Internet in the sticks

[Chris]

sailawayrb,

Thanks, that looks like what I am looking for. Radio Shack used to carry something like that years ago. I don't recall a telephone interface, but I am thinking 30 years ago or so. I think that unit was made by Zenith, remember them?

So as I see it, I would need X10 Pro telephone responder XPPHCO6 $69.95
and X10 duplex XPPAO11 $19.95
Say $90.00 plus tax and shipping.
I will give them a call on Monday and order it.

Seems like a fair price to me.

Again thanks again. Love this site!

Chris

[billswan]

A friend also uses the X10 system. When I was a kid I was a fan of the XL5 system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oboly57qxjg

You could send the XL5 to your remote ranch and Steve Zodiak could blast any intruders directly.

Sorry, I've had a really rough week!

Thanks for the laugh there RCA the clips on utube that your link took me to were great stuff.

Billswan

[Chris]

I want one of those motor bikes, then I could just fly over the gate. Thanks

Chris

[rl71459]

Hey sailawayrb

Better Check that picture!  Someone is stealing your leaves! The nerve of some people! 

[sailawayrb]

Hey sailawayrb

Better Check that picture!  Someone is stealing your leaves! The nerve of some people! 

Yeah, that's my grounds keeper.  I hired my neighbor's kid to clear some brush/trees and just keep the place looking good in general since we only there about every two months.  This is a fairly remote area in southern OR.  In addition to turning on the system at a prearranged time every day, I also have X10 flood lights with motion detection that will turn on the system day or night.  Something triggers the system nearly every day...the grounds keeper, deer, elk, wild turkeys, skunk, raccoons and even a bear and a cougar a few times. 

Bob B.

[rcavictim]

Hey sailawayrb

Better Check that picture!  Someone is stealing your leaves! The nerve of some people! 

Yeah, that's my grounds keeper.  I hired my neighbor's kid to clear some brush/trees and just keep the place looking good in general since we only there about every two months.  This is a fairly remote area in southern OR.  In addition to turning on the system at a prearranged time every day, I also have X10 flood lights with motion detection that will turn on the system day or night.  Something triggers the system nearly every day...the grounds keeper, deer, elk, wild turkeys, skunk, raccoons and even a bear and a cougar a few times. 

Bob B.

Did you ever get sent a system activation warning picture of Bigfoot taking a dump on your lawn? 

[mbryner]

Hey sailawayrb/Bob B.,

You're in So. Oregon?! (At least your "hideaway" is.)  Thought I was the only one.   We're building an off-grid log home 15 miles outside Grants Pass, also with masonry heater, Listeroid for backup power, etc.  Feel free to PM me if you want.   Hah, from that one picture, your place could be down the street from us!   Of course most of Western Oregon looks like that.   

Marcus

[sailawayrb]

Hey sailawayrb/Bob B.,

You're in So. Oregon?! (At least your "hideaway" is.)  Thought I was the only one.   We're building an off-grid log home 15 miles outside Grants Pass, also with masonry heater, Listeroid for backup power, etc.  Feel free to PM me if you want.   Hah, from that one picture, your place could be down the street from us!   Of course most of Western Oregon looks like that.  

Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Very cool indeed!  Our "hideaway" is about 25 miles (35 minutes) north of Rogue River on Evans Creek.  We currently live and work in Seattle area and this place will become our retirement home in about 5 to 10 years time, God willing.  We were considering building a real log cabin, but we have decided to go with conventional construction (combination slab/crawl space foundation, 6 inch stud exterior walls), passive solar, relatively small home (1480 sq ft).  We will be doing most of the actual construction ourselves and we are more fluent and comfortable with conventional construction.  However, we plan to use cedar log siding that does look pretty real:

http://www.woodworkersshoppe.com/log_corners.htm

So when we are done, it will look like a log home with river rock on lower couple of feet and have a green metal roof.  As you know, forest fires are a real concern.  We will be completing our fire suppression/irrigation system this summer that uses a hydro ram pump water from creek into a 10K gallon underground cistern.

The place currently has a single wide manufactured home.  We plan to build a garage/shop with 400 sq ft of living space (maximum allowed by Jackson County for a detached living space) within the next couple years.  When we retire and sell our Seattle place, we will live in the garage/shop detached living space, remove the single wide, and build the house.  In addition to Evans Creek, we also have another year-round stream that we have irrigation and hydro rights.

Here's my 6/1 setup that is currently in my suburban Seattle garage:

http://listerenginegallery.com/main.php?g2_itemId=351

Bob B.

[mbryner]

Bob B.,

I looked at your 6/1 pics on the Listergallery a while back and again today.   Very impressive and professional job!

We looked at a few places in Evans Creek area.   Pretty area, but on the opposite side of town from the hospital in Grants Pass, and I don't like stoplights!     And we had to stay within 20 minutes from the hospital.  We bought 320 acres of timberland in the Williams Valley, a side valley from Applegate Valley.

Nice log siding.   Looks pretty easy to install.   I made faux log siding for our "powerhouse" using 2x8's over conventional framing and sheathing.   We were very happy with the results, so I have no problem with log siding.   
http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=8164

Metal roof is the only way to go around here, IMHO.   You are using an underground 10k gal cistern; we have 10k gal in tanks above ground with dedicated 2" fire lines underground.

You are very lucky about the irrigation and hydro rights.   Those are sometimes hard to come by around here.  I'm jealous.  We have Upper Powell Creek, but all water we use has to come from the well (unless I bootleg something in later).

Our log home is square logs w/ dove tail corners.  The price with erection was very reasonable.   
http://www.stonemill.com
http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=8181
http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=8159

For everyone who thinks this thread is detouring: our internet and VIOP phone will come from Applegate Broadband, line of sight wireless at up to 14 Mbps.  http://www.apbb.net

Drop me a line next time you come down from Seattle...

Marcus

[sailawayrb]

Hi Marcus,

Wow, you have quite a construction project going on and your view is absolutely gorgeous.  I can fully understand staying within 20 minutes of the "office".  The commute to my Boeing office is 15 minutes and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yes, a place with water rights was very high on our priority list.  It took us almost 2 years of active searching all over WA and OR to find this place.  We only have 10 acres, but we are surrounded by BLM land and are in a sensitive deer/elk wildlife area.

I see that you have what appears to be a septic or water tank under your garage floor.  Please tell me more about that?  Right now, we only have 1500 gal plastic tank used for irrigation.  Our 10K underground cistern will be filled using a hydro ram pump (i.e., no electric required...uses kinetic energy of the stream).  Our fire suppression functionality will be via 70 GPM pump/water cannon that is powered from hydro electric power and can be remotely triggered/operated.  It will also have the standard 2" fire lines and standard fittings to allow a fire truck to hook up and pump.  The irrigation is currently via a standard 1.5 HP sprinkler pump off of the 1500 gal plastic tank and it will be moved to the 10K underground cistern once this is completed this summer.

...and to stay on topic, we currently use Computer Country for our 56K phone modem IP service:

http://www.ccountry.net/

We would enjoy meeting you sometime and we will let you know when we plan to visit our "hideaway" for an extended time.  We have been getting there about every 6 weeks on average for a 4 day weekend.  We spent a week there over the Christmas holiday season last year and expect to spend a week or two there during the summer season.

Bob B.

[mbryner]

Hi Bob,

I love the hydro ram pump idea.   Why did you go with a huge buried cistern, instead of above ground tanks?   A fire at above ground tanks would be problematic, I guess.

Yes, there is a buried concrete "septic" tank under our basement.   It's for hot water/thermal storage.  I'm going to line the inside with 6" of Rmax (polyisocyo foam) then a high temp compatible liner.   That should give it about R=40.   I'll keep it hot by solar panels, a stainless steel water coil in the masonry heater, and a propane boiler.   Domestic water will be heated by it via a copper loop heat exchanger.   The incoming well water will never mix with the tank water due to the heat exchanger.   The solar panels will have their own heat exchanger, too, thus satisfying the requirement for double wall between potable water and antifreeze.

Also, you can't see the "earth-tube" pipes under the foundation for AC.   They daylight to the hillside after about 100".   Not as deep as optimal, but under the slab it's always shady, so they should provide some measure of cooling.   A high efficiency whole house fan will suck the air through the tubes and then blow through ducts to the main floor.

I started a thread a few months ago about it with a few pics:
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=655.0

The water storage tanks are ~120 ft vertical from the house elevation, giving good gravity pressure to the whole water system.

The rest is just the "standard" JKson 6/1 for backup power, PV panels, batteries, inverters, etc.     Hope the tax refund comes soon...I need to pay for it all!

Marcus

[Chris]

Nice part of the world you guys. I would love to have a place there for the summer months when it just gets too hot here, Abaco Bahamas.
Sailawayrb. I ordered the x10 phone controller from Home Controls and should have it in hand by Thursday. I will let you know how it works out for me. Thanks for the contact info. Seems like a good company to deal with.

Chris

[Chris]

I finally installed the X10 phone home controller. Works like a champ. Very cool. Able to reset my DSL modem 3 miles down the shore from home or anywhere. I have the access point on the same outlet as the modem, so when I do a reset by sending a signal to turning off the plug that powers the modem and access point, I see that the access point has also gone down from my wireless bridge. When I send a signal to turn the outlet back on, I see that the access point is back up and the reset is in process. It is great. Some times it takes a couple goes to get the modem to reboot.

Chris

[sailawayrb]

I finally installed the X10 phone home controller. Works like a champ. Very cool. Able to reset my DSL modem 3 miles down the shore from home or anywhere. I have the access point on the same outlet as the modem, so when I do a reset by sending a signal to turning off the plug that powers the modem and access point, I see that the access point has also gone down from my wireless bridge. When I send a signal to turn the outlet back on, I see that the access point is back up and the reset is in process. It is great. Some times it takes a couple goes to get the modem to reboot.

Chris

Good deal and glad to hear it works for you.  The X10 protocol isn't 100% reliable, but for most applications it's more than adequate and good bang for the buck.  For maximum reliability it is best to keep the X10 transmitter and all the receivers on the same CB circuit, or at least keep them on the same 120 VAC side of CB panel.  Otherwise you may need to add a X10 repeater and/or a cross-over capacitor.

[M61hops]

Hey Chris, you win the prize for most perserverence to connect to the internet  !                 Leland