Comments for darryl ramm's blog http://www.darrylramm.com musings on technology, marketing and personal interests Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:02:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 Comment on SPOT Satellite Messenger - Google Earth Update by darryl http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/02/spot-satellite-messenger-2/#comment-4062 darryl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:46:20 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/02/spot-satellite-messenger-2/#comment-4062 The above comment was posted from an IP address of IP: 64.80.84.114 that resolves to mail.acrelectronics.com Hey "DaveP" you asshole, if you work for ACR Electronics and want to criticize one of your competitor's product on my blog you need to start by identifying yourself as an employee of ACR - and then I'd welcome any cogent comments you have. And you can let everybody know if you are speaking officially for ACR or for yourself. I am a fan of PLBs and carry a McMurdo PLB on my parachute harness, and a SPOT in my glider cockpit for tracking (SPOTcast). ACR is clearly worried by the SPOT messenger, given their exaggerated anti-SPOT claims made in past marketing pieces. Some of the claims in the video posted on YouTube in the link above are irrelevant FUD, such as alkaline battery claims (Energizer lithium batteries are easy to obtain). My post was about the SPOTcast tracking feature of the SPOT messenger which is a compelling feature for sailplane pilots, 406 MHz PLBs do not and cannot offer this. BTW my original post is now out of date and the SPOT website has added shared pages with nice update features etc., a big improvement but there is still more SPOT could do in that area. Darryl Ramm The above comment was posted from an IP address of IP: 64.80.84.114 that resolves to mail.acrelectronics.com

Hey “DaveP” you asshole, if you work for ACR Electronics and want to criticize one of your competitor’s product on my blog you need to start by identifying yourself as an employee of ACR - and then I’d welcome any cogent comments you have. And you can let everybody know if you are speaking officially for ACR or for yourself.

I am a fan of PLBs and carry a McMurdo PLB on my parachute harness, and a SPOT in my glider cockpit for tracking (SPOTcast). ACR is clearly worried by the SPOT messenger, given their exaggerated anti-SPOT claims made in past marketing pieces. Some of the claims in the video posted on YouTube in the link above are irrelevant FUD, such as alkaline battery claims (Energizer lithium batteries are easy to obtain). My post was about the SPOTcast tracking feature of the SPOT messenger which is a compelling feature for sailplane pilots, 406 MHz PLBs do not and cannot offer this. BTW my original post is now out of date and the SPOT website has added shared pages with nice update features etc., a big improvement but there is still more SPOT could do in that area.

Darryl Ramm

]]> Comment on SPOT Satellite Messenger - Google Earth Update by DaveP http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/02/spot-satellite-messenger-2/#comment-4055 DaveP Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:38:35 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/02/spot-satellite-messenger-2/#comment-4055 Darryl, I'm glad your SPOT is working great. Mine was a dog. Check out this video on youtube I found about the different types of survival gear you might want to consider. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2IQrQxmv00 Darryl, I’m glad your SPOT is working great. Mine was a dog. Check out this video on youtube I found about the different types of survival gear you might want to consider.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2IQrQxmv00

]]> Comment on iPhone and iPod Touch Interface for BLIPMAP Forecasts by Kurt Thams http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/10/03/iphone-and-ipod-touch-interface-for-blipmap-forecasts/#comment-3998 Kurt Thams Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:56:59 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/10/03/iphone-and-ipod-touch-interface-for-blipmap-forecasts/#comment-3998 Sweet! Thanks for making this. Sweet! Thanks for making this.

]]> Comment on Microsoft’s Seinfeld-Gates Disaster by darryl http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/09/09/microsofts-seinfeld-gates-disaster/#comment-3886 darryl Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:00:11 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/09/09/microsofts-seinfeld-gates-disaster/#comment-3886 The second advertisement in the series, "New Family", is awful as well. It has no point and is just stupid. Click the screen shot above to be taken to a landing page where you can watch both ads. Microsoft we are laughing at, not with you. Darryl The second advertisement in the series, “New Family”, is awful as well. It has no point and is just stupid. Click the screen shot above to be taken to a landing page where you can watch both ads.

Microsoft we are laughing at, not with you.

Darryl

]]> Comment on Flying the Big One by Sigtryggur http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/21/flying-the-big-one/#comment-3231 Sigtryggur Fri, 23 May 2008 01:55:32 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2008/03/21/flying-the-big-one/#comment-3231 Having flown the ash 25 myself I just love it, great glider, I flew it a bit too agressive for my friend the owner, he got a bit seasick :) Having flown the ash 25 myself I just love it, great glider, I flew it a bit too agressive for my friend the owner, he got a bit seasick :)

]]> Comment on Strobl Solar Panel Kit for Sailplanes by Sigtryggur http://www.darrylramm.com/2007/01/31/strobl-solar-panels-for-sailplanes/#comment-3229 Sigtryggur Fri, 23 May 2008 01:29:28 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2007/01/31/strobl-solar-panels-for-sailplanes/#comment-3229 Hello Darryl and all reading, we have found out a new thing about our Twin III SL. We were debugging a problem with the extraction retraction mechanism of the glider and we found out that the extract/retract motor had a steady 12 volt stream after the engine had retracted. We checked the switches that control that operation and they were incorrectly aligned so the motor had a steady drain on the battery at all times the engine electrics were engaged. We did some changes on the micro-switches and after that the sub/retract engine is disengaged after retraction and we have a new light in the cockpit 'Engine Retracted' that we did not know about before and it seems the person we bought the glider from did not know about it either. I am looking forward to testing the performance increase of the battery as I hope the fix of the constant drain of the extraction/retraction motor will at least give me a 20-30% increase in power efficience. I wonder about what action to take on the seller of the glider since it was in absolute sub-standard shape when I bought it and the previous owner led me to believe that everything that was wrong with the glider was normal, now I know better and me and my flight mechanics have exchanged a lot of components of it and now we have it in great shape. I absolute love flying the Grob Twin III SL it is now a great ship but we have had to do repairs for about $20.000 to get it in shape after purchasing it for $95.000. After this experience I and my mechanics know 'all' about the maintenance of this glider and that is a good thing so if anyone has any problems then I would love to try to help. Hello Darryl and all reading, we have found out a new thing about our Twin III SL. We were debugging a problem with the extraction retraction mechanism of the glider and we found out that the extract/retract motor had a steady 12 volt stream after the engine had retracted. We checked the switches that control that operation and they were incorrectly aligned so the motor had a steady drain on the battery at all times the engine electrics were engaged. We did some changes on the micro-switches and after that the sub/retract engine is disengaged after retraction and we have a new light in the cockpit ‘Engine Retracted’ that we did not know about before and it seems the person we bought the glider from did not know about it either. I am looking forward to testing the performance increase of the battery as I hope the fix of the constant drain of the extraction/retraction motor will at least give me a 20-30% increase in power efficience. I wonder about what action to take on the seller of the glider since it was in absolute sub-standard shape when I bought it and the previous owner led me to believe that everything that was wrong with the glider was normal, now I know better and me and my flight mechanics have exchanged a lot of components of it and now we have it in great shape. I absolute love flying the Grob Twin III SL it is now a great ship but we have had to do repairs for about $20.000 to get it in shape after purchasing it for $95.000.

After this experience I and my mechanics know ‘all’ about the maintenance of this glider and that is a good thing so if anyone has any problems then I would love to try to help.

]]> Comment on Glider Pee Tubes by Dustin http://www.darrylramm.com/glider-pee-tubes/#comment-3196 Dustin Tue, 13 May 2008 20:20:24 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/glider-pee-tubes/#comment-3196 Just as an update, St. Louis Medical Supply's website has changed. Here are the new links to the products mentioned above: Mentor 6000: http://www.stlmedical.com/store/MN6000x.html Mentor 7092: http://www.stlmedical.com/store/MN7092.html Just as an update, St. Louis Medical Supply’s website has changed. Here are the new links to the products mentioned above:

Mentor 6000: http://www.stlmedical.com/store/MN6000x.html
Mentor 7092: http://www.stlmedical.com/store/MN7092.html

]]> Comment on Glider Pee Tubes by Herb http://www.darrylramm.com/glider-pee-tubes/#comment-2987 Herb Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:00:10 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/glider-pee-tubes/#comment-2987 You can purchase the quick disconnects for 1/2 the price, online at: http://quickcouplings.net/osc/index.php?cPath=21_25&sort=3a&page=4 cheaper shipping too. Just order: 1 x PLCD22006 3/8 Hose Barb Valved In-Line CPC Coupling Insert 1 x PLCD17006 3/8 Hose Barb Valved In-Line CPC Coupling Body Thanks for the info! You can purchase the quick disconnects for 1/2 the price, online at: http://quickcouplings.net/osc/index.php?cPath=21_25&sort=3a&page=4
cheaper shipping too. Just order:
1 x PLCD22006 3/8 Hose Barb Valved In-Line CPC Coupling Insert
1 x PLCD17006 3/8 Hose Barb Valved In-Line CPC Coupling Body

Thanks for the info!

]]> Comment on Tweaking the Competition - the New Schleicher DG-1000S by GLIDING INTERNATIONAL http://www.darrylramm.com/2007/11/05/tweaking-the-competition-the-new-schleicher-dg-1000s/#comment-2760 GLIDING INTERNATIONAL Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:33:45 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/2007/11/05/tweaking-the-competition-the-new-schleicher-dg-1000s/#comment-2760 A great story. Would like to republish it in our magazine. Any objections? JOHN A great story. Would like to republish it in our magazine. Any objections?

JOHN

]]> Comment on Things to Bring on Cross Country Flights by Sergio http://www.darrylramm.com/things-to-bring-on-cross-country-flights/#comment-2585 Sergio Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:58:26 +0000 http://www.darrylramm.com/things-to-bring-on-cross-country-flights/#comment-2585 Very nice list. I would add a penlight a insect repellent depending on region Very nice list. I would add a penlight a insect repellent depending on region

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