I must be the last lurker. Story of my life...last on land though first in the water. I am Ken Johnson, 67, retired 1992 moving from Chicago to Corpus Christi with the sole purpose of kayaking. Looked at Costa Rica, Mexico, and S. Texas for someplace warm, on the water with good kayaking, and cheap to live. Corpus Christi won out. Saw my first kayak at Chicagoland Canoe Basein 1990; a Current Design Solstice, red deck, cream hull, hanging from ceiling over cash register. It was love at first sight and I bought it on the spot. Lived in a condo on Lakeshore Drive so they kept it for me while I figured out where to put the kayak. Would have been in my living room, but it wouldn't fit in the elevator and my window was 28 stories up! Finally arranged to hang it from a heating pipe over my parking spot in the basement garage. Learned to kayak in Lake Michigan. First trip with with U of Minnesotta school of kayaking, through the Apostle Islands. Then hit kayak symposiums at Bayfield WI, Grand Haven and Grand Marais MI, Port Townsend WA, and Tampa/St Pete FLA. Also paddled with Ed Gillet down to Scammons Lagoon in Baja Mexico to see grey whales in migration. Other trips: in Pacific between Acapulco and Puerta Vallarta, Pictured Rocks MI, north shore Lake Superior, Les Cheneaux islands in Lake Huron, and thousand islands in Georgian Bay, and Everglades and Keys in FLA. Also paddled along west coast when drove from Corpus up to Port Townsend for the symposium. Next Trips: another trip through Everglades, Keys (this March), Horn Island off Mississippi coast in March, Charleston SC symposium in April, Isle Royale in June, and Pictured Rocks symposium in MI again in July. So much great kayaking and so little time! Paddle a Seda Glider (19'), Dagger Meridian SK (16'), and a Wilderness Systems Sealution (17'). Use a Lightning Ultralight paddle, but now have my eye on the new Epic. I try to limit my time indoors to an absolute minimum and paddle almost every day. Have been fortunate to have many people take up my offer to show them the paddle sights of Corpus Christi (see description of Corpus Christi paddling sights on GASP under "destinations"). Enjoy meeting and paddling with new kayakers; great group of people! Enjoy paddlewise discussions, but have not spent much time on the computer. This who-are-we thread has been the exception. Hope some of you will take up my offer to visit Corpus Christi. Great kayaking year around. Ken *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I have read much on vhs radios on the list and have a pretty good idea its benefits. nothing on cb's however. In one of my catalogs (one of the daily deluge), they offer a hand held 14 channel cb radio for 30.00 US. Not disposable by any means, nor waterproof, but mmay be something for contacting within a group and perhaps a bit of a longer range than 'line of site'. Any thoughts on this? thanks. -- gabriel l romeu http://members.aol.com/romeug studio furniture http://members.aol.com/romeugp paintings, photos, prints, etc. http://members.xoom.com/gabrielR a daily photo journal *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I have a cb in my minivan & a handheld one. Those are both 40 channels at 5 watts ERP for about a 5 mile range (often more). Both have weather radio reception as well, which is a plus. However, CB is minimally used these days. (which may be good, because there wouldn't be much clutter..). These are most often used while shuttling, altho I often carry the handheld for emergency purposes (police are supposed to monitor Channel 9 but rarely do). On rare occasions, someone else on a trip has one. That automatically makes us lead and sweep! You mention 14 channels. If so, I think you are talking about the Family Radio Service which is a different animal. It's a much smaller unit with about a 2 mile range. It is at a much higher freguency than CB. Actually the channels are sandwiched in an industrial service band..... Realistically, you don't get all 14 channels since some are in fact used by industry and you probably won't get much airtime on them. On the other hand, in an emergency it's more likely someone will be listening on those channels. Prices for a single one of these runs from $49 to $119 in this area (central NJ). Get one with all 14 channels. There's no guarantee that someone else with one of the cheap ones has the same channels. Joe Pylka -----Original Message----- From: Gabriel L Romeu >In one of my catalogs (one of the daily deluge), they offer a hand held >14 channel cb radio for 30.00 US. Not disposable by any means, nor >waterproof, but may be something for contacting within a group and >perhaps a bit of a longer range than 'line of site'. >Any thoughts on this? thanks. >gabriel l romeu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 2/13/1999 3:18:38 PM EST, pylka_at_castle.net writes: << You mention 14 channels. If so, I think you are talking about the Family Radio Service which is a different animal. It's a much smaller unit with about a 2 mile range. It is at a much higher freguency than CB. Actually the channels are sandwiched in an industrial service band..... Realistically, you don't get all 14 channels since some are in fact used by industry and you probably won't get much airtime on them. On the other hand, in an emergency it's more likely someone will be listening on those channels. Prices for a single one of these runs from $49 to $119 in this area (central NJ). >> In actuality, a FRS radio is a modern tin can and string with a two mile long string. They work well for intended purposes (so did the tin can and string) and are economical on batteries. They are becomming very popular with families with kids on vacations, but the drawback is the range. Again there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you want range, you got to pay for it in higher wattage. To get that you got to have more power. That is accessed via batteries. John *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
At 10:11 AM 2/13/99 -0500, Gabriel L Romeu wrote: >In one of my catalogs (one of the daily deluge), they offer a hand held >14 channel cb radio for 30.00 US. Not disposable by any means, nor >waterproof, but mmay be something for contacting within a group and >perhaps a bit of a longer range than 'line of site'. > >Any thoughts on this? thanks. Hi Gabe et al Our kids have a set of the $39.95 radshack CB handhelds. Their effective range around the 'hood is only 4 or 5 blocks . . . try before you buy. You will find that CB transceivers are normally limited to pretty much line of sight, or a maximum of a couple of miles on flat open terrain, and generally will not perform as well as a VHF radio under the same conditions. An additional handicap is that CBs transmit an amplitude modulation (AM) signal vs the VHF radios frequency modulation (FM) signal. This results in significantly poorer signal quality, especially with weak signals. Another unfortunate problem with the CB channels (at least around here) is that even if you do get someone to answer your call, you are not likely to get more than a burst of profanity. That said, the frequencies used by CB (27MHz) are very close to the 10 meter amateur band (28MHz), and given the correct atmospheric conditions have the potential for international communications. I don't think that you'd want to count on this happening, tho. By the way, I had mentioned in an earlier post that I was looking into another possibility for a higher gain VHF antenna which might be carried on a kayak. I have an article from a amateur radio magazine describing the construction of a "collinear" antenna which can be fabricated rather easily from coaxial cable. Anyone wanting a copy, let me know and I'll drop one in your e-mail. It's about a 1.3MB .zip file. I haven't had the opportunity to put one together yet, but a couple of other hams have, and they appear to work quite well. Whether or not one would be of any real use on a kayak in adverse conditions (read deployment problems) is a question I will leave for your consideration. ByeBye! S. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Kenneth Johnson wrote: > I must be the last lurker. Story of my life...last on land though first in the water. Not quite, Kenneth, here's another! My name is Jason Elias, and at age 25 I seem to be considerably too young for this list. But then, I am completely new to kayaking and Paddlewise (I've only been aboard for about two weeks now) has been a source of a good deal of good advice - so much experience, collectively, all in one place, is a huge bonus for a newbie. I don't have my first kayak yet; it is in the process of being built (need to work on it this afternoon yet). I am building a 16.5' skin-over-frame boat, originally designed for marathon racing in accordance with BCU regs. I expect it will be a good boat for the combination of fitness and short trips that I plan to use it for. While I have not yet got my feet wet, as it were, I have been wanting to ever since I can remember. My dad and I used to canoe a fair bit, since he was into photography (a passion he has passed on to me) and a canoe was perfect for puddling about on local lakes looking for pictures. My earliest memory of a kayak was at a boat show in Winnipeg where I stood entranced by a gorgeous Olympic flatwater boat for about half an hour. I've wanted one ever since, and still do. (Any marathon types in the Winnipeg area, I'd appreciate some info!) Other interests/passions include music (played piano ever since I was five) and high-end audio, especially DIY - I've built three pairs of speakers now, and plan to build an amp soon. Mechanical engineering is what I do to pay the student loans. Looking forward to more good info. Okay, someone else's turn now! Regards to all from frozen Manitoba, Jason *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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