(meteorobs) Digital Voice Recorder & talking clock

[Alister]

My mini-cassette recorder broke something while I was in Africa, thankfully 
after the total eclipse, but nonetheless it failed and compromised my 
nighttime stargazing.

My replacement DVR (now 5 years old!) purged its memory after the recent 
quadrantids and once before when I dropped it on a stone floor. It does not 
lose memory when I change the batteries, so maybe it got stressed when I 
packed up. The buttons are too close for thick gloved fingers to operate 
(that test just about fails any piece of electronic equipment!).

I"ll take the digital any day compared to the littany of tape problems I've 
had in the past.

That said, the model I have is indeed limited to 200 segments, whose total 
cannot be more than 1 hour at high quality, but if you have 300 meteors, 
you're in a fix. BUT, this model is 5 years old. I can't imagine that the 
features on newer models have not become more impressive. MP3 players record 
voice nowadays (but I don't know what their limit is).

The lesson is: technology *will* fail. If the observing session is that 
important to you, buy and bring a backup! For some people, two trips to the 
dark site costs as much in gas as it would to buy a backup voice recorder 
(of either kind).

If someone finds a DVR that has impressive features, please let us know!

Alister Ling.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bmccurdy at telusplanet.net>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Digital Voice Recorder & talking clock


>   Geert wrote:
>
>> I have seen interesting fights between meteor observers and digital voice
>> recorders.
>> It seems that many digital recorders tend to;
>> a) emit photons you don't ask for;
>> b) run out of batteries (cf. a);
>> c) are not designed for very short messages.
>>
>> Please prove me wrong and find a good model!
>
>   My meteor-observing buddy Alister Ling uses a DVR, and says that his is
> limited to a certain number of recordings (a couple hundred or so) no 
> matter
> how short they may be. Fine for his deep sky observations, not so good for
> individual meteor reports. Whereas my trusty microcassette recorder will, 
> at
> its slowest speed, last me all night. I have only once needed a second
> microcassette during a single meteor session (the 2001 Leonids, when I 
> just
> left it to run in real time through the peak).
>
>> I wonder where to find talking clocks in Europe...
>
>   I got my talking watch (a.k.a. the cat's meow) at the Canadian National
> Institute for the Blind. Presumably there are equivalent organizations in
> Europe.
>
>   Bruce
>   *****
>
>
>
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