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FedEx invoice for import to UK


 

Hans,
my QMX which arrived last week , then an invoice this week from FedEx for ?5.73.
I'm not complaining by the way just some feedback, looking forward to building and getting it on the air!
73 Chris G3XVL


 

Lucky you. Fedex surprised me with a bill of 29.70 EUR for delivery to Slovakia. That included VAT, customs and administrative fees.


 

Hi Chris, Peter, all

A couple of years ago, mid Covid19, EU changed the rules, eliminating import VAT minimum value thresholds. Prior to that, low value packages were not taxed (15 euro or less). Now, EVERYTHING is taxable, even if I send you one plastic nut its value will be taxable.?

At the same (or similar) time they implemented rules that foreign sellers should collect tax on their behalf, at point?of sale, and make tax declarations to the EU governments. This is completely impractical for a small business. So apparently (though it did not seem so at the time), foreign?sellers who don't have the resources to be able to do this tax collector role for the EU governments, can still send things the old way and have the import tax charged at point of entry.?

Furthermore, although you may point out that UK is no longer EU since "Brexit", the UK did also choose to follow the same rules as EU on this. Presumably as it had been already planned somewhat pre-Brexit or perhaps because the UK government also thought it was a good idea.?

Accordingly since I do not live inside EU/UK, and since I do not therefore even cast a vote involving the election of these morons who love taxing the hell out of everything that moves (and quite a lot that doesn't), all QRP Labs shipments to EU/UK are theoretically subject to import VAT. The import VAT is the responsibility of the purchaser, including that in many cases the cargo company (whether regular post office or TNT/FedEx courier) will also charge an administration fee.?

Two things do mitigate the damage or at least tend to do so:

Firstly in many EU countries and UK, the government still don't have the resources to deal with import VAT taxation on all small packages even of low value. The Germans are super-efficient and manage it. But many countries do not. Therefore in many cases there is nothing to pay, no VAT.?

Secondly, QRP Labs' shipping office have been known, of course on rare occasions, to make errors on the valuation declaration, and in these rare cases, the import VAT therefore due is of course much lower anyway; and normally the import VAT?+ admin fee is anyway much less than would have been taken in a point-of-sale scenario.?

The latter was the case in both Peter's and Chris' cases; I am not sure why Peter's bill was high.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 1:00?PM Peter OM4AEI <om4aei@...> wrote:
Lucky you. Fedex surprised me with a bill of 29.70 EUR for delivery to Slovakia. That included VAT, customs and administrative fees.


 

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What was the invoice for?

Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 3:49 AM, Chris McCarthy wrote:

Hans,
my QMX which arrived last week , then an invoice this week from FedEx for ?5.73.
I'm not complaining by the way just some feedback, looking forward to building and getting it on the air!
73 Chris G3XVL


 

Hi Joe

TAX! VAT or what in US you would call, sales tax!

Since US doesn't seem to care ever about imports, there is no sales tax collected on these small imports to US. So no US recipients have ever experienced this issue. We should be grateful for that at least and pray US doesn't follow EU/UK down the pipes.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 5:41?PM Joe WB9SBD <nss@...> wrote:
What was the invoice for?

Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 3:49 AM, Chris McCarthy wrote:
Hans,
my QMX which arrived last week , then an invoice this week from FedEx for ?5.73.
I'm not complaining by the way just some feedback, looking forward to building and getting it on the air!
73 Chris G3XVL


 

开云体育

Morning Hans,

I know of many many small businesses that just plain stopped selling directly to the EU? and UK, just for this reason.
I am even one of them. About 25% of my sales went to these areas. Not any more. They are not paying me to be their Tax collector. I still did sell some to those areas but it was a "Do you have a friend or relative here in the states, or anywhere but the UK or EU that I can ship the clock to. And then you two can figure out how to get it to you" " I won't be shipping directly to the EU or UK anymore"

Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 7:32 AM, Hans Summers wrote:

Hi Chris, Peter, all

A couple of years ago, mid Covid19, EU changed the rules, eliminating import VAT minimum value thresholds. Prior to that, low value packages were not taxed (15 euro or less). Now, EVERYTHING is taxable, even if I send you one plastic nut its value will be taxable.?

At the same (or similar) time they implemented rules that foreign sellers should collect tax on their behalf, at point?of sale, and make tax declarations to the EU governments. This is completely impractical for a small business. So apparently (though it did not seem so at the time), foreign?sellers who don't have the resources to be able to do this tax collector role for the EU governments, can still send things the old way and have the import tax charged at point of entry.?

Furthermore, although you may point out that UK is no longer EU since "Brexit", the UK did also choose to follow the same rules as EU on this. Presumably as it had been already planned somewhat pre-Brexit or perhaps because the UK government also thought it was a good idea.?

Accordingly since I do not live inside EU/UK, and since I do not therefore even cast a vote involving the election of these morons who love taxing the hell out of everything that moves (and quite a lot that doesn't), all QRP Labs shipments to EU/UK are theoretically subject to import VAT. The import VAT is the responsibility of the purchaser, including that in many cases the cargo company (whether regular post office or TNT/FedEx courier) will also charge an administration fee.?

Two things do mitigate the damage or at least tend to do so:

Firstly in many EU countries and UK, the government still don't have the resources to deal with import VAT taxation on all small packages even of low value. The Germans are super-efficient and manage it. But many countries do not. Therefore in many cases there is nothing to pay, no VAT.?

Secondly, QRP Labs' shipping office have been known, of course on rare occasions, to make errors on the valuation declaration, and in these rare cases, the import VAT therefore due is of course much lower anyway; and normally the import VAT?+ admin fee is anyway much less than would have been taken in a point-of-sale scenario.?

The latter was the case in both Peter's and Chris' cases; I am not sure why Peter's bill was high.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 1:00?PM Peter OM4AEI <om4aei@...> wrote:
Lucky you. Fedex surprised me with a bill of 29.70 EUR for delivery to Slovakia. That included VAT, customs and administrative fees.


 

Isn't it the recipient/buy that gets charged VAT in the eurozone? I didn't think the vendor would be charged anything but shipping costs...

Just curious

73 de va3rr

On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 10:55 AM, Joe WB9SBD wrote:

They are not paying me to be their Tax collector.

Joe WB9SBD


 

Hi Joe

Yes exactly as I thought. I have MORE THAN enough problems already,?without?being tax collector for 27 EU member states plus UK!?

Still in general - shipping to EU and UK does seem to work. It works almost the same way it always did in the old days. When the package arrives, it is assessed for tax, and this is collected from the recipient.?

The original announcement by EU and UK sounded scary because there was no mention of just being able to ignore their nonsense completely, and carry on the old way. It wasn't publicized anywhere. In my case, I can't even keep up with my emails let alone be a tax collector even if it sounded fun (which it doesn't). So I had no choice but to ignore them completely, then I found out ignoring them completely does work.?

So I'd suggest you sending something to EU/UK to test it, you might be pleased to find there's less trouble than you thought!

Anyway what clocks are you selling? You made me curious.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 5:55?PM Joe WB9SBD <nss@...> wrote:
Morning Hans,

I know of many many small businesses that just plain stopped selling directly to the EU? and UK, just for this reason.
I am even one of them. About 25% of my sales went to these areas. Not any more. They are not paying me to be their Tax collector. I still did sell some to those areas but it was a "Do you have a friend or relative here in the states, or anywhere but the UK or EU that I can ship the clock to. And then you two can figure out how to get it to you" " I won't be shipping directly to the EU or UK anymore"

Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 7:32 AM, Hans Summers wrote:
Hi Chris, Peter, all

A couple of years ago, mid Covid19, EU changed the rules, eliminating import VAT minimum value thresholds. Prior to that, low value packages were not taxed (15 euro or less). Now, EVERYTHING is taxable, even if I send you one plastic nut its value will be taxable.?

At the same (or similar) time they implemented rules that foreign sellers should collect tax on their behalf, at point?of sale, and make tax declarations to the EU governments. This is completely impractical for a small business. So apparently (though it did not seem so at the time), foreign?sellers who don't have the resources to be able to do this tax collector role for the EU governments, can still send things the old way and have the import tax charged at point of entry.?

Furthermore, although you may point out that UK is no longer EU since "Brexit", the UK did also choose to follow the same rules as EU on this. Presumably as it had been already planned somewhat pre-Brexit or perhaps because the UK government also thought it was a good idea.?

Accordingly since I do not live inside EU/UK, and since I do not therefore even cast a vote involving the election of these morons who love taxing the hell out of everything that moves (and quite a lot that doesn't), all QRP Labs shipments to EU/UK are theoretically subject to import VAT. The import VAT is the responsibility of the purchaser, including that in many cases the cargo company (whether regular post office or TNT/FedEx courier) will also charge an administration fee.?

Two things do mitigate the damage or at least tend to do so:

Firstly in many EU countries and UK, the government still don't have the resources to deal with import VAT taxation on all small packages even of low value. The Germans are super-efficient and manage it. But many countries do not. Therefore in many cases there is nothing to pay, no VAT.?

Secondly, QRP Labs' shipping office have been known, of course on rare occasions, to make errors on the valuation declaration, and in these rare cases, the import VAT therefore due is of course much lower anyway; and normally the import VAT?+ admin fee is anyway much less than would have been taken in a point-of-sale scenario.?

The latter was the case in both Peter's and Chris' cases; I am not sure why Peter's bill was high.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 1:00?PM Peter OM4AEI <om4aei@...> wrote:
Lucky you. Fedex surprised me with a bill of 29.70 EUR for delivery to Slovakia. That included VAT, customs and administrative fees.


 

?
Isn't it the recipient/buy that gets charged VAT in the eurozone?? I didn't think the vendor would be charged anything but shipping costs...

Yes that's what would make sense. But not anymore. Now the vendor is supposed to collect VAT on behalf of the EU/UK states. Then file tax returns and send them the money collected (or pay a 3rd party service to do so).?

I suppose the idea was, that if you are a UK (for example) vendor, then you would be collecting VAT on what?you sell, and you would file tax returns to the British government, and pay the VAT you collected (offset against other amounts you purchased). So why not make it fair, get foreign sellers to do the same thing? Problem is it doesn't really work very well if there are 28 states involved, all with different rates of sales tax ranging from 16% to 27%. What small business can keep track of all that!
?
Just curious

73 Hans G0UPL


 

开云体育

We "The Seller" has to collect the tax and send it to the government.


Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 10:01 AM, va3rr via groups.io wrote:

Isn't it the recipient/buy that gets charged VAT in the eurozone?  I didn't think the vendor would be charged anything but shipping costs...

Just curious

73 de va3rr

On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 10:55 AM, Joe WB9SBD wrote:

 They are not paying me to be their Tax collector. 
Joe WB9SBD







 

开云体育

Hi Hans,
here ya go.



Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 10:11 AM, Hans Summers wrote:

Hi Joe

Yes exactly as I thought. I have MORE THAN enough problems already,?without?being tax collector for 27 EU member states plus UK!?

Still in general - shipping to EU and UK does seem to work. It works almost the same way it always did in the old days. When the package arrives, it is assessed for tax, and this is collected from the recipient.?

The original announcement by EU and UK sounded scary because there was no mention of just being able to ignore their nonsense completely, and carry on the old way. It wasn't publicized anywhere. In my case, I can't even keep up with my emails let alone be a tax collector even if it sounded fun (which it doesn't). So I had no choice but to ignore them completely, then I found out ignoring them completely does work.?

So I'd suggest you sending something to EU/UK to test it, you might be pleased to find there's less trouble than you thought!

Anyway what clocks are you selling? You made me curious.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 5:55?PM Joe WB9SBD <nss@...> wrote:
Morning Hans,

I know of many many small businesses that just plain stopped selling directly to the EU? and UK, just for this reason.
I am even one of them. About 25% of my sales went to these areas. Not any more. They are not paying me to be their Tax collector. I still did sell some to those areas but it was a "Do you have a friend or relative here in the states, or anywhere but the UK or EU that I can ship the clock to. And then you two can figure out how to get it to you" " I won't be shipping directly to the EU or UK anymore"

Joe WB9SBD

On 9/13/2023 7:32 AM, Hans Summers wrote:
Hi Chris, Peter, all

A couple of years ago, mid Covid19, EU changed the rules, eliminating import VAT minimum value thresholds. Prior to that, low value packages were not taxed (15 euro or less). Now, EVERYTHING is taxable, even if I send you one plastic nut its value will be taxable.?

At the same (or similar) time they implemented rules that foreign sellers should collect tax on their behalf, at point?of sale, and make tax declarations to the EU governments. This is completely impractical for a small business. So apparently (though it did not seem so at the time), foreign?sellers who don't have the resources to be able to do this tax collector role for the EU governments, can still send things the old way and have the import tax charged at point of entry.?

Furthermore, although you may point out that UK is no longer EU since "Brexit", the UK did also choose to follow the same rules as EU on this. Presumably as it had been already planned somewhat pre-Brexit or perhaps because the UK government also thought it was a good idea.?

Accordingly since I do not live inside EU/UK, and since I do not therefore even cast a vote involving the election of these morons who love taxing the hell out of everything that moves (and quite a lot that doesn't), all QRP Labs shipments to EU/UK are theoretically subject to import VAT. The import VAT is the responsibility of the purchaser, including that in many cases the cargo company (whether regular post office or TNT/FedEx courier) will also charge an administration fee.?

Two things do mitigate the damage or at least tend to do so:

Firstly in many EU countries and UK, the government still don't have the resources to deal with import VAT taxation on all small packages even of low value. The Germans are super-efficient and manage it. But many countries do not. Therefore in many cases there is nothing to pay, no VAT.?

Secondly, QRP Labs' shipping office have been known, of course on rare occasions, to make errors on the valuation declaration, and in these rare cases, the import VAT therefore due is of course much lower anyway; and normally the import VAT?+ admin fee is anyway much less than would have been taken in a point-of-sale scenario.?

The latter was the case in both Peter's and Chris' cases; I am not sure why Peter's bill was high.?

73 Hans G0UPL



On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 1:00?PM Peter OM4AEI <om4aei@...> wrote:
Lucky you. Fedex surprised me with a bill of 29.70 EUR for delivery to Slovakia. That included VAT, customs and administrative fees.



 

开云体育

Hello Chris
?
Glad to hear someone else got stung!!! Only joking.
?
I got caught for ?5.72, so FedEx system is flexible.
?
I do know now that it is hit and miss another G I was in contact in hasn't had a demand and that was 2 to 3 weeks ago he git his. aia have had another delivery, about a week or so ago, as yet no demanding letter from FedEx yet.
?
73 Ian G4GIR
PS
Enjoy the build hope you have better luck than me!

On 9/13/2023 3:49 AM, Chris McCarthy wrote:
Hans,
my QMX which arrived last week , then an invoice this week from FedEx for ?5.73.
I'm not complaining by the way just some feedback, looking forward to building and getting it on the air!
73 Chris G3XVL


 

I’ve never been charged any duty on items from Hans imported into the UK.

John
G4YTJ


 

Uh-oh. That’s pretty cool. Now Hans will have to figure out how to get one without the tax complications!

Do you make a wrist model? ?

Brock VA7AV


 


Hi Joe

On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 6:19?PM Joe WB9SBD <nss@...> wrote:
We "The Seller" has to collect the tax and send it to the government.


Yes exactly! From 1st Jan 2021. And I believe EU implemented it 6 months after UK. It was wrong and irrelevant to mix it up with Brexit and whether that was a good idea or not, since this rule was implemented by UK anyway, and by EU, and after UK had left EU. AND, it doesn't just affect in/out between UK and EU, but also between UK and everywhere.?

What nobody mentioned is that if you stuck your head in the sand, and just ignored it, you could continue with the "at present the seller merely has to fill in a customs declaration form and the purchaser pays the tax". And since there aren't enough little grey tax?collectors to go around, particularly?after the 15 pounds threshold was deleted, it means not everyone gets taxed, as John said: "I’ve never been charged any duty on items from Hans imported into the UK.".?

Moral of the story, is that sometimes sticking your head in the sand works. Ostriches weren't wrong after all. Not that ostriches actually really bury their heads in the sand either. Anyway...

73 Hans G0UPL


 

In the US, the federal government does not collect sales tax, the individual states do. The package isn't taxed on entry to the country and whatever state it's shipped to doesn't know about it.

Bill

On 09/13/2023 10:50 AM EDT Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:


Hi Joe

TAX! VAT or what in US you would call, sales tax!

Since US doesn't seem to care ever about imports, there is no sales tax collected on these small imports to US. So no US recipients have ever experienced this issue. We should be grateful for that at least and pray US doesn't follow EU/UK down the pipes.?


73 Hans G0UPL





On Wed, Sep 13, 2023 at 5:41?PM Joe WB9SBD <nss@...> wrote:
What was the invoice for?

Joe WB9SBD


On 9/13/2023 3:49 AM, Chris McCarthy wrote:

Hans,
my QMX which arrived last week , then an invoice this week from FedEx for ?5.73.
I'm not complaining by the way just some feedback, looking forward to building and getting it on the air!
73 Chris G3XVL


 

开云体育

Hans (G0UPL)
Sure interesting watching you improve the QMX firmware to new heights. Bet you can't even organize the code in your mind. Also bet some of this multitude of whiners {wasting your time on a political problem that as you say, you do not have a vote on} are also complaining about the problems you have not fixed.

Come on guys, take you complaints and whine to your elected representatives - yes the guys that created your problem in the first place. In a way, you are responsible for the problem. Hans has no place in this problem, he is also a victim; but a victim with no say on either side.

73, Billy (N5SE)


From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Hans Summers via groups.io <hans.summers@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 10:18
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] FedEx invoice for import to UK
?
?
Isn't it the recipient/buy that gets charged VAT in the eurozone?? I didn't think the vendor would be charged anything but shipping costs...

Yes that's what would make sense. But not anymore. Now the vendor is supposed to collect VAT on behalf of the EU/UK states. Then file tax returns and send them the money collected (or pay a 3rd party service to do so).?

I suppose the idea was, that if you are a UK (for example) vendor, then you would be collecting VAT on what?you sell, and you would file tax returns to the British government, and pay the VAT you collected (offset against other amounts you purchased). So why not make it fair, get foreign sellers to do the same thing? Problem is it doesn't really work very well if there are 28 states involved, all with different rates of sales tax ranging from 16% to 27%. What small business can keep track of all that!
?
Just curious

73 Hans G0UPL

--
N5SE
Billy Wayne Moore
7066 Shady Knoll Ln
Willis, TX 77318-6324
Phone: 936-537-2975???


 


Hi Joe
?
?
Wow, that IS unreasonably cool and awesome! Congratulations. I read the "History" page too. Very nice.?

I had a "rolling ball sculpture" phase around my mid-teens, which got started in a 1985-or-so trip to Netherlands, one of my first trips outside of UK; where they had a big rolling ball sculpture on the top floor of the Evoluon museum in?Eindhoven. I stood awestruck for hours watching it. So when I got back to the UK I started my rolling ball phase.?

I used to go past building sites and they'd have a pile of discarded wire?offsets in the skip outside from the electrical?wiring. It was usually solid-core stuff and the conducting wires typically 1 to 1.5mm diameter. So you could strip off the insulation then use this stuff to build tracks for the rolling ball sculpture, by soldering all the wire together. Of course I could not afford steel balls but 1-inch glass marbles from the toy shops worked fine.?

I had a lot of fun with different tricks; and also designed a rolling ball XOR-gate then built a couple of them and some other "gates" into a 1-bit binary full adder. Believe it or not I went on to design a rolling-ball 8-bit CPU, and with RAM, punched card reader, output display indicators... of course I never built anything beyond the 1-bit full adder.?

Your website Joe, almost makes me wanna start soldering those wire sculptures again, build me a clock or something... but that could be the end of any firmware developments for a long time so better help me resist temptation.?

> Hans has no place in this problem, he is also a victim; but a victim with no say on either side.

Billy is completely correct of course, but every cloud has a silver lining, in this case pseudo-personified by Joe's awesome clock and the momentary trip down memory lane.?

73 Hans G0UPL


 

开云体育

Hans (G0UPL),
{ "almost makes me wanna start soldering those wire sculptures again"}? You talk about re-entering your "rolling ball sculpture" phase. That is extremely important to you as a small business owner. Cherish that memory. Once you retire, then you can do something about that re-entrance. I bring this up because a huge percentage of your customers are in their "ham radio phase". If you can relate to their "ham radio phase", then you can form a REAL relationship with your customers. I see that happening from my perspective.

Speaking of phases, some of those are short lived. Take a look at the clock on my website? Most of the internet clocks click. Each of the hands "jump" to the next increment. The hands on the clock on my website do not click. They smoothly rotate around the clock face. This is most evident with the second hand, but all hands rotate smoothly. I call this my "clock phase" because my website was not published until the clock was finished.

Sorry Hans, your comment on "rolling ball sculpture" phase led me off track for a moment. Back on now.
73, Billy


From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Hans Summers via groups.io <hans.summers@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 10:50
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] FedEx invoice for import to UK
?

Hi Joe
?
?
Wow, that IS unreasonably cool and awesome! Congratulations. I read the "History" page too. Very nice.?

I had a "rolling ball sculpture" phase around my mid-teens, which got started in a 1985-or-so trip to Netherlands, one of my first trips outside of UK; where they had a big rolling ball sculpture on the top floor of the Evoluon museum in?Eindhoven. I stood awestruck for hours watching it. So when I got back to the UK I started my rolling ball phase.?

I used to go past building sites and they'd have a pile of discarded wire?offsets in the skip outside from the electrical?wiring. It was usually solid-core stuff and the conducting wires typically 1 to 1.5mm diameter. So you could strip off the insulation then use this stuff to build tracks for the rolling ball sculpture, by soldering all the wire together. Of course I could not afford steel balls but 1-inch glass marbles from the toy shops worked fine.?

I had a lot of fun with different tricks; and also designed a rolling ball XOR-gate then built a couple of them and some other "gates" into a 1-bit binary full adder. Believe it or not I went on to design a rolling-ball 8-bit CPU, and with RAM, punched card reader, output display indicators... of course I never built anything beyond the 1-bit full adder.?

Your website Joe, almost makes me wanna start soldering those wire sculptures again, build me a clock or something... but that could be the end of any firmware developments for a long time so better help me resist temptation.?

> Hans has no place in this problem, he is also a victim; but a victim with no say on either side.

Billy is completely correct of course, but every cloud has a silver lining, in this case pseudo-personified by Joe's awesome clock and the momentary trip down memory lane.?

73 Hans G0UPL


--
N5SE
Billy Wayne Moore
7066 Shady Knoll Ln
Willis, TX 77318-6324
Phone: 936-537-2975???


 


Hi Billy
?
{ "almost makes me wanna start soldering those wire sculptures again"}? You talk about re-entering your "rolling ball sculpture" phase. That is extremely important to you as a small business owner. Cherish that memory. Once you retire, then you can do something about that re-entrance. I bring this up because a huge percentage of your customers are in their "ham radio phase". If you can relate to their "ham radio phase", then you can form a REAL relationship with your customers. I see that happening from my perspective.

Woooaahhh?I'm resisting my rolling ball phase re-entry. If I ever attempted my rolling ball CPU it would fill an entire room and take hours to perform one floating point operation. And copper got so expensive electricians don't throw it away so easily now hi hi.?Would?be quite a sight though.?
?
Speaking of phases, some of those are short lived. Take a look at the clock on my website? Most of the internet clocks click. Each of the hands "jump" to the next increment. The hands on the clock on my website do not click. They smoothly rotate around the clock face. This is most evident with the second hand, but all hands rotate smoothly. I call this my "clock phase" because my website was not published until the clock was finished.

Very nice clock OM, congrats! It even shows my local time correctly as well as UT.?

Sorry Hans, your comment on "rolling ball sculpture" phase led me off track for a moment. Back on now.

It's good to go off topic now and again. It is as our dearly beloved departed George G3RJV (G-QRP club founder) once explained “why QRP?”; he said: “Because it is a hobby we don’t have to do it - or mean anything -? or fit into the world plan. As long as you can do one useless thing a day - life still has some meaning and that is the essence and the joy of life”.

As long as you can do one useless thing a day - life still has some meaning.

73 Hans G0UPL