Farming technology fail

[Mobuck]

We're heading into the home stretch of planting and our customer's 'cover crop' sort of got away from him. Now instead of ankle to knee high rye, we're facing a shoulder high rye jungle from fence to fence in one field. My tractor is equipped with a GPS guidance unit that tells me which way I'm 'off the mark' which is good enough for areas of lighter cover. Son's tractor is equipped with 'auto-steer' that actually guides the tractor on a path adjusted for the width of the planter.
We filled Son's planter (about 24 acres worth of seed) and then he helped fill mine (about 14 acres) and left to plant in the rye jungle around 6PM. About 8PM I ran low on seed and went looking for Son expecting him to have made a similar amount of progress. OOPS, his GPS wasn't working properly and he'd only planted a couple acres. He wasn't in a good mood and didn't want my advice so I came home. He didn't go home by way of my house or maybe he got the widget fixed and is still in the field. Guess I'll find out in the morning when I go back to the field.
Such a failure is not totally unexpected since that area is some sort of black hole. Cell phones lose signal, batteries go dead unexpectedly, radios don't work, and things that normally work perfectly fail--Twilight Zone(ish) stuff.

 

[eveled]

Farming in the Twighlight zone can’t be fun. I hope he got it figured out.

I rarely comment on your posts, but appreciate the glimpse into your world.

Ed

 

[Mobuck]

Thanks eveled. Yes he did get the unit working and ran his planter load out. We finished and had all the toys put away by 2PM yesterday. Feeling expencially tired today but gotta go. The boys just pulled in my drvieway.

 

[Hvymax]

GPS has saved me several times when I pushed the fishing time and had to make the return in the pitch darkness of a cloudy night. Especially with how narrow some of the channels are. You can go from 72' to under 1' in a hundred yards or less.

 

[Jeepnik]

GPS has saved me several times when I pushed the fishing time and had to make the return in the pitch darkness of a cloudy night. Especially with how narrow some of the channels are. You can go from 72' to under 1' in a hundred yards or less.

I ran Loran for years. But I was very, very impressed with the first (and an early) GPS when I installed it on my boat. I didn't really trust it even with all the hype it was getting. I ran them side by side for a bit. Heck do they still even make Loran units?

 

[blume357]

don't know, but the one very important lesson I was taught in coastal navigation was to never totally trust your life to electronics. I make that comment when I read here and on another forum that folks are putting red dots on their carry gun and it seems are going to rely on that little biddy battery to give them the dot.

The quirky black hole in Mobuck's field is kind of strange... I'm wondering if it is magnetic distortion coming from the ground. I can't imagine not being able to get a good gps signal out in the open like that.

Oh and I remember when all the GPS units came with an error of about 90 yards... that's the best you could get with a signal.... seems the powers that be were worried about some homegrown terrorist using the system to guide a bomb to a government building... they did not think about some misguided farm boy just driving up in a rental truck.

 

[Jeepnik]

One thing folks that buy boats should do is read Chapman piloting and navigation. First they’ll actually learn the rules of the road and what all those lights mean. Learn to read a chart and other useful tidbits.

Sadly most new owners buy a boat, stick it in the water and become a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[the_leper_colony]

...Sadly most new owners buy a boat, stick it in the water and become a disaster waiting to happen.

Reminds me of the old joke about "the two happiest days in a boat-owner's life..."

 

[Hvymax]

One thing folks that buy boats should do is read Chapman piloting and navigation. First they’ll actually learn the rules of the road and what all those lights mean. Learn to read a chart and other useful tidbits.

Sadly most new owners buy a boat, stick it in the water and become a disaster waiting to happen.

Yeah I'm familiar but never actually had to resort to that. Hardwired marine compass and all.

 

[Hvymax]

What's really awesome is that GPS with good charts I can troll the edges of channels and drop anchor in 7' of water and drift over the 75' deep honey hole which is my winter strategy.

 

[blume357]

Speaking of navigation and Champman's... try Bowditch Volume 1&2... 2336 pages.

 

[the_leper_colony]

... try Bowditch Volume 1&2... 2336 pages.

...first published in 1799!

 

[RSIno1]

Speaking of navigation and Champman's... try Bowditch Volume 1&2... 2336 pages.

The original was under 450 pages. There was a 1772 Royal Navy book that Nathaniel Bowditch was asked to update and correct. In 1867 the government bought the plates and copyright and it's still available today free online. https://msi.nga.mil/api/publication...5/SFH00000/Bowditch_Vol_2_LoRes.pdf&type=view

 

[kcsteve]

Humans have a built-in GPS just like dogs and birds. Since we don’t use it, we lose it. Some people that use their sense of direction everyday are amazing. A friend of mine was a ferryboat captain. He could navigate at night and in thick fog when I couldn’t see the front of the boat.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Sailed* one Sunday from Avalon Harbor of Catalina Island BACK to Long Beach Harbor in a heavy fog; Used only my compass and held to DUE NORTH. Two clues I was on the right track, #1 a tug boat passed me by on the same course; #2 was the Bell Buoy off the entrance to Long Beach Harbor.

*36 ft Wooden Ketch built in 1948 in San Pedro; Had a 22 hp diesel engine too !

 

[Jeepnik]

Transited Angels Gate to Catalina and back many times, powerboat though, with only a compass. Night was easier. Never tried it in fog until I got my first radar set.