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Gadgets / Sailing — No Comments
22
Jul 10

First RC Laser Regatta was Learning Experience for Three CYC Members

Below is an article that is being sent to the Canandaigua Yacht Club’s newsletter for consideration for use in the Aug. 1 edition.

A group of members have now purchased three RC (remote control) One Design Laser sailboats and there are two more to be ordered (this week, hopefully) and a couple of other people considering the purchase. Shortly, we’ll be joining the North American RC Laser Class Association and forming an official fleet on Canandaigua Lake and racing at CYC. The current leading name is the Canandaigua Yacht Club Remote Control Sailing Fleet (if the club will have us).

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On Sunday, July 18, three sailors from Canandaigua Yacht Club competed in a “first of its kind” (for CYC) Remote Control Regatta.

Sailing RC Lasers at Canandaigua Yacht Club

Skippers Jack Bennett (#05), Bill Blevins (#254) and Nelson Habecker (#54) competed using remote control one design Laser sailboats in a series of round-the-buoy races.

Frank Sacco served as the PRO and his boat, Dr. Heeks also hosted spectators, Larry & Nella Neeck. The boat was also the mobile racing platform for the three skippers. The course was set just South of the mooring field and marks were attended by a spectator boat.

Three races were run, although the final race was shortened due to the number of large spectator boats crowding the course which unfortunately blocked the wind for the small competitor boats.

Bennett’s racer seemed to develop a mind of its own, and on multiple occasions did penalty circles for no apparent reason. Mark-set-and-spectator-boat driver Gary Schmidt was sent to rescue the wayward craft a few times throughout the afternoon.

Habecker’s craft was on course for the gun and a bullet in the first race, but at the last minute, the skipper decided to ride a wind shift directly into the beam of the Race Committee boat which left Blevins clear to overtake from behind and cross the finish line first.

Two other races were completed but the results are still under review for various reasons, and thus are still deemed unofficial.

Informal races are planned for Sunday afternoons at the South end of the CYC waterfront, sometime around 4 p.m., or whenever the crews and boats arrive and feel like sailing. Additional regattas will be announced in the future. For more information on joining in on the fun around this exciting sailing opportunity, contact club members Bill Blevins or Nelson Habecker.

If you are interested in obtaining a RC Laser Sailboat, visit http://www.sailrclaser.com. The boats are available as a ready-to-sail kit that includes the boat, 3 sails, transmitter and travel bag. All that is needed to sail are double A batteries. Setup time is about 5 minutes from the bag to the water!

Everyone is welcomed to participate (with a RC Laser or any other RC sailboat) or just come out as a spectator.

We’ll bet you haven’t seen racing like this before!

Gadgets — 2 Comments
20
Feb 10

TV Transplant Surgery Successful

I fixed the blue line problem on my LG Plasma HGTV today after replacing a circuit board, but now Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car is orange!

After removing all of the screws holding on the back cover of the set, It took a while to figure out the easiest way to get the to board I needed to replace and remove the fewest wires and other components as possible. I ended up removing all of the wires on the rear-most panel except for the power connector lines that were located on the bottom right.

The board swung freely so that I could get my tools and hands behind the left side.

Replacing the board wasn’t a big deal except for the little swing connectors on the two wire harnesses at the bottom. After I figured out how they worked, it was easy, but I did break both of the ones on the old board trying to figure out how to get the wires out. Basically, it the locks are on a hinge and swing up and down. When down, they pinch the wires in the correct place.

I put the whole thing together and the sound was great, but no picture. After sitting there a while thinking about all of the wires I unhooked, I remembered one that I forgot to put back in place. After removing the back of the TV again and connecting the wire, everything worked great.

NOTE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is driving an orange car this weekend.

Gadgets / Internet / Personal — 1 Comment
13
Feb 10

Blue line on 42″ LG plasma HGTV

The mostly persistent thin blue line on my 5-yr-old LG plasma TV.

Well, I’m going to try and repair my LG Plasma HGTV. The model number of my LG Plasma is DU-42PX12X.

Here’s the story…

A few weeks ago, my 42″ LG Plasma HGTV began to occasionally display a thin blue line on the right side of the screen. It would appear for a while, then disappear for a while. We are now going on about 5 weeks and it is always on the screen now. It is about 1 inch wide and is about 6 inches from the right side of the screen.

Of course, the first thing one does these days when something like this happens is to hit Google.

Apparently, after reading only a few blogs, I have been lucky. Many LG TV’s purchased in 2004-2005 had this problem after only a couple of years and most of the blog posts are from a couple of years ago.

I got away without the problem for 5 years.

After checking out only a few Google results, I landed on a blog post that had very detailed instructions on how to fix the problem. The comments on the post were lengthy and most people who followed the instructions sucessfully fixed their TVs.

So, this morning, I ordered a LG Electronics / Zenith “Hand Insert PCB Assembly” – part number 6871QCH038C from partstore.com. The part should be here by next weekend.

I’ll update this post when it arrives and let everyone know the outcome.

UPDATE: Transplant surgery on the 42″ LG Plasma HGTV was a success, fixing the 1″ blue line running down the right side of the screen.

Gadgets — No Comments
7
Oct 09

Windy Weather in Fairport, NY

Windy weather in Fairport, NY, originally uploaded by sailorbill.

Gadgets / Internet / Weather — No Comments
2
Oct 09

Weather in Fairport, NY

This morning, I finished the installation of a wireless personal weather station at my house.

I ordered the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus Wireless station from Ambient Weather.

The package that I chose included a WIFI router from Hautespot Networks and it connects wirelessly to my home network and sends data from the weather console in the house to the Web without the need to connect to a computer. Since I use Apple MacBooks (ie: laptops), I didn’t want to run a PC to constantly act as a server and send data to the Internet.

In order to separate the wind unit and the main weather station, I added an extra wireless transmitter to the package so that I could separate the two and locate both of them in different places. I also added a heater unit so that the rain collection unit won’t freeze in the winter time.

The anemometer is on a mouting pole on the apex of the roof and captures wind speed and direction. The wind data is send via a solar powered unit that sends a 2.4GHz wireless signal to a console in the house every second.

The main collection unit, the main part of the weather station, is mounted on a fence post in my back yard . It collects information on humidity, temperature, rainfall, rainfall rate, UV, Solar radiation and barometric pressure. These data points are sent from another solar powered 2.4GHz transmitter every second to the house where it then meets up with the anemometer data in the display console for display in the den.

The display console hooks to the wireless router and that sends information through my broadband connection to the Web.

The sites receiving and displaying the data are WeatherUnderground, WeatherBug, HamWeather and the CWOP network.

CWOP stands for Citizen Weather Observer Program and certain weather stations can feed that network data to be used to help with weather research by private, public and government institutions. I was assigned a station ID of DW3513.

Data sent to the CWOP program is analyzed and compared with nearby stations and the expected predictions for the area where a PWS is stores. Here is the page that shows the results of station DW3515.

Finally, there is a cool map called the WunderMap and also a full-screen real-time page from WeatherUnderground that is pretty cool too.

Flickr photos of the mounting locations and devices are posted as well.

Gadgets — 1 Comment
23
Sep 09

Live Weather from Fairport, NY

Gadgets / Internet — No Comments
31
Aug 09

RadarScope was worth the price

RadarScope from Base Velocity

I paid $10 for RadarScope from Base Velocity for my iPhone via the Apple Store.

It is a very cool application, though I don’t understand all of the radars it accesses, but the basic radars are very useful. It has multiple detailed radar choices and the information is nearly real-time as far as I can tell when using it sailing and we see serious storm clouds brewing!

I’d say, “Yes”, RadarScope was worth the price and worthy of the “most expensive app I own” award.

What is the most expensive smartphone application you’ve purchased? What does it do? Do you think it was worth the price you paid?

Gadgets / Sailing — No Comments
16
Feb 09

Velocitek SpeedPuck Video

Video review of the Velocitek SpeedPuck posted to YouTube by Stern Scoop.

Gadgets / Sailing — 2 Comments
14
May 08

Velocitek SC-1 and Mac OS X Leopard

I managed to get the Velocitek SC-1 working on my MacBook Pro running OS X version 10.5.2 after a whole lot of effort!

Parallels 3.0 running Windows XP wouldn’t work. I tried for several hours.

I did get the Windows OS to see the units via the USB ports using Parallels and the Velocitek Control Panel software did see each of them too but the firmware update only ran to about 85% before throwing an error. Many attempts either didn’t start because of an error or it only made it to 5% before quitting. Most didn’t even attempt to start without the error message popping up.

Here’s what worked.

Today I installed VMWare Fusion for OS X and reinstalled Windows XP.

Everything went smoothly until I got to the point of doing the firmware updates. The control panel software started throwing errors and that was if it could even get started (again)!

I tried and tried everything I could think of and here is what worked:

Turn off the Velocitek Control Panel software
Unplug the SC-1 from the computer
Remove the batteries
Put the batteries back in
Plug the SC-1 back up to the computer
Start the control panel software
Run the firmware update

I did this twice with two units. Only in this specific order would the firmware upgrade work but I finally got it.

I was determined to make VMWare play nice with the SC-1′s and now I’m wondering if I just didn’t give Parallels enough trial and error effort.

Anyway… tonight, I used it to map my trip home from work (max speed was 32 knots).

Again though, when plugging in the unit, I had to remove the batteries, then put them back in before plugging in to the computer and starting the control panel software to download the track.

I’ll post again after the first use on the boat, possibly Saturday afternoon. I can’t wait!

Gadgets / Sailing — 2 Comments
11
May 08

Sailing with a waterproof video camera

On Saturday, Tracy and I took out our 2.4 Meters and I chased her boat around Canandaigua Lake trying to line up at least one interesting shot with a new Oregon Scientific ATC2K waterproof video camera strapped to the boom. After an hour of shooting video, I came up with three minutes that might be worth watching.

Gadgets / Sailing — 1 Comment
9
May 08

The most boring YouTube video – ever

Don’t bother watching this video.

More gadgets!

I picked up an Oregon Scientific ATC2K waterproof video camera on Amazon.com and tested it on the way to work this morning.

Hopefully… I’ll post sailing video on Saturday if all goes well!!

Gadgets — No Comments
1
Jul 07

Tracy’s old iPhone

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Tracy’s old iPhone, originally uploaded by sailorbill.

One of the reasons we waited to get the iPhone is that Tracy runs with a rubber band connecting her old flip-phone and her iPod Shuffle (minus the cap and strap.

Friday night, we each picked up an 8 Gb iPhone. I came home and set mine up immediately. Tracy was afraid to run in a 10K here in Rochester on Saturday morning while carrying the new phone, so we waited to set up her new iPhone.

We connected her phone to iTunes on Saturday morning after the race. Sunday, 10:45 a.m. and we are still waiting for activation. We did get a order number in an email from AT&T. I guess AT&T never had this quantity of people swamp their set-up process before.

Mine is working fine. Calls are clear. The keyboard is getting easier to use with each attempt. The phone is very intuitive to use. The Safari web browser is amazing once you figure out that you can turn it sideways and double-tapping zooms the text.

More updates to follow, I’m sure!

(Oh, yeah, Tracy finished 12th in her age group in the Furry Scurry 10K – her first race!!)

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29
Jun 07

8, 9 & 10 = 8 GB iPhone

Emily, Tracy and I went to the mall at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon and saw the very long line at the Apple store so we cut through the FYI store to the other side of the mall and found only 7 people in line at AT&T, all waiting for the new iPhone this afternoon. (We were numbers 8, 9 and 10).

At six on the dot, the doors opened. Ten minutes later we walked out with the last three available 8 Gb models at that store. The people behind us were not happy. The store got 10 of each type.

(They were planning to place orders for the rest of the people in line, they said.)

Anyway… now, after owning this thing for 3 hrs, I’ve got a new phone number, I’ve surfed the web and read the press release from my company tonight, SMS’d with a vendor, called Tracy (first) and then my Dad, answered a call from Howard, found Pizza in zip code 14450… and I can safely say this thing is amazing.

More to follow I’m sure.

Gadgets — 2 Comments
22
Mar 07

Apple Airline Adapter, meet my CueCat

I’ve been to California twice in the past four weeks. Before the first trip I purchased the new Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter thinking that I’d get some work time in during the flight.

On the first trip out, after being upgraded to what is referred to on United as “first class”, I thought I’d be in luck to use my new gadget. Not so. There were plugs under the seat, but none looked anything like the two adapters on the end of my power cord – one looked like a USB port and the other looked like some sort of Ethernet outlet.

Back to reality in the back of the plane for my next three multiple-leg hops across the country, there was not an outlet to be found.

Last night on the flight from Sacramento to Chicago, while reading MacWorld, I saw mention of the Apple Airline power adapter and in the article a small mention of a site called SeatGuru.com where you can do your power outlet research before booking flights. After browsing the two airlines I travel most frequently – Delta and United – I don’t expect to be using my new cord any time soon.

I guess I’ll keep it in my computer bag for a little while, but soon I’ll probably introduce this device to it’s new neighbor on my office bookshelf that is filled with gadgets I got that never worked.

MagSafe, meet CueCat. CueCat, meet MagSafe.

Gadgets / Sailing — 2 Comments
17
Dec 06

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage, originally uploaded by sailorbill.

Well, I’m a proud owner of both a one design remote control Laser model sailboat (above) that is a quarter-scale of the “real” Laser sailboat I raced 15 years ago AND now an Adventure 14 (pic is the 16 foot version) built by Mad River Canoe.

Here’s the short version…

My wife and I drove down to Mendon, NY to check out a kennel where we’ll be boarding our dog Maxine this coming weekend over the Christmas break and after the visit we decided to ride around the park directly behind the business. In the park we found a lake called the Hundred Acre Pond.

I had my new remote control Laser model sailboat in the back of the truck and after checking the depth of the water, I decided to give it a quick dunk in the drink. This was the model’s first sail.

The wind was blowing steady at about 11 knots. There were few waves. It was barely raining. The temperature was in the mid-50′s.

I checked the water depth, then set everything up after choosing the “B” rig and then tested the transmitter and servo, tuned and trimmed everything and set the boat off in the water at the end of the floating boat dock.

Man that boat is fast on a broad reach!!!

The bad news is that she did not respond to any commands from the transmitter at all. She sailed directly across the pond and got hung up in the cattails on the other side. For several hours, we attempted everything including brief contemplation of wading through about 200 yards of muck and brush to get the boat. That wouldn’t have worked.

Emergency plan #1 – go rent a canoe for a few hours. We left the boat and headed back into town. The problem with this plan is that it is December in western New York and no canoe rental place is allowed to rent canoes because they don’t carry insurance for people in the winter months when usually there is ice and snow all around.

Always have a backup plan. Plan #2 called for us to quickly head home to Fairport and pick up our foul weather gear then drive over to Oak Orchard Canoe and Kayak on the south end of Irondequoit Bay and bought the Adventure 14 and a couple of wooden Loon paddles. A quick stop by West Marine for two PFD’s and we were on the way back to the lake.

After about 4 hours of running around and collecting all of the emergency gear and finally paddling for about 20 minutes to get to the sailboat, we retrieved it and headed back to the truck.

Everything and everyone is in one piece, but just like our first “real” sailing adventure on our Alberg 30, Sabrina years ago, we now have a tale to tell about our first remote control sailing experience!

Gadgets — No Comments
28
Oct 06

How do you manage 7000 songs?

My iTunes library has over 7000 songs. Sometimes, simply due to the quantity of music and the lack of effort I’ve put into organizing it, creating a set of music to simply enjoy is a real chore.

The other day, I found a little site called MyStrands.com that has a very neat feature if you sign in and download their application. The “Playlist Builder” takes a song suggestion from you, then it looks at the network of users who are members of their service and compares your library to each of those user’s libraries and sends back a suggested playlist. It hooks up to iTunes. If you don’t mind sharing your library with the site then you’ll love it. One day, I’ll figure out what they are trying to do with the social networking part, but for now, the play list feature is enough for me.

BillBlevins.com