It has the same control setup to a DBX 160, a compressor that I’ve used quite a lot in the past. I tend to think that the marketing copy that compares the B16 to the DBX 160 is simply for control layout though – Tim seems to take the best features from old designs and transform them into something better. I’ll get my hands on one soon and report back.

2011 POSTIE BIKE CHALLENGE

The Event: Brisbane to Alice Springs via Birdsville – 9 to 21 August 2011

Over the years a number of events organised by a variety of individuals have been given the title “Postie Bike Challenge”, however the domain name www.postiebikechallenge.org is owned by Dan Gridley, who along with his brother and four friends have been running an annual Postie Bike Challenge since 2002.  These rides have all started in Brisbane because that’s where the organisers live, and destinations have included Darwin (3 times), Alice Springs (twice now), Cairns (via the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cooktown), Melbourne (via Bourke and the snowy mountains) and Adelaide.  Each event is intended to be a 10 day challenge rather than just a ride, and avoids major roads and uses unsealed roads as much as possible.

Although not a registered charity, the events raise money for local community groups along the route by utilizing them for support services and by donating the bikes to Rotary at the final destination.  For example, the town of Bedourie has a primary school with 14 students and one teacher.  The Parents and Citizens association provided us with a dinner, a cooked breakfast and 50 cut lunches.  The money they raised from that will be used to fund an excursion for the kids to the big cities (Charleville and Longreach).  Similarly, the Rotary clubs of Alice Springs will slowly sell off the bikes that were donated to them and the proceeds will be added to the money raised from the Henley on Todd regatta.  Apart from the usual things like providing scholarships and supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service, one of the main aims of this year’s regatta was to establish a specialist breast cancer unit at the Alice Springs hospital, rather than having patients travel to Adelaide for treatment.  Our bikes should add around $40,000 to that goal.

The Bikes

The bikes are Honda CT110 purchased at auction from Australia Post.  Mine was a 2006 model with 28585 kilometres on the odometer.  The bikes are as ridden by Australia Post, including 3.00X17 road tyres front and rear, with the only modification being the removal of the post bags and the addition of a milk crate on the luggage rack.  They have a 4 speed manual gearbox and a centrifugal clutch.  A rider who weighs between 80 and 90 kg could get a top speed of about 80 kph, but my 203 cm 112 kg body (actually probably nearer 120 kg when you add on boots, helmet and riding gear) kept my bike down to a little over 70 kph (less climbing hills or into a head wind).

Before the Ride

I flew to Brisbane early on the morning of 9 August 2011 with QANTAS, and the service was exemplary (thanks Moira).  I then caught a bus to the start point at the Ipswich showgrounds and was there by 10 am ready for the 10:30 briefings.  This was the admin day where everyone is checked in and given a bag of goodies that included event polo shirt and hat, first aid kit, maps and so on.   Apart from briefings on CT110 maintenance and administrative matters, it was also the opportunity to replace the standard handgrips with some soft ones I had purchased at Peter Stevens, fit the sheep skin seat cover and my home made milk crate lid.  Mine was a piece of 2-ply cut to size using 4 cable ties as a hinge and a bungee cord to keep it closed.  The lid was essential to keep the contents of the crate from bouncing out on the rough roads.  The crate contained 5 litres of petrol, 2 litres of drinking water, a cut lunch, a first aid kit, a road atlas and anything else you wanted with you.  Your camping gear and any other luggage, had to fit into an army duffle bag that was carried in the truck.  This was also the first opportunity many of us had to ride a CT110 around the showgrounds and try to get used to the clutch, which is also foot activated through the gear change lever.  Everything was ready by about 2 pm.

The Ride

The next morning we all gathered at the showgrounds around 8:30, we lined up the bikes for photo opportunities, a few farewells were said and by 9:30 we were away.  There were 44 riders aged between 25 and 72 (38 men and 6 women) with 6 support crew in 5 vehicles carrying 3 spare bikes.  The first day was a fairly short introductory ride, about 185 km (40 dirt) through Boonah, into northern NSW across Mt Lindesay, then back into QLD for our first overnight stop at Stanthorpe.  Although scenic, everyone was complaining about being cold.  This was also when our two mechanics (Andy and Richard) nick-named me “windbreak” (or was that “windbrake”?  Either way it was better than being called “breaks wind”).  They decided to lift the needle in my carburettor one notch to slightly enrich the fuel mixture and to loosen the tappets to their maximum gap.  The evening routine involved refuelling, checking the engine oil, lubricating and checking the drive chain.  Then you set up your tent for the night.

The following morning people started getting up around 6 am.  The temperature was -1C.  Camp was packed and duffle bags loaded on the truck by 7 am.  We then had a cooked breakfast, collected lunch, checked the tyre pressures on the bike, and attended a riders briefing around 7:45 with a departure around 8 am.  This became our regular morning and evening routine.

A CT110 being ridden flat out has a range of about 130 kilometres out of its 5 litre tank.  I would stop every 100 kilometres (hour and a half) to top up my tank, stretch my legs and back and have drink.  Dan would set up a refuel point around 200 – 250 kilometres where we could refill our tanks and jerry cans.  Our second day on the road saw us cover 390 km west to Nindigully.

Our third day was 400 km to Eulo; at least the weather was getting warmer.  Our fourth day was 480 km north-west to Windorah.  That’s a long way on a bike that’s flat out at 70 kph and needs to be refuelled 3 times. The further west we went, the wider the road became but the narrower the bitumen.  Road trains became more common, and they are entitled to all of the single lane bitumen, other road users are obliged to take to the dust.

Birdsville

Sunday 14 August was to be a big day; 109 km of bitumen followed by 277 km of dirt on the Birdsville development road.  The road is well maintained for heavy vehicles.  There is a lot of large diameter gravel (small rocks) on the road that are pushed up into wheel ruts about 6-8 inches deep.  The bottom of the ruts are a series of pot holes that probably wouldn’t bother you much in a truck, but with 17” wheels and very little suspension travel they shook and jarred you.  It was here we had our first casualty.  One of the ladies went too fast into the first sand drift across the road.  Her front wheel dug in, and she bent the steering stem before going over the handle bars landing on gravel (small rocks) on the other side.  She was obviously in pain. We stayed with her until the sweep vehicle arrived.  He used a satellite phone to call the ambulance then took her back towards Windorah while we pushed on.

I had heard that if you go fast enough you can smooth out corrugations.  Postie bikes don’t go fast enough.  Trying to maintain 50-60 kph my vision was blurred and I could not focus, so at times I was forced to slow to 30-40 kph in order to see clearly.  About 25 kilometres before Birdsville we came upon road works.  This amounted to dumping red clay and more stones on the road and watering it.  Graders were starting to work on one side of the road, but the side we were forced to use resembled a motocross track on a rainy day.  It only lasted a couple of kilometres, but after 200 km of corrugations, dust, sand and deep gravel it seemed like some sort of cruel trick to be bogging in deep, wet, sticky red clay.

I did eventually get into Birdsville, totally knackered.  Later that night in the pub I learned that we had our first (and only) engine failure: a dropped valve.  He had come in on a trailer, but would be able to continue tomorrow on one of the spare bikes.  We also found out that Jo (our injured lady rider) had been flown by the RFDS to Rockhampton where X-rays revealed fractures in both shoulders and she was about to go into surgery to have plates and screws inserted.

This had not been a fun day, but I did get a sense of achievement at having arrived unaided.

And beyond …

The plan had been to ride out to “Big Red” (the first dune of the Simpson Desert) and back in the morning, but the road was still under water so that was not possible.  We had a relaxed morning in Birdsville, had a look at the Working Man’s Museum, and then met at the pub around 10:30 for more photos and a briefing before heading north out of town around 11 am.  The road to the north of Birdsville appeared to be in much better condition than the road to the east.  That was due in part to the fact that it had been flooded during the wet and subsequently rebuilt, and partly because we were there before the races.  I’m told that after the races the heavy traffic coming from Mt Isa knocks the road around a lot.  We got to Bedourie with plenty of time to have a swim in the municipal pool before dinner.

The following day was a comparatively short 217 km north to Boulia.  Following the floods, the worst sections of road had been sealed and maybe half this distance was on bitumen.  From Boulia we headed west to Tobermorey station just inside the Northern Territory border.  It was 249 km of hard packed red soil with only an occasionally sand drift so once again we were able to make good time.

Our second last day on the road was 421 km of the Plenty Highway to a place called Gem Tree.  As we headed west the road deteriorated.  The hard surface became increasingly corrugated, the sand encroached from both sides and it seemed at times I was either in sand or being battered by corrugations, sometimes both.  Just after lunch I found Cecilia Brown lying on a sand drift in the middle of the road swearing at herself.  I picked her bike up, she said she was sore but OK.  I stayed until one of the support vehicles arrived then pushed on (slowly).  My technique for dealing with sand was much the same as dealing with deep gravel: slow down as much as I could before entering it, change down a gear or two, push my weight back against the milk crate then try and power through the stuff.  I had my feet off the pegs and forward (motocross style) so that when the back end went sideways I could swing my foot down and kick the bike back up vertical.

I was second last getting into Gem Tree.  Cecilia was last.  That night over dinner the damage toll was revealed.  Two more bikes had been damaged but the riders continued on spares, one of the Bobs (there were 3) had hammered his forearm in a fall and had to be brought in a support vehicle with a suspected broken wrist – he would be it X-rayed when he got home.  After Cecilia took her boot off, she couldn’t walk and she couldn’t get the boot back on either.  An X-ray in Alice Springs next day would show a fractured fibula.  This had been a harder day than getting into Birdsville.

Alice Springs

From Gem Tree it was 140 km of bitumen to Alice Springs.  Ten days and 3,052 km (1,025 on dirt roads) after leaving Ipswich, 41 of the original 44 riders rode into Alice Springs and there were six damaged bikes on the trailer.  Much to my surprise Jenny was waiting for me at the Chifley Resort Hotel.  That wasn’t part of the plan!  Who was going to pick me up at the airport now?  That evening we had a formal dinner at the hotel, and Rotary handed out certificates of appreciation for delivering and donating our bike.  The following morning, the postie bikes lead the Henley on Todd parade through Alice Springs to the Todd River.  Once there, the bikes were handed over and we were official guests of Rotary for the remainder of the day (free food and drink). Jen and I flew back to Melbourne the following day.

I am glad I did it.  I got a real sense of satisfaction and achievement from completing the challenge, but I doubt I’ll be going back year after year the way some repeat offenders do.  There were two days in particular that I was pleased Jenny had decided not to go in it.  In fact those days I wondered why I was there myself.

-Malcolm Percy

Towing a Ocean Farm Technologies AquaPod off the coast of Mexico

I recently visited the Ocean Farm Technologies (OFT) plant and was impressed by the constant approach development and product improvement. It felt a bit like going to the science museum – there were many scale models, running experiments to test component strength and durability, and many patented components that had to be developed from scratch specifically for the AquaPods.

Here is OFT’s explanation of what the AquaPod is:

Net handling activities in present commercially sized fish pens are labor-intensive, require significant power and cannot be performed in strong seas and currents. The modular nature of the Aquapod solves this problem by utilizing individual net panels which are interchangeable and scaled to be handled easily either on the surface or while submerged. The balance of weight and buoyancy in the net panel materials makes each panel, weighting 40-50kg in air, neutrally buoyant underwater. These net panels are fastened together to form strong secure geodesic spherical enclosures, custom tailored to site specific hydrological and environmental requirements of deep water fish farms. The use of wire mesh netting guarantees superior predator proof containment, greatly reducing the possibility of fish losses due to escapement.

Ocean Farm Technologies has been featured in Forbes, Business Week, and MIT News for their innovative approach to fish farming. They’re quite a cool company with great ideas. Their website has a lot more information about aquaculture – you might as well learn where your food will come from in the near future!

There was a twist in this build, though: like most problem-plagued amp projects, this one initially went together quickly and without issues. Often, that smooth build process means that you turn the amp on and it works. Other times (like this time), it means that some odd problem will confound you to no end.

The old Peavey practice amp ready for disassembly.

Peavey Practice Amp Deconstruction
It’s always smart to take a look at the chassis and circuit of the existing amplifier before removing anything. If you can reuse the jacks, lights, switches – anything, you might consider leaving those if they are known to be in working order. I left the mains power switch on this one only. Also take note of the transformer placement: it is all too easy to lay out the transformers, then bolt and wire them only to find out that they are in the way of the speaker. It happened to me on this build, since I hadn’t made one of these for a while. Thankfully, I had the foresight to leave the transformer leads long. You may also find that you can reduce hum in the amp by positioning the transformers at certain angles to each other. You’ll need some lead length to be able to try this out. Despite your best attempts to reduce noise this way, you’ll often find that chassis space limits what you can do with the transformer positioning.

Initial Tweed Princeton 5F2-A Circuit Layout
I had built this 5F2-A circuit board over the last winter with some spare parts I had purchased and not used from other amp projects. Some of the parts included some very large coupling caps from the 60′s and some old RCA tubes. I usually prefer to use turret boards for the scratch builds (or amp conversions) and eyelets or turrets for the replica builds, depending on whatever was used in the original. This DIY 5F2 circuit used a turret board, like the other Fender Champ DIY amp project I had built. That Champ amp was a bit of a test bed, so the wiring wasn’t as neat as it could have been.

I positioned the power transformer (both transformers were built by Magnetic Components – I really like their stuff) in the usual spot for Fender amps, near the mains plug entry. The output transformer first went into the front of the amp – a beautiful spot – until I realized that it was right in the way of the speaker. Forgot about that! Always remember that the chassis lives in the cabinet and the transformers must clear the speaker. The output transformer ended up between the 12AX7 and the 6V6GT. It produced very little hum and was one of the few available spots in the chassis.

The initial layout idea for the amp - it changed a bit before the Princeton was finished.

Changes, or mods, to the Princeton circuit included a planned variable adjustment to the amp’s negative feedback loop. I canned this mod when I was troubleshooting. Rather than keep the pot at the front face of the amp, I decided that it was neater and if I used a simple switch at the rear of the chassis – it simply would break the negative feedback loop with one throw, giving the amp a much grittier character. This negative feedback (NFB) mod also brightens up the sound a bit during all volume settings and is very useful for studio work. Next time I build one of these, I’ll try to use a resonance control to affect the bass frequency NFB only.

The tone controls in the Princeton amp are very interactive, unlike the Fender Blackface tone controls. I love this quality, as playing becomes a bit more about listening to what works rather than focusing on number settings that you think should work.

I used a couple of old RCA tubes in this Princeton amp and they sound great as they always do. The preamp tube is a Groove Tubes 12Ax7 – nothing special in itself, but it worked well for being able to give the amp just the right amount of brightness. I tend to find the original RCA 6V6GT tubes to be round and somewhat dark sounding, in the best way possible. In something like a Princeton Reverb, they go extremely well with that circuit’s round sound. The RCA 5Y3 rectifier is very solid and seems to last a long time.

It’s done… no it’s not.
I completed the amp and tested it at low volumes on the bench – it worked and sounded fine, so I took it out to the studio to turn it up and see what it could do. That is when I noticed the horrible hash and squeal when you hit certain notes, or went above 4 on the volume knob. My first thought was DC on the pots (I did measure some), or a bad pot, so I replaced the .022uF coupling caps after confirming that the voltages in each stage of the amp were correct (they were). I don’t have an oscilloscope for testing and am probably equipped similarly to most people reading this blog. I next poked and prodded the amp with some chopsticks – nothing that I could notice except a buzz when pushing the leads to some connections on the 12AX7 (this was the step in hindsight that I should have paid more attention to. For whatever reason, I dismissed this buzz and moved on. If something produces a crunch, buzz, or some crappy noise when you push it, take special note of that and don’t ignore it.)

I then replaced the pots, because I had repaired several original Bassman amps that had faulty pots and the symptoms sounded a lot like this amp’s problem – squealing, rumbling, oscillating madness. That did nothing. I took out my variable feedback control and returned that part of the 5F2-A circuit to stock configuration. That did nothing. I was starting to get frustrated, because the time spent troubleshooting this amp had surpassed the amount of time that it took to build it in the first place. I could also find no fault with my layout or wiring and that was probably the most frustrating part. These old circuits always work when they are made correctly. Usually a problem can be attributed to a faulty build – that makes it easier to troubleshoot.

Next, I started looking into the wiring layout – sometimes this is the cause for oscillation. I had kept the wires braided where possible and used perpendicular crossing points. I reorganized some wires, resoldered others, and cleaned up the rest. This all had no effect on the general status of the amp except to allow the amp to run without howling at high volumes and unloaded. I wondered if this was going in the right direction, but after playing it at high volumes, the same problem persisted.

With nothing to go on and after having rebuilt most of the preamp section to rule out bad components, I had a beer and finished some other project unrelated to amps. Later in the day, I again went back to the chopsticks because I was getting to the point of ripping it all out and calling this build a complete failure. That is when I noticed that the wire from the volume pot to pin 7 (or pin 3? I don’t have the schematic in front of me) was intermittent. Aha! Pushing on it would cut the volume by a lot, or bring it back up significantly. But wait – wasn’t this the same thing I had noticed before? Uhh…yeah. It was.

Getting back to the story, I replaced that wire and cautiously turned the amp up on the bench…sounded okay so far. I took it back out to the studio and expected the worst as I plugged in a Telecaster and…it worked. Finally. It actually did better than work – it sounded amazingly awesome. It was a longer than expected amp journey, but the end result was worth it.

That one intermittent wire had caused me to spend three times as much time troubleshooting this amp as it did to build it. Despite that, I felt that the whole experience gave me a chance to revisit some core troubleshooting skills and add “partly broken wire” to my list of possible problems to look out for.

The final amp. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but a hell of a lot prettier than the original!

The wire was partially broken right near the connection point at the volume pot. I was right to suspect the pots and the preamp section, but I was wrong in replacing everything but the problem component in a pursuit to fix the issue. Should have paid more attention to the problem when I first had found it! I have found this happens a lot in amp building or fixing: If you are looking for a problem and already have a list of possible cures, there is a tendency to overlook things that don’t fall into your list of solutions. Keep an open mind and try to make sure anything that looks odd, even just a bit, is looked into. When you push on something and it makes an unexpected noise, it could be a bad connection, a bad wire, or a bad component. Most of the time, it is #1 or #2.

Princeton 5F2-A Amp
Now that the amp was done and sounding amazing, it was on to the cabinet construction. Since this was a dirty old Peavey practice amp from the 80′s or early 90′s, it needed some cleaning up. I wanted to surprise the new owner with something to be proud of, but still had some DIY charm to it. Those old amps have aluminum side panels and the material doesn’t go all the way to the sides of the baffle. The panels on this amp were all marked up, so I painted them a vintage white and had a heck of a time trying to refit them back on the baffle. I ended up cutting them down a bit and gluing them on, rather than using the brads that were originally securing them on there. The brads made it difficult to install or remove the baffle into the cabinet, so now the panels can be more easily sanded down and repainted if they get marked up in the future.

I used some straw-colored fabric to cover the baffle – it looked great and I had used it on some recent Princeton Reverb and Vibrolux Reverb builds. Instead of the Peavey logo plate, I used an old Saab “turbo” badge from a 900 series car. It looks pretty sweet.

And finally, I polished the top hardware that was originally chrome down to a nice shine. I wasn’t sure if it would come out in the end because it was so rusted and pitted. However, a Dremel 400 took good care of it with the polishing wheel and some compound.

Conclusion
A practice amp with a 10″ or 12″ speaker is a great candidate for a DIY Fender Princeton amp project. Any smaller and you start to find that the speaker isn’t up to producing the full tones that you’d expect from this amp (just plug it into a 2×10 or 2×12 cab to see the difference – these can be HUGE amps with the right speakers). Having more room in the chassis also makes the build easier. Transformer layout and board positioning are all helped by having more space between them, to a point.Now, this old practice amp has a new lease on life and will be appreciated in a way that it hadn’t before.

The backside. The 5Y3 in this photo is an old Magnavox brand.

Pilot’s Wings Logos

Examples of Pilot's Wings Logos

Let’s start with the captain’s pilot wings. This design is of early to mid-20th century ilk, I believe. I would imagine that it came from a military background in the early 20th century. Commercial air carriers used to give them away on flights to kids. Perhaps the origins are much earlier…I don’t know.

Either way, it doesn’t take long to know that the brand is aviation-related. The problem is that these and many other aviation-related logos are quite similar to each other. Regardless, they do get the message across. It’s a nice balance between the promotion of business and pleasure flying.

Side Profile Logos

Examples of Side Profile Logos

These logos take the aircraft side profile and incorporate it into the text of the brand. They often depict jet aircraft. For my purposes, they didn’t do enough to acknowledge the community aspect of a small, municipal airport. These are not my favorite logos, as there often isn’t a whole lot of creative thought that goes into them. And, they all tend to blend in with each other.

Contrails Logos

Examples of Contrails Logos

Logos that depict aircraft contrails are another common jet business favorite. The contrails can be blended with many text characteristics, so they are relatively easy to work with. Much of the time, they incorporate the aircraft side profile into the design, much like the examples above. They give the brand movement and that on its own is pretty cool, but the design seems so ’90′s.

Tail Profile Logos

Examples of Tail Logos

Many commercial aviation logos are emblazoned on the tails of the company jets, but other logos take the tail and incorporate it into the brand itself. I wonder if they use the “tailed” brand on the tails of their aircraft?

These logos have a nice, compact presentation that seems to work better than some of the other logos that we’ve previously seen. They are “propulsion system neutral”, something that is important when designing for aviation businesses that straddle the line between jet aircraft and piston-driven planes.

Regarding aviation branding, it is relatively easy to design for pistons or for jets, but certain brand characteristics work better for straddling the line. Tail-image designs tend to work pretty well so far.

Front Profile Logos

Examples of Front Profile Logos

The jet aircraft front profile is another common brand design. If you have ever been to a large FBO (fixed base operator) at a medium to large airport, then you may have been exposed to this logo. These businesses tend to use this type the most in my experience.

This logo often has no propeller (the piston businesses use an engine with propeller more often than they use a profile with an engine) and you will sometimes see the jet engine nacelles in the back, if they aren’t slung under the wings. Of course, I found an example to prove wrong my statement about front profiles with propellers…

This kind of logo is obviously aviation-related, but could use a bit more creativity. Simple  drawings are common for these ones and the colors used are the same as the brand text in most cases.

Animal Wing Logos

Examples of Wing Logos

Wings (of animals) make it into aviation business brands a lot. Unfortunately, most of the common aviation themes are just that – common. Are these any better than using a profile of an aircraft or an aircraft wing? They are somewhat unique in communicating the sense of flying and taking it away from the mechanical middleman. At this point, the best logos (I bet!) are going to be the ones that convey a feeling rather than showing the tools of the trade.

I do like how the American brand does a good job of connecting the text shapes with the wing shape. The other falcon or eagle logos tend to draw my mind too far away from aviation and into conservation ideas.

Compass Logos

Example of a compass logo

I could only find one of these, but there is a very popular one that uses a compass (Northwest), however, I wanted to use that brand later because I have always loved the simple image-text ties.

The compass may be a bit too deep for a quick mental connection to aviation, since compasses are used in every type of navigation  imaginable. They are unique to this field and that is why I don’t think they do a good job in an aviation brand. Unless, you are Northwest Airlines.

Close Image-Text Brand Tie-ins

Examples of good image-text brand tie-ins

Northwest has one of my favorite logos and I think of aviation more than anything else simply because the brand was so popular -it was everywhere. It’s smart, because of the airline’s name. Either the text or the image can be used on its own and you get the same acknowledgement.

I think the Skylark brand is too complicated, but I can appreciate trying to connect the core of the brand to logo. I picked this one because it explicitly connected the student pilot to the aspirations of many pilots – to fly for the majors. It was getting closer to the “feeling” brand I spoke of earlier.

The Bell brand at least uses some image that is connected to the name. I’m not familiar with the brand though, so I don’t know if this is someone’s last name, or some bell in a hangar that fell on some poor guy’s head in 1934. It makes sense, if it does nothing else.

Engine Logos

Examples of Engine Profile Logos

Engine logos pop up more than front profile jet logos, but they are roughly the same thing for different types of businesses. These are tough to use for those cross-propulsion operators for reasons stated earlier. There are few things more beautiful than a rotary piston engine, though.

You see the propellers in these logo examples, but some of them just use the pistons. I should have titled this “Piston Engine/Propellers Logos”, because there is nothing that says small airport like a propeller. It immediately gets that point across, but doesn’t help people think “jet charter.”

Logos with Swipes

Examples of Logos with Swipe

Many logos incorporate swipes. Some look more like birds, some like mid-2000′s startup company logos, some look like topographical features, and others like futuristic aircraft. Swipes are cool, but the problem is that many businesses use them (outside of aviation too) and they are often too abstract for their own good.

Conclusion

This wraps up my quick study of aviation brands. Obviously, there is more work to be done!

ForeFlight mobile

In some of the aircraft I’ve rented before, the radio equipment can be a bit bare bones. While some planes have an IFR-approved GPS, situational awareness is often achieved with a second VOR rather than using the primitive moving map in something like a KLN 89b. ForeFlight allows me to stay aware of my position with a glance that can then be confirmed by the other radio or GPS information.

The ForeFlight iPad mobile app can display your GPS-derived track, speed, and heading. Your aircraft is overlaid on your choice of map – Low Enroute, High Enroute, Sectional, Approach Plate (with the Pro version), etc. I really wish I had one of these things back when I started flying in ’93 – it can really help you keep you situated geographically. You can also enter routes, file flight plans, get up to date aviation weather, and best of all, be safer and more prepared.

On another note, I’ve been looking into aircraft mounting options for the iPad and came across the RAM yoke mount from Sporty’s. Once I get a chance to fly with this particular yoke mount, I’ll report back. It hangs the iPad over the yoke and seems like it is a good solution to a crowded cockpit. A dashmount may be a better idea, but we’ll see.

This post will probably grow in content over time, but I also wanted to mention that the ForeFlight customer service is spectacular – fast responses from actual pilots (that info is in their email signatures – they are obviously proud of that too!). I definitely appreciate good customer service and think it is such an important thing to get right in a startup or relatively new company. I’m really looking forward to seeing how ForeFlight does in the aviation market. If their extensive updates to the app over the last year are any indication of future progress, Foreflight is definitely going somewhere good.

Edit: General aviation needs more local websites and volunteers devoted to our airports. Even a short blog and point of contact is helpful. Here’s mine, focused on KGHG (George Harlow Field) in Marshfield, MA.

Guitar Tools: Chords
If you know what chord you want, the Chords section in Guitar Tools is the app for you. There are over 7,000 chords to choose from. You could use the app for a range of objectives, from expanding your music theory knowledge to figuring out difficult guitar tabs. This section and others within Guitar Tools will actually let you play individual notes and full or partial chords by strumming the app. It gives you a direct audio reference and is extremely useful for anyone learning how to play the guitar.

Guitar Tools: Chord Finder
This feature is as useful as the previous one, but instead of telling the app what chords you are looking for, you just select the frets for each string and build each chord from the ground up. The app then tells you what chord you are playing and lets you strum it to hear what it sounds like. If you write fairly complicated songs and would like to notate them in some manner, this is a great way to put your ideas down (even if you know very little about chords). Ideally, you’ll learn more about music as you go through the process.

Guitar Tools: Scales
Guitar Tools also has an excellent scale tool. It shows you exactly what notes on the fingerboard are contained within almost any popular scale. You can move up and down the fretboard and play individual notes. It will automatically play the scale up and down for that position when you strum it. This is a great way to follow along and practice each fingerboard position.

Guitar Tools: Tuner
The tuner is very cool – it uses the iPhone’s built in microphone and has two ways of displaying the data – using a strobe tuner format or the old analog needle display. Both are useful, so what you choose will probably depend more on your comfort level with a particular type of device that you’ve used in the past. The tuner can be used in many different modes – chromatic, dropped tunings, and other non-standard tunings. They’ve even included a “Nick Drake” tuning for good measure.

Guitar Tools: Metronome
The metronome feature is really well done – it has an audio signal and also a nice animated display that helps you stay in tempo. You can select the tempo using classical names for tempo (presto, allegro, moderato, etc), or you can select the exact BPM down to a single beat per minute. There are two ways to change the BPM – either use the arrows at the top of the app or the scroll wheel at the bottom.

Guitar Tools: Teachers Near Me & Stores Near Me
Lastly, there are two other features inside the app: one helps you find music teachers in your area (it actually had quite a few listed for the greater Boston area alone) and the other feature helps you find music stores in your area. If you are like most musicians that I’ve met, you already know where the music stores are within 50 miles. However, not many musicians I work with tend to know very much about guitar or other musical instrument teachers around them. This app changes that.

Planet Waves has done a great job of providing very useful information to learning musicians. They’ve also made a great app with great tools that should help make more musicians aware of their brand through this non-traditional mobile marketing channel. The graphics are well done for the Retina display, the app itself is fairly solid (it doesn’t crash), and the designers have spent some time updating the app (not heavily, but enough for me to believe they’re still alive and breathing). This is an excellent app for the iPhone. Find it here: Guitar Tools.

Yankee Barn Homes, like several other pre-fab, post and beam home builders in North America, offers a unique opportunity to experience their homes up close and personally. As you progress through the pre-fab home buying process and speak with a number of different vendors, the next step is to visit the factory, or see one of their model homes.

My wife and I did just that, but a bit of background is in order. Prior to this visit, Andrew at Yankee Barn helped us understand the complete sale and building process. He started by supplying as many plans and designs as we wanted. There are hundreds of Yankee Barn Homes across the country and they have done an excellent job of collecting the best designs into concise, useful brochures.

Finding the right land to build your home on is perhaps the most difficult part of the process. Yankee Barn was very forthcoming and up front about the cost of their post and beam barn homes. I found their estimates to be pretty accurate, though cost overruns can occur and should be planned for, especially with difficult terrain. Much of your cost comes by your finishing costs in areas like the fireplace, kitchen, and bathrooms.

Post and Beam Home Plans
Once you make the initial deposit, Yankee Barn supplies you with custom plans built to your specifications and helps you through the town building permit process. It’s really helpful and nice to not have to incur the added expense of an architect. Other features like the foundation, sewage, and water supply are left up to the builder. Thankfully, Yankee Barn works with several contractors located in geographic areas spread across the US. They have each put up a number of Yankee Barn homes and can help save the new owners money and time.

Getting back to our story, my wife and I have loved Yankee Barn’s home designs ever since we were kids. Once we decided that Yankee Barn’s home designs were our favorites, we gladly took Andrew up on his offer to stay a night in the Yankee Barn model home in Grantham, New Hampshire. I was blown away by the craftmanship, warmth, and beauty of this home. It was a home that was stunning, but completely livable. There was privacy in nooks, balconies, and a massive great room that opened up to several other areas in the house. I had never seen something so intimate and open at the same time!

Post and Beam Model Home
The practice of allowing prospective clients into a model home is an excellent way to help home buying prospects progress through the buying process. It separates those who might be mildly interested from those who are willing to go further and put time into making the sale work. While it takes some effort to go and stay a night away from home, it both demonstrates both the buyer’s resolve and the seller’s confidence in their homes and structures.

I hear it gets difficult to find a time to stay over at the Yankee Barn model home in Grantham, NH during the summer, but we stayed there this last winter and got to wake up to the snow falling in the morning. Later, we met with Andrew. He answered all of our questions and gave us the information we needed to make an informed decision. It was an amazing experience and one that we’ll never forget.

As to cost, I think that it’s fair to say that you should expect to spend anywhere from $175 to $225 per square foot for the home alone. This cost varies depending on the level and quality of finish, mainly in three areas – the fireplace, the kitchen, and the bathrooms. Plan another chunk of the budget for land prep, plumbing, septic/sewer, and landscaping, to name just some of the costs that need to be addressed when building any new structure.

9 months later - This price range was ultimately out of our budget when everything was factored in, yet one of our favorite memories of this year was going up to the model home and simply enjoying the experience and what Yankee Barn Homes has been able to create. If we ever have the budget to build in the future, you better believe that Yankee Barn Homes is who we’re going to be calling. I can’t say enough good things about their customer experience and quality of work.

(edit 9/23/11) It seems that Yankee Barn Homes was sold to a Massachusetts businessman and they have a new website and also have revised the brand. I wrote this when they were still under the old ownership, so I can’t speak for the new Yankee Post and Beam company. Perhaps if they see this article, they can reach out and reconnect. If they keep the old employees, that would be a wonderful thing, as we were very impressed with their professionalism and courtesy.

(edit 9/29/11) If you take a look at the string of comments below this post, you’ll see that the new Yankee Post & Beam company is certainly alive and well. It’s a very nice surprise to hear from a current customer about their experience. I do hope to add a second post in the future that details the start to finish experience of someone who is building their own post and beam house.

Paul’s ebay page is here: Fender Cabinet Kits

Until he gets a website up and running, I highly recommend you contact him through ebay for some of the highest quality Fender cabinet kits available.