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My interests are quite diverse,
mainly scientific and mathematical, but some can also surprise you! Here is a
list of my major interests and hobbies I have had over the years, and what
became of them! These are in no particular order:
| INTEREST | DATES | DESCRIPTION | WHAT HAPPENED? | |
| ASTRONOMY |
 |
1975 to 1980 1988 to Present |
From 1975 to 1980, I mainly viewed the Moon and brighter planets of the solar system. From 1988 to the present, I have observed everything you can imagine using a 3-inch, 8-inch and 11-inch telescope and a CCD camera! |
From 1980 to 1988,
my teen years
interfered with this interest. In 1988, I got an 8-inch telescope as a gift for my 18th birthday. I used this telescope constantly and stuck with astronomy to this day. I purchased an 11-inch goto telescope in 2003 and have been using it for research ever since.
Today, I am beginning my PhD in Space Science at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) in
Kingston. |
| SATELLITE TRACKING |
 |
1997 to Present | I was introduced to satellite tracking at the Royal Military College (RMC) in May 1997. Since then, I have loved the subject with a strong passion. It continues to teach me amazing new aspects of astronomy, and this passion is the reason why this website exists. |
Satellite tracking has all but
replaced "normal" astronomy for me. Tracking satellites incorporates all
aspects of astronomy and continues to force me to expand my knowledge of the
subject. Today, I am
beginning my PhD in Space Science at the Royal Military College of
Canada (RMCC) in Kingston. |
| CYCLING |
 |
1987 to Present |
I began cycling in January 1987,
when I just had to get out of the house. Back then, I found it tough to bike even 2
miles without puffing. I liked it though, and continued. After two weeks, I
biked my first 40 miles, in which I barely got home and crawled in the door.
Afterward, I routinely biked 40 to 80 miles every weekend.
Today, I bike about 20 miles
every several days (when time allows). |
I do not consider myself a
biking or fitness fanatic. I do not bike in the rain, high winds, high
humidity or the winter months. One year, I biked only for two days, but was
back biking 20 miles every few days the year after. I still bike from March
to September, and enjoy the scenery, especially the groundhogs and birds. |
| ELECTRONICS |
 |
1977 to Present |
I loved electronic sets! I got
my first one in 1977, and played with it until 1980, when I got my first
100-in one electronic set. I got my 200-in one electronic kit from Radio
Shack in 1982, and learned more from burning out components than I did
building the circuits correctly! My allowance was mainly spent on junk food
and replacement components! |
I still LOVE electronics. I design and build circuits for others from time to time, and fix older electronic devices (such as tape recorders, CRT TVs and VCRs) when they malfunction. |
| STAMP COLLECTING |
 |
1975 to 1985 | Collecting stamps from countries all over the world. This was not a particularly focussed interest, however. |
I basically lost interest in
favour of the other interests. I still have the stamp album though! In 2007, I bought some original Soviet stamps with Sputnik 1 (see image) as part of my celebration of Sputnik's 50th anniversary. |
| COIN COLLECTING |
 |
1982 to 2000 2011 to Present |
I wanted to collect Canadian and American pennies from the year 1900 to the year 2000. |
After the penny collections were
complete, I moved on to strengthen other interests and acquire new ones.
Both coin collections are now in my safe.
Now that the penny has been
discontinued in Canada, I must complete my collection from 1900 to 2012. |
| AUDIO RECORDING, EDITING AND MIXING |
 |
1975 to Present | This began in 1975, when my father gave me his reel-to-reel tape recorder (that I still have by the way). I have owned about 8 audio tape recorders (3 reel-to-reel and 5 cassette). I bought one of the recorders at a garage sale (pre-EBay) for $20 Cdn. After fixing it up, it worked beautifully to this date (at 9.5 I.P.S.). |
I now record and edit digitally
on my primary CASTOR computer. My computer has literally replaced all of my
audio recording devices. This saves on head cleaning time and head cleaner! I still have three reel-to-reel recorders, my father's old Cipher I (from 1963), my Dual one I bought at a garage sale and fixed up (c1970), and my TEAC X-700R that I bought (from 1988). I have recently finished digitizing all of my audio tapes and have created a DVD archive. I used to use an old cassette tape deck of mine to record satellites received in VHF/UHF amateur radio bands (see Amateur Radio). I digitized the tapes soon after. Today, I simply record directly to digital.
Today, I no longer record on
magnetic tape of any kind. |
| VIDEO RECORDING, EDITING AND MIXING |
 |
1983 to Present | This began in 1983, when my family bought a video cassette recorder (VCR). At that time, music videos were all the rage, and I recorded most of them it seemed! I loved to record comedy the most! Check out my Monty Python collection! I have owned four video tape machines, three of which still work today, one of which I still use regularly. |
I used video tape machines for
primary editing until 2003, when I purchased a DVD burner and video editing
software. I used video tape for long duration recording in which I can dump
the needed portions to my computer, and eventually onto DVD. I have just finished digitizing my entire video tape collection (about 150 6-8 hours VHS tapes). This effort took about 8 hours per day for 4 months.
Today, I no longer record on
magnetic tape of any kind. |
| AMATEUR RADIO |
 |
1980 to 1996 2011 to Present |
I began listening to my father's shortwave radio as a kid, and quickly learned Morse Code. I remember the Soviet radio jammers and their terrible noises over much of the shortwave bands. I was able to construct a Morse Code decoder in which my old Vic-20 computer would decode the Morse in real time off the shortwave radio and display the message on the TV screen. |
After I began using he Internet,
I did not feel the need to strain the hear stations from other countries. I
could easily hear their broadcasts or see their news with my computer. The
Morse Decoder worked well until there was no longer any Morse on the radio
to decode. However, I was reintroduced to amateur radio in 2011 when I began to use the VE3RMC amateur station at the Royal Military College of Canada to receive amateur cubesats. I earned my own amateur radio license in April 2013. My call sign is VE3HEO. I regularly use the VE3RMC amateur station at RMC to contact others through cubesat transponders. |
| COMPUTERS |
 |
1982 to Present | I began with a Commodore Vic-20 computer, but this mainly involved the hardware. As a learned how to use PCs, I became familiar with the Windows operating systems and modifying computer registries and more exotic settings. This branched to networking between computers and creating and maintaining Local Area Networks (LANs). |
I blame the time I spent on
maintaining computers on my eventual disinterest in computer programming.
Now that I have reached some equilibrium in computer maintenance, I am ready
to become reacquainted with the subject.
I launched into programming in
MATLAB when I entered a Master's program at the Royal Military of Canada. I
have recently finished a software that extracts a light curve from images of
geosynchronous satellites. I plan to modify this software for my PhD
studies. |
| COMPUTER PROGRAMMING |
 |
1983 to 2001 2011 to Present |
This started with a Commodore
Vic-20 computer and small mistakes made in ready-made computer games. I
learned how to take apart computer code and modify games to try and make
them faster or better. I learned Pascal in 1990, and stuck with this
language until 2001. I am now using MATLAB for much of my post-graduate coding at RMC. |
I am ready to learn another
computer language, and am currently starting with C++ and Java. Hopefully, I
can get familiar with object-oriented programming.
I launched into programming in
MATLAB when I entered a Master's program at the Royal Military of Canada. I
have recently finished a software that extracts a light curve from images of
geosynchronous satellites. |
| CLASSICAL GUITAR PLAYING |
 |
1977 to 1982 1988 to Present |
I learned to play classical guitar after I received a guitar as a gift for my 7th birthday. | I am still playing for fun and composing my own music as a hobby. |
| CLASSICAL GUITAR COMPOSING |
 |
1988 to Present | I wanted to try to invent new ways to play guitar and to invent new sounds with a typical classical guitar. |
I have composed a total of 25
classical guitar pieces, one of which is 10 pages long and lasts 7.5
minutes! Please visit
my Classical
Guitar page to listen to some samples of my own music. |
| SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY |
 |
1993 to Present | I wanted to figure out how to determine the angle between two objects in the sky (such as two stars) by using only their RA and Dec. coordinates. |
I succeeded in doing so, and
derived equations for coordinate transformation, translation, astrometry,
and orbit propagation.
I am still using my spherical trigonometric equations in my graduate studies
at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC). |
| ORBIT PROPAGATION |
 |
1992 to Present | I became fascinated by how it is possible to determine the orbit characteristics of a body by making just three accurate observations. |
I can now reliably propagate any
Keplerian orbit by using its orbit characteristics, and its last known
position, by hand if necessary!
I am still using my orbit
propagation equations in my graduate studies at the Royal Military College
of Canada (RMCC). |
| ORBIT DETERMINATION |
|
1992 to Present | I became fascinated by how it is possible to determine the orbit characteristics of a body by making just three accurate observations. |
I am still trying to unlock the
"secrets" of the mathematics of the process of orbit determination. This
will probably be the most difficult procedure of my life. During my first term of my graduate studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC), I successfully conducted my first basic orbit determination of a Molniya-type satellite using my own tracking data. |
| TRAVELING |
 |
1974 to Present | I was introduced by my military family experience at an early age. We moved every 2 to 4 years, sometimes 2000 miles at a time! Talk about a culture shock! |
I still have to travel every two
to four years. I guess it is in my blood! I went on two massive road trips
in the summers of 2004 and 2005, basically seeing most of the continent,
including Mexico. My last large road trip was conducted in 2006. I went to Alaska in the summer of 2006 to see the Midnight Sun.
After my MSc degree, I went to
Cape Breton for a week with my wife and mother. |
| ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY (USING FILM) |
 |
1990 to 2000 |
Using film cameras to obtain
images of the more interesting astronomical objects. Experimenting with
exposure time and different film speeds. |
Digital cameras and CCDs replaced film cameras as my equipment of choice. |
| CCD IMAGING |
 |
1996 to Present | This began at Queen's University for an astrophysics course. I quickly took to it and when I began work at RMC, I acquired an SBIG ST-6 and began using it with a Meade Quartz 10-inch SCT to explore the heavens in a way I never dreamed of before. |
I have now upgraded to an SBIG
ST-9XE CCD, in which I observe and track satellites on a regular basis. The camera has detected over 4,000 satellites: |
| RESTORING OLD RECORDINGS |
 |
2001 to Present | Digitizing old records and recordings and removing hiss and/or scratches digitally. |
I am still restoring my own
records and removing unwanted artefacts from recordings. Technology has
greatly simplified both these processes.
I have digitized my entire 45
RPM and LP and EP record collection. |
| RESTORING OLD PHOTOS |
 |
1999 to Present | Scanning and repairing photos and images digitally. I began with repairing my own astrophoto collection by scanning and digitally restoring them. | I still restore photos for others, some of which are quite challenging! There are still plenty of old photos out there to restore! |
| WEB SITE DESIGN |
 |
2005 to Present | I began this interest when I volunteered to be the Ottawa RASC webmaster. Within 6 months I had created the CASTOR web site from scratch. |
This interest is still a passion of mine and have
designed websites for several organizations.
I am still adding to the CASTOR
website on a regular basis. |
| SITE MAP | ||
|
Interests Was Last Modified On June 07, 2013 |
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