This ‘n’ that, #1
It’s late and hot out, and I’m behind in so many ways…so how about a little this ‘n’ that:
* Remember the guy who was out trial sailing his schooner Maggie B. off Nova Scotia in March? Well right now he’s 13 days into a passage to Brazil and just about to cross the Equator. If I understand his Web site correctly, his crew are four French mademoiselles and an English engineer. Damn!
* NavimaQ is back. I remember back in ‘99 interviewing the couple that first developed this early and popular Mac charting program, literally as they sailed their cruising boat down Chesapeake Bay. Neither the cruise or marriage worked out, and NavimaQ has been off the market for several years. Now Barco Software has rewritten it for OS X, but it looks to me like they’ll need to market it better (more screen shots, demo, etc.) to have a chance of denting GPSNavX.
* Today I spoke to a nice gentleman who just had a bad lightning experience in Ft. Lauderdale. Headed to the Bahamas, he started up his 58’ Viking and next thing he knew his dual MTU’s were revved up in reverse out of control and he was crashing around his canal. Several of his electronics are blown out or damaged and he thinks the accident was caused by lightning screwing up the Mathers/ZF electronic engine controls (though apparently they check out OK now). Anyone heard of electronic controls going crazy like that?
* So I may have been a little jealous about the Bermuda Race last weekend (still don’t know who won), but I did manage to build an antenna farm suitable for my driveway and other test locations. Check it out big size and you’ll also get a peek at my almost new GMC Sierra hooked up to Gizmo, and ready to explore Malaga Island and thereabouts with my daughter tomorrow (which explains yesterday’s screen shot).
GPSNavX can go head to head with Navimaq. GPSNavX is only $59 and available as an immediate download. We also offer phone tech support and very prompt email service.
And for $99 you can get MacENC which supports both BSB rasters (RNCs) and S-57/S-63 vector (ENCs).
One last point, our software is natively compatible with both the newer Intel based Macs and the older PowerPC ones – something Navimaq can’t claim as of yet!!
GPSNavX website
I love your test rack. Make sure you drive down a bumpy dirt road to shock test the equipment.
As a young man I had I had a similar rig with anemometers. We also added sprinkler on the hood to test for the effects of rain. The sheriff pulled us over not that we were violating the law, but in his words we were more distracting than a topless dancer on the back of a pick up truck. We relocated our testing to the airport.
Anyway Ben you should be proud of your creativity, and low budget approach.
Pat
How DOES one test a VHF antenna? I have an old metz that I want to use and was curious if there is a simple eay to do this?
Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s
Jef, there are numerous VHF antenna testers, including this one I wrote up:
https://panbo.com/yae/archives/001277.html