Dust
So we had a little dust storm the other day. It all came up from South Australia. Fuckin' croweaters.
This shit hung around for about four hours. Usually, when we have dust storms, the dust is as fine as talcum powder. This stuff was more like sand. Makes it a bit hard to plough a straight line when you can't see anything.
In other news, during this dust storm I had an idea for an eight post series about God. Actually, I had an idea for the eighth post, inspired by Chrenkoff, of all people. It's the title that appeals to me and the title is dependant on being the eighth in a series. I probably won't get around to it, but heh. If I tell people about it, then maybe I'll feel obligated.
This shit hung around for about four hours. Usually, when we have dust storms, the dust is as fine as talcum powder. This stuff was more like sand. Makes it a bit hard to plough a straight line when you can't see anything.
In other news, during this dust storm I had an idea for an eight post series about God. Actually, I had an idea for the eighth post, inspired by Chrenkoff, of all people. It's the title that appeals to me and the title is dependant on being the eighth in a series. I probably won't get around to it, but heh. If I tell people about it, then maybe I'll feel obligated.
posted by Dirk at 7:56 am
5 Comments:
hey dude, you went quiet for a bit. welcome back
i checked out Chrenkoff, but got bored of the long winded comments (ok, yes that makes me a hypocrit).
interesting pics. never been in a dust storm like that. i heard that there's a GPS option for tractors so they plow the most economically efficient (or something) lines. you'd need a differential gps solution to get any kind of accuracy for that though, and unless a lot of other farmers played as well, it'd be bloody expensive.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but years ago I was told the original idea for GPS ploughing, or development of the principle, came from a young Aussie bloke off a property up there is cotton country...then took the idea to the States and the rest is history. True or false ?
JAFA
OK, forgive me for being terribly jeuvenile, but do you end up with incredibly red boogers from a storm like that? How long did it last?
Rat and JAFA,
the GPS guidance system was originally developed by a cotton farmer just outside Goondiwindi, can't remember his name. His system, called Beeline when sold as a stand-alone product, is now fitted as original equipment on Caterpillar and a couple of other brands.
We have a different brand, which is cheaper, simpler to operate and far more reliable. John Deere have a different one again, called Greenstar.
All of them operat pretty much the same way:
You have sensors in the tractor (picker, header, spra-coupe, etc) which tell the tractor where it is, what direction it's facing and which direction it should be going. Because the GPS (even the super secret U.S. military one) is not very accurate, you also have a base station set up, which collects signals from the same satellites. Because the base station is set up at a known position it can compare what the satellites are telling it with what it knows are the facts and make adjustments accordingly. It then sends the adjustments to the tractor via radio.
So that if the satellites are telling the base station that it is 15cm to the south of where it actually is, it then tells the tractor to adjust its co-ordinates by 15cm to the north.
Currently, they will only steer in a straight line, but work is progressing on systems that will do laps of a paddock.
Hooch,
yes you do - and about four hours.
Thanks Dirk, well put. And I assume the same gear is also used for paddock levelling. Namely the base station is calced at a known level from which laser/radio signals are sent to a receiver on the machine which automatically adjusts the blade according to the dialled up levels required. Or something like that.
Oh, and yes of course the dust creates so much boogey material it usually takes the whole trip back to the pub/farmhouse to dislodge.
JAFA
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