Phil McKerracher
Published on Phil McKerracher (http://www.mckerracher.net)

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Welcome! [1]

I'm a professional electrical engineer specialising in real-time embedded software development in the telecommunications industry. I live in Carshalton [2], south London with my wife Amanda, who is a history teacher at Putney High School [3].

audio icon The surname McKerracher apparently comes from the Gaelic name MacFhearchair or Farquharson [4], pronounced like this [5] and meaning (son of) "very dear one". We pronounce it to rhyme approximately with "America".

My interests

Violinist graphic

My main hobby is playing the violin [6] in amateur orchestras and chamber groups such as the Bromley Symphony Orchestra [7]. I started learning when I was 8 and still have lessons occasionally. Not surprisingly, I also like listening to classical music [8]. I also play the piano.

Lights graphic

I'm also interested in theatre lighting and sound [9]. I have recently designed and operated lighting for the Spring Park Dramatic Society [10], Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, and The Barn Theatre [11], Oxted. My wife acts with some of these groups. I enjoyed operating cameras, mixers and other equipment at public access cable TV studios in Mountain View [12] and Hayward, California, when I was working there a few years ago. They even had me hosting a half-hour show live because of my "posh English accent", which was strange considering that I still speak with a noticeable Australian accent!

Animation of selected pictures

Photography has always interested me, and you can find some of my most interesting pictures in the album [13] here. Don't miss the ones of the Grand Canyon [14], Great Wall of China [15], Space Shuttle launch [16] and the "Road Ruiner [17]".

Suitcase graphic

I have travelled quite a lot for business and pleasure, attending standards meetings, adapting products for different markets and on holiday. I travelled all around Europe by bus and campervan in 1984 and have enjoyed holidays in China, Southeast Asia, Poland and cruising around the South Pacific. I would still like to visit Africa, South America and Russia. I attended evening classes in German for several years, eventually gaining an Intermediate Diploma from the Institute of Linguists [18]. I also speak some French.

Flying saucer graphic

I am one of the least superstitious people I know, and for many years have been interested in paranormal phenomena [19] from a skeptical point of view. I share the fascination many psychologists and magicians [20] have for the ways in which we can be deceived and the insight this gives into how we think and what we are. I look after the web site of The Skeptic [21] (UK) magazine and was a committee member of the Australian Skeptics [22] and Australian Humanists [23] for a while. Prometheus Books [24] publish many interesting books in this field, and good skeptical magazines are available in Australia [25] and America [26].

Dilbert graphic

I stay in touch with developments in my industry and in science generally by reading Spectrum [27] (the journal of the IEEE [28]) and Scientific American [29]. The Register [30], Electronic News [31], Electronics Weekly [32], Computing [33], Slashdot [34] and Wired [35] are my main online sources of industry gossip. I like the comic strip Dilbert [36], especially since the author, Scott Adams, was formerly an engineer in the ISDN industry.

I also support the Brights [37], Amnesty [38] and Mensa [39].


Brief biography

I grew up in Melbourne [40], Australia [41] and worked on radio navigation systems for the Department of Aviation [42] there before seeking fame and fortune in Europe in 1984. I married my wife Amanda in 1997. She studied at Bristol University [43] and is currently head of the history department at Putney High School [3]. My parents and brother still live in Melbourne.

My main areas of expertise are in embedded real-time programming and communications systems, in particular ISDN [44] signalling protocols, having been an active member of the various ETSI [45] committees which developed the European standards and tests. The ISDN tutorial [44] and Home Highway tutorial [46] here are an attempt to pass on some of this knowledge. I also have considerable experience of designing modems to connect to analogue networks worldwide. My software was inside the network termination unit used by the BT Highway [47] service.

There is a copy of my Curriculum Vitae with more details here [48] (PDF, view with free Adobe [49] reader).


This site was created in April 1997. There is an archive of an early version here [50].


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Copyright © 1997-2012 Phil McKerracher


Source URL: http://www.mckerracher.net/node

Links:
[1] http://www.mckerracher.net/welcome
[2] http://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1233
[3] http://www.gdst.net/putneyhigh/
[4] http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/dtog/farquha2.html
[5] http://www.mckerracher.net/farquharson.wav
[6] http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=vlweb;list
[7] http://www.bromleysymphony.org/
[8] http://www.classical.net/
[9] http://www.faqs.org/faqs/theatre/stagecraft/faq/
[10] http://www.mckerracher.net/springparkdrama/index.htm
[11] http://www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk
[12] http://kmvt15.org/
[13] http://www.mckerracher.net/album
[14] http://www.mckerracher.net/album/index.php%23GrandCanyon
[15] http://www.mckerracher.net/album/index.php%23GreatWall
[16] http://www.mckerracher.net/album/index.php%23ShuttleLaunch
[17] http://www.mckerracher.net/album/index.php%23RoadRuiner
[18] http://www.iol.org.uk/
[19] http://www.yahoo.co.uk/Science/Alternative/Paranormal_Phenomena/
[20] http://allmagic.com/allmagicguide/
[21] http://www.skeptic.org.uk
[22] http://www.skeptics.com.au/
[23] http://home.vicnet.net.au/humanist/welcome.htm
[24] http://www.hutch.demon.co.uk/prom/
[25] http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/journal.htm
[26] http://www.csicop.org/
[27] http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/
[28] http://www.ieee.org/
[29] http://www.scientificamerican.com/
[30] http://www.theregister.co.uk/
[31] http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/
[32] http://www.electronicsweekly.co.uk/
[33] http://www.computing.co.uk/
[34] http://www.slashdot.org
[35] http://www.wired.com
[36] http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive
[37] http://www.the-brights.net/
[38] http://www.amnesty.org/
[39] http://www.mensa.org.uk/mensa/
[40] http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/aust/melb.htm
[41] http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/pacific/australia
[42] http://www.airservicesaustralia.com
[43] http://www.bris.ac.uk
[44] http://www.mckerracher.net/isdn
[45] http://www.etsi.org/
[46] http://www.mckerracher.net/highway
[47] http://www.bt.com/homehighway
[48] http://www.mckerracher.net/cv.pdf
[49] http://www.adobe.com
[50] http://web.archive.org/web/19980111004109/http:/www.philmck.demon.co.uk/