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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I really wish they'd provide an
easy-to-use coordinate feed when they're flying. I've
screen-scraped their tracking map before to port it onto the
APRS-IS, but they've changed their web app since then and I
haven't taken the time to reverse-engineer it again to see if I
could get access to the (nearly) live coordinates. Maybe when the
lift off again, I'll give it a go.<br>
<br>
BTW, if you haven't noticed, they had a "cabinet failure" which
caused their portable inflatable hangar to have issues so they
haven't lifted off yet.<br>
<br>
Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and
Win32<br>
<br>
On 5/23/2016 8:37 PM, Robert Bruninga via aprssig wrote:<br>
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<div>Solar Impulse 'round-the-world flight
shaggy dog story...<br>
<br>
Having stayed through Sunday here in Dayton
for the first time in decades, I was soon
bored! Having not bought ANYthing the whole
weekend, the piles of bricks and abandoned
gear by the trash piles by noon Sunday were
just too tempting, and by the time I left at 1
PM, every nook and cranny of the solar prius
was crammed with old commercial gear thinking
they will come in handy with our plan for an
East Coast 9600 baud backbone (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aprs.org/ec9600net.html"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.aprs.org/ec9600net.html">http://www.aprs.org/ec9600net.html</a></a>).<br>
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The real deal was a stack of 25 rock solid "UHF"
45W data radios with built in GPS. Clearly
designed for dispatch vehicles that I got for $2
each. The great news is that they had 3 serial
ports combined into a 14.4 kbps stream. Spent
the evening getting the covers off to reveal the
bad news. They are 800 MHz! totally useless
unless they can be pulled a whole 100 MHz (not
likely). Photos and details later...<br>
<br>
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Anyway, After 3 days in the Prius Inn (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://aprs.org/APRS-SPHEV.html"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://aprs.org/APRS-SPHEV.html">http://aprs.org/APRS-SPHEV.html</a></a>)
I was ready for a real shower and with all you
guys gone, I finally got a room downtown. Then I
heard someone say that the Solar Impulse was
landing in Dayton that night, and rushed to the
TV to find some local news as to when it would
land. Not having cable at home and being
clueless, I searched all 250 channels on the hotel
TV and the only thing I found was FOX. And they
had a panel of experts probably claiming something
about Obama causing the rain in the flea market
this weekend. Nothing on CNN, NBC, HLN, MSNBC
about the Solar Impulse either. Not even news!
Just fluff pieces on feel-good stuff. I finally
realized I could google it.<br>
<br>
Found the Solar Impulse web page and the last post
was "landing in 45 minutes" and it was posted 20
minutes ago! Grabbed the keys and made a beeline
to the airport only to see a crowd of about 6
people near a police car. I stopped in the red
zone and the policeman was explaining that it
landed 5 minutes ago. He then turned on his
flashing lights and drove use into a restricted
area where he pointed to some tiny dim lights all
the way across the tarmac where it was parked (if
you could see it at all)..<br>
<br>
Stuck in Dayton till a Tuesday meeting on cubesats
at WrightPat AFB, I just had zero motivation to go
do anything Monday other than catch up on email.
No one anywhere knew anything about the Solar
Impulse so I finally forgot about it. Forced
myself to get out of the room and decided to just
go over to the WP aviation museum to grab lunch.
Nice museum if you ever have the time. Its Monday
and the place was virtually empty. Wandering
through alone I did stumble into two guys in
flight suits discussing one of the early flight
exhibits. It sounded like they were speaking
French so I took a stab...<br>
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"You guys know anything about the Solar Impulse?"
The tall one answered, "yes, it landed last night".
I ask, "Well are they going to have any tours or
open house? I cant find out anything". He said,
"Not really, its leaving at 5 AM tomorrow"... Now
having gained some info I needed, I wandered away...<br>
<br>
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Then I began to wonder... and wandered back. "You
guys aren't the pilots are you?" and one said, "yes,
I'm Andre." After picking myself up off the floor, I
stumbled through something about how admiring I am of
their solar initiative and how great their mission is,
etc. Gushing along I said something about being 100%
solar myself at home and driving an EV. He lit up and
asked "That's not your red Tesla in the parking lot is
it?" I said, no, mine is the beat-up Solar Prius
about 10 cars down. He responded "Wow, I saw that one
and we took pictures of it!"<br>
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I gushed some more and then slinked away so as to not
sound like too much of a solar groupie... Floating on
air, I decided I'd had the highlight of my day and could
not stay focused to finish the museum. Headed out to
the car, and ran into a couple in the 3rd EV in the
parking lot sitting there in the hot sun with the AC
running and enjoying the silent coolness of EV AC while
studying the Dayton tourist guide as to where to go
next.<br>
<br>
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Then I began to realize that if Andre saw my car on the
way in, then he would be passing it on the way out. I
moved it around and parked right next to the copper
colored I3, and second red Tesla (N7TES tags) and both
still charging. (1st red Tesla I had seen was N4HHE back
at Hara)... Then waited... and waited.... then went back
inside the museum and staying out of sight, stalked them
until they finally met up with the astonished Museum
Director who did not know they were coming. After another
hour or so of touring the museum they headed out and I was
able to sneak around and get back to the EV's first.<br>
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I asked Andre for a photo, and he was happy to oblige saying
something like "solar Impulse... solar car... good idea"...
His camera man asked me some details about my car and as he
and Andre walked off to their van, I could see the camera
man passing along the details to him.<br>
<br>
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And that's the rest of the story. Photo and web page to
follow when I get back to the office at the end of the week!<br>
<br>
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Another day in the bumbling bubble...<br>
Bob, WB4APR<br>
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