Back on the Air (After a long absence)!

 It seems to me, that my last post here was in late April, shortly after arriving home from a warm winter in the south.  Now that it is September, perhaps it is time to start updating things a bit?

Of course, a cool, rainy day after having just gotten back from the latest camping adventure likely helps.  I did try one apparently futile attempt to post using Open Live Writer.  There were no error messages or anything - but nothing appeared online.  So - here we are, stuck with the Blogger editor.

Once it warmed up in the spring, and once the Covid situation was a bit more predictable (!), we were able to get out for lots of camping and travel trips for most of the summer.  As usual, I offered up my fire lookout, or tanker base assistance to my old Alberta Wildfire employer, but with major layoffs this year due to budget cuts, they didn't call back.  Which is just fine with me, as I was only interested in short term, 'interesting' positions anyway.  And no work kept us free for whatever whims that came our way.  Luckily, the fire season this year was just a tiny fraction of the normal action.

I brought back two internet devices with me this spring.  I picked up a Solis Skyroam while down south.  It is a very handy little device to provide wi-fi and internet from virtually any local cell service around the world.  It does not require a sim card to work. While it may not be the very best deal on data around, the flexibility it allows makes it stand apart. 

There are no contracts and you can just go online and pay for a day, or various fixed amounts of service, and turn it off whenever you do not require it.   Well, of course, that is the way it is 'supposed' to work!  Even though I had my account set not to auto-renew, it did a couple of times, but after some yelling on the phone, they got the point.  Not too sure about their accounting practices, as it seemed to be giving me unlimited data one month, which was handy :-)  Also, when I got home to Canada, the device kept insisting that I was in Europe (!), and kept accusing me of being on the wrong network ...!  Got that sorted out after a few more frustrating phone calls.  Unfortunately, from my home place, all cell service is marginal, and without antenna ports, there was no real way to make the signal reliable.  So it is presently turned off, but waiting for the time when it will be needed again.

My other device, that I used in the US on my AT&T account, was my Netgear Nighthawk M1.  While it is somewhat similar to the Solis in that it provides internet from cell carriers, it is much more advanced and has a lot of extra features. 

Most importantly, it has antenna ports, so when connected to my cheap but effective MIMO antenna, it provides reliable connection from home, as well as better range in other locations.  It can be powered from it's internal battery, or powered and charged with a USB cord. It has an ethernet port, so you can connect to it directly without wifi, or you can connect your own router to it for increased range, and without having to enter new passwords to connect all your devices.  It also has both an internal micro SD card slot and an external USB slot, so you can access the data on the cards from any device connected to your network.  Like most of these devices, you can set up guest networks and control a full range of settings via an app.  Before purchasing it, I had researched it (Wandering Willy), and it appeared that it was compatible with, and using the same cellular bands as Rogers and Telus do back in Canada.  So - when I got home, my first plan of action was to see if if would work!  The first hurdle was that it was 'locked' to AT&T, but after a call or two, it was freed of that constraint.  My first number of calls to Rogers were unsucessful it getting it to work, and they finally suggested calling Netgear to help solve the problems.  While I have yet to call any business that did not claim that 'call volume is higher than normal', and 'your call is important to us' (ya, right!), during covid, things have been even more challenging.  In calling Netgear, they would often advise that I was #72 in their queue!  They were especially frustrating to deal with, claiming to have 'experts', but never letting you talk to them - and promising call-backs that never came!  One time, I could clearly hear roosters crowing in the background while talking to them.  Another time, something must have happened at the home of the agent I was talking to, as suddenly she began screaming and yelling in a language that I will not guess at, at someone or something in her 'office'.  I don't thing she was being murdered, but eventually I was cut off!  Finally, after more 'research' on the cell bands used, and while still waiting for the promised calls back from Netgear, I called Rogers again.  This time I actually got a tech that spoke English (!), and he questioned me on what APN code an earlier Rogers agent had given me.  When I told him, he gave me the correct code - and the device has worked wonderfully ever since.  Still waiting for the call from Netgear!!!

Before I got the Skyroam or Nighthawk working properly, I tried to get my old Galaxy Broadband (Hughesnet) satellite system working again.  It turned out to be another epic, with hours spent on the phone trying to trouble shoot the connection problems. 

We even spent hours on conference calls with both the Galaxy customer service people and the so-called Hughesnet techs all on the phone together, all to no avail.  I guess my old gear is just too historic!  Eventually, we all agreed that our business-customer relationship should end permanently!  Anyone need a satellite modem or two ...

Have a few 'solar' stories to tell you ...

Last year, I decided to get a 100w panel c/w controller from Canadian Tire.  When it advertised itself as 'shatter-proof' I should have known not to believe it. 

But with that description in mind, I admit that I was not as careful as I could have been when I set it out to collect some free Arizona sun power!  Sure enough, an unexpected gust of wind tipped it over, and did it ever shatter.  I could hear it continuing for at least 30 seconds afterwards!  It still worked fairly well, and I sprayed it with clear Flex-seal to hold it all together.  Back in Canada, the store took it back no questions asked, and offered a replacement or a refund.  I wanted a replacement, but they were out of stock, so I got my refund.

Going online, I decided to try some flexible panels as replacement, and chose two 100w flexible panels, with controller from the old standby - Amazon.  Panels ordered April 29, promised May 7-11th.  On May 18th I got an email advising that a second part of the order was enroute - from China!  Panels arrived finally on May 20th, but the controller and wiring did not arrive till the end of July.  I don't think we can blame Covid for the entire delay?  In the meantime, I had to go buy some extra wiring and adapters so I could use the panels.

With these stories out of the way, I promise that my next posts will be less on tech stuff and more on travel and scenery!