 Poster: A snowHead
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RFID tags are likely to be somewhat overly complicated as well for something where you do not really need to identify specifically what you are reading, but just where it is (unless there happens to be a mountain of lost tagged skis where you are searching!!  ) - Perhaps something more straightforward such as a loud sounder that beeps if your binding releases would be more appropriate - it would be very simple to implement.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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stuarth, you should patent that 
We could buy a load of those irritating birthday cards that play tacky tunes when opened and rig them up in the binding.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You don't want them to make too much noise in case they trigger an avalanche! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| stuarth wrote: |
| RFID tags are likely to be somewhat overly complicated as well for something where you do not really need to identify specifically what you are reading. |
I'm not sure about that, David was (I think) making the point that as long they were cheap it wouldn't matter if they were overspec'ed (extrapolating a bit). At least that’s how the argument commonly goes, mass production then brings economies even if you’re not using the features, PC’s being a case in point of course. We see the effect of that in devices like set-top boxes of course; it’s cheaper to benefit from the mass productions of PC’s than to design a new device from scratch.
The argument goes on to Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) designs, the point being that ASIC’s for RFID would become common as would FPGA designs in much the same way it’s happened for mobile phones. The flaw in the example here being underlying handset prices remains high. A better example might be the way CCD’s have driven down digital camera prices.
I’m just not personally convinced that suitable RFID readers will drop to a really low price.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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stuarth, sorry, wrote that really badly, I'm not sure about cheap FPGAs for RFID either or ASICS, that was my original point. The argument wide deployment drops price at an engineering level depends on that which was what I trying badly to say.
Can you imagine what the tunes would be like Austria ? You'd stop for a drink, the bar would be pumping out DJ Otzi at ear bleeding volume and the entire ski rack would be giving renditions of old Smokie tunes all out of sync.... it doesn't bear thinking about
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ise, that's conjured a mental picture for me, the Mosserwirt above St Anton, Austrian rock! at full blast and an assorted medley from the assembled skis. Mind you given the number os skis that go missing from the Krazy Kangaroo & the Mooserwirt any form of identification would be helpful. Personally, I adopt the low-tech approach, I padlock my skis to any immovable object.
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| David@traxvax wrote: |
| Personally, I adopt the low-tech approach, I padlock my skis to any immovable object. |
Like a large guy from Munich on a weekend coach trip stopped for a beer or 20?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Just don't take them off.
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(I managed to find the binding release with the pole tip, under the snow. I did have to replace those pants, however).
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I can relate to these pant-buster moments on the slope, comprex
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I have some Powder Ribbons but rarely use them although I wouldn't want to lose a ski in deep powder. They loop onto the front binding and then tuck under the cuff of your ski pants. If the ski comes adrift they unfurl and usually a fair portion is left on the surface. Generally when people loose skis in pow they search far to close to where they fall. You often need to climb up 15-20'and dig there.
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I think it's an ego thing with not wearing these powder ribbons,davidof. I lost a ski in a little gully off the Jakobshorn in Davos; after excavating half of the mountain without success, I had to bum glissade down as my one ski pow technique was proving to be too much of an amusement to the punters in the cable car.
Would I use them in the future? You gotta be kidding!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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bloody hell guys.......Moores Law, ASIC's etc,etc.... I come in here to escape all that semicon bollox. Now I've got a guilt trip on and have to get back to work 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| ise wrote: |
Can you imagine what the tunes would be like Austria ? You'd stop for a drink, the bar would be pumping out DJ Otzi at ear bleeding volume and the entire ski rack would be giving renditions of old Smokie tunes all out of sync.... it doesn't bear thinking about |
You'd better have something with a tuba line for the Chubbs and Explosivs.
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ise, I'm working with an agricultural company that is applying Hitachi’s Mu RDIF chips to livestock ID and tracking. The complete chip and aerial sticker is the size of a fingernail and the trigger/reader the size of a cell-phone. Range at the mo is about 3 metres but that’s being developed to 15 and it’s directional . . . hmmmm I think we might have a new application for it.
And for the paranoid amongst us, there’s a Cambridge co. and a big lab at Martlesham Heath, developing credit card sized systems that can be read by the cell networks. Range 200 – 500m. (currently) Guess how useful Mr. Blunkett might find them.
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You know it makes sense.
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Hmm, reading back on some older posts - hope resurrecting a thread like this works... 
Frankly I'd like to see RFID in skis.
With detectors at the main lifts in each resort.
Register a ski as stolen and it becomes unusable.
It depends on the resorts desire to make skiing safer (from a theft perspective) - maybe the insurance companies would play ball like they do with car transceivers. If the detectors become portable then you could move them around the resort so thieves wouldn't avoid 'known' detectors...
I don't know much about ski thieves but I'd guess one common MO is to turn up at the resort, go to a restaraunt at the base, nonchalantly pick up some skis and walk away without hiring them for the rest of the holiday.
David
PS don't know much about the detection end of RFID - I mentally pictured a rubber mat with inducers(?) in it thrown accross the ski-queue line and covered with snow.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I once lost a very treasured ski half way up the mountain. I was on piste but there had been a dump down and it obviously slid some way. Some six people could not find it after 20 minutes and in the end I gave up and had to ski down on one ski - a pretty good learning exercise as it turned out. So I have some tracers I keep in my back pack to fit on those occasions when I think I may need them. I don't care how inconvenient they are because they can be life savers or at least ski savers!
Paul
| stuarth wrote: |
Does anyone know if you can still buy those party-popper streamer things that attach to your skis so when they fall off in deep powder you can still find them - had a near loss last season in which even in only a bit of powder (20 cm or so) my ski more or less totally disapeared following a close-up snow inspection/tasting 
Do they reliably unfurl or are they prone to acting as leashes hence giving you a good chance of getting smacked in the face by a ski? Do they clip off so you don't have to keep re-inserting them into your trousers everytime you (deliberately) take your skis off? |
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Poster: A snowHead
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paulcheall, you do realise you're 7 years too late for this thread, right?
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FAQ
