What did I ever do........

Right now I'm posting this from my smartphone, acquired little over a month ago, while monitoring our progress on the EB on my GPS that is attached to the window. I got the GPS as a birthday gift at the end of February. All I need now is earphones for my scanner, as I've had a scanner for years. How did I ever travel on Amtrak without all this stuff???? :lol: :lol: :lol: The GPS is especially useful now, as of course at 8:30 PDT it's completely dark. I mean, in the old days, I'd know we are approaching Wenatchee, but now I can tell we just crossed over Sleepy Hollow Road at 51 MPH. That's vital info, I tell you! :lol: :lol: :lol:

JayPea said:

Right now I'm posting this from my smartphone, acquired little over a month ago, while monitoring our progress on the EB on my GPS that is attached to the window. I got the GPS as a birthday gift at the end of February. All I need now is earphones for my scanner, as I've had a scanner for years. How did I ever travel on Amtrak without all this stuff???? :lol: :lol: :lol: The GPS is especially useful now, as of course at 8:30 PDT it's completely dark. I mean, in the old days, I'd know we are approaching Wenatchee, but now I can tell we just crossed over Sleepy Hollow Road at 51 MPH. That's vital info, I tell you! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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I am not quite at your tech level yet. Don't have either a scanner or GPS, though my Droid phone does have GPS mapping. It is very useful.

By the way, I just reserved the same bedroom (831-E) that I paid $518 for returning from the Gathering yesterday for $202 SEA-SPK in early December. Love those low buckets.

That is a great price. As low as I've seen for some time.

yeah, stuff now days are something..

I told myself I would not use my iPhone as much.. I did use it here and there while we were on the Empire Builder, to see where we were at in the middle of the night!

JayPea said:

I can tell we just crossed over Sleepy Hollow Road ......

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Watch out for the Headless Horseman !!!!

Jeff,

I am on the EB a day ahead of you. I am on my tablet (my phone is not very smart) connected to the internet through my mi-fi. I have my ear phones plugged into my ipod, but earlier they were plugged into my scanner (which I finally learned how to use). My GPS is resting in my tote bag since I know where we are and I am not concerned about elevation and Jishnu informed me that train speed is not accurate with my GPS.

I'm there with you, I love the tech part of riding trains. My Droid car mount is on the window tracking with off-line maps, and my scanner is clipped to the end of the table tray housing. I only use the headphones when I'm out of my room, but I keep my door closed.

The positive thing is not going through the TSA security line with all your gear to board Amtrak, unlike at the airport. In fact, you can even carry on more than 3 ounces of fluid in a bottle, not that I have ever done that. Of course, that may change in our hyper security society, at which time I may even stop riding Amtrak. Until then, with all my gear, my wife will still continue to refer to me as "gear boy." Enjoy the EB, which I'll be riding east 3 weeks from today.

pennyk said:

Jeff,

I am on the EB a day ahead of you. I am on my tablet (my phone is not very smart) connected to the internet through my mi-fi. I have my ear phones plugged into my ipod, but earlier they were plugged into my scanner (which I finally learned how to use). My GPS is resting in my tote bag since I know where we are and I am not concerned about elevation and Jishnu informed me that train speed is not accurate with my GPS.

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Why isn't the train speed accurate?

scientist said:

The positive thing is not going through the TSA security line with all your gear to board Amtrak, unlike at the airport.

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Actually, I just did this very thing on Friday on my way to the Gathering. I had my scanner w/earphones, extra batteries, battery chargers, camcorder, extension cord, Driod, iPhone, and a few other various cords in my unchecked bag. No one said a word or even gave me a look.

Nothing new for me. I was posting online trip updates from onboard the Sunset Limited in 1994. Yes, 1994, not 2004.

alanh said:

Nothing new for me. I was posting online trip updates from onboard the Sunset Limited in 1994. Yes, 1994, not 2004.

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How?

Curious to know the details.

alanh said:

Nothing new for me. I was posting online trip updates from onboard the Sunset Limited in 1994. Yes, 1994, not 2004.

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You should know this about me: I'm one of those that came, kicking, screaming, and fighting, into the 21st century. For the longest time, I lamented the loss of telephones with rotary dials, TVs that received fewer than 10 channels, and the days when color bars would appear on TV at 1AM, accompanied by the Star-Spangled Banner, after which all TV stations went off the air for a few hours. And I still miss my 8-track stereo and tapes!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Believe me when I say it took a lot to get "modernized"!

On a recent California Zephyr trip, my GPS crapped out, but by using my Altamont Timetable and reading the mileposts I could quickly and more accurately figure out where we were.

I agree with JayPea. Most of this so called modern digital stuff is a step backwards, especially Digital TV-we sure got sold a dead horse on that.

JayPea said:

alanh said:

Nothing new for me. I was posting online trip updates from onboard the Sunset Limited in 1994. Yes, 1994, not 2004.

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You should know this about me: I'm one of those that came, kicking, screaming, and fighting, into the 21st century. For the longest time, I lamented the loss of telephones with rotary dials, TVs that received fewer than 10 channels, and the days when color bars would appear on TV at 1AM, accompanied by the Star-Spangled Banner, after which all TV stations went off the air for a few hours. And I still miss my 8-track stereo and tapes!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Believe me when I say it took a lot to get "modernized"!

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Color bars? Young whipper snapper! How about a black and white test pattern?

PRR 60 said:

JayPea said:

alanh said:

Nothing new for me. I was posting online trip updates from onboard the Sunset Limited in 1994. Yes, 1994, not 2004.

Click to expand...

You should know this about me: I'm one of those that came, kicking, screaming, and fighting, into the 21st century. For the longest time, I lamented the loss of telephones with rotary dials, TVs that received fewer than 10 channels, and the days when color bars would appear on TV at 1AM, accompanied by the Star-Spangled Banner, after which all TV stations went off the air for a few hours. And I still miss my 8-track stereo and tapes!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Believe me when I say it took a lot to get "modernized"!

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Color bars? Young whipper snapper! How about a black and white test pattern?

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Now that is some broadcasting history from better days-I always have wondered why the test pattern has an Indian on it

OlympianHiawatha said:

PRR 60 said:

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Now that is some broadcasting history from better days-I always have wondered why the test pattern has an Indian on it

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As I understand it, the intricate sketch of the Indian was a way a good technician could quickly assess the video quality. If the Indian looked OK, then the set-up was OK. If not, then the rest of the pattern could be used to adjust things to get it right.

The things you learn on this forum! That's what makes this one of the best forums out there.

PetalumaLoco said:

pennyk said:

Jeff,

I am on the EB a day ahead of you. I am on my tablet (my phone is not very smart) connected to the internet through my mi-fi. I have my ear phones plugged into my ipod, but earlier they were plugged into my scanner (which I finally learned how to use). My GPS is resting in my tote bag since I know where we are and I am not concerned about elevation and Jishnu informed me that train speed is not accurate with my GPS.

Click to expand...

Why isn't the train speed accurate?

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Nothing is completely accurate. All measures have an associated error parameter. Using a relatively good commercial civilian GPS, assuming absolutely ideal situation, i.e. that it has line of site to all satellites and is not getting confounded by any reflected signal and the troposphere is behaving well at the moment, in measuring a speed of 80mph there would be an inaccuracy in the ballpark of +/- 1mph. But if you are doing the same sitting inside a train with the GPS receiving a mix of direct and reflected signals distorted by the window glzing, the inaccuracy can be substantially more. My rule of thumb is to assume there is a +/- 2mph error interval around the measured mean, since that pretty much covers the ballpark, with relatively few outliers beyond it.

I have done some detailed observing by comparing GPS measured speed vs. milepost computed speed, and generally this range holds true. Of course that is not to say that sometimes one does not get more wildly inaccurate speeds with GPS, but those are usually quite obvious outliers.

Accuracy analysis of GPS location, altitude, clock (and derived measures like speed) is a fascinating area of inquiry, and an enormous amount of effort is made to get as much correction as possible, but certain random physical phenomenon are more or less impossible to correct for, like tropo-scattering effects. OTOH, issues like relativistic corrections due to the clock speed in a orbiting satellite being slightly slower than one on earth etc. are actually adequately accounted for in most GPS receivers today.