SDHGPA NOVEMBER 17TH 2022 MEETING

7:30 General Meeting via Zoom:
1. Club Info & Updates:

• 2023 Membership Renewal is now open.  Don't let your membership lapse!  

           Current status: https://www.sdhgpa.com/current-membership-status.html

• Site info Updates: 
  1. Palomar:  Reminder from Steve to always have your parking pass displayed.
  2. Blossom:  No new updates from Brad on the development.  Map finalization still in process but development seems to be a 'done-deal'

• WX Station updates : https://www.sdhgpa.com/weather-stations.htm 
  1. Holfuy stations  - Horse, Laguna and Little Black all working.   El Cap and Palomar seems to have intermittent connectivity issues w/ 2G after 3G tower retirements.  Per Jeff, TMobile will also sunset 2G  at end of the year but not 100% sure.  For example, AT&T 3G sunset didn't happen until ~6 weeks after their end date.
  2. Two Prototype stations are up and running at Palomar and Little Black running on 5G.  LB had a small glitch but reset itself.  Palomar station seems to read high on high winds days.  Overall the stations are working fine.  Josef needs to contact Nik to install 3rd station at El Cap.  Holding off on 4th prototype station until more testing  to assure the prototype stations prove to be stable and reliable. We will re evaluate after January to see what happens with 2G end-of-life and if our confidence in the prototype stations continue.
  3. Next Steps
  • We want to develop a mobile app (similar to Holfuy app) so you can pull up favorite weather stations and view individual readings without having to navigate the SDHGPA web page.
  • We also need help getting the data feeds to other networks (eg. Mesa West, Weather Underground, etc).  With Holfuy, we are feeding about 5 different networks.  Want to feed Josef's information to at least the 3 main networks.
  • Volunteer Coding Opportunity in Typescript:  Josef needs programming help with the data feeds. Specifically, help w/ Typescript from backend Google Firebase.  Anyone with a development background want to help out?

• USHPA Chapter Renews open December 1st.
  1. Time of year that USHPA needs clubs to gather-up and make sure we have all Accident Reports accounted for (Refer to Members Only section on website for Accident/Incident Reports).  These get feed into annual safety officer reviews and reporting, and also help update Site Guides. 
  2. The due date for USHPA renewal is late January; therefore, we want to submit early and not wait to until last minute.
  3. We are looking for member feedback on site guides to keep these current and relevant.  Any feedback?

Do you have your Ham, Sam?

• Setting Calendar for 2023 Meeting Topics  to dates 

1. Greg Hunter suggested that someone from local Ham radio club come out and talk about legal use of Ham radio and how to license. Steve said that a long time ago (2004), Mark Weber did a "Ham and Eggs" series to prep people to get Ham radio licenses. Was a series of breakfast study sessions before heading out to fly.  Greg volunteered to take lead on this putting together the meeting topic and/or training series.
2. 2023 Fly-Ins Dates:
   • Tentative March/April 2023 for Fly-in and awards
   • Fall Fly-in ~October 2023

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• Awards and Contest Rules  Refer to  https://www.sdhgpa.com/xc-contest---sdhgpa.htmlJeff  said there were two contest categories - 1 for Hang Gliding and 1 for paragliding.

1. PG: 9 sites to fly from.  Best flight counts as longs as you don't break airspace.  The 9 Sites in San Diego County or Southern California Basin are: Laguna, Horse, Blossom, Little Black, Big Black, Palomar, Elsinore, Soboba, Crestline/Marshall. (Note that Otay was removed from the list of sites starting in 2017 due to complications of Boarder activity, Airspace, and no place to go except over tiger country to avoid airspace). We can reevaluate Otay if pilots want to argue a case for adding it back in due to changes.
2. Contest Nov. 1st to Oct. 31st from Leonardo.  30 Days after Oct. 31st to get your flights in.
3. Shirt awards and based on passing the following milestones for your furthest flight of the year (Based on Maximum straight line distance between two points in Leonardo.)

• 10 miles - From one of the 9 sites for your first year achieving
• 25 miles - From one of the 9 sites
• 50 miles  - launching anywhere
• 75 miles    - launching anywhere
• 100 miles  - launching anywhere

Please check the Score sheets to make sure we have correctly captured scoring for all of your flights. If not, please contact Jeff Brown.

2. Topics: - with Open Q&A: 

• Travel and Fly Safety Information:   Working on a refresh of the 2019 "Travel to Fly" safety information and what insurance and services are available for rescue, transport of medical attention.  More to come but excellent links to information and context:
  1. https://www.sdhgpa.com/minutes-news--articles/travel-to-fly-march-meeting 
  2. https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com/unscrambling-insurance-are-you-covered/

• Telegram Question:  Why we don't fly in Santa Anas?  

Palomar and Elsinore can be an option for 'mild' Santa Ana if gust factors within .  Gust factors should not be more than 2x base winds. Anything with an East component, the base winds should be less than 5 mph.  Hazard is the upper sheer winds

1. Ex) 5mph West meets 5 mph from East = 10 mph sheer.  This is doable.
2.  5 mph West meets a 15 mph from East = 20 mph and will turn your wing inside out.

Ref article on flying in Santa Ana conditions