Vladimir

9 hours ago, pjstough said:

It is easy to see why gas prices are rising. People are driving more than they did in most of 2020, and the production of crude oil is lagging behind demand.
One statistic that most people are not aware of is the dramatic drop in drilling for oil and gas in the last few years! In February of 2018 there were about 1100 gas and oil drilling rigs operating in the USA, but by August of 2020 that number had dropped to a paltry 250 oil and gas drilling rigs operating in the USA. Also, oil and gas drilling companies lost huge sums of money during the collapse of the economy in 2020. I believe at one time crude oil was trading at -$40.00 per barrel. Now these drilling companies are somewhat hesitant to start drilling again, however, the good news is that the number of oil and gas drilling rigs in the USA is back up over 500 and continuing to climb. Hopefully, it wont be too long until the supply of crude oil catches up with demand and we will see stabilization and perhaps a reduction in retail prices.

I am not sure that is going to happen.

I was reading in the Wall Street Journal, where HALF the Wall Street banks have now decided  NOT lend money to the oil and gas industry due to climate change issues.  Likewise, many endowment funds have also decided to SELL their oil and gas holdings.  Of course, regional banks and small investors MIGHT decide to lend money to oil and gas companies to make up the difference.  I don't know.

But the lack of access to financing it going to make it very difficult for the oil and gas industry to raise new capital.  In response,  all the large multi-national companies are cancelling their exploration efforts and focusing on pumping only from existing wells.

So the long-term supply picture is declining supply, unless Russia and the Middle-East countries make up the difference to catch up with demand and both those regions need higher prices to support their economies. 

Long-term gas prices are going up and up and up.

Short-term for 2022.  I think it really depends on the economy.  We are long, long overdue for a recession and the Federal Reserve is making noise about raising interest rates this spring.  If we end up in a recession I think you will see gas prices go down, but I firmly believe the long-term trend is gas prices increasing at a higher rate than inflation.

Here in eastern Washington, gas prices have gone up significantly in the past week....by 40 cents a gallon.

22 hours ago, Kirk W said:

The Petersons stopped sponsoring the co-op parks for many reasons but legal issues were a large part of the decision.'''''''''''''''''''''''''''

As a leaseholder in a Co-op I really don't understand why the Co-ops do NOT cut their ties with the Petersons.  

I understand the history, but the legal issues can easily bring down a co-op.  There is a fundamental difference between a for profit outfit and a Co-op.  

Nothing wrong with either set up, but the objectives of those two legal entities is fundamentally different.

To give you an example, some folks remember WHOOPS in Washington state. 

The Public Utility District in my county REFUSED to join WHOOPS.  It was the ONLY one in Washington state. 

When WHOOPS went bankrupt and the bondholders sued a JUDGE ruled that since the County was a member of an organization of Public Utility Districts in Washington state AND that organization endorsed WHOOPS....... my county PUD was LIABLE because they were members of an organization of Public Utility Districts.

I can give other examples, but the bottom line is WHY are the Co-op Parks still affiliated with Escapees in ANY manner.

55 minutes ago, mptjelgin said:

Many (most) parks and public lands severely frown on folks going around coring trees for their own personal fun. We volunteered at Goose Island State Park three different times, and the park had to specifically forbid folks from trying to core the "Big Tree" to determine its age. 

I have cored thousands of trees, particularly early in my career.  It is where my interest in climate change started.   The record is there, expressed in tree rings.

BUT, I don't recommend coring trees in National Parks or State Parks.  Those and historical trees should be left alone just for common sense.

We literally, have an "epidemic of trees" in this country.  It is the reason we have all those forest fires year after year. There are billions and billions of trees on public and private land that can safely be cored.  It doesn't hurt the tree.  

BUT, you also don't want hundreds of cores of one tree.  It is just common sense.  A trait that appears to be lacking lately in our society.

Here is a great hobby for full-time RV'ers!!

Buy one of these, and start taking tree cores as you travel across the US.  

https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=13981&itemnum=63331&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-se6r8uY9QIVhD2tBh1pgQBMEAAYASAAEgL_5_D_BwE

You can see the effects of climate change with your FIRST core.  Pretty quickly you should be able to build a climate history for various areas as you travel.

Doing a search on increment borers will get you video's on how to use them and take care of them and basic interpretation of tree rings.

A eight inch borer will allow you to core a 16 inch diameter tree.  Those will generally be under 150 years.   If you want to track climate change over a greater period of time.  Get a larger borer. 

The eight inch is easier to use and they store in a very small space.  You do want to pick "free-to-grow" NATURAL trees, (not irrigated) to build your climate history.

The University of Arizona has a climate history for much of the western US if you want to calibrate your cores.

https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/311587

https://news.arizona.edu/story/widespread-droughts-affect-southern-california-water-sources-six-times-century

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/american-west-may-be-entering-megadrought-worse-any-historical-record-180974688/

Oh, climate change in the American west is dramatic....as this book documents the last 10,000 years primarily in California.

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520286009/the-west-without-water

\

Nah, the damn thing better come with a solar panel built-in!!!  

Oh, don't put the phone with panel on the dash of your truck on hot sunny day!!!.  Cold, sunny days are fine.

At first I thought it was a joke.

It does have a LOT of hype associated with it.  But there are some real handy features like built in solar charging and StarLink connectivity.

Here is an article:  https://gulfnews.com/special-reports/teslas-rumoured-new-model-pi-smartphone-designed-to-work-on-mars-heres-what-we-know--and-dont-know-1.1635947967201?slide=1

And of course, the hyped video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD3HJP5az7g

I have been impressed with StarLink.  I think I just might hold off on buying a new phone until this thing comes out.  Price is suppose to be in the $800 range.

Sorry, I misread it.

The short answer is what Dutch said. 

The National Parks are the worse, but a class A will be easier than a trailer or 5th wheel in those situations.

The real question is why would you travel out west and stay in National Parks and State Parks campgrounds??

There are better choices.

"Might happen in other states."

The issue does now "flow" from state to state.  The issue flows from agency to agency.

What happens in Utah, is not that important unless it happens on Forest Service, BLM, or NPS managed land.  That has national implications in a short period of time.  

Granted, trends in Utah reflect agency management concerns that need to be decided.  Those decisions will "eventually" be reflected in other states management.

BUT, the stuff to pay attention to is agency specific.  Those changes can come quickly.

14 hours ago, docj said:

The light blue is clear sky, the small red spot is obstruction.

I can't see your obstructions. 

However, my obstruction is ALMOST exactly your CLEAR SKY view.  My obstruction does extend a bit more to the south.  Mine are Ponderosa Pine trees.

I get 100 to 200 Mbps in that location.  Hope this helps.

7 hours ago, docj said:

I agree that the location app is fairly useless when you're looking to find a spot to use for siting the dish, but once you have sited it, you can get a reasonable perspective for how much obscuration you are getting.    I've attached a screenshot showing where I have a small blockage in one particular direction.

Is the light blue....clear sky or obstruction??

I was NOT impressed with their location app.  

The "best" location I did first, and was told it was a great location.  I then walked around the meadow looking at other spots.  The app was correct in the sense that none were better than the initial site.

However, I came back to the first location and did it again.  That time, I was told, not good enough.

IF you can find someone with a dish (in YOUR STARLINK CELL LOCATION)  it is fairly easy to just set up the dish and see how it works!!

You can easily set your dish 300 feet from your home.  Just use a 200 foot router wire.  My neighbor did that and it worked fine.  I am using a 125 foot router run. 

You do want to keep the CAT line between the dish and the power brick to 100 feet, as I understand it.

Update 3.....

I went ahead and moved the dish to a "blocked" location.  No view to the south, and the west is blocked to about 50 degrees in elevation.  The north and east were totally clear.

Speedtest results were PING 27  download  46.82  upload  5.86.

I suspect there might be MORE drop-outs, but I am typing this on the StarLink connection and so far, so good.

I am concerned about the slow upload speed, but the download at 46.82 is totally useable for web browsing.  I did briefly watch some UTUBE video's and they were fine.

It might be that StarLink is focused on the 100 Mpbs as the minimum experience they want to provide.  But even at 46.82 that is much, much better than ZERO.

4 hours ago, docj said:

From what I've read, on the Gen 1 Starlink terminal they're pushing ~100 watts down the 100' cable using a 56V POE.  I can understand why they are reluctant to let you add cable to that run.

I think that is less of an issue than people think.

The power box has a 120 volt plug, and several ports...one for the 100 foot run to the dish and the other for the router.

I did use 125 feet on the router portion and it worked fine.  My neighbor used 200 feet and it worked fine.

I did plug in an extension cord in the power box so that it was 50 feet from the house,  It worked fine.  I am going to run about 150 feet @ 120 volts to the power box that I will mount on my last solar panel.

It is odd, to think of the "power" box being halfway between your dish and your home.  But it is small, and it works if you need to extend your run.  There is NO SWITCH on the power box.

UPDATE 2.

I took StarLink down from my cabin down into town to see if it would work.  It does.  So the distance  is within the "cell" established for the unit.

The distance is exactly 11 miles, as the crow flies.  I set up Starlink in my in town house and it quickly found the satellites and connected.  I quickly did a speed test and it was about 130 Mbsp so a bit slower than up at the meadow.

The town location is totally blocked in azimuth from about 180 degrees to 270 degrees.  

Next test is to move it so it is totally blocked to the southern horizon. 

I am going to plug in a kill-a-watt meter and see how much power the dish is drawing.

I plugged in a 50 foot extension cord into the one hundred foot power supply cable.  Then a 125 foot cable for the router.

Using speedtest.net I am getting 175 to 200 Mbsp with a ping between 26 and 36.  That is MUCH faster than my 100 Mbps system at my house, though the ping at my house is 8.

However, I was on a ZOOM conference call last night and the video froze five times during an hour call.  Froze for maybe 30 seconds max, and I got the message "your internet is unstable".  I assume that was coming from Zoom.

Not sure what is causing the drop outs, except maybe a lack of satellites at any point in time.  My neighbor did mention the drop outs when he tested the system, so I suspect it is a system problem at this point in time.  Not sure I would have been happy if I was still working and using Zoom for conference calls.

Next week, hopefully I will get a chance to move the dish to an area with "less snow" in winter.  That will also have almost a complete block from the Northeast to the Southeast portion of the sky.  I am, hope that it works good enough in that located to be used for internet just maybe not for Zoom calls.

Next spring, I will set the entire system in its current location.

1 hour ago, Dutch_12078 said:

A GPS could be very useful for reaching your boondocking location. Beyond the normal public highway directions, and with some models traffic information, most will also accept coordinate entries as a destination. Most units are also useful for locating retail stores, fuel stops, etc in your general area.

For boondocking a GPS shows your route IN....which comes in real handy to show your route OUT.

I use a GPS much, much more than my phone.  It is handy for arrival information, etc.  I keep it on the lower left of my windshield.  Out of the way and I can check with a easy glance.

The only place GPS works poorly is Canada.  In the US almost all government work is in the public domain.  So the GPS companies can get their data for free from the Federal government.   The Canadian government "sells" their work to private companies.

I bought a Canadian GPS, in Canada, for travel to Alaska.  It was handy for keeping track of my speed in metric.   I was STUNNED at huge lakes that were not shown on the GPS!!  Oh well, it did show the Alaska Highway and was handy in Alaska.

For western Canada, check out the Backroads company and their maps.  

 For boondocking you want a GPS.  

Oh, you might want to check out this company.......https://www.avenza.com/avenza-maps/

The Forest Service has a deal with the company and fire teams can upload their situation maps that are geo-referenced.  Those worked really well.  

I am a fan of paper Forest Service maps since I own so many of them!!!  But this company is a real alternative that if your full-timing and serious about boondocking.

On 11/25/2021 at 9:31 AM, Dutch_12078 said:

I'm thinking a demountable mobile Starlink terminal would give us the option of locating the unit for the best sky view just as some of us currently do with our sat TV dishes. I've strung 200' of coax for my sat TV dish a few times, I wonder what the limit will be for the Starlink mobile dish... 

In the video, he states that it comes with an optional 150 foot power cable. 

That smaller size dish is interesting.  Does anybody know enough about the electronics to compare it to the round dish??  Do you need more satellites for the smaller dish??

As to the tree question, with my round dish it has a 100 foot power cord and up to 200 foot router cord.  In my case, I just stuck my Honda generator next to the dish for testing. 

If you cannot find a opening in a 300 foot radius....I suspect your living in a rain forest somewhere!!! 

Speaking as a forester, living in a solid forest is awful.  Did that for a couple of years...never again.

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

Sounds great Vlad. Did you see the new much smaller rectangular not square Starlink dish now coming out? https://teslanorth.com/2021/11/10/spacex-unveils-all-new-starlink-dish-with-more-mounting-options-pics/#:~:text=SpaceX has unveiled a new Starlink satellite dish%2C,dish is not available outside the U.S. yet.

 

I just did.  Not sure what to think of it.  Mounting TWO pieces instead of ONE, might not be that much of a bargain.

At this point, I would be very, very interested in a RV setup.  I would wait for that.  I am impressed with the design skills of the StarLink employees.  Great job.

I kinda mentioned it in my post, but the dish comes with a 100 foot power cable, and I was out 135 feet from the router.  So basically, I was out 235 feet from the dish and had 25 Mbps service inside the house.  That does not include putting a wifi amplifier at the house end!!!

I was worried that I would have to much distance to make it work.  Pretty close to a football field with just the standard setup.

I think almost everybody could make it work.

I was impressed with the ease of setup.

Went out today and set up the dish.  Didn't have much time to experiment so picked my best spot and placed the dish there.  I hooked up the dish to a Honda 2000 generator since I didn't want to run a long extension cord.

Set-up is pretty simple.  You do NOT need any tools.  There are no instructions except for the pictures.  It would be helpful to watch a utube video on setup since you want to DO THINGS and the set up is basically plug it in!!!

It takes about 10 minutes for the dish to locate the satellites and start moving.  The software then asks for a name for the router and if you want to use a password.  That's it. 

It starts working and you connect to it like any router.

After connection, standing next to router....running speednet the ping was 36 and the download speed showed as 200 MBps.

After a couple more minutes I ran the speed test again.  This time the ping was 39 and the download speed was 91 Mbps with the upload speed of 13.30.

I then moved 135 feet from the router.  Still outside, but direct line of sight.  The download speed was 70 Mbps and upload speed of 17 with the ping being 32.

I then moved inside the house about 160 feet from the router.  Download speed was about 30 Mbps and upload speed stayed at 17.

Zero Azimuth is true north.  I am blocked from about 30 degrees down to 170 or so.  Good horizons to the west and north until I hit that 30 degree mark.  There are large ponderosa pine trees that block the view in that direction.  To are probably in the neighborhood of 60 degrees in that direction.

So I am impressed. 

I think unless you live in a TOTAL forested environment you can make the dish work.  I was surprised how far the router reached out and if needed I could add a wi-fi booster at the house end.

Since I am off-grid I am going to get a solar panel to charge a 8D AGM battery with a on/off switch to set it off when not using it.   Trying to figure out how to mount the dish on the solar panels and add a panel just to charge the battery for the dish.

We do rent the house as a vacation rental. 

Most of our guests do NOT want internet because of their kids, but we do lose some rentals by not having it.  The on/off switch will keep the battery fully charged until needed and the parents can always walk at to the solar panels, flick the switch and take their kids right off line without saying a word.

Just got back from my second hunting trip....puppy did point three birds!!!

Today went up to check on the vacation home and talked to my neighbor. 

He did set up his Starlink dish. It is a 100 feet from the power supply to the dish.  The router connection supplied by Starlink from the power supply to the router is ONLY 10 feet.  So he replaced it with a 125 foot direct burial CAT 7 cable.  It worked.

He is now 225 feet from the house to the meadow where the dish is located and a view to the north. 

Lantency is at 39, and he does get drop outs.  HOWEVER, unless your doing REAL TIME VIDEO you will NOT notice the drop outs since they come and go so quickly.  Not sure of his speed since he did not measure it, but it works and is as fast as his "home" system.

I am going back up on Tuesday to start my installation.  More details later. 

I do feel much better that the 125 foot CAT 7 cable worked.

I wish I had your setup at my off-grid house!!!  Nice.

On 11/7/2021 at 8:26 AM, Randyretired said:

 There is another incentive to to do this.  This is a fairly remote area and the electrical lines have been there for years but not used.  If we were to purchase electrical service we will be the only ones on this line and I wonder how reliable that is.  I would think a backup would be necessary and since we travel, solar with a backup battery or at least a good generator would make sense.

I have owned a off-grid house for 23 years.  I would go on-grid ASAP, if the local public utility didn't quote a price of one million dollars for the line 20 years ago!!!

In the Forest Service, we did give up a electrical line to a popular campground and the taxpayers paid dearly for that decision.  Your pretty handy, but there are lots of hidden costs to solar off-grid.

It is reliable, in the 23 years my power has gone off...ONCE.  But it was hell, to find a electrician that knew how to work on solar.

I would do BOTH.  Get the utility hookup and don't use unless totally necessary.  I would look at it as a generator and use it to charge the batteries when needed.  An existing line should be real cheap to hook up.  If you need a new line, well a million bucks!!

Lots of good things come with electrical lines.  In our county, fiber follows powerlines.  If your on-grid you have fiber or soon will have.  Besides, you never know if the next person owning your property will want solar.

Getting back to the original question....."will my next car be electric".

I would love to buy a electric car......here are my parameters that must be met.

125 miles range......in ZERO degree temperatures with a 4000 foot elevation gain.  Must be all-wheel drive.

Posted the requirements on a automotive site and it was the ZERO temps and 4000 foot elevation gain that electric vehicles cannot meet within the 125 mile range.

For that limited use, I would have to limit my purchase to $20,000.  

My electricity is almost free, but the issues with electric cars is that they work great in flat ground with warm temperatures.  Conditions not met in the places I frequent.

Though thanks to RV I do have a source on new batteries for my solar house that do not need heating like lithium.  The WSJ had a interesting article on mixing lithium with these batteries to allow electric cars to work in cold climates.

I think as a urban commuter vehicle electric cars make sense.  

I would not use them in the woods or in the outback.  

I would love to have functioning cheap batteries for my HOUSE first!!!!

One last question.  I haven't had a flat tire in over 30 years.  

So I am thinking about just keeping the spare instead of replacing it??  It would be my equivalent of the "donut" spare...just get me to a tire store.