jmidgley

Hi They're always manned (or womaned), but whether they're jumping depends, of course... The Nomad's flying in at the end of March, AFAIK. They were hoping to have had it sooner, but there were Technical Problems (tm). Cheers John

Hi I'm sure you know (but in case you don't) 'LANC' is a serial protocol rather than a switch, and the only way of communicating with the camera is via a microprocessor or microcontroller that is capable of generating the correct sequences of '1's and '0's. The usual 'dabblers' microcontroller of choice is the PIC family from Arizona Microchip. I have had fun playing with these in the past, doing simple tasks. The cost of getting started is very low (which is, I guess, why they appeal to dabblers), and if you can program at all, the PIC instruction set won't take much learning. I had a quick Google for 'PIC' and 'LANC' - the 1st few hits have sample code and schematics galore, plus references to the LANC protocol standard. All that said, I weighed up the effort needed to get a working switch with the cost of a Cameye and thought... naaah. HTH John

Hi I have vision (well, I call it that) in the -5 range. The advantage of small lenses is that they are thinner at the edge. I think I was talked out of high refractive index plastic (by the dispensing optician) on the grounds that it would be unnecessary and would make the lens/arm joint weaker. I'm pretty careless with glasses, but these are really strong and I haven't managed to scratch them yet. I've looked into getting prescription goggles in the past but have resisted. Blind as I am, I'd have to either carry a pair of glasses around with me as well as the goggles, or walk to the plane/from the landing area still wearing the goggles. Dorky. And although I haven't yet left my goggles at home/on the ground, if I did I could always borrow a pair. Finally (until I think of something else) if so inclined you can have tinted goggles for bright days and clear ones for duller days. John

Are you me? Just check in the mirror would you? I have woeful astigmatism (as well as being short-sighted) and I tried disposables last summer. When they worked they were... OK. It was nice, having worn glasses my entire life, to get some idea of what it must be like to have normal vision. But the visual acuity from a bit of damp plastic was not as good as I would have liked. However, it turns out that I have dry eyes (like Chuck Norris, I never cry. Ever.) Consequently, if the lens rotated a fraction with blinking (which it did - a lot) it would produce a worse result than no lens at all - in one eye, and it wouldn't rotate back again, because it was stuck to the eyeball. This absolutely BUGGERS your depth perception, which is not at all what you need. The best thing about the foray into contacts was that they were free for a month, and there was an offer of half price glasses as a 'backup'. I bought a pair of tiny titanium frame Fila rimless glasses. There's no hinge to break - they just fold. They fit under the tiniest of goggles and because the arms fit close to my temples, there's no gap for air to get in. I cancelled the contacts and kept the half price glasses. Thanks very much. Regards John

But remember, god hates techno. John

Hell, I'll be happy to keep paying the full 64p for a ticket! John

Hi Thanks for the prompt reply. In the meantime, I've been to look at Ryanair's website, which has two detailed lists of items not permitted in the cabin and not permitted on the aircraft. Unless I'm being stoopid, I can't see parachutes/skydiving equipment mentioned at all. Maybe a print of these two lists will have to join my letter from the CAA about Cypres in the bag... Or is there another mystery 'Corporate Policy' I haven't found, I wonder? John

Oh bugger. I've flown Ryanair from Stansted 6 or 7 times with no problem at all (rig carried on in a discreet bag). I'm due to go out to Empuriabrava in March with Ryanair - has this 'corporate rule' become a common problem? Anyone else been turned away at the door? Regards John

Hi You must have better fabric stores than we have round these here parts! I've found nothing in the way of (commercial) patterns for what I wanted. Regards John

Hi If you look at the device manager, does it list IEEE1394 as a component? Has it got a yellow exclamation mark next to it? XP has 1394 support built in, so if the hardware's there and recognised it should work. That said, there's a list of problems with XP SP2 and firewire as long as your arm. Assuming 1394's listed: Ensure that the camera is plugged in to the power and to the PC before either is switched on, then try powering the PC 1st, then the camera. Also try camera 1st, then PC. Obvious things like; can you try your camera on a known good PC/a known good camera on your PC. Apparently (though I haven't done it) it's possible to blow the firewire chips in cameras by having them switched on, and just plugging a 'hot' firewire cable in. I see it done all the time at DZs, of course. Edited to add - Have a look at this web page which has lots of useful stuff. John

Hi Do you know anyone with a sewing machine? Have you got more time than money? Would learning a new thing be a chore or a pleasure? I have absolutely no background or training in pattern drafting or sewing, but I'm a tight-wad, and I'm not going to pay someone over the odds for a very simple bit of clothing. How hard could it be? Answer; not very if you're prepared to do a bit of reading and take a logical approach. I started by cutting up some old clothing and copying the shapes onto tracing paper. Doesn't have to be a one piece thing, a shirt and a pair of trousers will do if you apply a bit of intelligence. Start with some really cheap end-of-roll bargain-bin stuff and make a mock-up using the tracing paper pattern. Adjust the fit and modify the pattern accordingly. Then make your real one. Don't be too ambitious - simple panels, nothing fancy. Save the appliqued flames for Mk II. If it's too baggy and you fall too slowly, you won't be hesitant about modifying it to take some of the bag out, because you made it in the 1st place. For info, I made mine out of denim-weight cotton drill, tie dyed various shades of blue. It was done on an ordinary domestic (Pfaff) sewing machine, bought second hand for farthings. It's sewn with M40 ('E' thread) bonded nylon thread. The longest part of the job was probably the iterating the mock-up, but it's worth getting the fit right - does it castrate you when you raise your arms, that kind of thing. Once you've got the pattern right, you can use it to make others with minor mods. Spend some time looking at the *insides* of jump suits, to see how they're constructed, especially round the zip and wrist/ankle cuffs. Everything else is pretty straightforward. I keep reading threads about people waiting umpteen weeks for suits, not being happy with the results. Arseholes to that; you could have learned how to sew and made the damn thing to your exact requirements three times over. *pant*, *pant*, *pant*. HTH John

I could listen to Colin talk about rigging, safety, container design until, well, he chases me out with a broom. John

Hi This is probably old news to you dedicated tunnel rats, but it's fresh and frustrating for me, living only a couple of hours away from not one, but two new tunnels, and having *still* not set foot in either of them. Here's what I thought would happen: I phone up and say "I'd like an hour of coaching, all told, between opening and closing on any convenient weekday. Do you take cash?". But it turns out that it's *my* job to find some other customers, who also want to do this, otherwise there's a danger of being required to do the hour in one lump. Even I know this isn't a good idea. I've looked in the Tunnel Time Classifieds, but there isn't exactly a flourishing market. How do people overcome this? Regards John

Can't say I knew the man personally; just exchanged e-mails with him when I bought the Team Crank video. I know a few people who remember him fondly from Ipswich days. Always gives me cause for reflection when I watch the DVD... Regards John

Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder? [pause] These go to eleven. Sorry, had to be said. John

They sure do! I've got one, bought a few months ago. They don't show it on their website, but they are available. John

I think (without ploughing through the whole thread) that the OP mentioned being at a slight angle, which would certainly suggest that some forward (or maybe backward) drive was involved. Continuing the 'feel the air' theme from another thread, a jump or two spent looking at the horizon and 'feeling the air' would straighten out which of the two it is. I found when I started (like that was a long time ago!) that entering HD from my back, I tended to 'stall' at a steep but not vertical angle. Entering from a half-cartwheel (as well as being more 2-way friendly) I would more commonly end up vertical. Once I got more accustomed to how it should feel I was better able to detect that there was something wrong (if I was slightly on my back, driving forward) and correct it, just by the smallest deflection of the upper body. My secret HD training tool is... a gym treadmill. When you've been running a while and your legs are going on autopilot, lean your head and neck forward a fraction - forward you go. Now backwards... That'll be 20 quid please. Next week, practice sit in a swimming pool with inflatable arm bands on your feet. John

Empuriabrava/Babylon Not working at the moment, I see. John

Thanks for all the replies - you've given me a few leads to follow up. I'll read the Knowledge Base article relating to the patch, and give it a try; the Firewire ports are on a seperate card that came with Pinnacle. Maybe it's time to try a different card! Regards John

I hope so - I'd like to see the market flooded with cheap second hand machines! I want one of those semi-industrial Bernina zig-zag machines that takes cams to change the stitch. Drool. John

Hi I wonder whether anyone has experienced any problems with firewire working inconsistently between a HC42 and Win XP SP2? It will usually work OK from a fresh boot-up, but if you stop and start it for any reason, the 'remote controls' on the PC will operate the camera, but no video data is transferred. This is with Pinnacle Studio. Re-boot, and it works OK. I've tried a little DV capture utility (can't remember the name) and I get the same thing, which suggests that it's either the camera or something about XP. Any thoughts? John

D'oh! Busted - guilty of the very thing I accuse others of. John

Hi Thanks; as with so many things, you can have it in 15 different colours and 47 different widths - if you're in the US! I'm in England... John

Hi I made one for my HC42 by butchering a neoprene wetsuit vest; I had no luck whatsoever finding supplies of neoprene off a roll. It took a few goes with paper mock-ups working out how to do it with the minimum number of seams. An ordinary sewing machine had no trouble sewing through 2 layers of neoprene - I used a zig-zag to allow the neoprene to stretch without popping the thread. John

Hi AV socket on the camera, behind a flap on the right hand side; next to the LANC socket, in fact. Power socket too, on the back of the camera. Puck only required for firewire. The AV socket is a mini-D-shaped thing that must be used by other Sonys; I've found the right plug hanging off TVs at DZs where there are no other HC42s. John