy was the leading lady in Bonmahon. A very determined lady. She had strong opinions on most things
including the two pubs down the road from her store. Mr. Kennedy rarely spoke. He ran the farm behind the store. I was
never sure how much acreage… He was a quiet…very pleasant..man whose wife was
the driving force in the family.
Mrs Kennedy did not drink nor did Mr. Kennedy. She quietly accepted the fact that John Hogan and I got in the habit of downing a pint or
two of Guinness at Kirwin’s pub. She let it be known, however, that a previous group of Canadians had caused a lot of trouble
by hard drinking. We were not hard drinkers. Yes, we were afraid of Mrs. Kennedy as were others in the village.
She was the ‘Margaret Thatcher’ of Bonmahon…the “iron lady”. She was also a very nice woman as you can tell from
the smile on her daughters face.
Gerald was the family charmer. Their son was overjoyed to have us living in the house with
him. He was a very busy little boy despite his handicap. My room had a thin wall so I could hear
Mr. Kennedy every evening trying to teach Gerald to read. I was deeply touched. Gerald had a
guard that looked after him…a black Labrador dog who was very gentle even allowing Gerald
to ride him. On one occasion I saw Gerald bite the dog on the ear. Not maliciously really. The
dog knew that and did not flinch. The dog was trained to keep Gerald from the sea. Gerald could
walk in the shallows up to his ankles. beyond that and the dog would push…”herd” is a better word…the
dog would gently herd Gerald back to shore. People who have handicapped children often have touching
heart warming lives. The Kennedy’s never once mentioned Gerald’s handicap. He was a ray of sunshine in our lives.
Mr.Kenned was very proud of his potato crop grown on the former enclosed yard that led to the old stables. They kept no farm animals…except
for Gerald’s Labrador dog.
GROUP NMBER 8
I could be wrong but I believed this indented land was once the original coast road that ran along only a few feet from the
cliff face. In the evenings Many Bonmahon residents strolled along places like this. I got in the habit of doing that as well..always
meeting local people. It was very hard to talk to each other however due to the local dialect.
Barney Dwan and I got along like a house on fire. He was my right hand man. In the evenings he planned some very dangerous
but exciting explorations of the old mine adits. In the photo he is resting near an almost hidden mine adit.
something rare in this photo…a fence along the cliff face. Below, at sea level, is one reason for the fence…dead animals.
IN order to fit in I bought a cloth cap and an ‘over the head’ shirt that the locals wore. I was beginning to feel Irish…like John Wayne in the Quiet Man
Some animals fell off the cliffs.
This old mine opening was at sea level. Deep below The miners tunnelled under the sea for some distance. Very dangerous. Sea water
and fresh water leaked into the stopes requiring a pumping system. Once the mine was abandoned the sea water filled
the deep workings which means the old mine could be reclaimed by water pumps. The sea keeps Knockmahon copper
mine intact.
This was the adit we used most of the time. Sometimes we had to crawl on our hands and knees at other times we could
stand in a kind of crouch. The walls were beautiful painted with the green of oxidized chalco pyrite and also a bright pink
in places. More about that later.
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