Date:         Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:45:17 -0700
Reply-To:     Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: vanagon Digest - 21 Mar 2007 (#2007-311)
In-Reply-To:  <HHEAJIOMDPBGGCKHACGJCENACKAA.al_knoll@pacbell.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Pensioner typed:
>>>>>> Date:    Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:59:12 -0400
> From:    Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
> Subject: Re: Baja Syncro Chronicles vol 113, long
>
>>   Wonderful news!  Now, if we could persuade the huge motorhome crowd, the
>> Prevost Deisel pusher bus crowd, the 40' long Toybox trailer crowd that
>> they can exist out in the world without their Generators, we can have some
>> tranquility when we travel and camp...
>
> So that's why you have a high clearance 16foot long getaway van.  So you can
> motor gently into those nether regions back of beyond where the Prevost
> slideout crowd fears to tread.  Tote a small honda generator (55DbA), and a
> small motorbike if you need motorized transport and something to run your
> microwave.  Very minimal impact.  Or candles and a bicycle.  Even less
> impact.  Only the wheeze of the operator on the uphills.

I expect that "generator vs non-generator camping" reveals a deep rift
between camping philosophies.

We're pretty sensitive to noise. I play soft music in the van, but you
need to stick your head in the door to hear it. From 10 feet away, it's
inaudible, I check.

We have been looking at alternate camping vehicles or vehicle + dinky
trailer options, but they are sufficiently larger so that we'd find
ourselves camping where the generator people camp. As Chico Marx would
say, Thats-a no good. We're fussy that way.

A-weighted sound measurements do not measure the low-frequency component
of sound. It's meant to mimic human hearing at soft levels, but it's
also a favorite weighting curve among manufacturers because it gives you
much better numbers if the source has a significant amount of bass
noise. But outdoors, high-frequencies attenuate pretty rapidly in open
air and get absorbed by bushes and stuff but bass travels.

I can hear those 55dBA (that's 55dB after the bass has been subtracted)
generators hundreds of meters away, where I camp -- places without high
winds or running water or car races or dirt bikes or other masking
sounds. I've measured less than 30dB with my noise dosimeter. When a
generator in the CG is finally shut off, a bass thrumming that has been
a sonic background for hours suddenly stops. To me it's like a breath of
fresh air when that happens.

Other people are clearly less bothered by noise, and if they want to run
their generators and play loud music, let their pickup truck diesel
engines idle for a long time, and enjoy camping that way, that's their
prerogative.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR

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