Focal Point Band

Focal Depth ( f/D ) Focal Depth ( f/D ) (for the more technical DIY) The f/D ratio is the focal distance of the dish (f), divided by the diameter (D). When dealing with most prime focus antennas, the number should come out between.28 and.42. Focal Point (band). Ryan Clark is an American graphic designer and musician who also has performed under the stage name Maven.

For the first time, Focal Point's bassist Dave Slater, tells Jason Barnard of the Strange Brew about his time in the band, Apple and The Beatles. Hi Dave – can you tell me about your years before joining Focal Point. What was the Liverpool music scene like the early/mid Sixties? Liverpool was an exciting place to be because of the music. Focal Point started in 1995 with the lineup of Clark, Robbie Imrisek (Vocals), Danny Dinh (Guitar), Kyle Brown (Bass), and Robert Torres (Drums). The band released a 7' via Life Sentence Records titled Neglected and a Studio album via Tooth and Nail Records. Clark, then known as Maven, was the second vocalist for Training for Utopia. ℗ 2009 FOCAL POINT BAND. Also available in the iTunes Store More by Focal Point. Suffering of the Masses 1996 Could.Would - Single 2020 Hammer.

If the f/D ratio is low, say 0.25 to 0.35 then the feed will be close to the dish and needs to spread its power at a wide angle to efficiently illuminate the dish. The feed therefore needs to be of small diameter. If the f/D is 0.25 the feed is level with the dish aperture, which may make it difficult to make a satisfactory feed.

If the f/D is large like 0.5 to 0.75 then the feed will be further away from the dish and needs to project its power into a narrower angle. The feed needs to be of larger diameter.

With a open circular waveguide antenna feed (scalar feed) the focal length will be the distance from the reflector to a phase centre point just inside the circular feed wave guide aperture.

If the feed is a horn, the phase centre (i.e. the apparent origin point of the rays) of the feed may be further back inside the horn. The wider the angle of the horn, the deeper inside the phase centre moves. If it is unknown make four accurate signal quality measurements at carefully measured distances, say 10mm apart. Then interpolate for the best focal distance.

This images shows two so called 'scalar' feeds and a horn feed. The one on the left is designed to spread the energy over a very wide angle. The horn on the right spreads its energy over a narrower angle.

This image shows the phase centre of two type of corrugated conical horn feeds. The one on the right is long and has a gradual taper. Its phase centre is at the aperture.

Focal Point Band Chicago

At 2.45 GHz an open ended tin-can can made a good open ended circular waveguide feed for extended range WiFi applications.

Small dipoles with reflectors or a short helix, for circular polarisation, are also successful alternatives.

The power at the edge of the dish should be about 10 dB lower than at the centre for best gain or about -16 dB lower for best discrimination against adjacent satellite interference. The axially symmetric dish shown above suffers from beam blockage due to the LNB at the focal point blocking the beam. This reduces gain and increases off-axis interference.

The rim of the dish above must be accurately flat. For a receive only dish aim for maximum error of about 1/10th of a wavelength or about 6mm at C band and 2.5mm at Ku band. You can use several fishing lines stretched across the dish to test the flatness of the rim of a parabolic dish. They should all just touch where they cross one another.

Focal Point 'First Bite of the Apple'

They say it's not what you know but who you know, but sometimes even rubbing shoulders with the absolute royalty of rock can't guarantee you success. Focal Point was a short-lived pop-psych outfit from Liverpool, based around songwriters Paul Tennant and Dave Rhodes who in the summer of 1967 became the first two writers signed to the fledgling Apple label. Tennant claims that he and Rhodes ambushed Paul McCartney walking his dog in Hyde Park and managed to blag an introduction to Apple Music Publishing head honcho Terry Doran. Allegedly the ensuing band's name, Focal Point, was suggested by Brian Epstein. Apple sponsored the band through the rest of ‘67, housing and equipping them and recording demos of their songs at Apple's makeshift studio at 94 Baker Street with producer Lionel Morton (ex-Four Pennies).

Focal Point signed to Decca's progressive music subsidiary Deram early in 1968. Four songs were re-recorded to professional quality and the first 45 came out soon afterwards, 'Love You Forever' b/w 'Sycamore Sid'. Inexplicably the selected A-side was a sappy, unoriginal love song notable only for its excellent Mellotron accompaniment, and unsurprisingly it tanked chartwise. After unsuccessfully trying to reawaken interest at Apple, the band returned to Liverpool and concentrated on live work, supporting top-flight acts touring the North. By mid-69 they'd gone back to their day jobs.

The B-side of the single however, had been a fine, aggressive slab of hard psych and it appeared on psych compilations from the 1980s onwards, whilst the other Deram tracks appeared on 94 Baker Street, a compilation of sounds by lesser-known acts signed to Apple. In the wake of the new interest in 60s psychedelia erstwhile band members Tennant, Dave Slater and Tim Wells laboriously tracked down the surviving Apple demos and some later stuff they'd recorded independently in Manchester after returning North. The results were assembled along with the Deram tracks as First Bite Of The Apple and finally released to the world in 2005, giving an impression of how a Focal Point album recorded at the tail end of psych in '68 might have sounded.

The Deram tracks and the first Manchester recordings mostly present dreamy soundscapes and lyrics not far from the Toytown end of psych, realised through layered vocal harmonies and sumptuous keyboard washes and all quite presentable. 'Miss Sinclair', 'Sycamore Sid' and 'McKinley Morgan The Deep Sea Diver' are typical Swinging Sixties third-party pen-portraits, the first benefitting from a hard-edged guitar and a flat Syd Barrett-style vocal whlist the last is an enjoyable singalong that could have come from The Teenage Opera via 'Yellow Submarine'. 'Never Never' is a blissed-out flower-power song with great organ work and a powerful walking bass line. 'Far Away From Forever' is another languid, introspective soft-psych outing with some pleasant surprises in the chord sequence. Sadly the band took a wrong turning with their later attempts to find commercial success. 'Falling Out Of Friends' is a dismal schlock ballad with an ersatz Hollies feel, whilst 'Goodbye Forever' was an attempt to write for the Eurovision Song Contest and exhibits all that genre's boom-bang-a-bang awfulness. The Apple demos illustrate how greatly the songs changed in their final realisation; 'Miss Sinclair' is played purely on acoustic guitars whilst 'Never Never' plonks along on what sounds like a honkytonk piano.

Focal Point has always been keen to lay to rest the assumption that 'Sycamore Sid' who lived in a tree house was actually Syd Barrett. In fact it refers to John Mayall, who in his early days as a musician did just that. For a lot more detail on Focal Point and a first-hand history from Paul Tennant visit their page in the excellent Marmalade Skies UK Psych site.

Focal Point Christian Band

mp3:Sycamore Sid
mp3:McKinley Morgan the Deep Sea Dive

CD Compilation | 2005 | Kissing Spell | buy here ]

The Focal Point Band