Flyfunston

The WEB camera site has become an embarrassment to the Club. It rarely is current. The picture and wind report are frequently dated.

The site is how the Club presents itself to the members, the hang gliding community, the GGNRA and the general public. The impression is of an organization that can’t get a simple WEB site to operate properly. With the tournament at Harding this week, more people may be using the site to check weather conditions.

In 2000 I was responsible with Rick Cavellero in establishing the WEB camera. I sold it to the GGNRA as something beneficial to all Funston users - dog walkers, fisherman, beach goers, etc. The Club was supposed to maintain it; not neglect it. We even talked about making it real time.

The Club has the money to maintain and improve the site. There are members with technical knowledge. Compensation should be offered.

The Club seems to have lost interest in Funston. The only improvement to the site has been to the launch and that has been primarily due to a non-member, Mark Lillendahl.

Dan Brown

Tsk, tsk, Dan. I guess you're not in the "catch more flies with honey" camp these days.

Funny you should mention Rick - he, Dave Sondergold and I have been trying to diagnose a tricky problem on that PC for a few months now. We put the main computer on a higher speed, wireless connection, removed the added expense of the phone line, replaced and reconstructed the computer entirely, updated the ISP account to get it off someone else's personal bill and have rebooted it a few times trying to figure out why it was breaking. I'm not really sure if they read this BBS, but Rick and Dave have been trading emails in the background working to solve the problem amidst having a personal life. Dave couldn't reboot the computer for a few days a couple of weeks ago because he was running the NorCal Special Olympics. Dave's kid has been crawling up into the attic to reboot the computer for us. In other words, we've been neglecting it, not. I know it's annoying, but I ask you to be patient while we fix it. With the audio wind talker at your disposal you aren't completely shut out of weather reports, either. If both were to go down we'd sound the klaxons and spend a lump of cash. In other words, please don't confuse work behind the scenes with neglect.

I am certainly open to putting a live or at least more modern webcam on site. I looked into DSL prices and believe we can get a reasonable bandwidth for about $50-$90 / month. If someone is willing to step up to do the systems integration I'm all in favor. In fact I'd like to see updated weather display software at our web site. Please post here or drop me a line if you'd like to volunteer. I believe it will take approximately 16 hours of work over the course of 2 months for a techno-savvy person. Knowing the quality of the people around here we won't be able to pay you what you're worth. We WILL gladly give you public recognition and you'll have a better flying site to boot.

As for our image with the public, I'm actually quite proud that this year our club members have:

* not had any serious conflicts involving police or legal actions, nor had any conflicts that caused major divisions in the pilot base. Yes, I know this may appear ridiculous, but the relative calm has, in my opinion, made for a much, MUCH more enjoyable flying experience at the Fort.

* dealt firmly with local and visiting pilots who attempted to fly without signed waivers

* hosted several visiting pilots from Canada, SoCal, Norway with friendly receptions and helpful advice

* dealt with safety infractions involving other passers-by

* improved 2/3 of the clubhouse racks to make them wider and better padded

All my calls to the GGNRA this year have been friendly and constructive. We have not had to deliver any bad news or ask for intervention. We have spoken almost exclusively about improvements to the site. I would say that presents us VERY well to the GGNRA. I care much more about that relationship than I do about the opinions of the golf viewing public.

You of all people should know that a volunteer organization sometimes goes through brief periods when individual projects are delayed. If it happens to be your favorite project then I know it can be grating. Nevertheless, I ask that you please be a bit more respectful when bringing up these - valid - problems in the future.

Thanks,
Daniel

Thanks for getting rid of "coat716" for us, too, in addition to everything else...It's nice to see spam killed before us so quickly...

~Chris

P.S. I have some new glossy 8 x 10 flying pics for the clubhouse wall, also, that I'll deliver sometime soon.

Daniel, a couple months ago (on Urs's suggestion), I looked around a bit to see what would be involved in getting a high resolution, real-time camera set up at Funston. There would be some initial cost for the equipment, and then the monthly expense of having a static IP address with decent bandwidth, but I would be willing to help get it purchased and set up if the club is interested.

Brian_Foster

Thanks for looking into the webcam. Can you start a new thread here and post the specs and costs?

Hi Dan,
I've been biting my tongue all weekend, but can't stand not to reply to your comment that "The Club seems to have lost interest in Funston. The only improvement to the site has been to the launch and that has been primarily due to a non-member, Mark Lillendahl."

This totally disregards, in a public forum, the folks who are putting in tons of time to fix the place up. Guys like Tom White, Jonas Barbour, and Henry Bittner, who along with Daniel Pifko and myself have spent many hours building, repairing, padding, and tagging the racks and moving derelict gliders. And who do you think went out and bought and installed the no-parking signs and striped the parking area in front of the clubhouse? And who went out and bought all the tools to spread chips, and keeps ordering them to begin with? Marginal Mark is a great guy, but do you really think he is the only one spreading chips? Not to overlook Attila, Raffy, and the rest of the officers who take care of running the club, balancing check books, putting together hundreds of sticker packets, etc. etc. To say the club has lost interest the Fort is BS. Please speak for yourself. But speaking of you, I'm sure that in the past you have also put in many thankless hours for the club that nobody knows about, so you must realize that others are doing the same behind the scenes. They are helping a lot of others for no pay or acknowledgement, and deserve our gratitude. Thanks to everyone who keeps this awesome site open for the freedom of flight!
Sincerely,
Steve R.