Being connected nowadays is a pretty easy thing to do. From social networking sites to cell phones, text messaging, email, VOIP & cheap long distance, we really have no excuse for not being connected.
Of course, we still need to respect the privacy of those who feel the need to stand back from all of this connectivity. It seems to be the baby boomer generation but I have also noticed that some of the younger groups, albeit only a few that I personally know, are stepping back from the stage and taking a deep breath.
It can be a tiring and time consuming process to stay connected. Some even go as far as losing focus on things that are more important than sending that twitter or writing on someone’s wall. It all adds up to what you actually want to achieve. If you are simply doing it just to gain status and make more friends, well maybe you should go back to the basics. Making a phonecall or sending a simple email then meeting up for a coffee or beer, or whatever you may have done in the past before this technology swooped down upon us, but now, we are letting it control our lives and literally mandate our decision making process and associated actions.
For those who take it all in stride and can control their exposure and adaptation of such new technologies, maybe even leverage them to their benefit while still "being yourself” – well my friends, kudos to you.
And for those who take all this technology and really look at it with a microscope, methodically breaking it down and seeing how you can make it work in ways that would really be beneficial or unique – that’s great too. I guess in the end, all I am saying is, don’t let it run your life. Your still an individual. You are unique. You are one.
I was encouraged to write this blog post by a situation that caught me off guard a little while ago. You see, I had been experimenting with urban WiFi radio links to try and get a better understanding of the concept of low power communications in an environment that offered some challenges. These challenges included localized interference, lack of line of site communications. Speed degradation due to link latency. My ultimate goal was to create a WiFi audio / video link between my home and my boat which is about 900 meters away – but in a location that has LOADS of wireless access points and routers, man-made and natural interference and of course, it’s close to being line of site but not exactly.
Now you may ask why? Well, if you work the common demons out during your testing such as those described above, transplanting your operations to the field – in the middle of nowhere, will certainly see a system that will perform extremely well in an ideal environment. No local WiFi, noise or other sources of interference. Nailing a solid radio link for 1km + should be quite simple. And I am happy to say that I have indeed achieved reasonable streaming performance over a link of that distance – in the city. So to imagine what I can do in the field, well, those wireless cam’s and data links to other camps might not be a pipe dream.
The next test is the LOS (Line of Sight) test where I will orientate the directional antenna towards the Niagara Escarpment, to the north of me, clearly visible and without any obstructions, to see if I can launch a signal via a 10dBi bi-polarized antenna with 600mw of power to a monitoring post that measures out to be roughly 18km or approx. 11 miles.
Now for those of you who have followed some of my work and perhaps Simply Sasquatch radio, you may recall that we did a radio test with some FRS / GMRS radios from my home to the same location (the escarpment) using Hi, Medium and FRS Low (500 mw max power). I was in communication with a fellow who drove around the escarpment to dispel the myth that manufacturer’s claims about range on FRS/ GMRS are over-stated. Nope – they are not – as long as you are line of sight (or literally line of sight). We could hear eachother perfectly on all power ranges and channels.
So given the fact that the walkie talkies are driving very inefficient rubber antennas that are not directional, we did pretty good with that test. Now, we are moving to a directional antenna system that offers gain – 10dBi – and a power outage that is slightly higher than FRS (500mw); We are going to be using 600mw – which would give us an ERP (Effective radiated power) of 3.6 watts or 5.63 dBW or an EIRP (Effective Isotropic Radiated Power) of 6 watts or 7.78 dBW.
Mind you, we are operating at a higher frequency which is something we need to consider because the radio wave does not travel, penetrate and bend like the lower frequency walkie talkie, but it is certainly worth the test – and if we are successful, it brings a whole new world of opportunity to field research and remote viewing / surveillance and communications.
Connected. Now this is to our benefit. This is something that will be neat to try and even better to implement as part of our research arsenal.
Very interesting and very exciting when one thinks of having several cams out in the field while sitting back at a base camp and monitoring each one! Just like the old docudramas of the 70's..that is very exciting news my friend and I think you are on the right track. Keep up the good work,I think you are one of the most promising researchers to come along in quite sometime. I have researched this being since I was just a kid in the 70's and now I try to document my research and have notes(written to myself)that date back as far as 18 years ago. I try to document virtually every aspect of the weather each time that I go into the field for an overnight trip. I go and spend a night alone in the woods(Appalachian Mountains)as often as possible and have for the past several years. I usually clear out a small flat,set up a tent or lean-to,build a small fire pit and many times do nothing more than sit by the fire and read into the night,drinking coffee and listening to the sounds of the woods. I have heard several different sounds that do not fit with the known local wildlife. I know the sounds of the normal culprits such as fox,coyote and owls,but I have heard sounds that have a low,rumbling resonance that could be called sort of a "low bass" sound. I have also heard the long,siren-like wails that never fail to give me goose bumps from my head to my toes. I applaud your research and think that you guys are on the right track. I only wish you lived closer to my area as there are some significant activity happening on a fairly regular basis the past few months. Well,take care and keep up the good work fellas.
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