ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Hi Larry,

I need your advice again

I recently purchased a standalone Sitex AIS receiver - the little one
that has a small screen and which receives its GPS input by NMEA from
my Garmin.

It has a small externally mounted piezo alarm - no ID markings that is
simply too quiet to ensure that I am alerted or awakened if I drop off
to sleep. I would like to replace it with a louder piezo unit and am
of the vague understanding that as piezos draw little current that a
louder and larger one will not burn out or otherwise 'stuff up' the
AIS unit..

Is this correct?

I have emailed Sitex with this question and had as yet no response.

Also, at the moment I swap the masthead VHF aerial between the cockpit
located VHF radio and the AIS unit. In the absence of a proper VHF
splitter I reason that I won't need the AIS much in approaching ports
and if I need to talk to a ship I have time to change over the
aerials.

As I have a chart table located VHF radio and the one in the cockpit I
have a proper A-B switch (rather like the old printer A-B switches but
more solid and metalic) at the chart table for the aerials. I cannot
locate one of these any more.

The only AIS splitter that Defender had is one that is specific for a
Furono VHF radio and which cannot be easily adapted (by me at least)
for other brand use. At US$149 I sent it back as they said if it
didn't work to return it.

Do you know of anywhere I can purchase/make either a mechanical A-B
switch or an electronic automatic anntenna splitter?

Thanks and cheers
Peter

BTW, I may be visiting Charleston later this year on my way back to
Curacao as I am contemplating buying a Folbot and need to try a couple
of them out. It is also a reasonable excuse to visit the heart of the
South.

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

You might check the "Smart Radio VHF Antenna Splitter", available for $119.
from Milltech Marine:
http://store.milltechmarine.com/smravhfansp.html


"Herodotus" wrote in message
...
Hi Larry,

I need your advice again

I recently purchased a standalone Sitex AIS receiver - the little one
that has a small screen and which receives its GPS input by NMEA from
my Garmin.

It has a small externally mounted piezo alarm - no ID markings that is
simply too quiet to ensure that I am alerted or awakened if I drop off
to sleep. I would like to replace it with a louder piezo unit and am
of the vague understanding that as piezos draw little current that a
louder and larger one will not burn out or otherwise 'stuff up' the
AIS unit..

Is this correct?

I have emailed Sitex with this question and had as yet no response.

Also, at the moment I swap the masthead VHF aerial between the cockpit
located VHF radio and the AIS unit. In the absence of a proper VHF
splitter I reason that I won't need the AIS much in approaching ports
and if I need to talk to a ship I have time to change over the
aerials.

As I have a chart table located VHF radio and the one in the cockpit I
have a proper A-B switch (rather like the old printer A-B switches but
more solid and metalic) at the chart table for the aerials. I cannot
locate one of these any more.

The only AIS splitter that Defender had is one that is specific for a
Furono VHF radio and which cannot be easily adapted (by me at least)
for other brand use. At US$149 I sent it back as they said if it
didn't work to return it.

Do you know of anywhere I can purchase/make either a mechanical A-B
switch or an electronic automatic anntenna splitter?

Thanks and cheers
Peter

BTW, I may be visiting Charleston later this year on my way back to
Curacao as I am contemplating buying a Folbot and need to try a couple
of them out. It is also a reasonable excuse to visit the heart of the
South.

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Herodotus wrote in
:

Hi Larry,

I need your advice again

I recently purchased a standalone Sitex AIS receiver - the little one
that has a small screen and which receives its GPS input by NMEA from
my Garmin.

It has a small externally mounted piezo alarm - no ID markings that is
simply too quiet to ensure that I am alerted or awakened if I drop off
to sleep. I would like to replace it with a louder piezo unit and am
of the vague understanding that as piezos draw little current that a
louder and larger one will not burn out or otherwise 'stuff up' the
AIS unit..

Is this correct?

I wouldn't guarantee that at all. I'd need to see the circuitry.
Raymarine has an inaudible collision alarm in its radar/plotter, too.
You can hardly hear it sitting right in front of it. I've never seen the
Sitex unit or its schematic, so couldn't or shouldn't guess at modifying
it.



I have emailed Sitex with this question and had as yet no response.

When I get this treatment from a marine electronics company, I send them
another email warning them I'll be returning it to its seller if I get no
response. I'm surprised Sitex isn't a better company from all I've
heard. Maybe it got lost.


Also, at the moment I swap the masthead VHF aerial between the cockpit
located VHF radio and the AIS unit. In the absence of a proper VHF
splitter I reason that I won't need the AIS much in approaching ports
and if I need to talk to a ship I have time to change over the
aerials.

As I have a chart table located VHF radio and the one in the cockpit I
have a proper A-B switch (rather like the old printer A-B switches but
more solid and metalic) at the chart table for the aerials. I cannot
locate one of these any more.

The only AIS splitter that Defender had is one that is specific for a
Furono VHF radio and which cannot be easily adapted (by me at least)
for other brand use. At US$149 I sent it back as they said if it
didn't work to return it.

Do you know of anywhere I can purchase/make either a mechanical A-B
switch or an electronic automatic anntenna splitter?

You have 2 radios and one antenna...now going to put 3 radios on one
antenna? Is this a good idea? What happens if the antenna fails? No
radios!??

Let's kill two birds with one stone. You don't need AIS from the top of
the mast unless it's to impress the girls with your range. So, let's add
an "emergency antenna" to a handrail and hook the AIS to it, permanently,
until the masthead antenna fails then swap the cables around to a radio.

I recommend the Metz Manta 6 with a handrail mount:
http://www.metzcommunication.com/manta6.htm
Warranteed for life. Best antenna made. Doesn't even require a ground.

Clamp it to "something", anything horizontal and hook it to the AIS. It
will only show you targets on the AIS 3 miles over the horizon, which is
probably more targets than you want to see, anyways....hours of notice.

Let's mount another Metz out on the yardarm for that other radio and get
rid of all this antenna switch crap and ideas of multiplexing, before it
tears up the transmitters when it fails. Coax is cheap.


Thanks and cheers
Peter

BTW, I may be visiting Charleston later this year on my way back to
Curacao as I am contemplating buying a Folbot and need to try a couple
of them out. It is also a reasonable excuse to visit the heart of the
South.


Holy smokes! I bought a Folbot 17 foldup from Jack Kissner, the original
founder of the company, back in 1967! He used to put our boats on a huge
16 Folbot trailer, already erected, and hook it to his HUGE Olds 98 sedan
and off we'd go to one of the rivers in the Southeast for a week back
then. We'd leave some cars at the boat landing where we'd eventually
come out of the river and all load up into the rest for the trip UPSTREAM
(thank god) to the starting boat landing, paddling DOWNSTREAM with the
current, stopping on some nice beach the current had made in the middle
of the swampland miles from anywhere to camp out maybe a day or two
before packing it all back in the Folbots and heading downriver again
until the next place fit our fancy. We'd fish on the way downriver for
our dinner at the camps for all. What a great way to go
boating....cruising down a nice river.

When we got the the destination landing, the drivers of the cars,
including Mr Kissner, would ride in one car back to retrieve the
Olds/boat trailer and other cars while those left packed up for the sad,
sad trip home....exhausted, happy and smiling from ear to ear....(c;

I didn't know they'd started production again and would love to come get
you at the marina and take you to the factory tour, which isn't far from
my home. I'll bring my station wagon and we can load 'er up on top on
the way out. How's that?...(c;

Sea Ray Regattas have nothing on Folbot regattas....(c;

I wonder if they're still making the wooden parts just like wooden snow
skis....almost impossible to break hard-laminated wooden strips,
beautifully finished.

http://www.folbot.com/about/history.html

I see they're not $200 any more.....hee hee...(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Sun, 11 May 2008 01:42:27 +0000, Larry wrote:

Hi Larry and Claus,
Thanks for the responses.

Larry,
Why didn't you tell me this when I had my mast down in Trinidad last
year? I took your advice about lightning strikes and relocated the
masthead VHF aerial down from the top of the mast. Still, I really
can't blame you as I hadn't even heard of AIS back then I hadn't
informed you that I had an A-B switch for the two radios.

you are very fortunate that i am not a woman as I would have expec`ted
you teo read my mind.

Thanks for the advise though. As usual it makes sense.

Thanks for the offer to pick me up from the marina. It is much
appreciated but I don't think I shall be coming by sea even though the
idea is still very tempting. Went to the trouble, expence and time to
travel to Madrid from Cartegena in Spain to get 10 year visas for the
US in 2004. The standard 3 month visa waver programme (note THE
correct spelling in the rest of the world) that we get when arriving
by air for New Zealanders and Australians does not apply if one
arrives by small boat. Any 'crew' other than the captain are not
allowed outseide the port. When I found out about the restirctions
applied to foreign yachts on their movements within the USA, decided
that it was too much trouble. For instance, when arriving at any new
port or moving within any port even if it is from one berth in a
marina to another, the department of Homeland Security must be
notified and the mobement approved. Too draconian for me.

The crazy thing about these paranoid regulations is that I can arrive
by air, get a rental car and drive any bloody place at any bloody time
I so please. I can even buy the materials to make any number of
explosive devices I wish. The only reason I can think of for this
ridculous state of affairs is that it was personally thought up by Mr
Baby Bush himself as I really don't think that anyone else could be so
thick.

On the other hand (yes, you have different fingers)that 10 year visa
has also proved to be a pain in the proverbial in that I cannot enter
the US under the visa waver programme until it expires. The problem is
that it is issued under my New Zealand passport and as it is nearly
full I use my Australian one. Fortunately I have so far been able to
convince the nice people at the counter which I am usually directed to
ignore it as they can see my problem. Thank the Gods that there are
still some sensible people in uniform.

I don't know how long these regulations regarding foreign yachts are
going to continue. I have no criminal convictions, not even a speeding
ticket. I was once arrested at a student demonstration in New Zealand
in 1967 against the Vietnam War but the charge of letting down the
tyres of the police van containing arrested students was dismissed
through lack of evidence. The arresting policeman claimed I did it
with a ballpoint pen which was an outright lie. I did it with
matchsticks.

Better not complain. I don't want to appear un-American and end up in
Guantamo Bay. I have an aversion to torture and am a very weak minded
person who would readily plead guilty to anything once they "showed me
the instruments of torture" as in the glorious days of the inqusition.

Sorry to burn your ears but I always wanted to cruise the eastern
coast of the US.

cheers and thanks
Peter

You have 2 radios and one antenna...now going to put 3 radios on one
antenna? Is this a good idea? What happens if the antenna fails? No
radios!??

Let's kill two birds with one stone. You don't need AIS from the top of
the mast unless it's to impress the girls with your range. So, let's add
an "emergency antenna" to a handrail and hook the AIS to it, permanently,
until the masthead antenna fails then swap the cables around to a radio.

I recommend the Metz Manta 6 with a handrail mount:
http://www.metzcommunication.com/manta6.htm
Warranteed for life. Best antenna made. Doesn't even require a ground.

Clamp it to "something", anything horizontal and hook it to the AIS. It
will only show you targets on the AIS 3 miles over the horizon, which is
probably more targets than you want to see, anyways....hours of notice.

Let's mount another Metz out on the yardarm for that other radio and get
rid of all this antenna switch crap and ideas of multiplexing, before it
tears up the transmitters when it fails. Coax is cheap.



Holy smokes! I bought a Folbot 17 foldup from Jack Kissner, the original
founder of the company, back in 1967! He used to put our boats on a huge
16 Folbot trailer, already erected, and hook it to his HUGE Olds 98 sedan
and off we'd go to one of the rivers in the Southeast for a week back
then. We'd leave some cars at the boat landing where we'd eventually
come out of the river and all load up into the rest for the trip UPSTREAM
(thank god) to the starting boat landing, paddling DOWNSTREAM with the
current, stopping on some nice beach the current had made in the middle
of the swampland miles from anywhere to camp out maybe a day or two
before packing it all back in the Folbots and heading downriver again
until the next place fit our fancy. We'd fish on the way downriver for
our dinner at the camps for all. What a great way to go
boating....cruising down a nice river.

When we got the the destination landing, the drivers of the cars,
including Mr Kissner, would ride in one car back to retrieve the
Olds/boat trailer and other cars while those left packed up for the sad,
sad trip home....exhausted, happy and smiling from ear to ear....(c;

I didn't know they'd started production again and would love to come get
you at the marina and take you to the factory tour, which isn't far from
my home. I'll bring my station wagon and we can load 'er up on top on
the way out. How's that?...(c;

Sea Ray Regattas have nothing on Folbot regattas....(c;

I wonder if they're still making the wooden parts just like wooden snow
skis....almost impossible to break hard-laminated wooden strips,
beautifully finished.

http://www.folbot.com/about/history.html

I see they're not $200 any more.....hee hee...(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Sun, 11 May 2008 07:31:30 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

"Herodotus" wrote

The crazy thing about these paranoid regulations is that I can arrive
by air, get a rental car and drive any bloody place at any bloody time
I so please. I can even buy the materials to make any number of
explosive devices I wish. The only reason I can think of for this
ridculous state of affairs is that it was personally thought up by Mr
Baby Bush himself as I really don't think that anyone else could be so
thick.


It's taken me a while to figure out the rational behind these apparently
crazy regulations that are creeping into every aspect of life in the US.
They actually do make perverted sense.

The idea is to so completely depress tourism and the economy that, in the
case of boats for example, there won't be anyone out on the water except the
terrorists. Homeland security then won't have to sort them out from the
legitimate pleasure boaters. Why would DHS so damage our coastal economy?
Their job is just keeping terrorists out. The economic health of the nation
is someone else's job. It's like when the CIA didn't bother telling the FBI
that the 911 terrorists were in the US because the CIA is only concerned
with things that happen overseas (gross oversimplification but the general
principle).

Bush didn't think this kind of stuff up. After all, it's been pretty well
proven that he doesn't think. He did however establish the top down
directive that terrorism is the the ONLY national agenda. Without the
paranoia created by that environment, he never would have made it to his
second term. Every agency in the government is operating with tunnel vision
on their area of responsibility focused on that directive.

Why is it easier to drive a rental car around picking up fertilizer and
diesel oil with a foreign visa than moving a harmless foreign yacht from the
marina to the fuel dock? Simply because the economic interests hurt by
keeping foreign yachts out of the US aren't large and powerful enough to
raise enough campaign contributions to exert any influence. One dollar -
one vote democracies work differently than real ones. DHS obviously can't
make this kind of thing happen all at once but they keep turning the screws.
US tourism is already suffering but not as badly by normal routes as you
have noticed.

Thank the Constitution that there is an election coming up. Maybe nothing
will change but at least there is an opportunity.

Thanks for the gallows humour Roger but I am confused about your
mention of the Constitution. I thought that you had given all that
away when you so meekly allowed the Patriot Act to be passed as a
temporary measure and then later allowed it to be enshrined in virtual
perpetuity.

I love the constant reminders of the external threat that is always
played over the public address systems at the airports I travel
through when I transit through America about the terrorist threat
being at code orange and the need for vigilance about unattended
baggage. The funny thing is that these are broadcast in the gate
waiting areas after all the bags have supposedly been scanned. Keep
'em scared and you can legislate anything and even admit to torture as
being acceptable. Not even Uncle Adolph admitted to putting his
external threats, the Jews and Communists, in concentration camps.

Damn it! The rest of us used to look at you as the bastion of human
rights and decency.

I for one would welcome a return to sanity as I really would like to
cruise the eastern coast in my own home at leisure and not have to
resort to an RV or motels.

Still, there has been some improvement over the years. Once I used to
queue up at immigration under a sign which said "Aliens" (shades of
little green men). Now I am an "Other passport holder" (s) as opposed
to a "US citizen".

Oh, this time I had a 3 hour wait for planes at the new Dallas Fort
Worth airport. I was really impressed. It was a truly magnificent
place, especially terminal D with the walkable acoustic scuplture.
Great place, great food, very nice and friendly people. There were
even interdenominational rooms for prayer with chapel and mosque
signs and with chairs and prayer rugs and the marked direction of
Meccah on the ceiling - all in the same room. Surprising no Cross but
in its place a modernistic backlit stained glass window. A couple of
people were on their knees at prayer with rosaries when I laid one of
the prayer mats down on the floor. They kindly invited me to coffee
with them afterwards. A very humbling experience. As I said, nice
place, nice people.

BTW. Can't somebody hurry up the presidential elections. I am getting
tired of them on the TV news. Why not just have a quick and simple
vote like we in the ex British colonies do and put Obama in?

cheers and regards
Peter

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Herodotus wrote in
:

Sorry to burn your ears but I always wanted to cruise the eastern
coast of the US.

cheers and thanks
Peter


Wow...I didn't know about these paper restrictions. What ****es me off,
being on the receiving end of anything bad, is that there is NO GUNBOATS
AT THE HARBOR ENTRANCE! We're never challenged in any way coming in from
sea on sailboats....even if we show no flag. Noone seems to care. You
could sail right up to the City Marina dock, right past the Coast Guard
Base Charleston, with a stolen Russian suitcase nuclear weapon and noone
would say anything to you unless you wanted to rent a slip or you set the
damned thing off. I think you, or anyone in any boat, ought to be
challenged at the SEAWARD end of the jetties! There's NOTHING THERE!
Noone calls you to even see if you speak English (or Spanish, now that
half our population are illegal Mexicans). I've tried to get noticed by
making calls in Farsi and Arabic on Channel 16 and got no response, at
all!....(c; You'd think at LEAST someone would say SOMETHING when you
called for Googoosh (a famous Iranian Pop singer that makes Iranian men's
blood boil) on CHANNEL 16 in FARSI! Nothing, nada....

So, we'll let the bombers in the harbor, probably rent them a slip for
$US100/day ($AU or NZ 50 by now) but only hassle our BEST ALLIES trying
to do the right thing running the paperwork monster. It makes no sense
at all.

Of course, we have a long history of Naval Stupidity, you know. It took
us nearly 3 years to figure out that those were GERMAN U-BOATS sinking
ships and tankers off the SC Coast that NOONE TRIED TO SINK right after
Dec, 1941. We didn't respond to the U-Boat threat, either, making U-Boat
crews just happy as hell for a long time. We wouldn't even put the
DAMNED LIGHTS OUT along the coast so it made it harder to target the
ships against the coastal lights!

We have 5 law enforcement bureaucracies riding around like a bunch of
cowboys in flak jackets disguised as PFDs harrassing local small boaters
inspecting fire extinguishers and whistles and PFDs, but no gunboats
protecting America from the WMDs on the deck of 1000' containerships
until the container is offloaded onto a trailer and driven past the gamma
detectors just as it leaves the port terminal behind a truck.

How stupid the Illuminati Government of the US is.....or are they? They
don't care about US, they care only about THEM and their MONEY.

I'm a little disappointed in Folbot after researching the website. The
"new" Folbots have no sail rigs available, which was a real blast on mine
with its little rudder linkage and fore-aft tiller. Now you have to
worry about the salt water eating the LAWN FURNITURE METALS the damned
frame is made out of. The old Folbots Mr Kissner made were highly-
compressed, laminated wood just like the finest snow skis WERE made of.

$US2000 for a Folbot? They gotta be kidding! Lawn Furniture covered
with seat covers?....(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Bush didn't think this kind of stuff up. After all, it's been pretty
well proven that he doesn't think. He did however establish the top
down directive that terrorism is the the ONLY national agenda.
Without the paranoia created by that environment, he never would have
made it to his second term. Every agency in the government is
operating with tunnel vision on their area of responsibility focused
on that directive.


I think you give the President, who is the trusted employee of the "Men
Behind The Curtain", way too much credit for policy. Policy comes from
the Illuminati Bankers, who also own the Federal Reserve Private Bank
Corporation. These men decide who will be President and who will be in
control, not Bush. He's just one of them....Freemason 32nd degree like
John Kerry, Skull and Bonesman like John Kerry, Member Bohemian Society
in N California like John Kerry. Everyone you get to vote for, except
for the Kennedy Anomoly and you know what they did to him, are all
members of the SAME CULTS.....the same men who control all the media of
the propaganda machine.

This isn't any coincidence....

Onion News Network hits the truth right in the face on:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LBrDzZCOQtI

I don't think it's a parody at all. The election machines are all setup
to elect who the Men Behind The Curtain want to be at the controls of
this space ship.

Why do you think we have TWO SUSTAINED wars noone wants going on?
Why do you think there has never been any kind of REAL investigation of
9/11?

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Larry a écrit :
.....

Why do you think we have TWO SUSTAINED wars noone wants going on?
Why do you think there has never been any kind of REAL investigation of
9/11?


Well, there's NOONE like gOOd ol' Larry on the stump...
--
http://francois.lonchamp.free.fr
Un doigt de linguistique ... et un soupçon de voile

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:56 +0000, Larry wrote:

Good morning (it is here) Larry,
I always enjoy your postings.

Yes, it would be very easy to sail right inside your ports and waters
without being intercepted. The Coastguard claims the right to
intercept and board any foreign yacht in any waters even many miles
from US territorial waters but I could still take my chances if I were
either an illegal or a terrorist as I don't wear a turban or a
Talliban like beard. I look like a "normal Joe" and thus I never seem
to have any problems with either Customs or Immigration. I used to
have an office within Parliament buildings in Wellington. The powers
that be decided to institute an photo ID security tag system complete
with guards at the doors. I was away when this was put in place and
thus I merely walked briskly past the three security guards carrying
my briefcase with a smile and a cheery "Good Morning" and headed off
down the hall. Amazingly they did not stop me but responded with a
'Good Morning Sir". They had no clue who I was (nobody important).

As an IT worker it was always easy (now getting harder though) to gain
entry to secure office buildings. All you had to do was tailgate
someone with a pass and say something like "Thanks, I left my pass in
my jacket" or simply wait until someone came out and then said much
the same thing. If you look the part, nobody questions you.

Grenada is admittedly need not fear terrorists or illegals but when I
passed through there on my way from Trinidad I anchored in Prickly Bay
amongst the other boats and rowed ashore, walking past the Customs and
Immigration office. I called in and asked for the correct time,
received a reply and wished them a nice day. I was there for 5 days. I
just wanted to try it. I can imagine that, once inside US waters and
mingled with other boats it would be a cake walk to go where I wished,
especially with a BGB US stars and stripes of the size used in car
sales yards (the biggest I have yet to see) quite un-noticed unless I
was stopped by some official on mere chance.

Scarey but frustrating, especially if you are doing all the legal
things. Just doesn't make sense at all.

BTW, I had no idea that the DHS has juristiction over cyclones
activity. This week's New Scientist magazine has an article which
describes the DHS's decision to not try to prevent cyclones from
occurring by such as seeding the clouds with halide but they will try
to steer the cyclone away from places in the USA where it can cause
damage.

Next thing, the Departments of Health, the Treasury and National parks
will come under the DHS aegis. Who knows; Osama and his colleagues may
train European Black Bears as suicide bombers and smuggle them into
Yosemite National Park. From there it is only a few day's wander to
the iconic Golden Gate bridge and another landmark will be destroyed.
Muir Woods is even closer.

Keep up the information regardless of the negativity. That is what
democracy is about - dissent and healthy dialogue and discussion. You
are too young to remember my great uncle Solon. He was the one who was
tasked by the citizens of Athens to change the harsh laws instituted
by Draco where many crimes carried the death penalty. Solon then left
Athens in a self imposed exile for a number of years to prevent the
citizens from trying to get him to change them. The trouble is that
there seems to have grown a 1950's chorus of "un-American" outcries
against those U.S. citizens who rightfully state their minds on
important issues. It is not only the "commies" who brainwash and
indoctrinate their citizens. You and others like you are lucky that
Greece does not export Hemlock juice and there are (currently at
least) no laws against impiety which is how they got my other great
uncle Socrates.

As`an aside, you should know that all Greeks are descended from the
famous ones. My Cretan Grandfather always impressed upon me as a small
child that I was also a direct descendent of Helene (of Troy). Great!
thought I until I started to read and discovered that she was a slut
who eloped with Thesus at the age of 11 or 12 and seduced Paris after
a number of others whilst she was married. I have since altered my
blood-line.

cheers
Peter,

I am truly surprised that neither that little man (Bruce's friend) nor
his kin have salvoed me with the standard "you hate us, don't you"
this time.


Wow...I didn't know about these paper restrictions. What ****es me off,
being on the receiving end of anything bad, is that there is NO GUNBOATS
AT THE HARBOR ENTRANCE! We're never challenged in any way coming in from
sea on sailboats....even if we show no flag. Noone seems to care. You
could sail right up to the City Marina dock, right past the Coast Guard
Base Charleston, with a stolen Russian suitcase nuclear weapon and noone
would say anything to you unless you wanted to rent a slip or you set the
damned thing off. I think you, or anyone in any boat, ought to be
challenged at the SEAWARD end of the jetties! There's NOTHING THERE!
Noone calls you to even see if you speak English (or Spanish, now that
half our population are illegal Mexicans). I've tried to get noticed by
making calls in Farsi and Arabic on Channel 16 and got no response, at
all!....(c; You'd think at LEAST someone would say SOMETHING when you
called for Googoosh (a famous Iranian Pop singer that makes Iranian men's
blood boil) on CHANNEL 16 in FARSI! Nothing, nada....

So, we'll let the bombers in the harbor, probably rent them a slip for
$US100/day ($AU or NZ 50 by now) but only hassle our BEST ALLIES trying
to do the right thing running the paperwork monster. It makes no sense
at all.

Of course, we have a long history of Naval Stupidity, you know. It took
us nearly 3 years to figure out that those were GERMAN U-BOATS sinking
ships and tankers off the SC Coast that NOONE TRIED TO SINK right after
Dec, 1941. We didn't respond to the U-Boat threat, either, making U-Boat
crews just happy as hell for a long time. We wouldn't even put the
DAMNED LIGHTS OUT along the coast so it made it harder to target the
ships against the coastal lights!

We have 5 law enforcement bureaucracies riding around like a bunch of
cowboys in flak jackets disguised as PFDs harrassing local small boaters
inspecting fire extinguishers and whistles and PFDs, but no gunboats
protecting America from the WMDs on the deck of 1000' containerships
until the container is offloaded onto a trailer and driven past the gamma
detectors just as it leaves the port terminal behind a truck.

How stupid the Illuminati Government of the US is.....or are they? They
don't care about US, they care only about THEM and their MONEY.

I'm a little disappointed in Folbot after researching the website. The
"new" Folbots have no sail rigs available, which was a real blast on mine
with its little rudder linkage and fore-aft tiller. Now you have to
worry about the salt water eating the LAWN FURNITURE METALS the damned
frame is made out of. The old Folbots Mr Kissner made were highly-
compressed, laminated wood just like the finest snow skis WERE made of.

$US2000 for a Folbot? They gotta be kidding! Lawn Furniture covered
with seat covers?....(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:56 +0000, Larry wrote:

Herodotus wrote in
:

Sorry to burn your ears but I always wanted to cruise the eastern
coast of the US.

cheers and thanks
Peter


Wow...I didn't know about these paper restrictions. What ****es me off,
being on the receiving end of anything bad, is that there is NO GUNBOATS
AT THE HARBOR ENTRANCE! We're never challenged in any way coming in from
sea on sailboats....even if we show no flag. Noone seems to care. You
could sail right up to the City Marina dock, right past the Coast Guard
Base Charleston, with a stolen Russian suitcase nuclear weapon and noone
would say anything to you unless you wanted to rent a slip or you set the
damned thing off. I think you, or anyone in any boat, ought to be
challenged at the SEAWARD end of the jetties! There's NOTHING THERE!
Noone calls you to even see if you speak English (or Spanish, now that
half our population are illegal Mexicans). I've tried to get noticed by
making calls in Farsi and Arabic on Channel 16 and got no response, at
all!....(c; You'd think at LEAST someone would say SOMETHING when you
called for Googoosh (a famous Iranian Pop singer that makes Iranian men's
blood boil) on CHANNEL 16 in FARSI! Nothing, nada....


Hot Damn, Man! You really mean you want them Gumment men to sit out
there on the end of the jetty with a shotgun......... In the hot sun,
the pouring rain, the (well what passes for in S.C.) freezing cold.

Lord God Man, didn't your pappy teach you nothing? The Gumment men got
to have the white shirt, the air conditioner, the comfy chair 'n the
big desk.

How you expect the Homeland Security to make things secure if they got
to sit around and guard tings. And, the budget so small that they
can't afford to sub-contract the work.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 07:32:26 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

On Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:56 +0000, Larry wrote:

Herodotus wrote in
m:

Sorry to burn your ears but I always wanted to cruise the eastern
coast of the US.

cheers and thanks
Peter


Wow...I didn't know about these paper restrictions. What ****es me off,
being on the receiving end of anything bad, is that there is NO GUNBOATS
AT THE HARBOR ENTRANCE! We're never challenged in any way coming in from
sea on sailboats....even if we show no flag. Noone seems to care. You
could sail right up to the City Marina dock, right past the Coast Guard
Base Charleston, with a stolen Russian suitcase nuclear weapon and noone
would say anything to you unless you wanted to rent a slip or you set the
damned thing off. I think you, or anyone in any boat, ought to be
challenged at the SEAWARD end of the jetties! There's NOTHING THERE!
Noone calls you to even see if you speak English (or Spanish, now that
half our population are illegal Mexicans). I've tried to get noticed by
making calls in Farsi and Arabic on Channel 16 and got no response, at
all!....(c; You'd think at LEAST someone would say SOMETHING when you
called for Googoosh (a famous Iranian Pop singer that makes Iranian men's
blood boil) on CHANNEL 16 in FARSI! Nothing, nada....


Hot Damn, Man! You really mean you want them Gumment men to sit out
there on the end of the jetty with a shotgun......... In the hot sun,
the pouring rain, the (well what passes for in S.C.) freezing cold.

Lord God Man, didn't your pappy teach you nothing? The Gumment men got
to have the white shirt, the air conditioner, the comfy chair 'n the
big desk.

How you expect the Homeland Security to make things secure if they got
to sit around and guard tings. And, the budget so small that they
can't afford to sub-contract the work.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)
With their mentality of watching the top of a container whilst trying
to fill it with water and not seeing the gaping hole at the bottom, I
wonder why some enthusiastic Bushian bureauocrat doen't come up with
the really bright idea of posting signs on all the fairway buoys -
"Terrorists are not allowed to enter this port without first
contacting DHS"

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Herodotus wrote in
:

I
loved signing my original name first name "Panaeyotis" and listening
to them trying to pronounce it. They would try to avoid it by asking
for my room number which I couldn't remember at the time. Then they
would ask for my last name and finally burst out laughing to the
Dining room manager's displeasure when I told them that I only had one
name as when I was born my parents were so poor that they could only
afford to give me one name. In Australia when I am bored I often write
my name in the Greek alphabet. At least people have a sense of humour.
It appears that if you are older with a business suit and can keep a
straight face, people don't mind you "taking the mickey out of them"
the world over.


I lived in Tehran and worked under contract with Pan Am Airlines,
Technical Services Branch, for the Iranian Air Force at Doshen-Tappeh AFB
in NE Tehran. The base is deserted on Google Earth, now, very sad. We
were in the SIGINT/ELINT business against Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA kept
an eye on the Soviets in the late 70's from the "monitoring station on
top of Tochal that did not exist" every Iranian could point out to you.
Shahanshah was our guy, you know...CIA.

While there, I was very intent on learning enough Farsi to astonish the
Iranians and drove my homofars (technical warrant officers IAF) and
especially Raffick, my 12-year-old taxi driver, crazy with questions. He
taught me more Farsi than anyone else, so I spoke more like a street rat
hiphop ho than a proper Farsi speaker, something every Iranian I spoke to
in Farsi found most amusing, except Mullahs...(c; After I learned how to
sign my name, IAF ID number, "engineer" and unit in Farsi, I refused to
sign it in English to anyone. "NO NO! YOU SIGN IN ENGLISH or they think
I signed that form!"....."What? You don't like my Farsi?", I'd retort.
The AF colonel in charge of logistics presented me with my own Farsi
typewriter for my desk he was so proud of me. The conscript soldiers
that guarded the base lived in tents and had a mess tent at the end of
our building. I loved to eat breakfast with them before work if I could
get to work in time. Otherwise, I'd eat lunch with them. They all spoke
street rat Farsi and improved my accent, to the horror of proper
speakers. I was the only American who ate in the army mess tent and if I
needed something that required some muscle outside the secret building
they weren't allowed into where I worked, I had no trouble getting a huge
Russian army truck, my own driver and some grunts. Even Iranian drivers
get the hell out of the way when you're roaring downtown to the Hewlett-
Packard office for parts in a 8-ton truck with 8 drive wheels...(c;

It took some fast talking (in Farsi, of course) to convince my Bank
Markazi branch to allow me to make checks in Farsi with my Farsi
signature, but they relented, finally. The look on a clerks face as this
crazy, obviously American, who was supposed to be ignorant of all local
customs, language, etc., whisk out his checkbook and paid for the
groceries at the Super Shillon all in proper Farsi....(c;

I don't dare try it now in the states as I might find myself in chains
headed for Guantanamo Prison....(c;

I'd go back to Iran any time they decided they'd had enough of the
stonings and beatings and stone aged government. Iranians don't hate
Americans. Like most of the world, they hate our Illuminati Government
trying to kill them all....and they know the difference.

The Army guys even let me drive a T-72 Russian TANK! Way cool!
THAT makes the Peykan orange taxis get the hell out of my way!
They were even afraid to blow their horns!
Ahh...the sound of a steel track tearing up the pavement in the
morning...(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
:

And, the budget so small that they
can't afford to sub-contract the work.


Their budget could feed and house Thailand quite comfortably...

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 03:13:18 +0000, Larry wrote:


I lived in Tehran and worked under contract with Pan Am Airlines,
Technical Services Branch, for the Iranian Air Force at Doshen-Tappeh AFB
in NE Tehran. The base is deserted on Google Earth, now, very sad. We
were in the SIGINT/ELINT business against Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA kept
an eye on the Soviets in the late 70's from the "monitoring station on
top of Tochal that did not exist" every Iranian could point out to you.
Shahanshah was our guy, you know...CIA.

While there, I was very intent on learning enough Farsi to astonish the
Iranians and drove my homofars (technical warrant officers IAF) and
especially Raffick, my 12-year-old taxi driver, crazy with questions. He
taught me more Farsi than anyone else, so I spoke more like a street rat
hiphop ho than a proper Farsi speaker, something every Iranian I spoke to
in Farsi found most amusing, except Mullahs...(c; After I learned how to
sign my name, IAF ID number, "engineer" and unit in Farsi, I refused to
sign it in English to anyone. "NO NO! YOU SIGN IN ENGLISH or they think
I signed that form!"....."What? You don't like my Farsi?", I'd retort.
The AF colonel in charge of logistics presented me with my own Farsi
typewriter for my desk he was so proud of me. The conscript soldiers
that guarded the base lived in tents and had a mess tent at the end of
our building. I loved to eat breakfast with them before work if I could
get to work in time. Otherwise, I'd eat lunch with them. They all spoke
street rat Farsi and improved my accent, to the horror of proper
speakers. I was the only American who ate in the army mess tent and if I
needed something that required some muscle outside the secret building
they weren't allowed into where I worked, I had no trouble getting a huge
Russian army truck, my own driver and some grunts. Even Iranian drivers
get the hell out of the way when you're roaring downtown to the Hewlett-
Packard office for parts in a 8-ton truck with 8 drive wheels...(c;

It took some fast talking (in Farsi, of course) to convince my Bank
Markazi branch to allow me to make checks in Farsi with my Farsi
signature, but they relented, finally. The look on a clerks face as this
crazy, obviously American, who was supposed to be ignorant of all local
customs, language, etc., whisk out his checkbook and paid for the
groceries at the Super Shillon all in proper Farsi....(c;

I don't dare try it now in the states as I might find myself in chains
headed for Guantanamo Prison....(c;

I'd go back to Iran any time they decided they'd had enough of the
stonings and beatings and stone aged government. Iranians don't hate
Americans. Like most of the world, they hate our Illuminati Government
trying to kill them all....and they know the difference.

The Army guys even let me drive a T-72 Russian TANK! Way cool!
THAT makes the Peykan orange taxis get the hell out of my way!
They were even afraid to blow their horns!
Ahh...the sound of a steel track tearing up the pavement in the
morning...(c;

Hi Larry,

You've certainly had an interesting life so far. Perhaps that is why
Bruce and yourself can often see the other side in any discussion -
because you have been exposed to other influences.

Interesting comment about Iranians not hating Americans. When we
sailed into Aden when most yachts were sailing past, we radioed
American friends a couple of days behind us to come in and get fuel
instead of going the 600 miles extra to Djibouti and out again. The
Customs/'Inmmigration officers at the port explained to our friends
"We are not anti-American. In fact we really like Americans. We are
merely opposed to thye foreign policy of your current President.
However we know that only half of your citizens voted for him.....and
you look intelligent people (said with a smile). Welcome to our
country.

This seperation between U.S. foreign policy and its citizens we found
to be widespread.

BTW, do they speak standard English in Charleston or do I have to
learn beforehand how to listen slowly when I visit your fair city and
the Folbot factory? I seem to be able to read your words at the same
speed as Bruce's and Roger's. Is it just the spoken word that slows to
a crawl in the South? I was in a shop at the airport in Dall Fort
worth and actaully heard a man who was leaving saying "Buy yawl" when
there was only the shop assistant there. By his reference to "y'all or
"yawl" or "you all" I presumed he was addressing more than on person
which he clearly wasn't. He may of course be giving advice to the girl
to purchase a sailing boat with the mizzen mast aft of the rudder post
as that was what it sounded like.I hope I don't get arrested as either
an illegal or a foreigner because I don't speak the lingo and slowly
enough.

Asalaam
Peter

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Herodotus wrote in
:

I
loved signing my original name first name "Panaeyotis" and listening
to them trying to pronounce it. They would try to avoid it by asking
for my room number which I couldn't remember at the time. Then they
would ask for my last name and finally burst out laughing to the
Dining room manager's displeasure when I told them that I only had one
name as when I was born my parents were so poor that they could only
afford to give me one name. In Australia when I am bored I often write
my name in the Greek alphabet. At least people have a sense of humour.
It appears that if you are older with a business suit and can keep a
straight face, people don't mind you "taking the mickey out of them"
the world over.


I lived in Tehran and worked under contract with Pan Am Airlines,
Technical Services Branch, for the Iranian Air Force at Doshen-Tappeh AFB
in NE Tehran. The base is deserted on Google Earth, now, very sad. We
were in the SIGINT/ELINT business against Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA kept
an eye on the Soviets in the late 70's from the "monitoring station on
top of Tochal that did not exist" every Iranian could point out to you.
Shahanshah was our guy, you know...CIA.

While there, I was very intent on learning enough Farsi to astonish the
Iranians and drove my homofars (technical warrant officers IAF) and
especially Raffick, my 12-year-old taxi driver, crazy with questions. He
taught me more Farsi than anyone else, so I spoke more like a street rat
hiphop ho than a proper Farsi speaker, something every Iranian I spoke to
in Farsi found most amusing, except Mullahs...(c; After I learned how to
sign my name, IAF ID number, "engineer" and unit in Farsi, I refused to
sign it in English to anyone. "NO NO! YOU SIGN IN ENGLISH or they think
I signed that form!"....."What? You don't like my Farsi?", I'd retort.
The AF colonel in charge of logistics presented me with my own Farsi
typewriter for my desk he was so proud of me. The conscript soldiers
that guarded the base lived in tents and had a mess tent at the end of
our building. I loved to eat breakfast with them before work if I could
get to work in time. Otherwise, I'd eat lunch with them. They all spoke
street rat Farsi and improved my accent, to the horror of proper
speakers. I was the only American who ate in the army mess tent and if I
needed something that required some muscle outside the secret building
they weren't allowed into where I worked, I had no trouble getting a huge
Russian army truck, my own driver and some grunts. Even Iranian drivers
get the hell out of the way when you're roaring downtown to the Hewlett-
Packard office for parts in a 8-ton truck with 8 drive wheels...(c;

It took some fast talking (in Farsi, of course) to convince my Bank
Markazi branch to allow me to make checks in Farsi with my Farsi
signature, but they relented, finally. The look on a clerks face as this
crazy, obviously American, who was supposed to be ignorant of all local
customs, language, etc., whisk out his checkbook and paid for the
groceries at the Super Shillon all in proper Farsi....(c;

I don't dare try it now in the states as I might find myself in chains
headed for Guantanamo Prison....(c;

I'd go back to Iran any time they decided they'd had enough of the
stonings and beatings and stone aged government. Iranians don't hate
Americans. Like most of the world, they hate our Illuminati Government
trying to kill them all....and they know the difference.

The Army guys even let me drive a T-72 Russian TANK! Way cool!
THAT makes the Peykan orange taxis get the hell out of my way!
They were even afraid to blow their horns!
Ahh...the sound of a steel track tearing up the pavement in the
morning...(c;


Larry
I was posted to a base in the north of Oz once where a Reserve had never
been before.
The docky coppers gave me a badge - 007.
You had to ask for your badge by number every morning.
Number 7 please? Zero Zero Seven?.
Nope, every day, they wanted to hear "Double-0 Seven please"
Cracked them up for weeks.
Hoges in WA

BTW - can you please repost that story about the fake radar you aimed at the
Russian fleet? I can't google it up and I've told a Pommy mate of mine
(ex-submarine-carried Russian linguist) a bit about it but I don't know
enough electronic stuff to tell him properly
thanks

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 11:26:06 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

On Mon, 12 May 2008 07:32:26 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

On Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:56 +0000, Larry wrote:

Herodotus wrote in
:

Sorry to burn your ears but I always wanted to cruise the eastern
coast of the US.

cheers and thanks
Peter


Wow...I didn't know about these paper restrictions. What ****es me off,
being on the receiving end of anything bad, is that there is NO GUNBOATS
AT THE HARBOR ENTRANCE! We're never challenged in any way coming in from
sea on sailboats....even if we show no flag. Noone seems to care. You
could sail right up to the City Marina dock, right past the Coast Guard
Base Charleston, with a stolen Russian suitcase nuclear weapon and noone
would say anything to you unless you wanted to rent a slip or you set the
damned thing off. I think you, or anyone in any boat, ought to be
challenged at the SEAWARD end of the jetties! There's NOTHING THERE!
Noone calls you to even see if you speak English (or Spanish, now that
half our population are illegal Mexicans). I've tried to get noticed by
making calls in Farsi and Arabic on Channel 16 and got no response, at
all!....(c; You'd think at LEAST someone would say SOMETHING when you
called for Googoosh (a famous Iranian Pop singer that makes Iranian men's
blood boil) on CHANNEL 16 in FARSI! Nothing, nada....


Hot Damn, Man! You really mean you want them Gumment men to sit out
there on the end of the jetty with a shotgun......... In the hot sun,
the pouring rain, the (well what passes for in S.C.) freezing cold.

Lord God Man, didn't your pappy teach you nothing? The Gumment men got
to have the white shirt, the air conditioner, the comfy chair 'n the
big desk.

How you expect the Homeland Security to make things secure if they got
to sit around and guard tings. And, the budget so small that they
can't afford to sub-contract the work.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)
With their mentality of watching the top of a container whilst trying
to fill it with water and not seeing the gaping hole at the bottom, I
wonder why some enthusiastic Bushian bureauocrat doen't come up with
the really bright idea of posting signs on all the fairway buoys -
"Terrorists are not allowed to enter this port without first
contacting DHS"

No more money in this year's budget, but they are going to built the
funds into next year's budget. Further more, it is probably a federal
crime to pass such posted buoys if you are a terrorist.

Along that line, a chap from Wyoming told me (but I can't verify this)
that when Wyoming accepted federal money for the state highway
department one of the criteria was to change every highway sign in the
state to meet US government standards -- and there went the first
year's budget...



Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

Along that line, a chap from Wyoming told me (but I can't verify this)
that when Wyoming accepted federal money for the state highway
department one of the criteria was to change every highway sign in the
state to meet US government standards -- and there went the first
year's budget...

I didn't think there were enough Spanish speakers in Wyoming to justify
this.

Cheers
Marty

tho ate
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 14:39:23 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

On Mon, 12 May 2008 03:13:18 +0000, Larry wrote:


I lived in Tehran and worked under contract with Pan Am Airlines,
Technical Services Branch, for the Iranian Air Force at Doshen-Tappeh AFB
in NE Tehran. The base is deserted on Google Earth, now, very sad. We
were in the SIGINT/ELINT business against Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA kept
an eye on the Soviets in the late 70's from the "monitoring station on
top of Tochal that did not exist" every Iranian could point out to you.
Shahanshah was our guy, you know...CIA.

While there, I was very intent on learning enough Farsi to astonish the
Iranians and drove my homofars (technical warrant officers IAF) and
especially Raffick, my 12-year-old taxi driver, crazy with questions. He
taught me more Farsi than anyone else, so I spoke more like a street rat
hiphop ho than a proper Farsi speaker, something every Iranian I spoke to
in Farsi found most amusing, except Mullahs...(c; After I learned how to
sign my name, IAF ID number, "engineer" and unit in Farsi, I refused to
sign it in English to anyone. "NO NO! YOU SIGN IN ENGLISH or they think
I signed that form!"....."What? You don't like my Farsi?", I'd retort.
The AF colonel in charge of logistics presented me with my own Farsi
typewriter for my desk he was so proud of me. The conscript soldiers
that guarded the base lived in tents and had a mess tent at the end of
our building. I loved to eat breakfast with them before work if I could
get to work in time. Otherwise, I'd eat lunch with them. They all spoke
street rat Farsi and improved my accent, to the horror of proper
speakers. I was the only American who ate in the army mess tent and if I
needed something that required some muscle outside the secret building
they weren't allowed into where I worked, I had no trouble getting a huge
Russian army truck, my own driver and some grunts. Even Iranian drivers
get the hell out of the way when you're roaring downtown to the Hewlett-
Packard office for parts in a 8-ton truck with 8 drive wheels...(c;

It took some fast talking (in Farsi, of course) to convince my Bank
Markazi branch to allow me to make checks in Farsi with my Farsi
signature, but they relented, finally. The look on a clerks face as this
crazy, obviously American, who was supposed to be ignorant of all local
customs, language, etc., whisk out his checkbook and paid for the
groceries at the Super Shillon all in proper Farsi....(c;

I don't dare try it now in the states as I might find myself in chains
headed for Guantanamo Prison....(c;

I'd go back to Iran any time they decided they'd had enough of the
stonings and beatings and stone aged government. Iranians don't hate
Americans. Like most of the world, they hate our Illuminati Government
trying to kill them all....and they know the difference.

The Army guys even let me drive a T-72 Russian TANK! Way cool!
THAT makes the Peykan orange taxis get the hell out of my way!
They were even afraid to blow their horns!
Ahh...the sound of a steel track tearing up the pavement in the
morning...(c;

Hi Larry,

You've certainly had an interesting life so far. Perhaps that is why
Bruce and yourself can often see the other side in any discussion -
because you have been exposed to other influences.

Interesting comment about Iranians not hating Americans. When we
sailed into Aden when most yachts were sailing past, we radioed
American friends a couple of days behind us to come in and get fuel
instead of going the 600 miles extra to Djibouti and out again. The
Customs/'Inmmigration officers at the port explained to our friends
"We are not anti-American. In fact we really like Americans. We are
merely opposed to thye foreign policy of your current President.
However we know that only half of your citizens voted for him.....and
you look intelligent people (said with a smile). Welcome to our
country.

This seperation between U.S. foreign policy and its citizens we found
to be widespread.

BTW, do they speak standard English in Charleston or do I have to
learn beforehand how to listen slowly when I visit your fair city and
the Folbot factory? I seem to be able to read your words at the same
speed as Bruce's and Roger's. Is it just the spoken word that slows to
a crawl in the South? I was in a shop at the airport in Dall Fort
worth and actaully heard a man who was leaving saying "Buy yawl" when
there was only the shop assistant there. By his reference to "y'all or
"yawl" or "you all" I presumed he was addressing more than on person
which he clearly wasn't. He may of course be giving advice to the girl
to purchase a sailing boat with the mizzen mast aft of the rudder post
as that was what it sounded like.I hope I don't get arrested as either
an illegal or a foreigner because I don't speak the lingo and slowly
enough.

Asalaam
Peter

Don't worry about it. I went to school in Florida and thought I was in
the "Old South" (which I have since discovered that S. Florida is not!
They spoke Yiddish on Miami Beach when I was there. Now they speak
Spanish). When I finished school my roomie's uncle got both of us a
job with a company called "Southern Airways" in Bainbridge, Georgia,
which is a small, very, small, town in South Georgia.

Now, I admit that I was born and brought up in New England where there
is a bit of a local accent. I used to say "paak yer caa at haavad
yaad", but when I got to Georgia they couldn't understand me and kept
asking me "what'd you say?" People would to ask me to repeat things my
"Yankee" accent was so different. But a couple of the girls thought I
"talked cute" so it all worked out in the end.

Just talk ENGLISH, or maybe Australian (everyone in the States has
seen at least one of the Crocodile Dundee movies) and you'll get along
all right. If you can talk like Banjo Paterson wrote they won't be
able to make out what you're saying :-)

If you do run into Larry make sure he feeds you some ethnic food like
"field peas", "collard greens", "red-eye gravy and biscuits", and
"chitlins" and "black eyed peas". That "good old boy" diet is like
eating some of the great Chinese dishes like fish head curry and
swim-bladder soup..... WHO ATE THE GOOD PARTS???????


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 11:43:09 -0400, Martin Baxter
wrote:

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

Along that line, a chap from Wyoming told me (but I can't verify this)
that when Wyoming accepted federal money for the state highway
department one of the criteria was to change every highway sign in the
state to meet US government standards -- and there went the first
year's budget...

I didn't think there were enough Spanish speakers in Wyoming to justify

And they can't learn the twenty five or so English words found on the
signs?
Neither can the either of the French speakers in Vancouver.

Casady

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Richard Casady a écrit :


And they can't learn the twenty five or so English words found on the
signs?
Neither can the either of the French speakers in Vancouver.


They might possibly be puzzled by the last sentence...


--
http://francois.lonchamp.free.fr
Un doigt de linguistique ... et un soupçon de voile

tho ate
 

In article ,
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

Just talk ENGLISH, or maybe Australian (everyone in the States has
seen at least one of the Crocodile Dundee movies) and you'll get along
all right. If you can talk like Banjo Paterson wrote they won't be
able to make out what you're saying :-)

I'm English from London. With a London accent.

Everyone, and I mean everyone in the USA thinks I'm Australian!

I've given up explaining that the accent Aussies have is a direct
descendent of London criminals!

LOL

--
Molesworth

tho ate
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 13:42:09 -0500, Molesworth
wrote:

In article ,
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

Just talk ENGLISH, or maybe Australian (everyone in the States has
seen at least one of the Crocodile Dundee movies) and you'll get along
all right. If you can talk like Banjo Paterson wrote they won't be
able to make out what you're saying :-)

I'm English from London. With a London accent.

Everyone, and I mean everyone in the USA thinks I'm Australian!

I've given up explaining that the accent Aussies have is a direct
descendent of London criminals!

LOL

I was born in New Zealand but couldn't speak English until I first
attended school as age 5. For some reason as I got older a lot of New
Zealanders thought that I was either English, South African or as one
put it "born with a silver spoon in my mouth". I think the reason was
a combination of having learned to speak English not from my Mother's
knee and having lived as a child with a host of different families. In
Australia many can detect the New Zealand accent but others still hear
either a South African 'clip' or an English accent.

Can't bloody win. I can do a good impression of a North Indian English
accent though, enough to fool a native India at times and a Southern
drawl. I think I need professional help.

tho ate
 

Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
:

If you do run into Larry make sure he feeds you some ethnic food like
"field peas", "collard greens", "red-eye gravy and biscuits", and
"chitlins" and "black eyed peas". That "good old boy" diet is like
eating some of the great Chinese dishes like fish head curry and
swim-bladder soup..... WHO ATE THE GOOD PARTS???????



Oh, no. We take all "furiners" up in the country to eat SC open-pit
barbecue (except Jews, of course). Some people I met on this newsgroup
left their boat here and went home to Quebec for Chrismas with family.
When they came back, they met some French people who had come across the
Atlantic on their sailboat. They all wanted me to take them out for open
pit BBQ, one of our specialties.

so, I loaded them all into my '73 Mercedes 220D sedan and drove them up
in the country about 35 miles to Ridgeville, SC, a tiny hamlet beside the
original railroad track up from Charleston, to a family owned BBQ
restaurant owned by the pig farmers of the Dukes family (no relation to
TV shows from Hazard). This family owns BBQ restaurants across Eastern
SC, uncles, sons, brothers, etc.

I'm not sure whether they liked it or not, but some at 4 plateloads!...
(c; The fun part was I don't think any of the people in Ridgeville ever
met someone from France, or even Quebec, and certainly never heard anyone
speaking French at all except on TV. Sitting at the fancy, unfinished
picnic tables inside the dining room with the farmers, factory workers,
townspeople all dressed up in their Bubba clothes in from the parking lot
full of pickup trucks and Big rigs, we caused quite a stir. The family
behind the counter were totally enthralled with the new international
customers!

I'd love to get some people from Oz or NZ up there with the proper brogue
from down under. I don't think those red necks still think you can be
from that FAR away....certainly not in a boat!...(c;

Damn, it's almost 2AM! I'd better get in the berth!....

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

Herodotus wrote in
:

BTW, do they speak standard English in Charleston or do I have to
learn beforehand how to listen slowly when I visit your fair city and
the Folbot factory? I seem to be able to read your words at the same
speed as Bruce's and Roger's. Is it just the spoken word that slows to
a crawl in the South? I was in a shop at the airport in Dall Fort
worth and actaully heard a man who was leaving saying "Buy yawl" when
there was only the shop assistant there. By his reference to "y'all or
"yawl" or "you all" I presumed he was addressing more than on person
which he clearly wasn't. He may of course be giving advice to the girl
to purchase a sailing boat with the mizzen mast aft of the rudder post
as that was what it sounded like.I hope I don't get arrested as either
an illegal or a foreigner because I don't speak the lingo and slowly
enough.

The important two words are "slowly enough". Yankees that come through
here are in WAY too much of a hurry for their own good. It's no wonder
they have awful heart attacks, strokes and die young from chasin' around
so hard after that dollar. Noone in the "Low Country", an area of
intense swamps, old rice paddies now flooded over, unnamed islands full
of crabs, sea grasses and sand dollars separated by 3500 miles of
navigable waterways within 50 miles of this keyboard....is in much of a
"hurry" to do anything....except eat, of course. We eat professionally,
as you'll notice by the number of restaurants between any two parking
meters.

The Navy Wives Club rented a billboard that said it all back in the
1960's, early 1970's....."WELCOME TO CHARLESTON! Don't forget to set
your watch back 200 years." That pretty much sums it up. If someone
invites you to "come sit a spell", don't plan on getting anything done
for the next 6 to 8 hours. Oh, you won't be bored or go hungry. Hell,
in 8 hours we've already had two full meals in Charleston....maybe a
couple of snacks, too...with gallons of supersweet iced tea that will
make any British subject just want to PUKE!! Cola drinks only have 1/4th
the sugar of the same quantity of Southern Ice Tea. If the temperature
drops much, you can see sugar precipitating out of the saturated
solution...(c;

Speaking of TEA, you might like to know tea isn't all bad, here. Out
there on Wadmalaw Island, is the ONLY tea plantation in America! It's
called American Classic Tea and those tea plants are as old as the
country, having been brought here by the British! They went bankrupt a
few years ago and the plantation just closed, but it has re-opened by
Bigelow Tea. They have several products.
http://www.bigelowtea.com/act/
The Tea Festival starts in 3 days. It's THIS weekend!


The old Southern languages, Geechee in the whites and Gullah in the
blacks, has pretty much been homogenized by mobile America in the cities,
including this one. I can take you to some places where you can get to
hear these original languages, especially Gullah, which is still spoken
away from the city center, especially on the barrier islands. I could,
for instance, drop you off in Rockville on Wadmalaw Island, where the
Americans stood in the church tower that's still there, today, and
carefully peered into their telescopes watching for the Red Coats'
sailing ships in the War of Independence in the 1700's. The older people
in Rockville speak both languages, depending on who they want to
communicate with. The elderly white lady, brought up on Wadmalaw Islands
plantations, speaks Gullah to her maid, still, and I cannot tell you what
was said between them. They've been together all their lives, long after
the end of slavery. Neither would have it any other way. The trick is
to find your way back into Charleston from there, not speaking the
language. You might as well be in Afghanistan's rural backwaters....(c;

Yawl is a boat. Y'all has many meanings as do many other "expressions"
in the South. Even if you don't stop, monitor Channel 10 on your VHF so
you can hear Geechee spoken by our colorful shrimp boat captains,
especially if someone screws up and makes him angry. Shrimp boat
captains, here, have curse words never before heard outside the coastal
plain. Many rich Yankee boat owners have heard them, some close up!
Shrimp boat captains don't have gelcoat that needs "scratch avoidance".

tho ate
 

Molesworth wrote in news:ukmole-
:

I'm English from London. With a London accent.

Everyone, and I mean everyone in the USA thinks I'm Australian!

I've given up explaining that the accent Aussies have is a direct
descendent of London criminals!



......and how much Cockney is in that accent?

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

"Hoges in WA" wrote in
:

BTW - can you please repost that story about the fake radar you aimed
at the Russian fleet? I can't google it up and I've told a Pommy mate
of mine (ex-submarine-carried Russian linguist) a bit about it but I
don't know enough electronic stuff to tell him properly
thanks



Sure. It was great fun playing with RF.

The forward radar mount on our ship had an air search radar on it,
AN/SPS-6 from Korean War era. We really didn't have a use for it as we
had no way of defending ourselves being a floating shipyard, a service
ship, so it was decommissioned but I got them to leave the mount and its
electronics working because I wanted to use it for a big TV antenna for
the Crew's TV antenna system I was installing.

We put two big long Winegard VHF-UHF broadband log periodic TV antennas
up there that were anodized blue. They each had two VHF log periodic
sections that pointed inward to a long UHF log periodic that stuck out
the front towards the station. We stacked two of them on top of the
radar mount about 80' off the water on top of the forward king post. To
keep the cable from winding up around them as the ship turned and the
gyro input kept our antennas pointed to the same compass point, the
reason I wanted to keep the original radar mount active, we built some
slip rings to run the RF through into the base of it. You could leave
them rotating like a real radar, which is what we did for this story.

We weren't any kind of high tech ship, being a destroyer tender. Hell,
our HF transmitters were from WW2! But, for some reason, on the Med
Cruise (my first), this Russian ship kept shadowing us for the longest
time and they were taking pictures of our old 1952 ship! It caused quite
a stir during the Cold War as it was right after the Israelis tried to
sink the USS Liberty (www.ussliberty.org). We traveled alone, too!

I finally noticed, one day, the Russians were intensely interested in our
new "secret weapon" antenna located on the forward king post! THEY WERE
TAKING PICTURES OF MY TV ANTENNA STACK! I pointed this out to my Comm
officer and Captain showing them the long lenses pointed towards the TV
antenna, and asked my captain if I could play some games with them using
the antenna. He loved this idea.

I worked in the Metrology Lab, the electronic calibration lab, on the
main deck, aft. One of the things we did was calibrate peak responding
RF power meters used to measure radar peak power output (after it was
attenuated by a calibrated coupler, not in megawatts). To cal these
meters I had a "power pulser" that had wide bandwidth from 1GHZ to 12 or
14 GHZ in several bands. It's output was about 1KW PEAK power with
variable pulse width, repetition rate, etc. you could vary all over the
place to test the meter's response you were calibrating.

So, I took the power pulser and a section of large coax with several
different frequency bands of waveguide adapters and feed horns (feed
horns couple the RF out of waveguide into the open air, in both
directions, to match the impedance of the air to the impedance of the
waveguide. They will radiate at CONSIDERABLY higher effective radiated
power than their input because they are very directional.

I borrowed a box of powered carbon from the electricians that would
absorb the RF energy when I pointed the feed horn into the carbon,
turning RF into heat. I took all this to a light lock deck hatch we used
to keep from radiating light at sea from the lights inside the ship.
This little compartment was flat black with a plastic black curtain
hanging over the opening so they couldn't see me and my contraptions.

We set the "secret weapon" antenna to slow rotation. I could see where
it was pointing with a mirror attached to the handrail near my hatch.

Every time the antenna pointed towards the Russians, I took the feedhorn
out of the carbon box and pointed it at them on "some frequency, rep
rate, pulse width, etc.", then put it back in the box. While it was in
the box, I changed frequencies, rep rates, pulse widths, everything, even
feedhorns as I had about 10 seconds between "sweeps". Some sweeps I just
cut it off to "listen mode".

God, every ECM antenna that rotated spun around and pointed at us on that
ship! I kept this up for hours, on and off. Whenever we'd start it
rotating, I'd start radiating towards their ship, from either side of
ours. They'd get closer to receive every pulse.

Then, we simply hand slewed the antenna forward and stopped......our
mission complete.

The Russians stayed about 8 more hours and went away to "analyze" their
findings. I never heard anything about it beyond that point. It was
great fun for a bored crew to play with. I wonder how many satellite
photos of USS Everglades (AD-24) were taken with closeups of our TV
antenna carefully poured over in KGB or military intellegence HQ?...(c;

BTW, the antenna could pick up Charleston's VHF TV stations over 130
miles at sea, distributed to every shop throughout the ship. As "Cable
Operator", I had quite a lot of political power and could get most
anything I wanted from anyone aboard. My captain, especially, couldn't
believe how great his TV looked from 100 miles offshore all up and down
the coast. I'd go up about once a day and "correct" the small angle
change our breakneck 17 knots cruising speed caused if we were heading up
the coast at the hand controls of the radar mount in CIC. But, with gyro
azimuth correction, if the ship took a turn for some reason, the antennas
stayed pointed at the TV stations very nicely.....

The Russians loved it.....(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Hoges in WA" wrote in
:

BTW - can you please repost that story about the fake radar you aimed
at the Russian fleet? I can't google it up and I've told a Pommy mate
of mine (ex-submarine-carried Russian linguist) a bit about it but I
don't know enough electronic stuff to tell him properly
thanks



Sure. It was great fun playing with RF.

snipped

Thanks Larry
He'll love it. I couldn't do it justice.

BTW, he tells me the story of an audio tape review they did from a transit
in an Upholder. Boring boring boring, listening listening listening to old
tapes from three weeks before. Until, quite distinctly and verified by
everyone who listened to it, they got a Typhoon passing a couple of hundred
yards behind them. Neither the Russians nor them had any idea they were
that close to each other. They were kicking themselves because they should
have picked up a Typhoon that close.

Hoges in WA

tho ate
 

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
:

snipped


I'd love to get some people from Oz or NZ up there with the proper brogue
from down under. I don't think those red necks still think you can be
from that FAR away....certainly not in a boat!...(c;

Couple a years Laz, and I'll be campin on your doorstep. You want me to
talk funny? No wuckas.

Hoges in WA
(As in Western Australia)

tho ate
 

"Hoges in WA" wrote in news:qZaWj.655$IK1.461
@news-server.bigpond.net.au:

Couple a years Laz, and I'll be campin on your doorstep. You want me to
talk funny? No wuckas.


Yes! I want to set you up talking to some real SC Redneck bubbas...(c;

They all think Crockadile Dundee is the PM of OZ....(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

"Hoges in WA" wrote in
:

BTW, he tells me the story of an audio tape review they did from a
transit in an Upholder. Boring boring boring, listening listening
listening to old tapes from three weeks before. Until, quite
distinctly and verified by everyone who listened to it, they got a
Typhoon passing a couple of hundred yards behind them. Neither the
Russians nor them had any idea they were that close to each other.
They were kicking themselves because they should have picked up a
Typhoon that close.



Navy used to have a real monster of an air search radar. I think it was
designated AN/SPS-30, a height finder that had this huge round antenna
with a feed horn arm protruding way out one side. The antenna could be
pointed about anywhere with megawatts of real power.

In the Med, the guys on a cruiser had a Russian playing dangerous games
cutting across their course and getting closer and closer, why I'm not
sure. Anyways, the cure seemed to be to point this monster "Death Ray"
at the bridge of it, causing flourescent tubes to explode and things to
arc around port holes.

I didn't see this, but heard it from a first-hand observer. Of course,
with many incidents, it "never happened".....(c;

There was one on top of ET School in Great Lakes and they could point it
at the "strip" of whorehouses and bars outside the gate, lighting up the
whole place's flourescent and neon signs! That "didn't happen",
either....(c;

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Tue, 13 May 2008 05:24:09 +0000, Larry wrote:

Shrimp boat captains don't have gelcoat that needs "scratch avoidance".

I don't know what they have, but I favor tar covered steel. The
lubricating properties of the tar tend to protect those whom I
sideswipe from scratches.

Casady

tho ate
 

In article ,
Larry wrote:

Molesworth wrote in news:ukmole-
:

I'm English from London. With a London accent.

Everyone, and I mean everyone in the USA thinks I'm Australian!

I've given up explaining that the accent Aussies have is a direct
descendent of London criminals!



.....and how much Cockney is in that accent?

100%

LOL

--
Molesworth

ping Larry - AIS unit
 

On Tue, 13 May 2008 06:54:57 GMT, "Hoges in WA"
wrote:

BTW, he tells me the story of an audio tape review they did from a transit
in an Upholder. Boring boring boring, listening listening listening to old
tapes from three weeks before. Until, quite distinctly and verified by
everyone who listened to it, they got a Typhoon passing a couple of hundred
yards behind them. Neither the Russians nor them had any idea they were
that close to each other. They were kicking themselves because they should
have picked up a Typhoon that close.

Good luck nobody got T-boned.

The Kriegsmarine lost a couple of subs to underwater collisions, one
during training in the Baltic, and one during a convoy battle. The
keel of a U-boat will slice open another sub as they go over the top.
One sinks, the other suffers only light damage.

Casady

tho ate
 

Molesworth wrote in news:ukmole-
:

100%

LOL



There's a lot of Cockney in Charleston Geechee brogue....

tho ate
 

In article ,
Larry wrote:

Molesworth wrote in news:ukmole-
:

100%

LOL



There's a lot of Cockney in Charleston Geechee brogue....

Cos we had to stop sending you them after 1776..

:-)

--
Molesworth