HOMEPAGE of PA0PAZ, Peter
Hi, I'm Peter, from The Netherlands, and I have too many hobbies!
Some of my main interests are: Travelling, Photography, GPS, and
HamRadio (PA0PAZ)
Travelling around.
I have travelled in many European countries, Canada and the U.S., but the last years
I started visiting several Asian countries.
Turkey, Jordan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and recently China.
We travel mostly on our own. Rent a motorbike,
obtain a good map (if possible), and a lonely planet guide.
We also have some experience with the local available transport. Planes, trains,
buses, elephants, horses, tuktuk, oxcars, bikes......
This is a nice way to visit people I already know from the short wave radio.
The Global Positioning System.
Since a few years I have a GPS (Global Positioning System) helping me find my way around.
This is a great help if you cannot read the roadsigns!
Do you realise that most people in those countries use a completely
different alphabet, other digits, and/or do not use miles or km?
So what exactly are you going to ask a person who does not understand, speak,
read or write English?
A Little Road Signs Quiz.
Are you curious to know, what you may encounter? I made some pictures of (traffic) signs.
(all in rather low resolution to save download time). Do you recognize the country?
Do have a look at my little Road Signs Quiz!
GPS antenna's.
When you buy a GPS, the antenna is included. It may be inside the receiver, but I preferred
an external antenna. It is easier to locate this antenna in a place which will
give you a better reception, while the GPS receiver itself can be positioned for a good view.
As a radio amateur I got interested in the GPS technology and build
several antennas. For instance a Dipole, a
Helical and a
Patch antenna, combined with an amplifier.
While we travel I try to make a good series of slides.
I combine this occasionally with a soundtrack, which I record with a Walkman.
Later on at home I select the usuable parts and combine these in a soundtrack
for the slideshow.
This editing part is very easy, using a MiniDisk (MD).
When you are in any way interested in editing soundtracks, you should consider a MD (I think)
Maps available in Holland (using the RD grid system)
When you decide to travel in the Netherlands, and want to buy maps,
you may find out that some of the more detailed maps are marked with a UTM-like square grid.
In order to use that grid together with a GPS you will have to program a
user grid.
This is not difficult and will give you a very high degree of accuracy.
The maps in the GPS III for Holland.
This is were I live! A screenshot from my GPS III.
The position of my house is: 51° 23'N, 5° 26'E
A lot of discussion has been going on in the GPS newsgroup (SCI.GEO.SATELLITE-NAV)
regarding the (in)accuracy of the maps which are contained in the GPS3.
It will be different in each country. Look at some of my
observations in the Netherlands.
I can be reached at
pa0paz@amsat.org
Hams may try my packet radio address: pa0paz@pi8zaa.#nbo.nld.eu
Please note, the figure ZERO in the middle of my callsign pa0paz!
