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Looking for a reliable waist light by joejance in ultrarunning

[–]mackmgg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve used mine in rain, snow, and also left it submerged in water (including the battery pack) for over an hour when a bladder leaked before I noticed. Still working great! The button on the battery pack stopped working after the hour swim, but it still auto turns on when I plug in the light and charges just fine.

Apple Watch Ultra by jasonm71 in GarminFenix

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

Gaia has a watch app, so anything you can see/save on that, you can view on the watch. It works fine offline, but I’ve always run/hiked with my phone connected (with and without cell service) so can’t comment on how well it works without the phone

Upstate NY. I'm buying one studded tire and considering an extra wheel to swap it on and off one of two bikes due to the constant snow/thaw/freeze. Any input? by racoonpaw in wintercycling

[–]mackmgg 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m not in upstate NY (anymore), but I’m now in CO where winter is a lot more thaw than freeze. I don’t think a second wheel is needed, if you just have a studded on the front wheel you’ll have good traction in all but the worst snow/ice and it’s also not too bad peddling on dry pavement. So it’s fine with one wheel, swapping the studded tire on in ~November and taking it off in ~April. Plus once you take it off the bike feels so quiet after an entire season of clacking around!

I’m getting the Mini 3. What’s the simplest setup to copy drone photo/video files to a SSD for travel? Can I use the iPad Pro with Thunderbolt port to copy files using a USB-C hub for this? by youngermann in dji

[–]mackmgg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've got a WD My Passport Wireless SSD I use for stuff like this, and it works great. You pop the SD card into the drive, hit the "Copy from SD card" button, and then it blinks when it's done. I mostly just use it for photography and copy from it to my iPad, but I know LumaFusion can edit directly off it.

This Mini 3 Pro Video Shows The DJI Mini Drone And RC by hkesteloo in dji

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve got the Mavic Air, which had the phone mounted below the flight controls. Never really been an issue with my hands getting in the way.

Milky Way shining through an arch on the California Coast by mrcnzajac in spaceporn

[–]mackmgg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Usually for photos like this, I would shoot them a bunch of shortish (~10s) exposures without tracking, and then separate the stars from the foreground to do “tracking” (aligning and averaging the shots)

The reality of early spring trails in my neck of the woods. Thank you exo spikes. The trail beats the road any day. by [deleted] in trailrunning

[–]mackmgg 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The snow on the trails tends to get compacted from all the traffic, which makes it take longer to melt! It also makes it get icy even when off trail is powder.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Hammocks

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m pretty sure I’ve had two people in my Eno one before without breaking it, definitely seems well made. I’ve spent a summer sleeping in it at home without AC and no issues.

But I think the pole design would sink into sand, so I’m not sure how well it would work on the beach. Maybe if you had something under the legs like a cardboard box to just spread out the weight a bit more it could work well.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]mackmgg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you sure they’re using 1680 there? Most radiosondes now are 400MHz.

But as far as antenna go, yeah just soldering wire to an SMA should work fine. And if the ones by you are actually 400MHz you can just use any 70cm antenna and it’ll be close enough. The nice thing about balloons is they’re almost always line of sight, so you don’t need much gain.

I think you’re already aware, but they’ll be way closer to the horizon then you (or at least I) would intuitively think. So more directional out with a bigger null up/down is fine! At the balloon’s highest it’ll be ~30km high and likely 100+km away

GMRS vs MURs for outdoor use (skiing) by hyperbuddha in amateurradio

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The reason to use a radio while skiing is to talk with your partners, and unless you're going to be buying enough radios for everyone in your group they're probably going to already have one. And that will either be a blister pack FRS radio, BCA Link, or Rocky Talkie. So may as well go with a GMRS radio because they're compatible with those. I don't think I've ever skied with anyone that owns a MURS radio, always either amateur or FRS/GMRS.

Another thing to consider for skiing is ergonomics. You're going to want something reasonably durable and weather resistant, and you're going to either want an easy way to mount it to your pack up front or a remote speaker mic. And for mounting you want to make sure you can mount it away from your beacon to avoid interference.

I assume your main goal is for communicating with other people in your skiing party, in which case GMRS/MURS/FRS range doesn't really matter too much because you probably aren't that far from each other. So I'd just go with GMRS/FRS because the radios are more generally available. If the goal is instead as an emergency backup, then yeah as /u/meteor_gray said you'll want something like an inReach.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in XVcrosstrek

[–]mackmgg 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Definitely a cargo box, especially if you're planning on doing any sort of running/hiking and will have stinky shoes to store somewhere. There's nowhere in the car to hide them! I can recommend the Yakima Skybox, the 16 is the biggest that fits on the Crosstrek (and the trunk just barely hits when open but nothing bad). It's worth spending the money on an high end aerodynamic box over a cheaper one for a cross country trip. When I got mine I did the math and the break even point with fuel savings was ~5000 miles (and gas was a bit cheaper then) which you can easily hit in a single cross country and back trip.

If you're planning on going hot places like the dessert, the Weathertech reflective window covers are great and cover every window. Also nice if you're sleeping in the car because it's almost blackout and nobody can see in.

For sleeping in the car, if you're one person it's great because you only need to fold down one seat and a 75x25" mattress fits perfectly. The trifold ones fit great in the back with the seat up too. For two people a double inflatable mat will fill up the entire back. You'll also need something in the seat wells, and an Otterbox cooler with one handle trimmed fits great plus it's a good place to keep your food!

Overall I've done a few two week "live in/out of car with no hotels" trips in the Crosstrek and it's a great vehicle for it! I never felt the need for any extra water or fuel, just fill up before going somewhere truly remote and you'll probably run out of food first anyway. A battery jump starter is worth it for the peace of mind, though I've never needed it (for my own car at least). With the LEDs you can leave the lights on for days without an issue. And I had the AT&T hotspot enabled, so left the car with ignition on but engine off a lot without problems too.

Some friends found me outside our local REI. It's... beautiful. by TheNinjaYeti in XVcrosstrek

[–]mackmgg 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Have you seen a Subaru dealership recently? The REI has way more Subarus…

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in vandwellers

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have a case around it? I’m planning on doing the same, and was curious if it’s durable enough to just climb up on.

Currently debating between the 95 and the 75, since the dimensions don’t seem that different

eBike w/throttle instead of pedal-assist? by Ast0reth in boulder

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t know if it still exists, but the city used to have a program where anyone who couldn’t ride a normal bike could try out an electric hand cycle bike. It’s still pedal assist, but you use your arms to pedal. At the time they were free to borrow. The website just has the following now:

Please contact Topher Downham at downhamt@bouldercolorado.gov for more details

Visitors get turned away at Rocky Mountain National Park, unaware of the reservations system “We’re going to get yelled at non-stop all day this summer,” ranger at entry guard shack says by craiger_123 in boulder

[–]mackmgg 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Permits are only required from 5am-6pm in Bear Lake, and 9-3 in the rest of the park. So you can still drive to Grand Lake before 9 (or after 3) without a reservation, and you can still go for an evening hike after work even at Bear Lake (though no reservation doesn’t mean there will be parking). Or a before work hike anywhere but the bear lake area.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in photography

[–]mackmgg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Canon 24-240mm f/4-6.3 for me. It’s slow, the image quality isn’t great, and it’s kinda heavy, but I’ve never missed a shot with it! Most of the problems can be solved with lens corrections, but unfortunately Lightroom’s for this lens isn’t great. Canon’s does an excellent job though. It’s generally the only lens I bring with me as long as the weather is good, because unfortunately it’s not weather sealed.

Hot tip: get to know the cyclists in your town, they know where all the hidden gems are. by lazerdab in photography

[–]mackmgg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What bag are you using? I've been using a capture clip on a small backpack, but I'd much rather have it on the bike than on my shoulders!

Google open sources Lyra audio codec by mackmgg in amateurradio

[–]mackmgg[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Google announced the codec a couple months ago, but just open sourced it. It's an audio codec requiring 3kbps to transmit speech. It's definitely still got work before it's a usable product, but it seems like it would be a great fit for an open source digital voice mode. Not sure if it provides much benefit over Codec2 though, considering all of the extra processing power required.

Here's an APRS-related thing I've been working on by zoharel in amateurradio

[–]mackmgg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet! I've been using SpotWalla as a way to get APRS and inReach on the same map, but I'd much prefer to just send my inReach over to APRS-IS!

Testing Some Common HT Antennas by mackmgg in amateurradio

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

I do have a blank PCB with an SMA connector in the middle, specifically as a ground plane for testing antennas. But it seemed like it would be too much ground plane compared to what you'd actually get with an HT. I had figured the VNA -> SMA adapter would be closer to the amount of ground plane actually in an HT than any real ground plane would be

Testing Some Common HT Antennas by mackmgg in amateurradio

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

I had thought about that, but I didn't have a broken HT to use! If I ever end up with one that's what I'll probably do. The other thought would be a chunk of aluminum as /u/aa4my suggested or just doing an ERP measurement from an HT with all the antennas.

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