Other Interests
- On July 11, 2008, I stood in line at a local shopping mall awaiting the launch of Apple’s newest iPhone, the iPhone 3G. Making its debut in Canada, it promised to revolutionize the smart phone world by incorporating exciting new and innovative features to the wireless user. Well, my life has been deeply impacted by this and it’s successor, the iPhone 3GS and now the iPhone 4 and iPad. They’ve become an invaluable digital resource in both my workplace and personal life. The multitude of business, productivity, media and GPS applications available from various sources have made it indispensible everywhere I go. I’ve actually gone for over a week without accessing a desktop because I was able to do everything I needed on my iPhone! Massive computing versality in the palm of my hand! I’ve also begun writing webapps for the platform: The Canadian Amateur Radio Email and Callsign Database.
- EchoLink® software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology. The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations, or from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radio’s communications capabilities. There are more than 200,000 validated users worldwide — in 162 of the world’s 193 nations — with about 3,400 online at any given time.
Renewable Wind Energy Pincher Creek, Alberta
- Southern Alberta is populated by hundreds of wind turbines operated by various companies such as TransAlta, Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., and Alberta Wind Energy Corporation. They feed the Alberta power grid with hundreds of megawatts of clean and green power.
- My home is powered by 100% clean energy from Bullfrogpower which is a reseller of wind power under contract with AWEC in Alberta. In 2008 they operated two turbines near the Oldman River Dam just a few kilometers northeast of Pincher Creek, Alberta.
- Through some research and on-site reconnaissance I was able to determine the actual wind turbine which currently supplies my home in Calgary with power. The photo above is the actual wind turbine.
It’s a Vestas V80-1.8, 1800 kW, capable of powering about 500 homes.
- Approx height: 72m, diameter: 80m, Revolutions: ~16 rpm
