AndyMan

I have never jumped without insurance. I once had found myself in the unpleasant situation of being asked to contribute to a skydivers medical bill. I refused. If you are too cheap to pay for health insurance, don't come asking for my help paying your bills. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Have any of the rigs been custom made to your dimensions? That, by far - is the best thing somebody can do to get a comfortable rig. I've had two pieces of foam sewn into my legstraps, so that the padding is a bit thicker. It helps. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

What's amazing is that her victim, and the father of her two children will be petitioning the court to remove the protection order keeping them apart. He was 12 when he fathered her first child, but he's now 21. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Swoop courses can make excellent slalom gates. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Freudian slip, I'm sure...? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I think the DZO should pick his battles. As far as I can tell, he runs a drop zone, not a gun club. He would be smart to fight for the rights of his business, not the hobbies of his jumpers. DZ's get kicked off airports for far less. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Between this and your liking of Polish Sausage, I can see why Peter likes you so much! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Canopy transfers were a lot more common when people were jumping round reserves. Round Reserves have one big advantage in that they will usually happily co-exist with a main in the event of a two-out. Since square reserves have largely taken over, canopy transfers are pretty much relegated to the circular file, and are no longer taught as emergency procedures. When I did my first jump course, I did have a round reserve, and the canopy transfer was part of my "bag of tricks". I would be very hesitant to ever use that particular trick under a square reserve, unless the shit was truely inches from the fan. To answer your question, the idea is to chop the main just as the reserve is at line-stretch, but before the freebag has cleared. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I would do some more shopping. I saw the Sony .6 lens at Best Buy for $49.99, and on www.bhphotovideo.com for $29.99. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Have you mentioned this to bunny yet? He's more than happy to bring in a Skyvan if we want. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Oh, come on. Baseketball was friggin genius. _Am (Here! Hold my collostomy bag!) __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The PC-330 and PC0350 do not have 3 CCD's. They have one. They do have 3 CCD TRV cameras, but their image stablization systems have problems in freefall. The Sony VX2100 works well, but is expensive. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

8.jpg. Original found here: http://bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/eloy/valBill.jpg Here's the thread, but the attachments are long gone. Name of thread is " As promised - my pics from eloy." http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=157073;search_string=eloy%20pics;#157073 Bill and Vallerie are getting silly after a good night of drinking. They're doing this on the grass in front of BBarnhouse's trailer. Also present were myself, Skybytch, and AggieDave. I took the photos. The rest of the pics from that trip are here http://bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/eloy/ _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Thanks everyone for the tips. We narrowed the problem down to the Sigma 24MM lens I was using. The problem went away when we switched lenses. The problem only appeared when using any remote switch - either wired mono or stereo. This lens was advertised as not working with the ElanII camera. I can testify it also doesn't work with the Rebel G II. I suspect it won't work with any of the newer "II" series bodies. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My first ballon jump at Quincy (WFFC) was interesting. We were doing a two way. We picked the landing area before exiting. I landed first, it turned out to be up-hill. I had 50 jumps... Uneventfull, but interesting! My much more experience friend tries to swoop me, and does. What he didn't see was the single line of electrified fence I'd avoided. In the middle of a pretty cool swoop I hear a TWING!, then the sound of wire flying through the air.... THe fence broke cleanly. We gathered up the wire, and headed to the farm house. Knock on the door and a nice lady answers... We held up the wire and said "we broke your fence!". She was so nice, she offered us a raft she found in her backyard. Yay raft! Landing off after a balloon jump is ALWAYS interesting. Be prepared for the unnexpected... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Your old Nikormat didn't have a motor drive, so I'm a bit curious if you're looking for the digital equivalent of a "fast motor drive", or a quick response when you hit the shutter release just once. I have a perfectly good entirely manual Nikon FM4 I'd be willing to sell you cheap if you want to keep with manual 35mm. You'd be able to use most of your old NIKKOR lenses. The body is in mint condition. If you want auto focus, my wife has a Nikon N6006 body I think she'd be willing to sell, it's in good condition. Neither are appropriate for skydiving. The FM4 because it's fully manual, the N6006 because even though it's got a motor drive, the remote shutter release is the old mechanical "plunger" style, which won't work with electronic tongue switches. Alternately, since you're used to SLR's and all their complexity, there's a laundry list of perfectly good digital SLR's on the market for less than a grand that have really good reaction times to the shutter. If you stick with Nikon, you might still be able to reuse some of your lenses, although I presume they're all manual focus. The D-70 is a really good digital camera, and is currently on the street for $999. THe downside to this camera is that there isn't a wired remote switch available (only wireless), so it may not be appropriate for skydiving. A bit cheaper is the Canon digital Rebel. It can be found on the street in the low $700. Of course the downside is that you couldn't use any of your Nikkor lenses, but since you probably have manual focus lenses, this may not be such a big deal anyways. Both the D-70 and the Digital Rebel (aka 300D) have excellent response times to the shutter, and a good frame rate (aka "motor drive") for knocking off a fast series of shots. If you want a faster frame rate (motor drive analogy), then you can spend a whole lot more money. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Thanks... Makes perfect sense. I'll try another switch on the weekend when I get to the DZ, maybe that'll help. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Ok, I think my post was wrong. It's not holding the shutter open. It's not taking a picture, either - if I delay for more than 5 seconds. I hear a 'click', and the shutter curtain moves - but doesn't seem to actually open. Is there some sort of "priming" action being performec on the shutter curtain? This is frustrating. After a 5 second delay.... I hit the tongue switch once. I hear a "click". I doesn't take a picture. I hit the tongue switch again. I hear the motor drive advance. I hit the tongue switch a 3rd time. It takes a picture. I hit the tongue switch a 4th time. It takes a picture. I wait 5 seconds, back to the top. I hear a "click". I doesn't take a picture. Is it possible this is related to the fact that I don't have film loaded? The behaviour only happens with the remote switch, doesn't happen with the main shutter release button. MF or AF doesn't affect anything. In AF mode, it does focus before taking the picture, but not before this weird thing its doing... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

No difference in AF or MF modes... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's not a digi-rebel. Standard film Rebel G-II _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Currently set at 125. What I mean, is that the first time I hit the tongue switch it opens the shutter, and keeps it open until I hit the switch again. If I take a second shot right away, it works as normal. If I wait 5 seconds before shooting, it again holds the shutter open until I hit the tongue switch again. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've got a Conceptus Tongue Switch with a new Rebel G2. The Tongue Switch has the 3-pronged stereo adapter, and the camera is set to Tv - shutter priority. If I delay 5 seconds between taking shots, the camera will act in a sort of 'bulb' setting, where the shutter stays open until I hit the switch again. If I leave less then 5 seconds between shots, it shoots as normal. What am I missing? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've done a pretty big handful of piston jumps, I've probably got 50 or so. That said, I'm firmly a Otter baby - turbine snob, whatever you wanna call it, I'm one. Damn proud of it. The only thing worse then a turbine snob is a Piston snob. They actually think they're better than others because they jump crappy planes. That - I just don't get. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Well, I'll certainly agree that they do tend to wander in the same direction.... But if someone wanted to predict when mortgage rates were changing, they'd do much better to watch the 30 year bond, and the 10 year note, than whatever the fed is doing at any time. In any regard, Mortgage rates are still at historically low values, and any rises over the next year or so are expected to be very gradual. It's certainly a good time to buy a house. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

A "5 year ARM" means that' its' an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, that's locked for 5 years. Technically, we're getting a "5-1 ARM" - which means that it's locked for 5 years, then is adjusted every 1 year after that. We could also get a "5-2 ARM', where the rate adjusts every 2 years after the initially locked 5. I'm not sure I see the point of that. An ARM makes a lot of sense if, and only if, we're going to move before the 5 years are up. Since we're newly married, and the place we're buying doesn't have room for kids, that's probably a safe bet. ARM rates are a lot cheaper since the bank doesn't have to hedge against future rate hikes. For example, in a 30 year mortgage, the bank charges a higher rate because they really don't know what mortgage rates will be doing in 25 years. They charge a bit more to cover potential losses in the future. Secondly, mortgage rates tend to follow the "long bond", aka the T-Bill interest rates. Mortgage rates are not affected by the Federal Funds Rate. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.