Nomadness, geeked to the max
Sometimes I like to wander around the many sites of one Stephen K. Roberts, a gent who appears to be a true original. Robert’s latest ride is the Corsair 36 trimaran Nomadness, which must feel like a megayacht after the Microship. It was on his photo tour of Nomadness where I saw this shot of a RadioLabs 12db steerable WiFi antenna, called a Wi-Pod, which Roberts calls his “secret weapon”. His current project seems to be a “pedal/paddle/sail kayak” tender for the tri, a replacement for Bubba, and featuring something he calls Kayaktopus:
At first glance, this may sound just a bit excessive… after all, I’m the guy who built the BEHEMOTH bicycle, an existence proof of the Roberts Law of Applied Mobile Gizmology: “If you take an infinite number of very light things and put them together, they become infinitely heavy.” I have occasionally been accused, with some justification, of over-engineering.
Tip of the hat to Mr. Roberts for exploring the geek frontier, with a sense of humor.
Certainly this isn’t recognizable as a wi-fi antenna to anyone. I wonder what reaction you would get if someone thought you were pointing that thing at their home or boat ? The tripod gives the appearance of precision, and the rest of it appears similiar to what bad guys use in the movies for easedropping (that the dish is missing might go unnoticed)
HI! I was pleasantly surprised to see this entry on one of the blogs I most enjoy… and a tip of the hat back atcha, Ben, for documenting the moving target of marine electronics so well!
Regarding the comment by b393capt – yes, that’s a very good point, and in fact I have discovered it works just as well sitting on the salon table (since it’s just looking through foam core and lexan windows). It is not uncommon to find a public access point outside the pricey marina services. I’m toying now with modifying my old video turret to keep the antenna pointed in a fixed direction whilst swinging at anchor.
Cheers!
Steve