Stay safe and stay prepared.
Bill Pitterle - Commander, #500
Don’t forget; the
meetings this month are
February 12th for the Board
and
February 14th
(Happy Valentine’s Day)
for the General Meeting.
SAR ACADEMY
The SAR academy will be held on April 5 & 6 at the Squad
building.
All new members should attend this two day training and will get
a great overview of all aspects of Search and Rescue. The areas
covered include: Legal aspects of Search and Rescue, Personal
Safety, Map and Compass, Tracking, Communications and Search
Management. Other members of the squad can and should also
attend as a refresher.
Member
Profile
Kim Donau 544
Thank you for your support in our last election.
I look forward to serving on the Board, learning, contributing
and supporting TRSAR. If you have questions and/or suggestions,
we are interested. Please do not hesitate sharing your thoughts
with us.
Since being elected, I thought to share a bit of my past.
I was raised in Carmel, CA; attending Upper school and High
School as a Boarder at Convent of the Sacred Heart, Atherton,
and CA. then on to college, USIU Cal Western, Pt. Loma CA.
My work experience is vast and varies:
• Tour Guide Tram Operator- Sabino Canyon, Tucson AZ
• Human Resource Personnel Asst- 1st Interstate Bank, Tucson
AZ
• Photo Journalist- Bozeman MT
• Hospital Admissions, Medical Billing, Accts
Receivable-Ruston LA and Payson AZ
• EMT Cert- Monterey CA
I
have enjoyed scuba diving, becoming a NAUI Divemaster, diving in
warm and arduous waters (Hawaii, St Thomas, San Carlos, Cozumel,
Pt Lobos, and Monterey Bay); was the feeding show diver at the
Monterey Bay Aquarium for 1-½ years. I learned to hunt 25 years
ago in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, New Zealand and Wyoming.
Other interests are: hiking, camping, horseback riding, snow and
water skiing, genealogy, reading, knitting, traveling, volunteer
work, taking care of feral cat colonies (trapping, fixing, and
rabies shots.) historical chairperson on Sweet Pea Festival
Board, Bozeman MT.
My previous history and love for the outdoors make TRSAR a
perfect match.
In a nutshell; that’s all folks.
Thank you all again for your support.
To the future and making it better by maintaining and
fine-tuning our missions and goals.
Till next time,
Kim Donau 544
February 2008 Training & Events Schedule
|
16-Feb (Sat) |
Rope Training – Time: 0900 –
Place: Flowing Springs – Roger Miotto and rope
instructors in charge |
|
21- Feb (Sat) |
GPS/Navigation class – Time: 1800 – Place: Shoofly
Ruins – Jim Oelerich,& Dave Pirtle are going to put
on a basic GPS/Navigation class at ShooFly Ruins
Thursday, Feb 21st at 1800 hours. Class will
include entering UTM coordinates, converting to
Lat/Long and GoTo. Those who are more proficient at
this can give one on one to those who are not.
Class will also include very basic map and compass.
|
|
8-Mar (Sat) |
Basic
Tracking Introduction – Place: Squad building –
Time: 0900 – Les Hulse in charge |
Planned Training Sessions ( Coming this Year)
| 5-6
Apr (Sat-Sun) |
SAR Academy – Place:
Squad building – Time: 0800-1600 – This is a
mandatory training for squad members who haven’t
taken it – Any member can also take it again. |
|
16-Apr |
CPR – Time: 1700 – At Ira’s House |
|
14-May |
First Responder |
| 18-Jun |
CPR |
| 16-Jul
|
First Responder |
| 13-Aug
|
CPR |
|
Planned |
Navigation Training –
Compass and GPS |
| Planned |
Mock Mission |
|
Planned
|
ATV overnight ride
- 120 miles |
| Planned
|
ATV Ride/GPS
Training |
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
Computer Tips, Techniques, Rants, Raves, and Netiquette
Submitted
by Les Hulse
As we continue to look at digital cameras,
let’s consider “Digital Camera Zoom”.
There are a lot of questions concerning optical and digital zoom
on a digital camera. The thing to keep in mind is that the two
different zoom abilities are not the same thing.
Let’s take a quick look at digital camera operation: The lens
takes the light from the scene and focuses it onto the sensor.
In olden times, the sensor used to be a piece of film, but in
digital cameras it's a light-sensitive circuit. This sensor is
what people often use to compare digital cameras (it's the
sensors that are measured by their megapixels). However, the
lens is an equal partner in producing an image, and lenses
usually do not receive much attention.
When you use a zoom lens, you can change the field of view
without having to walk closer to or farther away from the scene.
At the "widest" setting, you get the largest area of the scene,
and as you “zoom in" you continually look at smaller and smaller
areas of the scene, revealing more detail.
The most common consumer digital cameras have both an optical
and digital lens zoom. For simplicity, the range of the lens is
the difference in the photo when zoomed in all the way versus
the photo on the widest setting. Zoom lenses with 3X or 5X range
are very common. The higher the number (the range of the lens),
the more options you have each time you take a picture – zoom
out to show the whole squad or zoom in to show only a member or
two.
Each digital camera contains a small computer. Why? – Because
they work with digital images and not film. A digital zoom uses
digital image processing to zoom in a bit more once the optical
zoom has reached its limit. Typically, you can get an additional
2X to 3X zoom range. The problem is that the image processing
has to work hard to create more information than was originally
present in the sensor. Because of this kind of processing,
digital zooms often make images look pixilated (photos get the “jaggies”)
since they are putting in "the zoom" with digital effects and
not a real lens. (See the example at bottom of article.)
When you are considering buying a camera, spend your money for
the optical zoom capability, not the digital zoom. Also, don't
be misled by thinking that the two are cumulative. A 4X optical
zoom with a 2X digital zoom does not mean that you're getting an
8X zoom. My advice: When comparing different cameras, only pay
attention to the optical zoom – it's the one that you'll be
using 99.9 percent of the time.
If the optical zoom didn't go quite far enough, you can do a
digital zoom afterwards, using a photo editing program. Doing it
afterwards gives you more control and more time. You can see the
tradeoffs of detail versus quality on your computer's large
screen, whereas you can't tell what you are losing in the tiny
screen of the camera.
In short: Optical Zoom is similar to seeing scenery through a
binocular, while digital zoom is seeing a photo of same scenery
through a magnifying glass.
Here is an example: Optical zoom on left – digital zoom on
right.
|
Left: This photo taken with
optical zoom at the maximum setting (nice and
sharp). |
Right: I backed
up and used digital zoom to get as close as the
other photo (blurring due to pixilation). |
The next two photos are
magnified samples from the above photos
that really show how the digital zoom influences your photos.
A
tip for this month:
Take more
photos than you usually would.
Why?
Using digital film, you do not have to pay for processing to see
the final product. Take as many photos as you want – you can
erase the ones that are not right either using the camera or on
you computer at a later time. Just keep the best ones.
Just be
careful that you don’t trade quality for quantity by taking
heaps of random shots and ignoring the composition of your
photos. Otherwise you’ll have heaps of shots but no good ones.
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.
RELATED SAR INFO
Dave Pirtle shared with us a website to obtain, if you’re
interested, a fantastic GPS location device. This shows what
technology is bringing to us and I’m sure we can expect even
more of this type in the near future. See it here;
http://www.findmespot.com/
Also, if you are in need of good flashlights at decent prices,
checkout:
http://www.dealextreme.com/
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.
Just Musing
Why
does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it
would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid
song about him?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a
coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from
vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the
hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?
J. Mike Taylor 502L
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
Humor me
After their baby was born, the
panicked father went to see the Obstetrician.
"Doctor," the man said, "I don't mind telling you, but I'm a
little upset because my daughter has red hair. She can't
possibly be mine."
"Nonsense," the doctor said. "Even though you and your wife
both have black hair, one of your ancestors may have
contributed red hair to the gene pool."
"It isn't possible," the man insisted. "This can't be, our
families on both sides had jet-black hair for generations."
"Well," said the doctor, "let me ask you this. How often do
you have sex?"
The man seemed a bit ashamed.
"I've been working very hard for the past year. We only made
love once or twice every few months."
"Well, there you have it!" The doctor said confidently.
"It's rust."
