Another Year!

Although I started Fishin' With Dave in May of 2008, I consider the last post in April as the end of my Blog Year.  For the Christmas Season in 2009 I was perplexed as to what I could give to my father.  At 79 there isn't much that he needs that is personal in nature, sure he loves the year subscription to the paper but I was looking for something special.  An e-mail came one day promoting a site that would actually print your blog in hardcover book form.  Called Blog2Print, I decided to check it's validity not knowing what to expect.  It was surprisingly simple, give them the URL of your blog address, pick the dates, add a few pictures and dedications and Voila, your blog has been just published.  Deciding this would be a good gift for my father, I downloaded Fishing With Dave, Volume 1, spanning my posts from May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009.  Adding a dedication to my dad, it turned out to be one of the best gifts he has ever received, as he even made me autograph it.  In my posts are often people from Eleva mentioned.  Dad would go downtown everyday for coffee and bring the book with him for others to read.  Not having Internet, it was a fun way for him to see what I was writing about.  It went over so well that in 2010 I printed volume 2, May 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010.   Having learned a few things from doing the first one, I changed a number of things and printed 3 copies, 2 hardcovers and 1 soft cover.  Getting more winded with my posts made Volume 2 larger and more expensive (you pay by the page).  It made the perfect Father's Day gift that he continues to enjoy and it is my plan to start Volume 3 as soon as I am done today.  At 81 and struggling with throat cancer it's nice to be able to do something special for him.  My dad grew up in Eleva, a pretty strict Lutheran community.  I have said before it was not necessarily his job be my friend but to make sure I grew up to be a responsible, self sufficient adult.  Along the way we had issues and admittedly saying I love you to your dad wasn't something you did, I am sure he didn't to his father.  I think I need to take care of that before it's too late.

So the electronics install saga continues with my boat.  Having decided that repairing the holes cut into the panels would be too much work, I ordered new ones from my dealer Frankie's.  In the end it was a smart move on my part as now the installation is looking much better.  I did get the Ipod dock mounted and ran the ethernet cable from the front HDS5 to the back HDS10.  That works pretty well but there are a few bugs to work out.  On Tuesday, Lowrance came out with a software update and now the units are up to date with a lot of extra features.  Last night I finally got the Sonic Hub working and is it ever slick.  I can now control my audio system (radio, Ipod, speakers, volume) all from the HDS unit.  Thinking I could control the audio from the front via the ethernet was a mistake and now I have to install a NMEA2000 network cable from front to back.  Hopefully this will take care of it.  I still have to mount the transducer for the LSS-1 (Structure Scan) and network the system into the HDS unit, I am about a week away from that and will post pictures when I am done.  It is proving to be interesting and fun as long as I don't run out of time! 

My last picture is of the new pickup truck I took delivery of on Tuesday, a GMC Sierra 1500.  My Suburban was pushing 6 years old and had over 130,000 miles, it was getting to look well used.  I found myself hauling more stuff and with the gas prices rising, needed something to easily transport my ice fishing gear without always having to take my trailer.  Things really change in 6 years.  The engine is a 5.3 liter V8 (327 for all you guys my age) with an engine  management system that when cruising under light loads the engine drops to 4 cylinders. Coupled with a 6 speed transmission it claims to get 21 mpg on the road.  My brother Steve has the same truck and has confirmed up to 22.  Having all the latest electronics gadgets like built in bluetooth for your cell phone that actually comes through the radio to the USB port allowing you to plug in your Ipod and control it from the radio control, it's pretty slick.  Heck even my salesman Clyde, who is my age, was amazed at what you could do.   It's still snowing in Minnesota and Leech Lake is still ice covered, maybe going out next week.  I am hoping I can get out before opener and try all of my new stuff!

Networkin' with Dave (or Dave the IT Guy)

I have to admit that technology is really starting to wear me down!  My first cell phone was in 1990, what they called a bag phone.  It sat on the front floor of the car, with a rather large device stuck in the trunk and an antenna coupled through the back window.  Wow, a phone I could use in the car, just like at home, a simple 10 key number pad and a send button.  Fast forward to 2011, I have owned a Blackberry now for 2 years and trust me, I still haven't figured out how to really use it to it's greatest potential.  That will probably never happen.  Well, it's time for me to upgrade my depthfinder/gps on the back of my Ranger 620T.  Working with Bill, we have done some horse trading and I am finally ridding myself of the reliable Genetron for something a little more technical, a Lowrance HDS-10.  It came with Structure Scan/Side Imaging which can literally scan the bottom up to 500 feet either side of the boat.  Included is a down scan feature that more clearly identifies objects under the water, such as those sunken Spanish galleons in the middle of Mille Lacs.  Adding to the mix, Lowrance has a Sonic Hub made by Fusion, which is the same manufacturer of my current stereo system.  Along with my front depth finder, a HDS-5, they can all be magically hooked together via cables, software, and sweat to talk to each other.

So it goes like this........... The HDS 10 is the basic display and also serves as the main "server" in my new boat network.  The Structure Scan/side imaging module consist of a oblong shaped transducer that is feed into what appears to be an Ethernet Hub.  My HDS 5, in the front of the boat is connected to the hub via a 25 foot Ethernet cable.  From the Hub is another Ethernet cable that plugs into the HDS 10.  Now the Sonic Hub is really a NEMA2000 network device.  NEMA 2000 is a communications protocol and consists of a network tree of parallel connected devices that can communicate with the server (HDS10).  Because I have a factory glassed in, thru the hull transducer, I see that the boat had been pre wired with a NEMA 2000 based water temperature sending unit.  This makes sense as most water temperature sensing is done at the externally mounted transducer, so with a thru the hull transducer a separate temp sensor was installed.  So, I have this branch looking network assembly that has a cord to power the network, a temp sensor port, a Sonic hub port, and a cable going out to the HDS 10.  All of these cables crisscrossing my boat will allow me to switch displays on my front and back HDS units to track each other, I will be able to observe the structure scanning on both units simultaneously, as well control my stereo system via the depth finder screen.  This will allow me to change songs, channels, volume from both units, which is much better than kneeling down to adjust everything.  The unit comes with an Ipod dock and can be plugged into a Sirius Radio, which in turn can display the latest radar weather reports on the HDS10.  Uffda!

The real problem will be simply trying to learn every menu, option, configuration, setup and I am sure few thousand combinations of all you can do with the system. Just interpreting the Side Imaging displayed what it all means will be a challenge in itself. I had a tremendous amount of confidence in the Genetron as I could anchor in 20 feet of water, put a 1/8 ounce jig with a leech on, drop it off the back of the boat all while watching it fall to the bottom, move up and down, and get hit just like winter fishing with a FL20. I am sure it will take a bit of getting used to the new system and I only hope it is as good as what I am replacing. Here is a picture of what the display of the side scan looks like. Of course this technology has been the rave for a few years now, started by Bottom Line (now Humminbird), I can see it will take a lot of trips this year to finally figure how to interpret what the transducer is looking at, not that I am complaining . Sort of feels like a new episode of Sea Hunt!  This weekend has snow in the forecast for the Saturday morning, hopefully the last.  I have committed to spending both Saturday and Sunday taking a Motorcycle Riders Safety Course, a 16 hour classroom and riding skills class at a local motorcycle dealership.  I guess we are never too old to learn the right way to do things.  Next week is Easter then maybe a chance to get on the water and try my new network out, if I get it installed by then!