This year for our annual Canada trip, we decided to venture not far from the border. The cost of fuel towing the trailer to the far reaches of the planet is now doubly prohibitive. While we complain about $4.30 gas here in Seattle, the Canadians are paying C$6.00 for theirs. A dollar and a half per liter in Vancouver was the norm.

We stayed in a "RV resort" campground in Hazelmere. I thought it was rather interesting that there were campers of all sorts, tent campers, RV campers, trailers, and class-A motorhomes. There were also lots of fifth-wheel trailers and small mobile homes that apparently are for permanent residents there. I have never seen permanent residents at a campground before, mixed in with the campers. Must be some kind of thing they are doing to exploit a loophole and avoid taxes I figure. There was a duck pond, a playground, and a small stream that runs through the park. It was a rather large place, probably about 50 acres I would guess. Lots of grassy areas too. The park was hosting a dog show for the weekend when we arrived. They had wifi, and we had a full hookup for the trailer, so it was rather civilized. However, my son and I were chased out of the hot tub rather rudely by one of the volunteer staff there. True we were breaking the rule on the spa because my son was under the age limit, but I didn't think the response was appropriate. So, other than a bit of attitude from the people, the place was fairly reasonable. It wasn't cheap though. $42 US a night for the full hookup spot (1.01C$ = 1.00US$ this trip). The weak dollar and the price of fuel certainly made this Canada trip the most expensive one we've ever taken - and that includes one where we drove all the way to Banff several years ago.

Vancouver is an interesting city. The building architecture and the city layout is different from any other city I have ever seen. High-rise apartment buildings are the norm in this downtown city. Whereas in downtown Seattle, about half of the high-rise buildings are residential and half are offices. The buildings are on average 30-50 floors I would guess. There are a lot of cars and traffic is heavy around rush hour. I can't imagine that there are more people that live in downtown Seattle than downtown Vancouver, but that's what it says online. It just seems to me that there are about 10x more apartments in Vancouver than in Seattle.

This year, we decided to visit Stanley Park - a very large park right on the edge of downtown Vancouver. We drove to the park and found a parking spot near the aquarium. There is a playground, and lots of other places to sit and relax in the park. The weather was good for us, just at 70F (21C) and bright blue skies. We hiked around the park for a while, and my son played on the playground equipment. We walked over to what we thought was the teahouse restaurant, looking for high tea. However, contrary to the brochures, the restaurant gone out of business and was taken over by a brew pub. Apparently it is seasonal, and we were there for its opening day. Food was OK, but prices seemed quite high. Don't think I'll need to go back to that one. We took the free shuttle bus around the park's outside loop road, trying to see all the sights from the different vantage points the park offers. It's a rickety old street car type bus, so it rattles pretty good. But it's free and fairly convenient.

I opted out, but the rest of the family decided to go to the Vancouver Aquarium there in the park, to see the sights below the bay. The beluga whales were the main attraction, and of course my son thought those were pretty cool. The pregnant beluga whale Qila had just given birth to a baby female whale a few days before our visit, so there were lots of people there to see the newborn calf. The aquarium has good web coverage with live whale cams, so they are fun to watch.

We drove out to Point Roberts, a small bastion of Washington state on a peninsula, south of Vancouver. The only way one can drive to this small Washington town is through Canada. It always sounded like fun, so this year we did it. We stopped for lunch to watch the orca whales playing in the sound. We didn't get a lot of great pictures, because they were about a quarter mile off shore, and we didn't have access to a boat. We did see a couple of them jump out of the water though, so that was fun. It was kind of interesting to see some of the Canadian homes that back up to the border. Some had hedges or fences that were just on the Canada side of the border, and others didn't have anything except a lawn that reached down to the small drainage ditch that was just on the US side of the border. It is interesting that there is no border fence, and only a marble obelisk every half mile or so to note the boundary.

All in all, it was a pretty good trip. The orca whales were a nice surprise bonus. Canada is definitely an interesting place, just a little bit different. It's nice to get out for our little change of pace every year, but it sure is nice to come home too.

My son begins his career as an impressionist photographer.

This post details the construction of the Mobile Packet Server project that I designed earlier this month. This server is a complete Windows Server, Packet TNC, and 40W VHF radio in a complete waterproof portable package. I used what I had on hand, a 30 cal. ammo can.

Next, I cut a couple pieces of 1/4" plywood the size of the motherboard (6 7/8" square) and the power supply (6 7/8 x 2") and match drilled the holes for screws. I used #6-32 flat head screws, and zipped them in to the holes with a power screwdriver into a nut on the top side. I then used some LockTite glue to hold the boards in place. These were the only things that required attachment, everything else was just held in place by the tight spaces.



Then I installed the main board...



and then the power supply and all the power wiring...



I installed the battery, the radio, the WiFi card, and last the TNC, which slipped nicely down between the radio and the motherboard. The battery and radio are on the right side, while the motherboard and power supply are on the left. The TNC goes between them, and it is easily lifted out if needed. The laptop hard drive was stuck vertically up against the battery and the flat ribbon cable folded up between it and the motherboard so it didn't touch anything, and was cushioned and held in place.

Here is the completed design:


I installed the optional external USB ports because it was so hard to get to the ports on the main board which are just below (above in this picture) the serial cable (white cable). With the serial port, the monitor cable, and the keyboard all going into there, it was easier to run the USB mouse off the external port.

This package is still on the air (shown below, in actual operation) since construction, and it is a self-contained unit that can run on its own without any physical connection to anything else for about an hour on the 7AH gell cell battery that is built-in. This includes the 12VDC monitor, which runs off one of the power cables coming from the battery bundle. The only thing required for operation is an antenna for the VHF radio. It has a spare power pole power connection (in addition to the input power connection), and a spare coax power cable to run another TNC or GPS if needed. Complete specs are below.

This RMS packet node for Winlink services the Redmond, WA area on 145.670 MHz FM simplex. The portability of this system gives the operator a significant advantage for emergency communications. The package is rugged, and literally requires only a mag mount antenna to be on the air in about 60 seconds from opening the box. An operator could throw it in his front seat, power it off his 12V power plug, and drop a mag mount 2m antenna on the roof and be able to have a mobile packet node able to be placed at an optimum communications point to support communications personnel.



Computer: Via Epia 600 main board and CPU, 512MB ram, 60GB laptop hard drive, 4 USB ports
Software: Windows Server 2003, and RMS Packet (by W5SMM and KN6KB)
Monitor: 12VDC KDS 17" LCD display, powered by coax connection from battery
Network: 100MB ethernet and 802.11B WiFi
Node Controller: KPC-9612 dual-port TNC, powered by coax connection from battery
Power: 7AH Gell-Cell lead acid battery, and external input - power pole connection on 2' cable.
Spare power pole and coax output connections also wired in to power/charge other devices.
Radio: Icom IC-228H 40W 2m VHF, powered by power pole connection from battery

Issues
In a real-world portable situation, I would probably want everything to be insulated, just in case. Being that it's inside a metal ammo box, anything could happen if it got jolted just right. This is just a proof of concept, but it seems to be working out well.

The board puts out about 15W or so of heat I figure, and it does not escape readily now, being that all the gear is jammed up against it, and it's in a box. The CPU and GPU are fanless, so they depend on air dissipation, which isn't happening in this design. I added a small 12V fan (not shown in the pictures) that connects to the spare power pole connection, and just sits on top of the motherboard at the lower left corner of the box. That fan moves enough air to keep it all cool and happy, but it isn't mounted it just sits there. And there's no fan guard, so watch your fingers. It's loud, and probably pumps about twice as much air as needed down into the case, so I may add a SPST switch across a 470 ohm resistor, in line with the +12 for a high-low switch.

There are no "front panel" controls for power, reset. The DIN connector is buried on the motherboard, and I'd have to figure out where to mount the switches.

There is no power switch. When the battery is connected, everything is live, since everything is wired directly back to the battery (to avoid noise and ground loops). I will have to add a 20A 12V SPST toggle switch someplace, which I can wire in-line with one male and one female spade quick-connect, to turn off the battery (and turn off the unit if not under external power).

The computer is S L O W. Its an old board. The newer fanless Epia boards have a bit more horsepower, but I think pump out a few more watts of heat as well and they cost a couple hundred bux. Perhaps there's a way to get the fan at the bottom of the case somehow. There are new Via board designs such as the Pico and the Nano that might better support this design, but they are even pricier. Plus they would take some custom connectors and some fancy wiring to make them interface with the rest of the system. Perhaps after I win the lottery...

Other than these minor things, it seems to be a fairly workable design. Feel free to post any questions.
73 de KD6GKD

Since my son is Spider-man, Batman, and Superman, obviously I have become Superdad... Today I now have a new Superdad shirt to proclaim it proudly to the world. Father's day is definitely a nice thing. It's a second day per year that I get to take it a bit easier. Birthday is the other day. Sometimes it's really not easy being a dad, and I don't really feel like I'm doing a super-job most of the time. But, at least my family seems to like my work so far. I guess fatherhood is always a work in progress.

Well, since it's bright and sunny (almost 70° today) perhaps a visit to the park will be in order. Definitely will have to grill up something outside this evening at least. Perhaps even a mowing of the lawn will occur today as well. Is there a baseball game on today? Apparently the M's are ahead 2-1 in the 5th. Haven't watched a single game this year. Not a great year for this town's ball team. "Rebuilding." Yeah. That's it...

Today we hold dear corn, petrol, wheat, and any fleck of gold we can make our own.

Our money is literally worth less and less every day. What bought an apple yesterday can only buy a carrot today.
Fuel for me, fuel for you. We are a fuel based econonmy. The cost of fuel has doubled for all practical purposes. And, the cost of fuel factors into literally everything including the cost of fuel. Does that make an exponential progression then? One would think so. Now that a couple billion more people are demanding fuel than a couple years ago, that seems to put a little damper on the whole fuel based economy thing. When I drive my truck towing my trailer, it costs over 50c per mile. So when we go only 150 miles for a short camping trip, the fuel alone costs $150. This is a staggering change from when I bought my truck, at only 20c per mile...

Now then. My desktop picture of my son and his grandfather building sandcastles on the beach at sunset gives me the constant reminder of what is REALLY important to me in my life. Without my family, I would just be another leaf blowing in the wind. I do need to provide for my family, it is my role. It's a role I accepted gladly, although at times reluctantly. I am (supposed to be) the leader in my household, and at times that is a lot to live up to. Fatherhood isn't a walk in the park. And it's still early too... I can only imagine what is to come when he's bigger than me. Now, when my son comes and tackles me and hugs me to the ground (a take-down hug I call it), I can only be thankful that I can accept it, and then get back up again. That second part is getting harder. Ce'st la vie.

Whilst sitting down to lunch with the fam on Sunday, a strange creature didst appear upon the deck. M yells "what the heck is that thing???" and we came over to the window to take a look. A strange and uncommonly unkempt creature, to be sure. "I have no idea" I said, reaching for the laptop to hit WikiPedia for assistance. We didn't grab the camera fast enough to take a picture, but it was pretty slow, so we got a good look at it. I searched the web for pictures of every kind of rodent I could think of, but nothing seemed to match. We called it the Mystery Rodent. Then, later, someone reminded me that perhaps it wasn't a rodent after all... And, voila - a marsupial it was actually. A largish, very ratty-looking opossum was the answer to this mystery. We don't see too many of them (alive anyway) but they're around. Add yet another animal to add to the pretty long list we have here at the zoo we like to call our home.

We arrived Friday at Larrabee State Park, on Chuckanut drive just south of Bellingham. We pulled in to T7, and levelled the trailer, put down the jacks and hooked it all up. Temperature was in the high 60s, and dry.

Saturday was work day... work to install the ham radio antenna and antenna wires. I had already installed the radio itself, just had the remaining work on the antenna connections. There's no better time to work on the trailer than when we're out someplace actually using it. Had to fix the awning support struts, as they are just a pressure type clamp and needed some extra support. Note the dual-band J-Pole antenna up at 12 feet... a beautiful sight for any Ham radio operator of course...


I managed to get the dual-band J-Pole antenna mounted on a $0.99 8' piece of wood that I was able to clamp on to the side of the trailer. At a buck a piece for the clamps, the entire mounting cost three bux. Cost effective for sure. The hardest part was mounting the SO-239 connector on the outside front of the trailer. Turns out that there is about 2" of insulation between the outer shell and the inner shell. Figuring out how to drill through it, and mount screws all the way from the outside to the inside, and then get the ground wire lug on a screw was a 2-hour entertainment in and of itself. But it did work, and the connector is now mounted and waterproofed.

There is a huge rock just across the street from the trailer, which makes it interesting to pull out of this spot...


but, it is a lot of fun for little boys to climb on of course.

We played in the playground...


Then we went down to the beach and had a good time in the sun (yes there was sun...)



There were beautiful views...







And a good time was had by all. By the way, all boys throw rocks into the water, now don't they?



It was a perfect 74 degrees Saturday, nice and warm. Sunday it cooled off a bit to 68, and Monday morning we got a fair amount of rain. We slept in Monday and by the time we got out to pack up the trailer, the rain had tapered off. We had only scattered drizzle for the way home fortunately.

We get 8 miles to the gallon on the beast, towing the enormous trailer. That's about 50c a mile for those of you doing the math... That's an effective range of exactly 200 miles on a $100 tank of gas... DANG.

Well, its expensive but a lot of fun to go camping... Next time it's off to Canada in June.