New Web Site for The Ontario Trillium Travellers

On Saturday,  I was appointed Web Master by my friends at the OTT.  We had an objective of making the web site available to all our members on whatever device or browser they had.  I also wanted to improve the look and feel.  I got back home from our weekend RV outing just after noon and by Saturday evening I had mocked up a new web site and had it up and running.

I sent an email to a few of the members and asked them to have a look and let me know what they thought.  I got almost immediate responses and the comments were terrific.  This allowed me to make the necessary corrections and prepare to go live.  By Wednesday, we had a new web address - ottrv.org.
and the old site was taken down.

I really like the new site - have a look:  Ontario Trillium Travellers new site.

My thanks go out to all of you who evaluated the site and helped me make corrections and to improve the look and feel.  Also, to the great folks at Squarespace for a great development platform and great pricing.

New House Batteries

One of the nice things about being a member of the Ontario Trillium Travelers (OTT) is that you have lots of people to help do the hard stuff.
I can't remember the last time I replaced the house batteries in the motorhome.  The batteries are Deep Cycle RV Marine batteries that require the owner to check the levels on a regular basis and fill them with water if they are low.  I have to admit that I have never done that and probably never will.
After doing a little research, I found that I could get maintenance free batteries for only $125 more each and I need three.  As well they weight 71 lbs each so there is no way I am going to use my back to install them.  That's where Gerald came in, offering to accompany me to Canadian Tire to pick them up and to help install them.
Dirty old batteries had to be removed and returned for a "core" refund.  Bettyann first had to take a picture to make sure we connected the new ones that same way.
After a backing up the car to the compartment Gerald and I proceeded to detach the terminals and the equipment that held the batteries in the slide tray.  Together, removed the old batteries and placed the new batteries into the tray and locked them down.  We connected the cables.  TIME FOR A SMOKE TEST.  Here is where the picture that Bettyann took earlier came in.  When the inverter went black, we re-examined the wiring and found an extra cable that was not connected.  Was it connected  before???

Zoom in on the back terminal of the picture and sure enough it was connected before.  After Gerald reconnected it (more then a few sparks flew) and after Maurice took a first few shocks - Bingo everything works.

Wow! Got a new iPad

The summer is so busy and the family is so big now that it is difficult to remember all the family birthdays that happen all summer long.  That is why the Jennings family gets together one day in the summer for the Jennings Everything Party when we celebrate all the birthdays at once.  This year it was hosted at Sam and Dave's so everyone could enjoy the sun and the pool.

I am the worst person in the world to buy a present for.  I buy every piece of technology I want and I don't use tools.  This year was a great surprise for me - all my children (that didn't work for RIM) (now adults of course) got together and bought me something I actually wanted and needed to help with the computer seminars I teach - a New iPad. 

I do like my Sony Tablet and it is MY first go to device but the folks that I help with technology like to buy things that are more intuitive and easy to run so, I usually recommend that they purchase an iPad.  Until now I have been unable to help them with specific apps and services.  That will all change.

I've spent the last few days getting new apps - checking out the kinds of things the RV community need and want.  I have now integrated Calibre and the iPad so books can be loaded on and read.  All in all it was a great present.  Thank you very much everyone.

Frustration with Rogers Hotspot

As you all know I have been a big fan of the Telus hotspot device as are many of my RVing friends.  Over the weekend and into this week I have had a chance to look at and experiment with the Rogers equivalent - The Rocket Mobile Hotspot.

My daughter lives in Tyrone, ON and for years has had difficulty getting a good internet solution.  For the past year or so, the her family has been using a wireless hub which promised 1Mbps download and about .3Mbps upload but hasn't been able to get close to those speeds.  This is a family with lots of technology, 5 Laptops, 3 tablets and a few iPods they have grown well beyond the service the Rogers hub is providing.

In a previous post, I outlined what has turned out to be a great solution.  We installed it in her home and ran it for about a week with virtually no problems.  The connection was 4G (not LTE).  Speedtests showed speeds of 8Mbps down and 1.25Mbps up.  MagicJack worked well.

Because the family had a contract with Rogers which expires in September and they weren't worried about travelling and having to cancel their plan as we RVers do, they decided to try out the Rogers Hotspot equivalent to the Telus.  They have 15 days to try it and return it if it doesn't work.

Yesterday they brought it home.  We inserted the SIM card and the battery and powered it up.  We were excited when, in a few seconds, it connected to the Rogers cellular network and and showed 4G with 5 bars.  The laptop connected wirelessly to the hotsot and the first we did was go to speedtest.net anticipating the same great results we got with Telus.

We couldn't believe the speeds we actually got.  Connected with 4G and 5 bars showing, we actually got a very disappointing numbers -  1/2 Mbps down and .6Mbps up.  As many times as we tried, we couldn't get speeds anywhere near 1Mbps let alone the 4G speeds that the device indicated.

It's a good thing that the contract with Rogers expires in September!  

I Like Technology That Helps The Stuff I Already Have

For a few years, now, I have had an Epson 77c projector which I have used in computer classes in Florida and sessions we've done at RV rallies and elsewhere.  It is very bright and very reliable.  When we are presenting the table we are using gets very crowded with the projector, speakers, 2 laptops and other gear like eReaders.  We have had times when the projector gets jolted - it's just inconvenient.  I would like to move the project away but I don't have long cables and if I did someone (maybe me) would surely trip over it.  Because it only has VGA input, I can't connect devices like tablets that only have HDMI output.  

About a year ago, I purchased a new piece of technology - a Netgear Push2TV.  This hooks up using HDMI to any large screen TV.  I keep it in my Family Room at home to allow me to wirelessly display my computer screen on to my 60" Sharp TV in vivid 1080p.  I use it to watch YouTube Videos and movies I have on my computer.  These look much better on the big Sharp.  The other thing is that I can keep it attached to the TV and don't have to get us to connect anything - OK maybe I am lazy - I call it convenience.

Soon after I had it installed at home I thought that I would like to use this with the projector in my classes.  It would allow me to move the projector further back in the class and would allow me to wonder around the classroom with my pc while displaying it on the big screen.  One problem though,  the Push2TV only has HDMI output and the Projector only VGA input.  I actually considered replacing the projector and researched that for a few months.  How do you justify spending over $700 to solve this problem?   I couldn't; I decided to look for an HDMI to VGA adapter.   Until recently, there was none to buy.

This week I found one; a Sabrent HDMI to VGA and Audio converter.  $44 later I recieved a package from TigerDirect.  I put it together and it actually worked!!!  the Sabrent connects VGA to the projector and HDMI to the Push2TV.  The computer has a wireless connection to the PUSH2TV.  And, the quality is excellent.  Now I can project my pc to the projector with a wireless connection - Awesome.  

Internet for your RV - Take it home too!

If you travel in a RV and you want to have everything and  by everything I mean, a printer, telephone, a Roku Box or internet access from your cell phone and tablets.  Everything you can do with internet at home is now available to you when you travel in your RV.

RVers love MagicJack especially now that it is useable without a PC being on all the time.  We use MagicJack at home and we take it with us.  Friends and family can call the same number when we are at home or when we are on the road anywhere in Canada or the US of A.  That means, no long distance for them and of course, we can call them for free.  The cost $70 for the MagicJack Plus and $100 for 5 years.  Good Bye Bell!

Many RVers have all kinds of internet devices in their coach besides laptops.  WD TV and Roku are very popular not to mention iPods, iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, XBox and Wii.  Everything you buy these days seems to need access to the internet.

With technology constantly changing, our computer classes are very popular.  RVers, even those that are retired, have a great desire to learn and that keeps us very busy and very happy.  Besides everyone likes FREE.  Our classes and assistance will continue to be free.  But, enough about that.

How do you put together an Internet solution that you can have at home and take on the road?  Here is how we've done it:

You need three (3) devices that will all work together and there are many variations of this if you wish.  I will talk about the ones we use:

1. You will need a router just like you have at home connecting your internet there.  You will connect all your internet devices, laptops, tablets, eReaders, printers, Web TV (Roku, WD TV) and anything else.
We are big fans of Linksys,  We have a WRT610N now and will be soon getting an AE4500 to replace it.  We like to attach a hard drive to it to be able to access movies and to backup our laptops.  The list price for these, is about $179 but you can get a router that will be just fine, if you don't need the hard drive, for about $30.

2. A wireless extender - we use the Linksys RE1000, price $79.  This has a dual function - connecting to device #3 and as well, can be used to connect you to the local park WiFi.  But for now, we will talk about connecting to the next device.

3.  A cellular MiFi Device - because we travel both in the US and Canada we have one for Telus and one for Verizon.  See my previous post for how and why.   The Telus device in Canada costs $150 and the plan we have is a 6GB for $60 per month.  6GB is a lot for the average user Telus has a 2GB plan for about $35.

How does this all work?

Power on the MiFi Device then the Wireless Extender (RE1000) - the Wireless extender connects wirelessly to the MiFi device and translates that into a wired connection.  (These two act just like your home internet provider but replaces the internet providers modem.)

Connect and Ethernet Cable to the outlet in the Wireless Extender (RE1000) and the other end into the Internet input on the Router.  Plug the MagicJack Plus into the router.

You now have full Internet access.  Pack it up and take it with you.

Caution

All of these devices default to a 192.168.1.1 address so it is important that you change the address of the router to a different set.  For example, 192.168.10.1.  We actually use 10.10.10.1.  If you don't change it, our experience has been that the system gets very confused.  Then you will need to configure your wireless settings - Leave a comment and let me know if you need details.

Sicard RV did the repairs

I earlier expressed my concern about having anything done on my motorhome by Sicard RV so I thought I would report on the repairs they did.  I left the motorhome with Sicard on May 5th to repair the damage caused by the tire blowout.  As well, I asked them to replace the hose reel, replace the other 5 tires and repair the water leak that caused the original reel to rust out.  

I arrived on the 18th to pick up the motorhome but before I paid the bill I thought I'd check it out.  

Checking out the damage caused by the tire blowout - I could not tell that there was ever damage they did a great job.  To check out the hose reel replacement I opened the basement door.  The new hose reel was there and was solidly attached.  There was, however, a puddle of water in the basement compartment.  My first thought was that they hadn't fixed the water leak that caused the previous reel to rust out.  

The service manager came back to the motorhome to check it out and could not find the leak - he spend 15 minutes looking for it.  We turned on the water pump, ran the water for a bit and there was no hint of a leak anywhere.  

It turns out that there is an outdoor shower head in that compartment.  It can be turned on with taps (hot and cold) and the head itself can be turned on or off as well.  I have noticed it does drip when I put it back on the holder.  For now, I have concluded that this was the leak problem and I will attempt to correct it by draining the hose after turning off the taps.  I really hope that works. 

So, in conclusion,  Sicard RV did a good job on this repair.  I am still skeptical  but I am now more inclined to have future repairs done there.  BTW - the motorhome was filthy, the Sicard RV lot is not paved.  It was there for 13 days and moving it in and out of the service area through puddles did the messy job.  Oh well, a trip to Blue Beacon.