Swoop!

[jay]

(SEG) I passed! *bounce*bounce*bounce*

After eight months of ice skating lessons and practice, I finally passed the last two beginner levels (gamma, delta) (!) and can register for freestyle next year. Catching up with my 11-year-old son :-). Tonight, my inside and outside 3-turns were precise, my forward outside-edges (kind of like S-turns) were better than usual, my inside-edges were marginal (the teacher was kind to pass me :), bunny-hop was acceptable (but I need blades with a reasonable toe pick) and lunges were "perfect". Heh. Now on to waltz jumps and spirals... it is interesting how some ice skating moves mirror aircraft maneuvers. Steep turns --> 3-turns, S-turns --> edges, for instance. And spirals are self-evident. :-)

At work, we have a 2-day symposium convening tomorrow about work done at our Arctic field test site on Devon Island, so I took advantage of having all of this summer's participants together to design how we will do our field communications. We settled on 3.5 GHz OFDM for trunk links (7-15 km, with a license), to either a fixed or mobile repeater (a Humvee that AM General is giving us), where we will shift to a modified IEEE 802.11b link 1-2 km further to the rover (a modified ATV). This required that several people give up their pet ideas... but it should work. Now to find a fast panoramic camera...

J and I aren't currently speaking, but other than that, today was an excellent day... (celebrating with Jameson's in coffee)

Comments

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

We settled on 3.5 GHz OFDM for trunk links (7-15 km, with a license), to either a fixed or mobile repeater (a Humvee that AM General is giving us), where we will shift to a modified IEEE 802.11b link 1-2 km further to the rover (a modified ATV).

You can have your own mobile repeater? Can anyone do that (with a HAM Radio license)? That's cool.

You didn't lose me until you got to the IEEE 802.11b link...whazzat? (Links to explain link welcome/useful).

Thanks!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

In the US and Canada, there are frequency bands that are open for unlicensed, typically digital communications use. One is at 2.4 GHz (used by 802.11b systems) and another at 5 Ghz (802.11a, which is newer on the market despite the numbering). See the IEEE standards (http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/main.html) link here. There are also power limitations, which keep individual access points from trying to out-shout each other, broadcast-wise. But those limitations also constrain the range of off-the-shelf wireless equipment (to about 2 miles in open terrain for 11b, less for 11a).

The userpic shows me using an early 802.11b system three years ago in Haughton Crater, doing video consultation back to base camp. And my hood's velcro is stuck to my cap...

Within those constraints, anyone could make their own repeater just by buying an access point (like an Apple Airport base, for instance), hooking it to a receiver with a tiny local LAN, and running the whole assembly off a 12V car battery or solar panels.

But we'd need a bunch of those to go 10 miles outward in several directions, one hilltop at a time, and the batteries of each repeater need to be swapped every few days (continual drain, and cold temperatures). So our team members from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (who have Canadian government grants to develop efficient wireless links to remote communities in their north) are getting an institutional broadcast license for the 3.5 GHz band (which is actually open-spectrum in parts of Europe and Asia, but not in North America) which will also allow us to use higher broadcast power and thence greater range and throughput. We expect to get 10-15 Mbps out to about 8-10 miles radius.

With a private (i.e., ham) license in the US, one could probably try something similar, albeit with much more multipath reflections and interference in settled areas. But the 3.5 GHz equipment is expensive for individual use, currently ($6K per receiver, $9K per access point, plus antennae, cables, batteries, spares, etc.).

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Is this a national certification? I'd never thought about formal ice skating lessons before. Sounds like fun!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I find it to be lots of fun, and skating leverages my other interests in dance and flying... plus I have an LDR sweetie that has been skating for 10 years, so it gives us a common interest. One of my ambitions is to be able to ice-dance with her someday ;-).

There are two organizations that certify figure skating levels in the US: the Ice Skating Institute (ISI) and US Figure Skating Association (USFSA). Both also sponsor competitions for higher-level skaters. ISI tends to be a bit more laid-back and recreationally-focussed, while USFSA is a bit more serious and intense. I just passed the last two ISI Basic Skills (beginner) levels (out of six total).

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the additional info!

Were you into ice skating before the LDR?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

My oldest son was taking lessons before I was in that LDR, but I've only been skating for the past 17 months. Having a common interest in my LDR was as much of a factor as being able to keep up with my three boys (all of whom now take lessons :-).