A Dance with Dragons

It is almost here... another couple of weeks and I will be reading A Dance with Dragons. I've been to one of George R.R. Martin's book signings before, but I don't think I will make it to the one at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington.



On a sad note, he will not be doing personalizations:

"There's one huge change from all my past signings and book tours: I will no longer be able to do personalizations. The crowds have simply gotten too big. At my huge signing last week in Ljubljana, Slovenia, I started out personally inscribing the books, as I have always done in the past, but had to cut that off about four hours into the event. If I hadn't, I might still be there, signing. The same thing happened at my last big US signing, at Vroman's in Pasadena, and for the same reasons. It takes time to write, "to Charlene, Winter is Coming" or "To Fred, All Good Wishes," and when you are writing it hundreds of times, well... it makes the lines move considerably slower. And it's not fair to personalize the books for the front of the line, and not for the poor sods waiting for hours in the back."

(My copy is signed "Winter is coming.")

I guess that is the price of popularity - and without it we might not have gotten the HBO series.

Baofeng UV-3R: US Re-seller - Import Communications

Some facts plus some guessing on my part...

I think Ed of wouxun.us might be setting up to sell the UV-3R.

Follow along...

On the Wouxun Yahoo Group, Ed responds to some comments about the UV-3R:

"The factory has applied for Part 90 certification, which may take about a month.
Hopefully they will be distributed in the US by a company, Import
Communications.

Regards,
Ed Griffin
www.Wouxun.US"

So he knows the factory has applied for and hopes to have their Part 90 Certification in a month. I had not heard that anywhere else and I've been trying to keep up with any developments on this front. I tried looking for Import Communications via Google, but didn't really find anything. On a whim, I tried http://importcommunications.com/ and got the following error:

I believe that http://www.kmaantennas.com/ is Ed's original/other business. A quick whois check confirms that Ed is the owner of the Import Communications domain and that it was registered about a year ago.

Registrant:
Ed Griffin
PO Box 451
New London, North Carolina 28127
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: IMPORTCOMMUNICATIONS.COM
Created on: 22-May-10
Expires on: 22-May-12
Last Updated on: 22-May-10

Lastly, I did look and see that Ed is a member of the UV-3R Yahoo Group. This doesn't mean a lot by itself, because it would make sense for him to an eye on the competition, but I'm adding it to the pile of circumstantial evidence.


Worlds collide - Wouxun and Baofeng! It makes sense that he might setup this more generic company to sell multiple brands. I'm actually a little jealous. I thought about trying to set myself up as a re-seller, but didn't have the courage or time to really pursue it. I hope I am correct, because I think Ed will be a good guy to sell these things.

G4ILO

I only recently discovered Julian's (G4ILO) blog. He had one of the first reviews of the UV-3R that I found and he has been very active in the UV-3R Yahoo Group. If you can spare a minute in your prayers, it sounds like he could use it.

He lives in Cockermouth in the UK. I spent several weeks there with my then girlfriend, now wife, and her parents in the mid-90's, so I guess I feel more connected to him than some other blogger I've never met.

Baofeng UV-3R: Disassembly 2

Long time readers (since June 1) may recall that I tried to disassemble the UV-3R, but got stuck because the antenna connector was soldered to the circuit board. I'd read instructions on the UV-3R Yahoo Group, people had posted comments on the blog and the Youtube video,etc. but it wasn't until a Youtube comment by r0b0b4ss pointed me to OM1LD's Loud Receive Audio Fix that the light bulb finally came on. His post to fix the loud audio included instructions for taking the radio apart and included this picture.


It seems so obvious now. Another example of how to make something a lot harder than it should be. Now I need some time to take this thing apart again!

I have a lot of love to give.

And something, something about cats.

Echolink

Another plug for ham on the cheap... if Echolink didn't feel like using a real radio, then maybe the Echolink 100 software is what you need. It provides a front-end to Echolink that makes it look like a radio. Given all the software defined radios (or hybrids like the Baofeng UV-3R), no one should get too hung up on the computer vs. radio debate. (Is anyone still waving the banner for vacuum tubes as the end all and be all of radio technology?)



Via KD8BIG

Baofeng UV-3R: Power Plug

Thanks to Lee, N9LO, for finding the power plug specs for the UV-3R. It is a DC male power supply Plug socket connector 2.5 x 0.7mm and is availible via eBay.

Maryville City

Since Uncle and others had posted about it, I thought I would skip posting the Maryville City rap by Hollywoood and Dirty D. However, since it has stuck in my head, I hope this will help get it out.



Maryville City. Country Boys. Blount County Boys.

How we warm up in the morning...

I like for the guys in my IT department to get things going in the morning by doing a little bit of physical activity. It looks something like this...

I.T.!
Fired Up!

I think winning programs have that level of excitement and enthusiasm in most of their practices.

Prepping

I've often though that one of the first things I should do as part of any "prepping" is to get in shape. Everyone talks about guns, food, flashlights, medicine, etc. I have to believe all these tools become a lot more valuable if the prepper has the energy to use them.

So, I went out and bought some running shoes. I haven't played indoor soccer for approaching two and a half years. It has been almost seven years since I was jogging on regular basis. I got home, changed, and took off running. I ran just under 3 miles in about 33 minutes. Not a bad start - all things considered.