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Hi! My
name is Robert Schaffrath and I currently work for Meta5, Inc. since 1998
doing development work in C#, Visual Basic .NET, Visual Basic 6.0 and
Visual C++ 6.0. In addition I installed the category 5 LAN wiring and hubs,
Windows 2000, 2003 and 2008 servers, Linux server as well as client PC
configuration and installation, Microsoft Exchange 5.5 and 2003 installation and Avaya
phone system installation and configuration. I currently program in C#, Visual
Basic .NET, C, SQL and Perl
and have been working on touch support in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. I also know the FORTRAN and Pascal
programming languages and other scripting languages such as DCL and the
BASH, Korn and Bourne Unix/Linux Shell’s. Previously I was involved in developing
reporting applications to interface with Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter.
About twenty
years ago, I also worked as a self-employed consultant with Netsurf
Technologies and RealHome.com (both now defunct) on various internet
related projects including Perl script development, Oracle database
maintenance, Solaris 2.6-2.8 administration and Web programming.
Prior to this, I was a
Senior Staff Consultant with the Kraft Foods Information Technology
department based in White Plains,
New York until January 1997. I was with the company for almost nine
years (most of it in Maxwell
House) and I was involved with many areas of information technology
including Unix, OpenVMS, DOS/Windows, Windows-NT, TCP/IP networking and its
related applications including Intranet Projects, Wireless Messaging,
Systems Management, Oracle DBA, systems programming and computer hardware
construction and repair.
In my "spare"
time, I dabble in Amateur Radio (my FCC callsign is N2JTX), Electronics (I have an FCC General Radiotelephone
Operator License with RADAR endorsement #PG00046640),
Baking, Beer Brewing,
Bicycling, Botany, Geology, Numismatics, Philately, Reading and Computer
Programming. I also serve as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the
charitable group Adventures in Learning and I am a member of the Nassau County Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT).
On Saturday, April 28th,
2001 I became the owner of a Silver 2000 Honda Insight. It replaced my 1988 Honda CRX with 168,300
miles (that still got 44mpg!). After owning it all these years, it is still
a lot of fun to drive. Before
the government mandated that Ethanol be added to gasoline, I could get a
typical mileage of 75.2 MPG
for a 19.6 mile trip on the Insight's
Fuel Consumption Display. A
photo of my all-time best recorded mileage of 82.2 MPG is available here.
Various
links to other web pages on this site:
·
Here
in Nassau County, Long Island the county has installed Red
Light Cameras at various intersections. As of February 16, 2013 there are
fifty five operating in various areas of the county. I have developed a CSV
formatted file of Nassau County Red Light Camera POI data for use with a
GPS. I will update it as new lights are added. It has been tested with the Garmin
POI Loader. If necessary,
it can be converted to different formats using GPSBabel. These red light camera locations can
also be viewed on a map that I maintain in Google Maps.
·
A
small collection of custom Google Maps that
I created for use in developing GPS Point-Of-Interest (POI) files.
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Quite
some time ago I discovered that "Nixie
Tubes" (numerical indicators in use before seven segment LED
displays) have been making a comeback in the form of digital clocks. Having
built one myself back in 1979, I can say that
they are very interesting to work with. Some day I hope to build a few
other types of clocks using other types of Nixie tubes.
·
For
owners of the RadioShack®
Weatheradio® with NWR-SAME model
12-249, information on its EAS event code support is available here. For owners of the model 12-250, information
on its EAS event code support is available here.
·
For
owners of the Heath® (Heathkit) Most Accurate Clock II (model
GCW-1001), information on programming
the RS-232 port and undocumented commands is available here.
·
This
is a page containing links to various Weather Radar sites for the New York City area as well
as a few national sites. I got
tired of trying to search out different sites while on a computer where I
did not have my bookmarks available.
·
Government
of Ontario COMPASS
camera’s for the QEW and 403 highways. I travel to Mississauga from Long
Island two or three times a year and these pages are a convenient way to
see the traffic conditions.
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A
page about three AN/PDR-27 series Geiger
Counters I own. One is an AN/PDR-27G that I have had since 1978,
another is an AN/PDR-27R that I acquired in early 2008 and the third is an
AN/PDR-27T that I acquired in September 2017.
·
Some
pictures of various elemental gas Spectrum Tubes in operation. These
tubes, with the exception of the Chlorine and Mercury Vapor tubes which I
purchased, came from my late Father's collection of elements. He was a
Professor of Chemistry at C.W. Post College on Long Island and collected elements
as a hobby and for use in his classes.
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A
brief article on several sets of audiometric
headphones that I acquired on eBay and use for amateur radio
communications. While designed for hearing tests, the elements themselves
were originally designed for radio communications and have good frequency
response for radio work. Several pictures and product specification links are
available.
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An
RSS Feed of
Solar
Terrestrial Conditions updated every three hours. The latest solar
data is downloaded automatically from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center
every three hours and the feed updated. I also have an email alert service
available to notify registered email addresses when the geomagnetic
“K” index (something an Amateur Radio operator would be
interested in) rises above a specified level. I am also posting this information
on my
Twitter account as @whobeu.
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A
text dump of all OBD-II
messages available in the version 2.80 firmware
of the Toptak TP280CAN OBD-II code scanner. The firmware date is June 14, 2008
and I have been unable to find any newer updates for this scanner. Even the Toptak corporate website is
non-functional.
·
This
is a picture
of a flint spearhead that I found in Youngs Farm Peach Orchard, Old Brookville,
New York, on August 28, 1970 when I was eight years old. The scientists at Garvies
Point Museum in Glen Cove, New York dated it from 2500B.C. to 1000A.D.
and said it was made from flint that is found up the Hudson River and was
probably acquired through trade.
My niece Olivia is holding it in her hand. This a brief
story about how I found the spearhead.
My C# and .NET
Articles on CodeProject.com:
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TreeView C# .Net Multiselect using TVS_EX_MULTISELECT
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Transferring Virtual Files to Windows Explorer in C#
Winamp Plugins I have
developed:
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gen_autoclose.dll v2.1
binary and source. Gen_Autoclose is a plug-in
that will shut down Winamp
at a specified time and, as an option, will shut down the computer or put
it into standby mode. This is useful in situations where Winamp is running on a
system that must remain running such as a server.
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gen_whatsplaying.dll
v2.5 binary and source. Gen_WhatsPlaying is a general purpose Winamp
plug-in that is designed to create a file containing information about
the currently playing Winamp
track based upon a template file. This is most useful in situations where Winamp is running on a
server and the player screen is inaccessible. This latest version includes
a user configurable speech interface to Microsoft Speech API v5.0 and
higher. This allows the plug-in to speak the track title and other
information as configured by the user.
Last
modified November 1, 2019
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