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December 2006
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GCSO Holiday Christmas party
FYI - We are invited to the GCSO Holiday
Christmas party this year on December 17, 6:00PM at the American
Legion Hall in Payson at 709 E Hwy 260. The format is similar to
previous years. Bring a dish (there is a signup sheet at the
Sheriffs Office - call or stop in to see what is needed). Also,
there is a gift exchange as in past years. If you wish to
participate, bring a wrapped gift for exchange. Thanks, Bill
Who’s New
Charles Schillingburg 549 and Gregory Reed 521, both of Payson, are our latest new members, both having been voted in at the November General meeting.
We welcome both of you and congratulate you on choosing to dedicate your time and talent to saving lives in the wilderness.
Other new members this year are;
Daniel Hammond 552 in January, Karen Peterson 553 and Dennis O’Neill 555 in March, Claudia Bullard 554 in May, Eric Platt 514 in August, and Don Mahr 524 in October.
It is encouraging to see all the dedicated volunteers and we encourage you to become involved in the area of SAR that best fits your personality. There is always room for one more in any field.
We had 5 current members reach milestones this year:
Roger Miotto 511 and Jim Oelerich 518 have both been in the Squad for ten years.
Martin Szekeresh 513, Bruce Brammer 515 and Scott Davidson 523 all reached their Five year mark.
Dacey Taylor 503 also had chalked up 10 years in March but chose to drop his membership shortly after.
Thank you all for your tenacity and perseverance. We really appreciate what you have done for the Squad.
More UTM Basics
By Kathy Baas
If your GPS is set to the UTM coordinates you may see a location like 12S 305008 3785800 when it is turned on. Last month an article in the TRSAR newsletter titled Some Basics of UTM detailed what the 12 S stood for. In that article the 60 zones and 20 bands of the UTM coordinate system were described. The majority of Arizona is located in zone 12, band S.
Any UTM waypoint includes two sets of numbers to better define the actual physical location within the zone and band. Today’s article will discuss what the two sets of numbers that follow the zone and band stand for.
Eastings
The first number following the 12 S is called the Easting. It is a 6-digit number to designate the EAST/WEST position in the grid.
Because of the round shape of the earth the 120 grids created by the zone lines and band lines do not make perfectly shaped squares of the same width. The grids are the widest at the equator. The further north or south you go from the equator, the grids become less wide. Since each grid has a different width, a system was created to measure the distance across a grid starting from the vertical center-line of each grid as opposed to starting from the left or right edge of a grid.
The central line of each grid is called the central meridian. The central meridian is always assigned an easting value of 500,000 meters East. It is expressed as 500,000 mE. As you move west of the central meridian the easting will be a number less than 500,000. As you move to the east of the central meridian the easting will be a number greater than 500,000.
An easting of zero will never occur, since a 6° wide zone is never more than 674,000 meters wide. Minimum and maximum easting values are 160,000 mE and 834,000 mE at the equator. In the 12 S grid our minimum easting is approximate 225070 mE and the maximum easting is approximately 774475 mE.
Northings
The second number following the 12 S is called the Northing. It is a 7-digit number that designates how many meters you are north or south of the equator. Payson lies approximately 3,787,850 meters north of the equator.
There is an interesting phenomenon of UTM. If you are on the Western edge of the 12 S grid you may have a UTM location of 12 S 225071 3787850. If you move one meter to the West your location could then be 11 S 774474 3787850. You have changed grids to 11 S. You are on the eastern edge of grid 11 S. But you are still in the same northing location. Don’t be confused when you move to a new grid.
Examples of UTM locations
The chart below shows 4 UTM grids made up of zones and bands. One of the below stars has coordinates that are erroneous. Can you determine which one? Answer below.
| Central Meridians |
The left most star in grid 12S has an erroneous Easting coordinate. Since the star is located to the west of the Central Meridian, it should have a easting coordinate less that 500,000. Its correct coordinate should be:
12S 376360mE 3906210mN
December 2006 Training & Events Schedule
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9-Dec (Sat) Basic Tracking Classroom - Squad Building - 0900 |
Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas
Planned Training Sessions (Coming this Year)
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Apr (Sat-Sun)
SAR Academy – This is a mandatory classes for the ones
who haven’t taken it – any member |
Requested Training Sessions
If you would
like to volunteer to run a training session, or if you have a
training session request contact
Any Board Member or Don Johnson.
Italics = Sign-up required to attend this training
* See following notes:
To reserve use of squad ATV, contact Don Johnson at 928-474-5335
Jacket, gloves, boots, helmet, and eye protection required to
operate Squad ATV
Comments From the Board
We are approaching the end of another year. This has been a slow year for missions. I’m guessing that Cell Phones and GPS units have helped people from getting lost. But we continue to train and have received some excellent training. I’d like to thank all of our members, and Sgt. Hudgens and Deputy Rod Cronk who provide us with training during the year. Those who would like to assist in training please contact our Training Officer, Don Johnson.
December is also elections for the open board positions. We have some excellent people running for these positions this year. All Active members, if you haven’t already mailed your ballot in, please remember to bring your ballot to the general meeting on the 14th of December. I hope to see everyone there.
I’d like to thank our Webmaster, Jack Quinn, for all of his hard work making our Website the outstanding website it is.
I’d also like to thank Mike Taylor for his outstanding job with our Newsletter. It’s always very well done and very informative.
Our Squad continues to grow and get better. This is due to the outstanding effort of the board and fellow squad members. I encourage you all to participate as much as you can in all of our functions. This is a TEAM and working together we will continue to be the best.
Happy Holidays to everyone.
Stay active and stay healthy
Dave Pirtle 507
Board Member and Past
Commander
Don’t forget; the meetings this month are December 12th for the Board and December 14th for the General Meeting.
Computer Tips, Techniques, Rants, Raves, and Netiquette
submitted by
Jack Quinn and Les Hulse
This month, let’s take a look at the basics of securing your computer. We are not going all the way to high security measures used by some government agencies, but will limit ourselves to “reasonable” user security.
Do not think that computer problems cannot happen to you. Even if you “never” attach to the Internet, “never” use an Email program, etc., you will get hit with something – it is only a matter of “when”.
Occasionally we get a call to help someone because “their computer is acting funny” or “their computer restarts at random times” or “there are pop-up ads all over the display” or “their homepage has changed” or “whatever” (you fill in the blank).
Whatever has happened most likely was caused by “something” getting into the computer. So, the questions we generally hear are: What is it? – Where did it come from? – How did it get on the computer? – Can you get rid of it? (we always hear this one) – Can I keep it from coming back?
Answering any of these questions could give us quite a few months of columns.
As a TV program once said, “The truth is out there.” Unfortunately, there are also many bad things out there on the web – worms, viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, key loggers, malicious ads, web page redirectors, phishing scams – just to name a few. Another culprit can be “dust bunnies” from your home or office.
The most common thing we find is that the computer user neglected the basic things necessary to secure their computer. So what are these things (you may ask)?
Here are the basic things any computer user should do to start securing their computer. If there is interest, we will go into more detail in the following months.
1 – Make sure an anti-virus program is running and is up-to-date.
2 – Use a good firewall to control what goes in and out from your computer (not the default Windows firewall).
3 – Update / patch ALL your software every now and then.
4 – Check / adjust ALL your settings so they are safe, since they AREN’T by default.
5 – As a minimum, install all “critical” windows patches.
6 – Make a backup of all your important data.
There are many other things that can be addressed like spyware scanners, using passwords, good browsing habits, anonymous browsing, etc. The above 6 basic steps will do a lot toward keeping your computer running smoothly.
Most importantly:
Don’t assume anything. If you don’t know, find out! If you can’t or don’t understand, ask someone who knows! There’s nothing more dangerous than doing something you don’t really know anything about. That’s the best way to cripple your system or get a Trojan horse on your computer!
Question: Do any of you find this section useful?
We can rant and rave about many topics, but do not know if it is appreciated. Also, we will most likely choose topics that “tick us off” and ignore the ones that you may be interested in. We can give you our opinion on just about anything (opinions are cheap).
So let us know if this section is useful, and if you would like us to tear into some topic, just tell us.
Send any comments and/or suggestions to the editor; Mike – address at bottom of newsletter.
(Editor’s note) The
following is a very interesting guest article by one of our own,
Martin Szekeresh; a story of great interest about an age-old
Pilgrimage in Spain in which he participated. Because of the
length, it will be presented in two parts.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
“The Way” or “Camino” of Saint James
May/June, 2006
Martin Szekeresh, 513
“Buen Camino Pelegrino” means, “Pilgrim, have a good pilgrimage.” It was a comment I was to hear many times from many people on my 811 km trek across northern Spain from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, to the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
A brief recap of the history of “the Camino“: Christ’s apostle, St. James, preached in Spain before returning to Jerusalem and being beheaded by King Herod in 44 AD. According to legend, two of his disciples secreted away his remains and sailed in a stone boat across the Mediterranean Sea and through the Straights of Gibraltar to Spain. There they buried him. In the early 800’s, a religious hermit named Pelayo had a vision in which a spot on a hillside was identified by a bright star. The local bishop ordered a search and “voila”, St. James’ grave was discovered. A church, which is now the Cathedral of St. James, was built over the site. Not coincidentally at this time, the Christians were trying to recapture Spain from the Moors. And who should appear from the heavens to lead them to victory but none other than St. James mounted on a white steed swinging a mighty sword and killing Moors by the thousands. Thus the legend of St. James (Santiago Matamoros - the Moor slayer) was created. He became the patron saint of Spain and Christians from throughout Europe began making pilgrimages to his church. Since about 950 AD many notables such as St. Francis of Assisi, Ferdinand and Isabella, Pope John Paul II and one of President Bush’s daughters, have made all or part of the pilgrimage.
In the last 1,000 years, millions of individuals have completed the pilgrimage (only 600 Americans last year) and they all had one thing in common – their outfit. To contrast the ancient with the modern: Ancient, a large brimmed hat to block the heat and glare of the sun; a wooden staff for defense and fighting off dogs; a gourd for water; sandals for the feet; a knap sack for food and a blanket. Modern, I wore sunscreen and a French foreign legion style cap; carried an aluminum collapsible hiking pole; a Camelbak for water; trail running shoes; and a backpack with a down sleeping bag. The one item we all wore was a scalloped sea shell on a string around our neck. The shell is the symbol for the Camino and for St. James.
Each year thousands of peregrinos/peregrinas (pilgrims) earn their Compostela (certificate of pilgrimage) in recognition of their achievement and motivation in following the Camino. The certificate is issued by the Cathedral’s Pilgrim Office to individuals who have completed the Way on foot or by bicycle as documented by their Pilgrim’s Record. The record is like a passport that must be stamped, signed, dated and recorded at different locations along the route. To earn the Compostela, if traveling by foot, you only need to complete the last 100 km and if by bike, the last 200 km. An authenticated passport must be presented at refugios or albergues (like hostels) for inexpensive overnight accommodations that are intended solely for the use of pilgrims. My cost per night averaged 6 euros, about $8.00. I wanted an old fashion pilgrimage experience and was willing to tolerate sleeping and bathroom arrangements that I would hesitate to ask my wife to endure. There are a lot of other lodging options available along the Camino that vary from five star paradores (operated by the government) to rooms above bars in remote villages. However, you would miss experiences like the night in the church refugio when an Italian man with a deep beautiful voice sang Amazing Grace accompanied on a guitar by a man from the Netherlands. Or the albergue that played soft classical music until lights out. Or the one that played Gregorian chants by Benedictine monks. Or stepping back in time to the 1950’s and 60’s in the Acuario (Aquarius) albergue with hippie style posters, wall hangings, dripping candles and incense.
I began my pilgrimage in St. Jean on May 17th following the French route. I hiked over the Pyrenees and spent the first night in an albergue in Roncesvalles, Spain. The pilgrim accommodations are not for travelers who like privacy. My first night was spent in a 500 year old stone building. That one room was large enough to sleep 120 pilgrims in steel two tier bunk beds. At age 68, I’m getting too old to be climbing in and out of top bunks and worrying about falling out on my head. (Happiness was getting a bottom bunk). There was a separate bathroom for men and women and each contained three toilets, three showers and three sinks. However, not all facilities were so crowded and in Astorga there were 75 small rooms each with two beds. Usually it was at least 8 to a room, and except for the two nights I slept on a mat on the floor, always in bunk beds. In all lodging the sexes were commingled. Since none of the beds had sheets, everyone had a sleep sack or sleeping bag. I was able to take a hot shower all but two nights and washed clothes (more like rinsed out the sweat) every night in a sink. All the facilities maintained the same schedule: open at 3 or 4 pm, lights out at 10 pm, lights on at 6 am, everyone out and the doors locked at 8 am. Surprisingly, at this time of year there were few young people on the Camino and most pilgrims were in their 50’s and 60’s. I understand that this is not the case in July and August and especially in towns holding fiestas like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. In fact the last time I was there, bulls were chasing me.
To
be continued. (The conclusion will be printed in a future issue of
the SAR Coordinates.)
Website
Tonto Rim SAR Members can now have your very own email address through our site. Just contact our Webmaster at jack@jackswebs.com to arrange for it, no cost to you or us.
We are promoted and you’ll also find our newsletter on the Rim Country Volunteer site;
http://www.inpayson.com/TRSAR-Payson-Rim-Country-Area.htm
Thanks to those who contributed to this issue of the newsletter.
Mike 502 editor@trsar.org
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