Crestline Soaring Society

The replacement anemometer has been reporting non-zero winds speeds for a couple of days now, so I guess we can start relying on the data again. The old anemometer will be sent in for counseling and possibly to a reeducation camp to instill that 24/7 work ethic. I put a weatherproof junction box on the tower, so now we can just go with the stock (cheaper) 40-foot cable length when next we need to order a replacement anemo/vane. They seem to last about two years up at Crestline.

I met the Airsites tower owner, Bill Cody, this morning at Crestline launch and installed the replacement temperature/humidity sensor for Simba, so we now have temperature data in our wind graph again. Rebar Dan went up the other tower and cleaned the clear dome on the PTZ cam, so the views are clearer now. Airsites had a new dish installed on the tower with the cams and anemometers, and the Windtalker anemometer was sort of in the wind shadow (for SW) of the new dish, so I raised that up a foot or so to be in the clear.

It is just a few days until the official start of Summer but the flying is starting to feel ‘summery’ all ready.
 
Wednesday ‘Fly Days’ are in full swing.  Come out and join us for some wonderful evening glass-off, food, and beverage.
 
Progress is taking place on the Ranch RV and Tent camping.  I have met with John Schatz, County Planning Engineer, received some assistance from Bobby Vega of the Conservation Corp, and a few of us will be meeting with a civil engineer to walk the project this Friday.  Be watching for a ‘trench digging work morning’ coming soon.

Have any pilots or others mentioned to you that they simply can't get to this website from certain locations?

A few weeks back there was an attack on the server our website shares with a bunch of other websites and many IP addresses were blocked from accessing any websites on that server. For instance, the connection address of the XC Ranch house was blocked, so there was no way to access our website from the house or the LZ, if using the XC Ranch wireless access point.

Simba is hooked up to the weather station and the internet, so the weather graph and table are working again!

Bill Cody, the tower owner, made a special trip out to Crestline (2 hour drive for him) today so I could get in the building and put the computer back into the system. A couple of days ago I found that the internet settings had inadvertently gotten screwed up while the box was in for service, which was why it wouldn't connect with the LAN. Discovering and fixing this problem required connecting to Simba via a serial terminal, which I'd not had to do previously.

The CSS MarshallCam is back online! I got the DSL settings at the new tower location sorted out and the camera started posting automatically, as it's supposed to. I can't get a response from the Simba weather computer from outside the locked building so there's no weather data as yet. Perhaps that problem is something as simple as a bad ethernet cable.

4/11/10: UpdateIt turns out the little computer, Simba, that connects to the weather station isn't connecting to the LAN. This is what they 'repaired' in December, at no charge. I'd gladly pay actual money to have an actual repair! I hadn't tried it before now because the weather station equipment was down.

Spent the day installing the CSS weather station, webcam, and windtalker at the antenna towers next to Crestline launch. Best location for them yet - no obstructions or terrain issues of any kind in any direction. The windtalker no longer requires 'interpretation' - what she says is what it is. (909)-338-3362 for the wind report.

The DSL line wasn't connecting to the internet, but the weather station and webcam are ready to go when the phone company sorts that out. Dan's aimable PTZ camera is up there and will also be available soon. The static webcam now looks southeast, to see Marshall Peak, so we won't see what's coming from L.A. with it (like the smog front) but Dan's cam will handle that, plus views of Crestline launch and more.

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for electing me as the CSS President for 2010. I am very
excited about the year. See the CSS Directory for the complete list of CSS officers for 2010/11.

Get ready to mark up your calendar for an event a month during the season.

On April 24 we will have our Spring General Membership Meeting.

In May we are planning a club trip to Dunlap in central California.

I have not deleted any posts or comments from the forum in quite some time. A forum user thinks some content has been removed. The site logs for the last couple of days don't show any deletions, but there's been so much activity that they only go back a couple of days at this point. {UPDATE: I've just increased the log retention}

[b]Normal procedure is for those with deletion rights (i.e. the CSS Board) to discuss it with other board members before deleting anything. We've only deleted a couple of items in the last four years.

The CSS Board met this past weekend and we are excited about the development of the X-Country Ranch and the future of the CSS in this regard. Please see the minutes from the meeting at http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/2010_feb_special_meeting_minutes .

Many of you will recall that back in 2006, while the developer was pressing ahead with plans to develop the property to our east; the Ranch property to our north came up for sale. There were at least three bidders: the developer; a lady who wanted to plant an orchard; and pilots Len and Owen. Fortunately for us, Len and Owen were the successful purchasers. Our approach has been protected, our water supply increased, the fence between the properties and the 'paragliding eating tree' are gone, and now the Big O project is in mid-flight.

So, the Simba weather station went off line a couple of Sundays ago and a simple reboot didn't get it back online. On inspection I found that the weather equipment was fine and that the mini computer between it and the internet wasn't connecting to the LAN via ethernet. The only way to communicate with the device is via the LAN, so I had to send it in for service. This is the machine we repaired this summer by replacing the motherboard, keeping the RAM and the Flash memory with the OS and programs already on them, to the tune of $300. I expect the manufacturer to cover the failure under warranty.

It is almost election time for the 2010 Board. There will be vacancies for several key positions and all positions are open for nominations. Please let me (president at crestlinesoaring.org), or any Board member know if you are interested in standing for election.

The official position descriptions for each Board member can be found at: http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/css_constitution_march_2005 .

I got a new rotor and cups assembly for the weather station anemometer and installed them today. Last night I epoxied the cups into the snap-in brackets on the rotor. The cup I super-glued back on to the old rotor a couple of weeks ago held but one of the others came out in the last high wind event. I had put drops of super-glue on the other cup brackets, but not in the junctions.

I would like to invite someone who likes to throw parties to take my place as Activities Director.

I can't imagine a club full of nicer people, more fun to volunteer for, than the Crestline Soaring Society. We've got a great core of cornerstone members who really help, in official and unofficial capacities, the place run well.

Ken Howells has been handling the website and windtalker and Simba and other IT issues forever... the longest standing board member. Alan has put in many years, including this last very important one, as the calm and dignified President of our club. Mike Blakely, the ever-helpful Mike Zeller, Megret and Dianne are fantastic in their roles as Treasurer, VP, Secretary, and Site Coordinator, respectvely. I have really enjoyed being on the board and working with these great peeps.

Hi All,

I'm looking to collect favorite songs for the fly in this fall. Please email me at abc3 ~at~ johnwright.com, attaching one MP3 per email, with your favorite tunes.

Thanks in Advance.
JW aka KK

7/21/09 UPDATE:

The manufacturer replaced the motherboard and re-used the Operating System chip (no longer available) and the Flash memory from the old unit, so all settings were preserved. It was literally plug-and-play! The webcam time lapse images are also functional once again - they stopped working because the scripts that manage them depend on the weather data.

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ALL MEMBERSHIPS EXPIRED 5/31/09 - if you did not get a renewal notice in the mail please go to CSS Application & Waiver, print and complete the forms, and mail them in with your dues.

It's on... July 11 is AJ Airpark Fly-In.

Di found a great live band. If anyone has a beefy generator we can use, let her know.

Food, of course, will be provided for $10 and $10 for the day use fee for non-annual-members.

Crestline Soaring Society hats will be for sale and there will be custom-embroidered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place hats (PG and HG) as trophies for the spot landing competition ($5 to enter). Win a hat and remind people all year long that you are better than they.

Doh, meant to make this a blog post and I've already linked to it from a number of other sites:

http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/forum/20090416/2154

This is developing, I have little information at this point, but it's worth getting out for planning purposes:

CSS'es second road trip of the year will be to Mingus Mountain in Arizona the weekend of Memorial Day (May 22-25).

Personally, I will be flying one day, whatever day has the best forecast. The rest of the time I'll be doing other things with wifey and pipsqueek in the area. Some may want to bring their families and do other things in the Prescott area.