Magpul Magazines

I got a few magazines to go with my lowers - and at a reasonable $12.50 each instead of $100 for a used one.

Playing with Instagram

Funny how filters that reduce the clarity of a picture make it seem better. First, a Christmas gift from a friend. His family used to own the grocery store in Norris, but now it is a meat and craft beer market. Next are some familiar Chinese radios and one Japanese interloper.

Wouxun KG-UVD1P: Display Problem

So I had been using the KG-UVD1P as my mobile rig (video here). Over time, the heat in the car must have taken its toll on the radio as the display does not work. I'm not the only one who has had this problem. Sorry for the poor iPhone video, but there isn't much to show, so I think it will suffice.

 

First World Problem Solver

Funny... you got first world problems? We got answers.

COM Port Display

Not a bad idea for those with chronic problems, but I've never had much difficulty looking up what COM port is being used. Ed has an app that can help.

LA3ZA This solves a common problem for hams - want one! "USB to serial with COM port LCD display" dangerousprototypes.com/2012/12/26/usb…Wed, Dec 26 13:25:46 from TweetDeck

Worth Its Weight in Gold

Unfortunately, the average human brain only weighs about 3 pounds, so you may have a hard time stuffing it all in.

GriffinLamar 6 pounds of radio knowledge. :) #ham #radio #book #ARRL instagr.am/p/Tus7nqBMPX/Thu, Dec 27 01:24:56 from Instagram

Rare and Random

One review of the data suggests that 2012 was a really bad year and not (in statistical terms) a trend.

Mass shootings are rare and random. Does that make it better or worse? I don't know. It does suggest to me that focusing on the prevention of mass shootings might not be the best approach. As a society, we should look at using our resources to reduce overall violence.

Legos vs. AR-15 vs. Weed

Twitter has been hot with a) people tweeting about getting new AR-15 rifles for Christmas and b) those who are less than pleased with the gift of a gun.

In those posts, someone points out how horrible it is that more people got an AR than got Legos. But then again, more people got weed than rifles.

Zechariah 9:9-10 (New Living Translation)

Zion’s Coming King

⁹ Rejoice, O people of Zion!^[a]
    Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
    He is righteous and victorious,^[b]
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
    riding on a donkey’s colt.
¹⁰ I will remove the battle chariots from Israel^[c]
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River^[d] to the ends of the earth.^[e]

Footnotes:

1. Zechariah 9:9 Hebrew O daughter of Zion!
2. Zechariah 9:9 Hebrew and is being vindicated.
3. Zechariah 9:10 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:13.
4. Zechariah 9:10 Hebrew the river.
5. Zechariah 9:10 Or the end of the land.

Baofeng BF-F9

Nate noticed that the 409Shop has a Baofeng BF-F9 for sale. Nothing in the specs jumped out at me, but it was a quick look. I don't see it listed on the Baofeng site.

BAOFENG BF-F9 136-174/400-480Mhz RADIO

BAOFENG BF-F9 The transceiver is a micro-miniature multiband
FM transceiver with extensive receive frequency coverage,
providing local-area two-way amateur communications along with unmatched monitoring capability

VHF/ UHF DUAL-BAND TWO WAY RADIO

• Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-480MHz
• Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby
• Output Power: 4 /1Watts
• 128 Channels
  50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
• Built-in VOX Function
• 1750Hz Brust Tone
• FM Radio (65.0MHz-108.0MHz)
• LED Flashlight
• Large LCD Display
• High/Low RF Power Switchable
• 25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
• Emergency Alert
• Low Battery Alert
• Battery Saver
• Time-out Timer
• Keypad Lock
• Monitor Channel
• Channel Step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz
• ROGER SET

BAOFENG BF-F9 Compare Products

■ Dual band, dual display, dual standby ■ A/B band independent operation ■ 128 groups channels storage ■ Shortcut menu operation mode ■ VFO & Memory channels scan ■ Emergency Alarm ■ Tri-color background light selectable ■ 0~9 grades VOX selectable ■ PTT & ANI ID ■ FM radio ■ Voice companding ■ 50 CTCSS/104 DCS ■ ■ PC programmable ■ Wide/Narrow Band(25kHz/12.5kHz) ■ Transmitter time-out timer(TOT) ■ High/Low TX power selectable ■ Busy channel lock-out(BCLO) ■ ■ ■ ■ 　 Specifications: Item number BF-F9 General Frequency Range 65-108MHz(FM Receive only) 136-174MHZ and 400-480HZ (TX/RX) Channel No. 128 Frequency Stability ±2.5ppm Antenna High gain DualBand antenna Antenna Impedance 50Ω Operating Voltage DC 7.4V Mode of operation Simple or semi-duplex Dimension（W x H x D） 100 x 52 x 32 mm Weight 250g（including battery, antenna） Transmitter Output power 4W / 1W (Max 5W) Modulation Mode 16kΦF3E / 11kΦF3E Maximum deviation ＜5kHz(Wide) / ＜2.5kHz(Narrow) Spurious Radiation ＜7μW Adjacent Ch. power ≤-65dB(Wide) / ≤-60dB(Narrow) Pre-emphasis characteristics 6dB Current ≤1.6A(5W) CTCSS/DCS deviation 0.5±0.1kHz(Wide) / 0.3±0.1kHz(Narrow) Intermediation sensitivity 8-12mv Intermediation distortion ＜10% 　 Earpiece / mic type : Kenwood Plug type Antenna : SMA -Female

New Samuel Font

Finally I can copy Morse code...

chrismatthieu New Samuel: a font derived from Morse code 2ality.com/2012/12/new-sa… #hamrMon, Dec 17 23:33:35 from Tweet Button retweeted by marksenk

Wouxun KG-UV920R: $280

moleculo The Wouxun KG-UV920R VHF/UHF mobile is now available at universal radio for $280. Wouxun must have backed off their stupid high price #hamrFri, Dec 21 17:23:56 from TweetDeck

S&W M&P9: Fashionably Late

I'm so cool that I waited until everyone else bought an M&P9 before I did. And by everyone, I mean everyone:

http://www.balloongoesup.com/
http://snarkybytes.com/
http://ambulancedriverfiles.com/
http://blog.robballen.com/
http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/
http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/
http://www.ma-rooned.com/
http://www.saysuncle.com/

And since you've probably never seen one, here is a picture.

Now I need to run out and get a nylon holster. I think it will look good hanging off my skinny weaved belt. When I started this blog I had been thinking about a Glock, but I changed my mind after some discussions/research and had been leaning toward the S&W for sometime. Since I bought it partially because of recent events, I guess I need to be lumped in with the all the other reactionary buyers. I had already gotten two lowers after the election and I ordered some PMAGs last weekend.

Hopefully, my magazine order was processed before the supply chain got slammed. I also noticed that my e-mails from Brownells and Palmetto State are suggesting that I buy things like gift cards and phone cases - perhaps they are all out of gun stuff. The local Academy store said they sold out of ARs on Tuesday night. Mad Ogre says that Basin Sports is out of ARs as well. Others are posting before and after pics of empty shelves at gun stores. However, Coal Creek Armory posted yesterday that they had some ARs and expected lots of Magpul stuff today. Apologies because I don't remember who posted it, but they said that there were almost 10,000 background checks completed last week-end.

Truth be told, I didn't just buy this because of current events or even because of the inevitable zombie apocalypse. I bought it because of my worst fear: ninjas. If it can happen to Unc, it can happen to anyone.


Brownells PMAG link via Sebastian

Funny Repeaters

Dan, AE5DW, has a post about some funny repeater IDs and includes MP3 recordings. One of which is the W4KEV repeater here in Knoxville that I posted about in July of 2011.

To Infinity and Beyond!

The latest space suit from NASA. It should look familiar to Toy Story fans.

Via The Blaze

QKC

On the lighter side, a new Q code for kerchunking:

"QKC: I am kerchunking the repeater

QKC?: Are you kerchunking the repeater?"

Merry Christmas

Baofeng UV-5R: BF-F8+

Baofeng has introduced a new BF-F8+. It looks very similar to a UV-5R, but they advertise an enhanced LCD screen:

BF-F8+ series two-way radio are the newest styles by BAO FENG, it has multi-functions, such as dual band, dual display, dual watch, its performances are excellent, the shape is fashionable. The background is very unique, make it look elegant and luxurious.

It looks good. The only problem is that the listing on 409Shop ($51 USD) doesn't have the same screen. The radio is marked as a BF-F8+. Somebody is wrong.

Thanks to Hans for pointing out the BF-F8+ to everyone.

Chromebooks

Two posts today about Google Chromebooks... more momentum for the cloud.

Mike really likes his and Martin is trying one, too.

Good Guy

A very professional and mature response to a difficult situation.

Josh_Ward Strength coach Ron McKeefery blogs about recently being fired at Tennessee - bit.ly/SQ6C1o (h/t @Volquest_Paul)Sun, Dec 09 17:38:40 from TweetDeck

High Frequency Trading and Radio

Hopefully, the people using microwave to do high frequency trading don't have any woodpeckers around.



Acorn video via The Rest of Me

Seinfeld Today

I've often thought that many of the conflicts in a typical Seinfeld episode would have been easily resolved if all the characters had easy access to a mobile phone. One person had gone a step further and imagined what the story lines might be if the show was produced today: Seinfeld Today.

The modern problems would include Elaine being banned for a critical Yelp review, Kramer getting into a fight with an Apple Genius, George's parents start using Skype, etc.

Best

Best Morse Decoder - maybe I should look into that since I can't even spell – · – ·  · – – .

China's Best (and Worst) Ham Gear from Hans

KYD NC-UV90A: Dual Band Mobile

Oh boy. Another one... KYD (Kydera) NC-UV90A. I am guessing Hans pulled his information from some of the Alibaba pages. He says it is expected next month. I do not see anything about it on the KYD site. (You can go to http://cnkyd.cn/en/ or http://www.century-comm.com/en.)

At least they started with "A," so we can increment in a predictable pattern as they release bug fixes - unlike the KG-UV920R and its successor the KG-UV920P! And maybe they won't have to toss in an extra 8 like the Anytone AT-5888UV. Could this even mean the Chinese are learning lessons about putting out a quality unit the first time?

I had posted about some KYD HTs in the past, but they never seemed to gain much traction. In fact, I see that the Yahoo Group for those radios no longer exists. They do have some radios listed on the FCC site (FFC ID: VO6).

Christmas Lights

I finished the lights on my house over the week-end.

 

Chinese Radio Reference

I'm losing track. I'm gonna build a reference list. I'm not sure of the format, but I thought I would link to the manufacturer's website, maybe get pricing, link to my posts about that radio, and then any notes about what made that radio special. Maybe a list like this...

TYT

HT

TH-UVF1

Kight Radio $109.95

409 Shop $105.00

My Posts

TH-UVF9

Kight Radio $69.95

409 Shop $68.50

My Posts

Radio-Mart tried to make this a tri-bander

TH-UV3R

Kight Radio $59.95

Import Comm $64.95

409 Shop $51.00

My Posts

Moleculeo's favorite

TH-F8

Kight Radio $89.95

409 Shop $63.00

My Posts

Coal Creek Armory

CCA has updated their website. (I guess tis the season for web designers to get to work.) It is much flashier, but I'm not sure it is an improvement. Of course, look at my site. I am not in a position to cast stones.

I saw on the FAQ that the Outpost is no longer open to the general public:

"The Coal Creek Armory Outpost is a training facility used for private courses and not open to the general public, as of October 2012."

So maybe we didn't need two gun shops/ranges within spitting distance of each other.

After navigating several links, I found this post about the new owners. The changes are probably a result of this new ownership. Makes sense to me.

Baofeng Shop Part II

Working under the theory that it doesn't hurt to ask, I sent an e-mail to Baofeng about the BaofengShop.com site and I had to inquire about Baofeng mobile.

"As for Baofengshop.com is our online shop, it belongs to our company directly, but as for official website is :Http://www.baofengradio.com

In this website, there are many items and much information about our company. The products on this shop are in stocked."

So, BaofengShop.com is their site, but it really isn't a working e-commerce site.

"As for Mobile Radio, so far, we are still developing the new styles, so we don’t release this product so far."

Nothing to report, but who knows what may happen in the future.

HYS: New Website

And speaking of new sites, Nate points out that HYS Truest Communications has a new site.

Thanks Nate!

Baofeng Shop and Website

Hans noticed that Baofeng has a new website (his post, their site), and I noticed an additional link to the Baofeng Shop. The shop is populated with lots of radios, but they all say $0. Some of the links are broken.

So are they working on cutting out the middle man?

I'll dig a little more, but I found the site interesting.

(And if someone wants to explain this other linked site, that would be cool: www.new-ronway.com)

iEye

iPads purchases reduces sales of Macs. According to Business Insider, Apple's next move will be to replace the iPhone with a Head Mounted Display. So, we should see an interesting battle between the Google Goggles and the iEye.

Wouxun KG-UV920R: Relationships

I e-mailed a US dealer and asked if they would be selling the updated KG-UV920P. They replied that they would not sell the KG-UV920P if it was the best radio in the world. And they included the following to emphasize their point:

Being low cost and having a good product are important if you want to be a successful company, but they aren't the only things. Wouxun should want their re-sellers being evangelists for their products.

iGun

From Tam...

"Caleb had a post up recently about the deuce-deuce M&P carbine as a defensive choice, which was interesting, in that I had recently been musing that in a situation like that faced by the Korean shopkeepers in the '92 Los Angeles riots*, I'd hand my neighbor the .22 AR as a spare long gun without a qualm. 

It looks scary and makes noise, which is important because the most important use of long guns in those scenarios was as a deterrent and, push-come-to-shove, it's a lot easier for a novice to operate and make hits with than any of the other spare long guns I have lying around. The thought of a marginally-trained person not much over five feet tall wrestling with a Garand or Mosin M44 on short notice is daunting; by comparison, a dot-sighted rimfire AR is practically an iGun."

I have one of those! Glad they come in black as I don't want a white one. (Not enough snow here to justify it.)