[ale] Misc ramblings of a diseased mind

[Jim Philips]

You could always apply the 70's solution to this problem and get CB radios.
Of course, this would require considerable training in obscure CB jargon.
"What's your 20?"

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 12:55 PM, Thompson Freeman <
tfreeman at intel.digichem.net> wrote:

> I hadn't thought of motorcycles.
>
> Hmmm. Yet another option.
>
> On 07/21/2009 12:25:40 PM, Richard Bronosky wrote:
> > I used to use 2 cell phones (free minutes within same
> > network) as a
> > baby monitor so that I could work in the garden while the
> > baby naps.
> > Then I realized that walkie talkies would be better. They
> > now have
> > Duplex and VOX walkie talkies. I think that motorcyclists
> > use these
> > for "interbike" communications also. Having to push the
> > button on a
> > half duplex system would be a deal breaker.
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 11:51 AM,
> > tom<tfreeman at intel.digichem.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm back from a road trip to see grandchildren and
> > children. Too much time
> > > spent driving means too much time for the mind to wander
> > into ideas and
> > > questions. This being one of the more intellegent groups
> > of people
> > > around...
> > >
> > > Due to vehicle size, there were a couple of times when
> > we needed to convoy
> > > rather than ride the same bus. While cell phones have
> > some use here,
> > > answering the "Is anybody as hungry as I am?" type
> > questions, lets face
> > > the fact that they are expensive to use for much longer
> > conversations
> > > while traveling, increase the risk of accident for their
> > management when
> > > there is a single person in the car, and are not really
> > a general
> > > solution despite being in almost every pocket/pocketbook
> > around. I have
> > > seen a hacks book suggest setting up a two car
> > communications system with
> > > laptops and ad hoc settings on the wireless setups, but
> > I don't think that
> > > the setup would scale at all well to a three or four
> > vehicle convoy of
> > > family/friends/what have you. At least the hardware
> > would be frequently
> > > available.
> > >
> > > With a family reunion coming up in December, having a
> > nice multi-vehicle
> > > convoy voice-com system with moderate range, decient
> > privacy settings,
> > > and ease of use, would be an interesting item to have.
> > Two approaches have
> > > occured to me, but neither feels quite right.
> > >
> > > First one would be something setup with an Arduino type
> > controller using
> > > XBEE mesh networking type connections. Of course, I'm in
> > over my head at
> > > this point, and would probably need to hire somebody to
> > design and
> > > implement if I _needed_ it. Or turn it over to the
> > general public (like
> > > ALE) and see if anything turned up if I don't _need_.
> > It's an idea but
> > > poorly concieved at the moment.
> > >
> > > Second would be to do mesh networking with Linux and
> > VOIP technology. Put
> > > things on a thumb drive, tell people to bring lappies
> > and possibly USB
> > > style networking equipment, and go nuts. 'Course I don't
> > know much of
> > > anything about getting mesh networking going, and even
> > less about things
> > > like security and range so...
> > >
> > > Off the top of my head, I suspect I'd like to shoot for
> > the ability to
> > > have ranges of near a mile over the highway between any
> > two vehicles,
> > > automatic reconnection, voice level bandwidths with a
> > little extra for
> > > comfort or expansion, encrypted links for privacy since
> > this isn't CB, and
> > > the ability to automatically scale up to multiple (shoot
> > for 20?)
> > > vehicles.
> > >
> > > Anybody here find either idea amusing enough to make a
> > useful comment?
> > > A ticket for the Clue Train? Even a snide comment?
> > >
> > > As usual, thanks to all members of the list for the use
> > of their
> > > bandwidth. I do appreciate it.
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > Ale at ale.org
> > > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > .!# RichardBronosky #!.
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> >
> >
>
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