You are correct, they were not jet, or jet powered cars. They were gas turbine powered, which uses the rotational energy from the rotating turbine, rather than thrust.
IIRC they were not noisy, but fuel efficient/green they were not.:-))
Turbine engines use a lot of fuel, and the lower the altitude the more fuel they use. A turboprop engine in an airplane may use 3 times (or more) as much fuel at seal level than at altitude. The Chrysler being ground bound was certainly thirsty.
Again, IIRC spool up time on those old turbines was a factor so initial acceleration was a bit lacking, but at expressway speeds they were sure good at passing.
Unfortunately data burned onto DCs and DVDs is not long lived compared to that pressed into them. We really don't know how long it will last as so far we only have data based on accelerated aging and that has been extrapolated to get expected life times. The old, gold DCs were probably the longest lived, but couldn't compete with the "cheap stuff" in an economy where price rules. Having only one digital copy of something is risky at best. Multiple copies stored "on edge" in humidity and temperature controlled environments with very little light is best.
However, I thought copyright made provisions for archiving documents and books for posterity. It sounds like some overly narrow interpretation of the law, or some one got carried away and changed the law... again.
I can guarantee the puritanism has carried on here in the USA. They even banned "Harry Potter" books in schools, of course that goes right along with Huck Finn and "Origin of Species" by Darwin as they are listed as "anti religious".
Just do a search of "banned books" by "The American Library Association".
Heaven (or what ever you might believe in) save us from dogooders trying to save us from ourselves.
I'm glad I took history before they rewrote it.
It's human nature to use what you pay for. It's also human nature to over eat, hoard, to stand in line over night for things we don't need, and use credit to have things we can't afford.
IF and I emphasize the IF...an ISP sells you a 10 meg connection with no band width cap, then I expect the user to be able to run 10 Megs 24X7 and not be called a bandwidth hog. After all we pay, (I pay) for the bandwidth my site uses and I believe that is standard practice. IF it has more hits than usual and uses all the bandwidth I paid for I can, for a small fee increase the bandwidth for that month. However I'm told up front how much bandwidth I purchased.
Many years ago I had an ISP call to tell me I was using about 10 times the bandwidth of the average customer. My reply was, "and that is a problem why? You sold me a connection guaranteed to be unlimited connect." His reply was, "well...yes, but every one does it, but no one could afford to do it". To which I replied "then it sounds like you should be selling customers what you can provide. It's called "truth in advertising". This was before P2P, streaming video, and many other things we now take as a given and the "average user" might read e-mail and surf the net for an hour or two per week if that much. My first ISDN line was close to $190 per month. I think it dropped to $160 for DSL which is now a fraction of that. Cable is even cheaper and provides good service which is more than I can say for their TV service.
I do a lot of photography and AVI work. I don't think I've hit 1T in a month, but probably close. I do not have a dedicated connection as it's on cable for the speed.
During storms I usually have two computers running Weather RADAR in motion. Each download is not a terrible amount, but they both download once every 5 minutes and have done that 2 days straight and that is on top of my regular use.
For a person who uses a lot of streaming video which the marketers (and networks) are pushing any user who has the connection speed could easily hit 1, 2, or even more Terabytes and I do expect to see that become the norm as some (maybe many)new HD sets are coming with direct connect to the Internet. Miss the show? watch it on the Internet in HD. A show you can't get? It's probably available (for a price) on the Internet.
1.5TB is going to be small potatoes.
ISPs large and small have to realize that when they sell a connection they have a contract with that consumer and they like the consumer are bound by that contract. It can say unlimited, or just 20 meg connection but it could as easily say "Unlimited connect for a maximum of XX total gigabytes for $$ price". Often they sell a XX speed connection with all the limitations hidden in a TOS that may be difficult to find and reserve the right to change the TOS any time they see fit, but it still gets back to "truth in advertising"
Yes, Amateur Radio is often more reliable than cell phones. No, it is not just a hobby, it is listed as a service which is growing in numbers with a high percentage of newcomers being young people. It served as one of the primary means of communication after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti. Field day is listed as training exercise for operating under emergency conditions. Also each year exercises (simulated emergencies) are run working with local, state, and national agencies.
BUT to the original question: In the rugged back country it is quite easy to reach a point where no radio communications is possible, be it satellite, SPOT, or Ham Radio, particularly if you have fallen.
Probably SPOT would be the most reliable, but he indicated he wants more than that. At least messaging capability and not complete isolation from civilization. There are many areas in the Rockies and particularly in and near the National Park where 2-meter repeaters work well, but they do not give complete coverage, or didn't when I was there. BTW for 2-meter coverage 5 watts is plenty for all but very rare instances. A repeater directory will give all the frequencies including tone access. Any HTs should be programmed well ahead of any trip, but carrying a directory which is about the same size as a king size pack of cigarettes is good insurance.
Wandering the back country alone is a peaceful and enjoyable experience, but none of us are immortal and accidents do happen. Hence the buddy system and a planned area left with those you know back in civilization. So it gets down to how much risk is a person willing to take and just how far will he be getting "off the beaten path".
IMO Ham Radio does offer some more reliability, but so does each additional piece of equipment over the basic SPOT. OTOH it takes time and money to earn the license. A good multi-band HT is relatively inexpensive at $300 to $400.
Were it me (and it's not) and my only use for Ham Radio would be to carry it into the wilderness, I'd probably pass. As I'm already licensed, I'd certainly carry at least a 5W HT such as the VX7R (I have 2 of them) along with a couple of extra batteries in *addition* to SPOT.
As peaceful as it can be, I'd not walk far in the back country without company and preferably another knowledgeable hiker. Knowledge of the area would certainly be a plus.
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You are correct, they were not jet, or jet powered cars. They were gas turbine powered, which uses the rotational energy from the rotating turbine, rather than thrust. IIRC they were not noisy, but fuel efficient/green they were not. :-))
Turbine engines use a lot of fuel, and the lower the altitude the more fuel they use. A turboprop engine in an airplane may use 3 times (or more) as much fuel at seal level than at altitude. The Chrysler being ground bound was certainly thirsty.
Again, IIRC spool up time on those old turbines was a factor so initial acceleration was a bit lacking, but at expressway speeds they were sure good at passing.
Unfortunately data burned onto DCs and DVDs is not long lived compared to that pressed into them. We really don't know how long it will last as so far we only have data based on accelerated aging and that has been extrapolated to get expected life times. The old, gold DCs were probably the longest lived, but couldn't compete with the "cheap stuff" in an economy where price rules. Having only one digital copy of something is risky at best. Multiple copies stored "on edge" in humidity and temperature controlled environments with very little light is best. However, I thought copyright made provisions for archiving documents and books for posterity. It sounds like some overly narrow interpretation of the law, or some one got carried away and changed the law... again.
Yah, but in the latter you can still see where you are going while having a good time.
I can guarantee the puritanism has carried on here in the USA. They even banned "Harry Potter" books in schools, of course that goes right along with Huck Finn and "Origin of Species" by Darwin as they are listed as "anti religious". Just do a search of "banned books" by "The American Library Association". Heaven (or what ever you might believe in) save us from dogooders trying to save us from ourselves. I'm glad I took history before they rewrote it.
It's human nature to use what you pay for. It's also human nature to over eat, hoard, to stand in line over night for things we don't need, and use credit to have things we can't afford. IF and I emphasize the IF...an ISP sells you a 10 meg connection with no band width cap, then I expect the user to be able to run 10 Megs 24X7 and not be called a bandwidth hog. After all we pay, (I pay) for the bandwidth my site uses and I believe that is standard practice. IF it has more hits than usual and uses all the bandwidth I paid for I can, for a small fee increase the bandwidth for that month. However I'm told up front how much bandwidth I purchased. Many years ago I had an ISP call to tell me I was using about 10 times the bandwidth of the average customer. My reply was, "and that is a problem why? You sold me a connection guaranteed to be unlimited connect." His reply was, "well...yes, but every one does it, but no one could afford to do it". To which I replied "then it sounds like you should be selling customers what you can provide. It's called "truth in advertising". This was before P2P, streaming video, and many other things we now take as a given and the "average user" might read e-mail and surf the net for an hour or two per week if that much. My first ISDN line was close to $190 per month. I think it dropped to $160 for DSL which is now a fraction of that. Cable is even cheaper and provides good service which is more than I can say for their TV service. I do a lot of photography and AVI work. I don't think I've hit 1T in a month, but probably close. I do not have a dedicated connection as it's on cable for the speed. During storms I usually have two computers running Weather RADAR in motion. Each download is not a terrible amount, but they both download once every 5 minutes and have done that 2 days straight and that is on top of my regular use. For a person who uses a lot of streaming video which the marketers (and networks) are pushing any user who has the connection speed could easily hit 1, 2, or even more Terabytes and I do expect to see that become the norm as some (maybe many)new HD sets are coming with direct connect to the Internet. Miss the show? watch it on the Internet in HD. A show you can't get? It's probably available (for a price) on the Internet. 1.5TB is going to be small potatoes. ISPs large and small have to realize that when they sell a connection they have a contract with that consumer and they like the consumer are bound by that contract. It can say unlimited, or just 20 meg connection but it could as easily say "Unlimited connect for a maximum of XX total gigabytes for $$ price". Often they sell a XX speed connection with all the limitations hidden in a TOS that may be difficult to find and reserve the right to change the TOS any time they see fit, but it still gets back to "truth in advertising"
Yes, Amateur Radio is often more reliable than cell phones. No, it is not just a hobby, it is listed as a service which is growing in numbers with a high percentage of newcomers being young people. It served as one of the primary means of communication after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti. Field day is listed as training exercise for operating under emergency conditions. Also each year exercises (simulated emergencies) are run working with local, state, and national agencies. BUT to the original question: In the rugged back country it is quite easy to reach a point where no radio communications is possible, be it satellite, SPOT, or Ham Radio, particularly if you have fallen. Probably SPOT would be the most reliable, but he indicated he wants more than that. At least messaging capability and not complete isolation from civilization. There are many areas in the Rockies and particularly in and near the National Park where 2-meter repeaters work well, but they do not give complete coverage, or didn't when I was there. BTW for 2-meter coverage 5 watts is plenty for all but very rare instances. A repeater directory will give all the frequencies including tone access. Any HTs should be programmed well ahead of any trip, but carrying a directory which is about the same size as a king size pack of cigarettes is good insurance. Wandering the back country alone is a peaceful and enjoyable experience, but none of us are immortal and accidents do happen. Hence the buddy system and a planned area left with those you know back in civilization. So it gets down to how much risk is a person willing to take and just how far will he be getting "off the beaten path". IMO Ham Radio does offer some more reliability, but so does each additional piece of equipment over the basic SPOT. OTOH it takes time and money to earn the license. A good multi-band HT is relatively inexpensive at $300 to $400. Were it me (and it's not) and my only use for Ham Radio would be to carry it into the wilderness, I'd probably pass. As I'm already licensed, I'd certainly carry at least a 5W HT such as the VX7R (I have 2 of them) along with a couple of extra batteries in *addition* to SPOT. As peaceful as it can be, I'd not walk far in the back country without company and preferably another knowledgeable hiker. Knowledge of the area would certainly be a plus.