Sandpirates2

I've had a General level license for many years due to my work, it was called a General Radio Operators Licensed Technician or in today's world a Amateur Extra Class with provisions. I've got friends who are still in it, and run 2, 6, or 10 meter rigs. The license is not hard to obtain, and you dont need to know code anymore for the entry level radio. :shocked2:

Pete, I didnt mean your rail, but it does look expensive. I know that your looking into the camera, I was showing you that the top end like what 80 Grit was showing, there's always one more out there. Hell I dont use that camera in the sand, I'd be getting my a$$ handed to me trying to explain why it was sand dusted...... As for the $320K rail, there was a guy out there not any of the DDR group, cause I asked him, but his wife and a friend of his while he was doing wheel stands up comp, she was talking about how this guy traded a fairly new 2006 Cessna T182 Turbo Skylane, and for one that is a few years old, its well into $300K plus. When I mentioned this she just smiled and said well it was about $20K more plus the TH, and New F550 he pulled it with. I've not been around rails long enought to know what make or model, but it had a V8 Super-Charged, and was a metalic green with the name G-Spot. I'd rather had the plane I know, I'll burn in Sand Dune Hell for that comment

It'd take me a week just to clear out my stuff, and even then they'd find my sh*t somewhere that I forgot about.... If they can't afford one, then they'd likely tear it up. I wont even let my daughters or their stupid husbands drive my truck let alone take my new hauler..... I'm with the others NO!!!

Hey it's like everything in life - it has a price......as compared to the money most here have invested in their rails.....I almost fell out when I saw a rail at Dumont that cost $320K my last time out there....talk about Damn.... You'll be happy with the Canon SD1000 - the average cost I think was $175, but I heard from some friends that Staples had them on sale for $149.00. Dont know if the sale is still running. Pick up a second Bat while your at it, and the biggest Gig card you can find.... Mike

Pete - The high end that I use for work is The new 21.1-megapixel, full-frame Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III digital SLR camera. Like the one 80Grit uses this one is in the same family on the upper end. But if you thought your tires were high, you'll have to put forth about $8K for the body, then another $4-5K for the 2 basic lens. I had to acutally go to take a 1 week course at Canon to run this damn thing, but it does turn up some great shots. It's able to process 185mb of data a second with dual processor's. The clarity and color volumes are unreal, and like 80Grit says once it's setup all you do is point and shoot.... My Friends House in Idaho, near Montana Like I mentioned, at the end of the day, I only shoot Olympus or Canon, its due to their quality and product support. So if you choose the Canon SD 1000, like Woody, I think you'll be happy. Mike

OK, so I forgot to add the camera name, I was going off what Woody had mentioned and it appeared that you were heading the same direction. The Canon SD1000. For the price and what your likely going to use it for, it makes sense. :fro_smokin: Damn and I thought I was the only one..........drinking I mean.

Old news, but we took some pic' s of the winds at Dumont that Monday after Superbowl, it was nasty to say the least. No matter what you did, the sand just came into the TH. I've got a mini weather mount on my rig and it was showing 60 plus and at one point it went over 70 for gusts.....

Ian - cool report, great PIC's. Sorry we wont see you guys out there on Prez Day, had a good friend that just passed away. Funeral's this Sunday, and his wife needs some help moving some stuff around on Saturday but I look forward to meeting you and everyone else next time. Mike

Pete - Like I mentioned in my previous post, if your looking for a camera that is easy to operate, to carry and your not into Pro-shooting than I think this camera is rated really good. Here's just some pro\cons; Pro The camera lets you in certain modes to keep shooting at 1.6 frames/second until your high speed memory card is full. Although the memory card is not on the retail market yet, the camera will take up to a 32Gig Card, which is good for future use. Shot-to-shot delays are minimal. From what I've seen on the comparison charts you'll wait about 1 second before you can take a shot without the flash and 3-5 seconds depending on the size of the shot for flash shots. Again, were talking about a camera that is under $200.00, so I think this is acceptable. ISO (Auto, Hi Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) Although this is a good range, ISO 50 is the typical low end to allow for less wash-out at lower light, unless you can control your shutter speed, which you can't on this model but again were talking about $175.00 camera here. "Fast Frame Rate" mode available, which lets you shoot 1 minute of 320 x 240 video at 60 frames/second, which is unreal and a great feature. You'll be able to slo-motion all of those Miget Stripper moves in detail slo-mo...... Cons The viewfinder isn't really large, but at least it has one. No diopter correction, this would be an issue for me as your not able to see the object in the viewfinder that represents the actual position of your field of view correctly. So it will basicly show a standard view no matter what position your lens is set for. But again, this may not be an issue for you. Lack of manual controls for shutter and aperture. Only two manual controls; one is Long Shutter mode which lets you select one slow shutter speed needed for night or dark shots and the other is custom white balance, which lets you get accurate color. Again, not a huge issue if your not shooting for commerical use, but if your used to controlled enviroments with camera's it wil be a missed function. There's no RAW or TIFF image supported, which I don't understand why Canon would drop that function, but it will limit you with blowing up photo's larger than 8x10, which not many of us do that anyways. Red Eye is an issue with the lower end automatic shutter and framed lens, so you'll need to get a good editor software package to correct this. One Source of Power - Another issue for me as I travel and having additional power sources are good to have. You'll certainly need to purchase a 2nd or third batt to keep you online. But the current rating is about 200 shots per charge, but it will lessen as you use the batt more. If your shooting video, the batt rating is less than 30 min, although it depends on your setup and if your shooting one of multiple shots. Add-On's WP-DC13 underwater case ($170), which lets you take the camera down to 120ft below sea level. As mentioned, a plus for me that it's protected from the sand, dirt and the accidental beer spillage. Your concerns about the weak flash, which this does have, but most mini camera have this issue. But you can add a HF-DC1 external slave flash, there around $100.00. This downside is that you'd need a tripod for the mount and it fires when the onboard flash does, giving you more flash range (9-12ft) and less redeye.

Dumont Days End

What Plant Are You Talking About - You Must Be Mistaken !!! - Just Me and the Cows Here Damn Greenie's. Maybe We Should Just Stop Farming, See Who Screems Hunger Then.

I totally agree with Cmyfirepole - I know that a lot of people dont carry GPS with them while riding, although alot of us do. It would be like asking the BLM to help us build a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) in pilot terms, or in this case a Permanent Ride Restriction Area, that is outline via GPS boundries with signage like Woody mentioned as well. Not to turn us all into Ride Cops, but I think if somebody was riding in a area that we knew was off limits, you could show them. And at night, riding the backside gets difficult to know where you've cross over at times, especially for those of us who are still new to Dumont. I'd be more than willing to come out and help the BLM GPS the area, as I'm sure others would too.

Here's a close-up of the Lizard in question for those of us non-Lizard Guru's.

I'm with Ragdoll, got the same hookup and have not had an issue. I also use them when flying on open cockpit of friends bi-plane and they've worked well.

Jumped out of too many good aircraft while in the military.....did that Stated out with the phone company working on Micro-Wave Comm Towers, either dropped by chopper or had to climb 90-200' cage ladders with tools....did that Free climb with hooks on the big Edison Power Poles to work on Telco cabling at 25-75' depending on job....did that... Watch a buddy work on putting up the Billboard Signs one day - No F*(^%^%$#$# Way You guys are nuts...but if your into it - thats excellent dude send more pics

Sorry ISBB - But I think I got mine done for free out there last Sunday.....Sand Storm Blaster...

Damn - I didnt think anyone would catch me taking my Outlander to get fueled up.....Thanks Wingnut.

As mentioned in the other thread, I met a lot of DDR Peeps this last weekend, and was really impressed that the people on this site actually extend an honest welcome not just here on the site but in person as well. I look forward to meeting more and hooking up for a ride together.... Mike

Could have been somebody that's sold their rig also and the driver was never a member here.....

Here's the Set-Up or in the Summer we roll this way....

GPS for South Pole has been erased due to dead Batt......

So here's my attempt to add to the Super Bowl Dumont Trip :smoker: Finally got to hook up with a few of the DDR peeps at Cheese's Meet and Greet at the South Pole --- No Cheese But did get to meet CaptNkllm, Dunelover and I'm going to screw this up, I think it was Dunedog....and their families. Great talking to you guys out at the pole. and CaptNkllm has a sick ride, nice rail dude... (Alaskian - I got GPS Coord for South Pole) Got a suprise visit at the camp by Cheese, Dune Freak, ISSB, Stalter920, and Aceisback.... shot the bull for a bit, and they headed back to see CaptNkllm's. Great meeting everyone and hope to get a chance to ride with all of you at one point. Although I dont know if Farm Equipment can keep up.... Was planning to make a suprise visit to Chesse's but ran into two camps that were not his... :chug: got the last camp all pissed that we knocked on their trailer at 8pm, apparently woke up the wrong folks....oh well. So we gave-up and headed back, figured we do it again on Sunday morning. Sunday morning about 3am, we woke up to a slight breese.......and my flag pole crashing down on my trailer, wind indicator showed steady 50mph winds, with gusts to 65 at times with the wife b*tch'n about not seeing our chairs anymore.... At day break, the sand was blowing so bad, that we lost sight of the group next to us about 500 ft away. Dont know if this will work, but I included a shot clip of what it looked like out the window. <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value=" "> </param> <embed src=" " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>So we bailed on going back out to look for Cheese and the group - we'll hook up next time. Here's some PIC's - Vikki and I Friday Night - Great Sunset Setup for the Dunes and New Sat Dish was working great Saturday Morning looking across from camp Had a great ride up the creek, and to the tower, some else told us it was Thunder Mountain, but GPS didnt agree maybe somebody knows what it's called. Camp Alarms Off Duty - Bambi (Springer) and Akiela (Chessie) Daylight Sunday, Super Bowl Sand Storm Had Plenty of Teq Crashers, 60" Big Screen, Tons of Food, and Camp Alarm Inside...too windy, but the game was excellent. Looking forward to Prez Weekend to meet more of the DDR Peeps.

:beer_bang: :beer_bang: Now that's some funny $hit oompa-loompa....too much

I've got a Magnavox 17" LCD with DVD in the front at Best Buy for $320, has the AV inputs. Its in the bedroom. I've also got a Sanyo LCD 26" in the living room, but due to the Sat Box, plus the Direct Box, the DVD is in the cab over the frig directly behind the TV cab. I've got a WW 35ft 2008. I dont have PIC's yet, but let me know and I'l shoot some of it.