A sailing story for nerds
Driving to the boat today I have electronics on my mind. I want to capture the output on the victron ve-direct interface, to be able to build a sensesp unit for it, I have an oscilloscope with me to check out the nmea2000 signal from the emtrak, as my first canbus exposure, I want to measure the dBm of the marina wifi with different positions of the wifi dongle, and I want to test whether the esp32-cam (future mast-cam) has enough wifi power to reach the openplotter access point from 10m above the steel cabin. When I drive over the causeway dam, that blocks the sea from the IJsselmeer fresh water lake, there's hundreds of metres of drifting ice on the lake side. For Dutchies, that's becoming rare. As I make a stop at the lock through the dam, the ice turns out to be all small bits and pieces. The marina, 20 minutes under the lock, is free of ice. Once at the boat, I see a police vessel on the AIS pass through the icy bit and I decide I can give it a go. It's exhilariting t