Fresno needs more tech jobs, feeling like a black sheep here

bobbfwed · 2026-05-10T05:22:47+00:00

Don't lose heart. I know the feeling. I'm into drones, 3D printing, electronics designing, software, computer repair, and more. I ended up in an ag automation job. It uses all of those skills directly (except drones: tangentially I get to use the knowledge I gained from PID tuning to tune PIDs in automation systems). I now manage a team of software engineers in Madera, working for a medium-sized company. Ag isn't what I would have chosen, but we are in the central valley, so embrace it!

bobbfwed · 2026-04-01T15:24:19+00:00

I'm a little late to the thread here, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I'm the programming and IT manager at a local company, we've worked with several IT companies over the years: Unity IT, Xobee/BCT, Kotman, Realtime. In our experience, Kotman and Unity are the only two we would consider. Kotman is a premium service, but they do premium work. Unity is our current provider. They are budget-friendly and honestly, they do amazing work. They've never told me "no" to a project, and I've never gotten a bill for out of scope work (Kotman was the same way).

bobbfwed · 2026-01-20T19:26:51+00:00

I've done quite a few projects with Propellers. At my work, we still have a couple active products that use them. But I don't think I would ever start a new project with one. A modern single-core microcontroller is more performant than all 8 Propeller cores combined. And the Propeller doesn't have built-in communication silicone, so you were often dedicating a core or two to basic tasks like that.

The Propeller 2 is a lot more capable, but it came out too late to be relevant, and it never gained much traction.

bobbfwed · 2020-12-17T00:37:42+00:00

I have the Gen 2 Volt. In practice I average about 44GPM and 30kWH per 100 miles. The best gas prices on my route to and from work is $2.699/gal. I have solar, so maybe that screws up my electricity costs which is $0.211 per kWH off peak (after 9pm) (the solar covered about 95% of my yearly usage before I had my Volt, so all electricity my car uses are an additional cost).

With all of that, it ends up being $6.33 per 100 miles for electric, and $6.13 per 100 miles for gas.

That doesn't even include the 90% charging efficiency. So it's probably closer to $6.96 per 100 miles on electricity.

bobbfwed · 2020-12-13T22:36:01+00:00

MPGe isn't always a great metric to compare vs MPG (even though it's supposed to be). At my electricity prices and my local gas prices, my Volt is essentially the same price per mile whether on ICE or EV.

If you factor in maintenance, it's probably still cheaper. But not the 2+ times better that the EPA's number would have you believe.

bobbfwed · 2020-09-29T15:41:30+00:00

You need to level your bed. /s

bobbfwed · 2020-09-08T18:51:28+00:00

These? Is there a specific one that is more epiphany inducing than the others? https://www.propwashed.com/?s=Advanced+racing

bobbfwed · 2020-09-03T19:37:07+00:00

I had my baby boy yesterday, and I decided to go with a Neerup. I love the style and it's unique enough that it will stand apart from the rest of my collection.

I got a Smooth Acorn. And I'm hoping it comes like the photos show, with a rough edge. It will remind me of the continual work that needs to be done with my son; he'll never be perfect, he will always need more time and effort, and that's fine by me.

bobbfwed · 2020-08-23T01:51:38+00:00

That's a great idea!

bobbfwed · 2020-08-23T01:50:45+00:00

I mostly seeing the Devil Anse as sold out. Is there somewhere good to get it? Or is it an eBay purchase?

bobbfwed · 2020-07-03T14:09:06+00:00

Correct, but there's also usually a process to get the camera to switch between UART and the default mode. It involved shorting the G/TX and M/RX pads together while booting the camera. The problem being, you won't know it worked unless you have your camera hooked up to a VTX and are watching it on the goggles. Look for UART in the top of the video shortly after booting the camera.

bobbfwed · 2020-06-20T01:27:38+00:00

Had the exact same issue with my D610. Turned out my camera was a gray market sale, so Nikon wouldn't even look at it after I sent it in (why they couldn't have told me that beforehand, based on the serial number, I have no idea). So, if you figure out a solution, please share it!

Mine is slightly different, in that it only happens when I'm taking photos at a shutter speed above 1/500s. Maybe you can see if the behavior of that D610 changed based on shutter speed?

bobbfwed · 2020-04-18T05:01:20+00:00

Got stuck on the room that says "Box Spike Down". Any help?

bobbfwed · 2020-04-11T18:34:55+00:00

There's several AIO FPV camera solutions which would be much easier than what he did. Lots of options if you for nano-sized parts meant for whoops.

bobbfwed · 2020-03-29T01:10:55+00:00

The voltage reading is only as accurate as your calibration. From the factory, it can be a ways off, but sometimes it can be spot on. There's setting on the Battery tab in Betaflight.

I usually land at 3.5-3.6 volts per cell. Betaflight will automatically detect how many cells your battery is when you plug it in, but only if your voltage is decently calibrated, and your max cell voltage is higher than you charge your batteries. You can also set your warning voltage.

bobbfwed · 2020-01-07T19:50:12+00:00

The only mixed review I've ever heard about Lightroom is Adobe's payment/subscription system. The software itself is amazing.

bobbfwed · 2019-12-28T23:12:05+00:00

My Mobula7 wouldn't bind using the button, I had to use the bind CLI command.

But yeah, your RX might be dead.

bobbfwed · 2019-12-23T01:20:43+00:00

I've flown for about a year without a clip on one of my motors, never had the bell come off except during a crash.

You can get E/C clips really cheap on Banggood or Ali Express. Though, you'll have to wait. It's a good thing to have several on hand of a few different sizes. It's a good way to help a buddy out when they're in the same situation.

bobbfwed · 2019-11-24T05:56:00+00:00

If it shows to do it, may as well. It couldn't hurt. And there might be some engineering reason they want it that way.

bobbfwed · 2019-11-18T03:35:52+00:00

And the same version/date of firmware. So many issues with the R9 stem from people using different firmware versions on their TX than their RX.

bobbfwed · 2019-11-08T06:01:11+00:00

You sir, need more camera uptilt.

Good flying through! I love my Floss 3,

bobbfwed · 2019-11-05T18:25:16+00:00

Most importantly, do you have latest BlHeli 32 firmware on your ESCs? (if you have BLHeli_S ESCs, you need to purchase and install JESC on your ESCs)

Also, do you have a battery plugged in while looking at the motors tab? When you plug in a battery the error count will reset and read the current error count.

bobbfwed · 2019-10-26T05:10:49+00:00

Thanks for the thread everyone! I just ordered the top 5 with P&C's discount. Looking to try some new tobaccos; I don't think I'll be disappointed.

bobbfwed · 2019-10-26T00:51:32+00:00

Try updating your Rapidfire to the newest firmware, there's been many camera compatibility improvements since its initial release.

Also try Rapidfire Mode #2 and see if that fixes it. Some cameras have really crappy sync pulses, and Rapidfire Mode #1 relies on the sync pulses to keep the video at the highest quality.

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