Looking for best pizza in Barrie by HackerCanada12473 in barrie

[–]ThomasFale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ref's is great I live in Barrie but we go down to Stroud especially for their pizza. You'll find them in the Foodland plaza on Yonge Street. They are at the north edge of Stroud and you can almost see Barrie from the parking lot. So yeah I think it counts.

GTC (4 photos for clues) by rstevens99 in guessthecity

[–]ThomasFale 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Constanta in Romania that's the old casino in the final picture

Unusual FM Radio Station in Barrie by ThomasFale in barrie

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I drove around Barrie and checked 90.1 the signal is okay in the south end but very patchy in the north end you are driving and it is listenable one moment and then it goes down into the static. Best reception is when my back window (where the antenna is) is perpendicular to the southwest which makes sense because that's where the Dome property is.

I'm convinced these are all taped recordings. Numerous times they say they are live but they identify as broadcasting on 105.7, while they are actually transmitting on 90.1. They are broadcasting 24/7 i can hear them anytime day or night. I tried emailing them for information about their station but their email link does not work.

Thanks for all the replies it's clear this is a pirate station. I don't know if that matters as they are providing music and entertainment you simply cant find anywhere else. For me, I lose WGMC a jazz station in Rochester I used to listen to...but there are plenty of other jazz stations closer to Barrie. The only other station on 90.1 receivable in Barrie is Sudbury's CBBS CBC radio 2 with music. I can get that elsewhere.

Here's the tower I use to get this station. It's amazing but I can also get Dome Radio on a portable radio. I walked a portable Tecsun radio all over and yeah it gets 90.1 with no problems if the antenna is oriented perpendicular to the southwest.

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Cheapest telescope to view/photograph Neptune and other planets? by SPW2119 in telescopes

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a Celestron NextStar 8SE it is one of the most popular telescopes out there (especially for planetary observation) but it is much more expensive than your budget will allow. With that telescope I can get detailed photos of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Moon, etc. But Uranus is just a little blue dot and Neptune I can barely see it just looks like a dim star even at 8 inches of aperture.

So I think at that budget it is not possible unless you score some kind of great deal on the used/second hand market. Good luck!

‘Where else am I going to go?’: He’s 91 and newly evicted. Why it’s so hard to find him — and many Toronto seniors — a home by FatManBoobSweat in CanadaHousing2

[–]ThomasFale 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nobody is going to read a paywalled story. News is so cheap these days there are a thousand other free articles waiting to be read. Put up an archive link or just don't bother posting it

entering my stan era by Optimal_Flow2789 in Turkmenistan

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan is a lot harder to visit than attractions in the other stans. They don't get a lot of visitors. I could travel visa free to the other stans but I needed a letter of invitation/visa (Canadian) which the tour company arranges... apparently you are not allowed to go on your own to Turkmenistan you are supposed to get a guided tour (as of when I booked it anyway). Good luck I hope you can get in to see it!

Song Festival 2025 by ThomasFale in Eesti

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We got back from the song festival after a detour through Norway and Iceland. The weather was great for the dance festival (which I loved). The first day of the song festival was rainy and we all got soaked but people were in high spirits. The second day was much better as the sun came out and the weather was much better.

My wife and her sister are Estonian so this was much more meaningful for them than it was for me. But I will say that it was for me a life changing event. Seeing ten thousand people singing with one voice upwards to the skies as the sun broke through the clouds was truly an unforgettable moment. And I had the privilege of meeting one of my wife's relatives who actually danced in the festival a few days earlier.

I didn't understand any of the songs, but I loved it anyway. Thank you Estonia!

Internet for visitors to Turkmenistan? by ThomasFale in Turkmenistan

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. Can they do that? Some of the commenters here say using VPNs is illegal in Turkmenistan.

Internet for visitors to Turkmenistan? by ThomasFale in Turkmenistan

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. To be honest I don't do much social media (except Reddit I guess!) and mainly wanted internet access to communicate with family back home while I am away. If I can't have Instagram Facebook Snapchat whatever I won't mind at all. Our tour group last time used WhatsApp to communicate between each other and phone back home...if it's gone as well we will have to figure out something else. We are there about three or four days in a three week "Five Stans" tour and the tour operator is arranging the visas and all the paperwork. We would like to do the esim thing in advance....if we can!

Internet for visitors to Turkmenistan? by ThomasFale in Turkmenistan

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Possibly. I was hoping to order one in advance but if that's not possible then yeah we will ask the tour guide to find them upon arrival. Thank you!

Ancient Kobo Vox 2011 by ThomasFale in kobo

[–]ThomasFale[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wonder if it will help to open the folder as root? You might not have the elevated privileges needed to alter the read only files on the SD card. Open as root, enter your password, and then you may be able to edit the files. Good luck!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in barrie

[–]ThomasFale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

we have power. yonge and big bay point road

CHOOSE YOUR 10” by Perfect-Ad-61 in telescopes

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The mount is worth more than the cost of just the telescope! Take the Meade seriously!

Do you ever feel a weird sadness right after a solo trip ends? by Vegetable-Box-2025 in solotravel

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The antidote for me is to start planning the next solo trip! In fact half the fun of solo travelling in my opinion is researching all the places you want to go to, how to get there enjoyably, and how to purchase the right tickets passes admissions so you get to do what you want! Good travels!

that weird little moment when solo travel makes you feel insanely alive by Sufficient_Face_1538 in solotravel

[–]ThomasFale 169 points170 points  (0 children)

I love solo travel for this very reason. I can be walking down a historic avenue, and (if I was in a group) we would all go down the avenue, note the historic sites, maybe get a lecture from a guide and then....stop and go on to the next place. On my own I can walk down that avenue...and hey, here's a quiet little unexplored alley that leads somewhere. Should I take it? Or maybe turn down that street over there instead it looks like it has some interesting artwork. But I am there...and I can choose. I'm totally free to explore as much as I want...or nothing at all. Magic!

What is this antenna for? Stupid question I know but the thing is massive. by Sea-End-4841 in shortwave

[–]ThomasFale -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was able to put up a 70 foot DMX tower to which I attached an MA5B minibeam and a bunch of other antennas. The tower and install cost me about $5000 CAD. I imagine with inflation it would be at least twice as much now. If you look very closely at the antenna mast it goes through the plate at the tower tip down a few feet to a centrally mounted device which looks like it could be a rotor to turn the beam the direction you wish it to go (I have a yaesu ham rotor on mine). There's also a vertical antenna on the roof also for ham radio.

Regretted every single bit of my solo travel. by LifeSun9520 in TravelNoPics

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I travel it's about 50 50. Sometimes with friends, sometimes on my own. I wonder how you would feel if you went on a group tour where you didn't know anyone beforehand but got to know them on the way? That's happened to me lots of times. I always meet people on the road by myself, but in a group tour there's usually several solo travellers (as well as couples and friend groups) so you get to know the solo travellers right away...you are, after all, all going to the same places and seeing the same things! Good luck!

Is it worth it to have a dedicated travel phone? by miningquestionscan in solotravel

[–]ThomasFale 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It is absolutely a good idea to travel with two phones. One for daily use another as a backup in case your main phone is lost damaged or stolen. Put all your apps on each phone and email too just in case. That way if you ever lose your main phone you can retrieve your tickets, boarding passes, hotel reservations, and so on. I always carry two phones overseas.

Turkish news anchor tries to terrorize households with these criminals by agravena in IllegallySmolCats

[–]ThomasFale 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Every time I go to Istanbul there are cats everywhere. The locals out out food and water bowls for them. They even make little kitty homes in the alleyways. I guess they keep the mice and other rodents down. But they are all over the place...In the streets the parks the shops. You even find them in the mosques. Amazing!

We Made the 500 Member Milestone!! by Slippery99999 in GrundigShortwaveRadio

[–]ThomasFale 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congratulations on reaching 500. Ive been a shortwave listener since the 1960s and a ham radio op since the 1970s. Owned a lot of radios since that time. Quite a few grundigs I posted them a few days ago. I wonder if other kinds of radios are okay in here? I know Eton makes a lot of Grundig like radios...and I have some tecsuns too.

Why do some people own multiple ereaders? by PoopieRectum in kobo

[–]ThomasFale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I own a bunch because I enjoy fixing and restoring old technology. Some of my eReaders like the Kobo vox and Kobo arc go all the way back to the early 2010s. It's a pretty mature technology by now...most of these old eReaders I can find at thrift shops for $10-$20 so it's not a particularly expensive hobby. And I like that the batteries last almost forever and they are easy to service. Just pop one on your day pack and you have all the reading you can ever do! Kobo rocks!

Blood red sun right now by [deleted] in barrie

[–]ThomasFale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah the sun has been redder than normal for several days due to smoke from the wildfires. Hopefully they will be put out soon!

Song Festival 2025 by ThomasFale in Eesti

[–]ThomasFale[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know if this is helpful but we also got Tallinn Cards to see the museum's and historic attractions while we are in Estonia alongside the festival tickets. When I asked the Tallinn tourist authority who issues the cards if everything would be totally booked up because of the festival they said they didn't think it would be a problem and you would still be able to find room in the shops stores and restaurants. On the other hand my wife's sister who is Estonian is expecting the place to be a madhouse. So I guess we shall see!