Communications

Thoughts on communication?

Any cellular service at TL? BC?

Maybe some FRS/GRS radios (I believe GRS requires an FCC License)
Basecamp radio - Midland XT511 Two-Way Base Camp Radio
Field radios - Motorola MH230TPR Giant Rechargeable Two Way Radio 3 Pack, FRS/GMRS (I have a couple of these, chargeable via USB or use AAA batteries)

Wow, I know nothing of which you speak. The short wave stuff any way.

Verizon cell phones work at the north edge of the land. I think somebody with a T-mobile (?) phone did not have very much luck with reception.

This new open source computer software "Commotion Wireless" may be the most frugal and private way to solve the problem of communicating on the farm.

Commotion website - https://commotionwireless.net/about

Interview and explanation of Commotion Wireless -

How do you guys feel about RF radiation on your land?

If you're cool with it then this technology can be piggybacked on the environmental monitoring system I was talking about.

You ultimately get wireless communications, temp, humidity, moisture, sunlight monitoring all in one.

Thinking about my "little" 4 acre farm and how handy they would be in some situations(using transit levels to mark contour comes to mind); Then bumping that up 50x ... Seemed like some simple long-range communication would be a good thing to have.

Especially for the inevitable Triangle Dinner bell.


Rick, Nick, I like the idea, but it would require people and constant power on the land.

I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of "Hey I need a shovel can you bring one on your way out." or "Hey I broke something, send help."

We lived up a trail with no road for several years and communication was with a loud 'woooo' (kind of like what you would yell at a concert)...All of our friends knew that one 'woo' meant 'Hello, we are coming up the trail' two would be more important...like 'we are bringing someone from the real world up the trail' and three meant come quick...like for the time a sow chased me onto the roof of a shed in the pasture by the river.....

Thanks Judith great post!

National Hollerin Contest at Spiveys Corner North Carolina - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvY4i4TeHiQ

Every year, on the third Saturday of June, in an otherwise sleepy borough of southeastern North Carolina known as Spivey's Corner (population 49), some 5,000-10,000 folks gather from far and wide to take part in the festivities and entertainment in the day-long extravaganza known as the National Hollerin' Contest.

Hollerin' is considered by some to be the earliest form of communication between humans. It is a traditional form of communication used in rural areas before the days of telecommunications to convey long-distance messages. Evidence of hollerin', or derivations thereof such as yodeling or hunting cries, exists worldwide among many early peoples and is still be practiced in certain societies of the modern world. In one form or another, the holler has been found to exist in Europe, Africa and Asia as well as the US. Each culture used or uses hollers differently, although almost all cultures have specific hollers meant to convey warning or distress. Otherwise hollers exist for virtually any communicative purpose imaginable -- greetings, general information, pleasure, work, etc. The hollers featured at the National Hollerin' Contest typically fall into one of four categories: distress, functional, communicative or pleasure.
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Let us not forget the Old Dinner Bells. I would think this would be a necessity at every homestead on TL.

Dinner Bell Story - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R-hSG1nBfs

Farm animals called by dinner bell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XjvEMZ5F-E

Ringing Triangle and Bell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUuTfFG1NEU

Folk Art Dinner Bell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDCur8Msi-Y

How to make a cast iron triangle dinner bell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTygek26xqA

Rick,

It would be really cool if folks could load an app into their cell phones that would make it so they could do some sort of point-to-point communication when out of cell tower range.

About a half mile down the road from BC they might be putting in a new cell tower. So maybe cell phones will start to work.

YES! It seems the cell tower work was completed, because Paul just called me from the pooper project up at the laboratory and we had an absolutely crystal clear connection! This was in an area where we previously did not have cell service. Paul and I both use Verizon. We don't have reports on other service providers just yet.

I can confirm that anything on the sprint network does not work... In Montana.

Great timing on getting that tower installed
I suppose that fixes getting internet to the lab too.

Ryan Barrett wrote:
I suppose that fixes getting internet to the lab too.

Apparently it is currently 3G. I suspect we will see 4G soon. But even with 4G, you still have limitations on bandwidth.