On Thu, 19 Oct 2000, Dan Michaels wrote:

> Couple of thoughts. Sounds like there isn't a prayer that
> any kind of boat can do it alone. If too small, it will sink
> first big wave. If too big, someone will see it from their
> fishing boat, and pick it out of the water. Else an oil
> tanker will run it over.

I'd go for more a "bottle" mode...  or a drifting bouy.  Easy to keep the
antenna upright that way.  I gather, however, that's not what Tobie had in
mind, it sounds like he wants to make it a *boat* with the ability to
guide/propel/sail itself to various places on its own.

If that were the intent, it would be an interesting exercise to develop a
hull design that could tolerate & survive weather, waves, submersion, etc.
A kayak comes to mind, weighted to encourage it to turn right side up.
Solar cells on top, weighted keel on the bottom (maybe WAY down),
mast/antenna combination?  I'm sure he's spent more time thinking about it
that the two minutes I just did.

> So how's about a "PICinaBottle Contest". PIC, solar battery,
> tiny GPS receiver, small 20M band morse code xmtr, little
> whip antenna sticking out the top, waterproofed in plastic.
> $10USD for the whole thing. Toss the bottle in the ocean,
> see where it goes. Winner is longest running, longest distance
> traveled.

Cool idea.  The aforementioned legal obstacles, though...  20M is bad
enough (or was last time I checked in) without a bunch of unattended
drifting QRP stations transmitting at random.  I guess *I* would love to
do it, just wouldn't want a bunch of *others* doing it too!  8-)

> More to reality - some guy named Jim Clark [SGI, Netscape,
> Healtheon] built a $30,000,000 automated sailboat with 24
> SGI workstations on board. He can sit in his office in silicone
> vallee and steer the boat realtime in the south pacific.
> Uses icebergs for slalom courses. You might check what he
> uses for a comm link.

Jeez, why wouldya??  If I had $30M I'll be damned if I'd have my boat on
its own while I was working.  I'd be in the sucker, somewhere warm, and
there'd be more silicone than silicon along with me, if ya catch my
drift...  <g>

Dale
---
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
                -- Isaac Asimov

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