Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

The board has been discussing the idea of paying for the LZ WiFi out of club funds and making it available to all members. Right now it is supposedly only available to those who have made their $20 annual contribution to Jeff Chipman who supports it. The fact is that it is used by a lot more people than keep up their payment for it and it's a hassle for Jeff to keep up with it all. The added cost would come to about 4 bucks a person per year.

Let us know your feelings about this by responding to the poll above.

I'm all for the club paying to maintain the WiFi but maybe we want to update the access code periodically like the Kagel gate & LZ combinations and post it on the members only section of the club home page.

Let's split the cost by each media access control address (MAC address) by the amount used. The more you use, the more you pay. Seems fair.

When I get back to flying (soon), I will NEED the WiFi and will gladly pay my portion for it, starting now.

I have been paying Chip for it since the beginning and I very rarely use it. I do appreciate Chip making it available and I am happy to pay for having the use of it.

-Fred-

Most other clubs in our general area make this shit free. (Implication: WTF? We aren't that cool?)

Which other clubs? And what are their membership fees? I'm not looking to debate the merits, I'm just asking for the information.

And it isn't free. Someone has to pay for it. I would think that all those other clubs probably budget for WiFi within the context of their revenue from dues and storage, if any.

If needed to cover the cost of this benefit, we should agree to raise our membership fees.

How do we keep the neighborhood meth people from using the wifi? Seems the vending machine and free electricity are already a significant attractant to their kind.

Could the club take over paying and collecting payment, so that Chip doesn't have the hassle, but still have the payment be voluntary rather than rolled into the membership fee? For me, that would be the best of both worlds, provided that it still resulted in the cost being covered. I admit I haven't been very diligent about paying for the WiFi, although I don't actually use it much. But I'd readily add a few bucks every time I'm paying the club anyway (storage x 2 and membership) if that option were available.

Jim wrote:Which other clubs? And what are their membership fees? I'm not looking to debate the merits, I'm just asking for the information....

Crestline has wi-fi and it doesn't work as well as Sylmar's wi-fi down in the LZ. Crestline membership is $100/yr.

Nothing is free. The club doesn't do things people do. Maybe for people who use it could put a buck or two every so often - see if that works out.

OP wrote:How do we keep the neighborhood meth people from using the wifi? Seems the vending machine and free electricity are already a significant attractant to their kind.

I haven't seen any of the neighborhood residents using any electricity - but I have observed club members charge their electric car - and I doubt they are "kicking in" any additional money. One way to get back your annual membership fee!

Good point Don. A lot of people don't recognize the value of the electricity they use for a car or any device for that matter. As for an electric car, the cost of electricity is roughly the same as the cost of gasoline for the same distance traveled. After all, you are accomplishing the same amount of work.
Please be fair to our club.

I am all for wi-fi provided by our club and I don't mind if it is part of the dues.
Aloha

<derail>
Actually EVs are typically substantially cheaper per mile. See http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/costs.pdf
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[quote="MaluryI am all for wi-fi provided by our club and I don't mind if it is part of the dues.
Aloha[/quote]

Nice of you to volunteer to pay considering that the SHGA wifi signal is likely pretty spotty where you live!

Until the club provides free, or greatly subsidized, gasoline for all members, charging an EV without paying is "F'in freeloading"!

Don wrote:Until the club provides free, or greatly subsidized, gasoline for all members, charging an EV without paying is "F'in freeloading"!

Just to put some numbers on the EV 'freeloading' issue, it looks like (assuming 15-cents-per-kWh electric rates in Sylmar; I have no idea if that's accurate), that a full, empty-to-100% recharge of a Volt would cost about $2.50, a 100% recharge of a Leaf would cost about $4.00, and a 100% recharge of a Model S would cost about $8.00.

Not that I imagine most people are doing full recharges; more likely they are "topping off" so actual costs would probably be 25-50% of the above, or less.

If that's enough money to be worth worrying about, one possible solution would be a sign by the electrical outlets suggesting that EV owners donate a reasonable amount of extra $$$ to the SHGA to compensate for their electrical usage. Trying to set up a formal metering/enforcement system would probably be overkill, and banning EV charging would be unfortunate, especially for those Leaf owners who might not make it back home without a recharge

I'd like to see the WiFi cost in the dues because I see value for club longevity in having the LZ a great place for pilot families to hang out while they fly.

I'm wanting bathrooms for the same reason.

Just to put some numbers on the EV 'freeloading' issue, it looks like (assuming 15-cents-per-kWh electric rates in Sylmar; I have no idea if that's accurate), that a full, empty-to-100% recharge of a Volt would cost about $2.50, a 100% recharge of a Leaf would cost about $4.00, and a 100% recharge of a Model S would cost about $8.00.

I looked at the club's DWP bill about a year ago - your assumption of 15 cents is way low - don't quote me but I think it was something like 25 cents or more. DWP rates are based on max demand and not Time Of Use (TOU) or tiered like So Cal Edison. Therefore charging an EV quite possibly kicks the per kwh into a higher rate - so not only is it the 1.4 kwh per hour, it results in all the other electricity being more expensive (make sense?). Oh, and by the way - why would someone with any plug-in-hybrid need to charge (i.e. F'in freeload) when they have a gas engine?

Is there anything we can do so that the wifi supports wifi calling? This usually works by default unless it's blocked or the wifi is too slow. T-mobile has terrible coverage in the LZ and I think Sprint does also, so this would allow us to make and receive calls.

Spitfire wrote:Is there anything we can do so that the wifi supports wifi calling? This usually works by default unless it's blocked or the wifi is too slow. T-mobile has terrible coverage in the LZ and I think Sprint does also, so this would allow us to make and receive calls.

I know I have made SIP (session initiated protocol) calls from the LZ using my softphone without much of an issue. I'm not blocking it, if that's what your asking.