VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Posted: **Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:35 pm**

Hey Dave -- thanks for sacrificing your day to maintain the site. This site is like crack for the wind addicts, and we all really appreciate your many efforts.

Note: this reminded me to visit Mr Paypal to ante up some coin to support the site.

Posted: **Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:39 pm**

bwd wrote:Well it took me all afternoon of replacing parts etc, but the IV weather station should be operational now. We also have permission to move the IV webcam to the beach

Like a Bawse! Thanks David!

Posted: **Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:00 pm**

Thanks Dave

All we need now is S.E.

Posted: **Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:57 pm**

We really need the CB webcam and now the weather station is only randomly reporting

Although Kus's onsite reports today were way more entertaining.

Posted: **Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:07 am**

Once committed for CB you're usually kinda screwed unless you have a plan B and/or can turn around half way if the readings aren't up to snuff after EC or the model obviously had a melt down....I was able to go Mtn biking the evening before at the Tzoo for a great ride since the "steady 5 hour 20" didn't pan out and was Johnny on the spot for high tide/ 25-30 at 8am....to see it promptly die....then to see the lunch boost not show.....then to wait for another 5 hours for it to finally rip me off the beach in a squally burst after the last patient kiter left. Thankfully despite some cold beer I made the outside gybe or I would have gotten a cool swim playing with the sea lion too

What a trip. I would like to say it was worth the $120 in fuel to drive the house up

I was going to write another "lost windsurfing story" about it but that would just make it more pitiful

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:51 pm**

Next time you see Gdawg, please give him a hug...

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:56 pm**

I would cuddle him so hard...

Thanks, Gdawg, for the most exciting addition to the site in a while. Can't wait to see this cam in action.

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:43 pm**

STOKED!

Thanks Gdawg!

I think BWD deserves hugs too!

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:58 pm**

Yeah, he does look cuddly! Great work and thanks.

Posted: **Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:43 pm**

woohooo, you guys are the BEST

THANK YOU

Posted: **Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:38 am**

Awesome streaming

Data below screen obscured (firefox)

Posted: **Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:47 am**

JL wrote:Awesome streaming Data below screen obscured (firefox)

Screen shot? It looks okay to me. Try hitting Ctrl+0 to reset your text zoom.

Posted: **Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:53 am**

I like the double-click FULL SCREEN option.

Posted: **Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:11 am**

Again, that is SOOOO AWESOME....of course users like me always want MORE

but with the streaming cam is there a way to retrieve hourly screen shots or an archive so you can review the past day's activities as with the other cams

Posted: **Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:40 am**

Update on the to-do list, some things accomplished, some new things too:

1. Gordons Beach streaming cam and weather station are now down. The PC got fried on the last power outage. I picked up the PC yesterday and will fix it and get it going hopefully within a week. Not that we really need it for winter, but it's nice to have.

2. CB! Sorry for the delay but we wanted to do things right. Gdawg and I spent the day up there on Saturday.

CB weather station - The PC that runs the weather station was removed and I added a new datalogger that connects to the router. I installed a new router and remote reboot powerbar. So hopefully the weather station will work more reliably (fingers crossed). At least there is no PC there any more and I can reboot things remotely. But the Davis weather stations are still the weak link and components seem to keep failing. For now I disabled the BWD wireless internet...hope people can live with that.

CB webcam - big thanks to Gdawg and multivista who donated the webcam and the stream hosting and the hours to set it up. Huge thanks! The streaming is a work in progress right now. Yes there will be a 15sec static update page (like the old webcam) with an an archive of images. At some point there may be a non-flash version for the Apple users too. So there will be some updates over the next days/weeks. Suggestions and comments welcome

Big thanks to Betty for hosting all of this and dealing with us. If you see her out walking her dog please thank her. There is talk about her selling the house so remember that all of this good stuff may be temporary

Thanks to Windsurfish and Duckbill for upgrading the Shaw internet for better streaming (we are paying quite a bit more per month for internet now). Windsurfish is the leader for maintaining the webcam, cleaning etc

CB fence/post was fixed up by Gwind, DavidM and others...thanks guys it looks great!

3. IV weather station temperature sensor is acting up. No big deal, but I'll try to look at it sometime.

bwd wrote:Slowly making progress:

Cook cam- spent some hours settings up the webcam with the new tenants on Dallas Road this week. It looks like they don't mind having it there (with free Internet) so it can live on for a bit.

IV cam-cleaned and repositioned it this morning. Sorry that the horizon is tilted a bit Ray, but that's the best I can do, besides my legs were cramping climbing that damn tree

PA weather station- bought and handed off some new parts to Sandy Beach. A couple of days later it started working on its own..wtf. Not sure what's going on with it.

Next steps: IV weather station and CB.

Any update on the Pipers webcam move ?

bwd wrote:Here's some input from me, finally There are lots of things that are broken on the website that need some attention. I'm not as stoked about spending time on the website as I used to be, but I can still do some things. Be prepared for more things to break in the future (webcams, weather stations etc). Most of the webcams are close to 8-10 years old now and are likely nearing their end-of-life.

Here is a list and some notes about some of the things that need attention:

1. Island View weather station - thanks to BA, we might see this back up. Apparently there is internet at the site now, but I have to get over there and get the weather station going again. I keep meaning to do it...

2. PA weather station is down again. The same thing happened last year at this time. I'm not sure if it likes being on a 35degC + metal roof. I ordered some new equipment which should be here in a week. I think Sandy Beach and Skeltic will get this going again with the new gear. Thanks to them for spending time on it already. Oh and Davis weather stations suck.

3. Columbia Beach webcam is broken but it may be repairable. It would have to be sent back to california for repair. It may be best to buy a new one and then have the repaired one as a spare. The outdoor housing is also rusted and needs replacement. This may be a good time to look at another webcam type, like a streaming one. I'm talking to Gdawg about this...but it will involve more time, so I'm not sure about it. I may just get a similar webcam since those are the ones I know and can set it up it much less time.

Also there was talk about fixing up the CB weather station pole/fence before it falls over and kills someone. What ever happened to that project? It may not survive another winter.

4. Cook webcam - Mark is leaving the apartment and the future of the webcam is unknown at this time. If it has to be moved it will require more time again...

5. SP webcam - we almost lost it since they were going to cancel the internet, but thanks to Ray (rvanderbyl) it is going again and the future looks good.

6. Ogden Pt webcam - almost lost this too since they are away for a year and cancelled the internet, but it looks like it will most likely stay alive for now, maybe.

7. Pipers webcam - yes we can move it, I'm fine with that, but I'd rather not do it myself. For me it's not a top priority since it works, but a better view would be good. Someone needs to take this on and contact JohnO to arrange for moving it. Then climb on the roof, dismantle it, get the long ethernet cable that runs into the house and the power supply. Then it can be moved. The router at the new site will need to be configured for the zoom to work, but I can help with that.

8. Invoicing - I'm way behind on sending invoices to the sponsors of the website and I need to get caught up. Morewind is going to help, but I have lots to do to pass it over to him. There are also cheques to send out to pay for the internet at most of the webcam sites. No new sponsors until this is all caught up.

9. Also there are planned upgrades to the website - the forum, sailing log and home page need updating.

10. Gordons outdoor webcam housing is rusted and falling apart and needs to be replaced.

So if I don't answer your emails or pm's don't be offended, I read them and usually only answer if it looks urgent

It's not so much about $/fundraisers to do all of the above, it's more about time I think, and finding some good qualified people to take a lot of this on.

VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

COLUMBIA WEB CAM. Etc ?

thanks for keeping things running