Deal Alert: Antenna for $3.71

From Hans (PD0AC):

"This seems totally wrong: a replacement antenna (SMA Female) for the Wouxun, Quansheng or UV-5R for a price that won’t buy you a decent burger."

He's not had it in his hand, but thinks it is worth the risk.

Logical Fallacies

A great cheat sheet of logical fallacies.

Sign Me Up!

Do Not Kill Registry

(Disclaimer - probably only as effective as a no weapons sign.)

Via Slashdot.org

Salsa Cookie!

I will always remember this song from Excalibur. Now I will also always think of salsa cookies.



Via Walls of the City

The Smallest Minority

AtlasShrugged The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. #asp2Thu, Jun 14 11:09:19 from web

Microsoft Tablet Names

harrymccracken Possible names for Microsoft tablet: Tablet PC 2013, WinSlate, iWindows, Metro One, UnPocketable PC, Bing to Go, ZuneTab, TabZuneFri, Jun 15 11:25:03 from Tweetbot for iOS

And my suggestion:

brickolore @harrymccracken The New uPad HD 3.Fri, Jun 15 12:27:53 from web in reply to harrymccracken

TYT TH-UVF9: More Tri-Band Info

Radio-Mart replied back that they are using a combination of hardware and software changes to make the TYT TH-UVF9 work well as a tri-bander. In a response to my question about output power:

"That’s what we’re messing about with before we release them. With a resonant antenna currently 3 watts but know we can tune it but it all takes time."

Sounds good to me - especially if they are already at 3 watts. That's a lot better than some of the other radio mods that only get a few milliwatts out.

Gun Data

Linoge goes all "sciencey" on us and looks at the data. Spoiler alert:

"The hypothesis of 'more guns = more deaths' is demonstrably false over the past 29 years of documented American history."

Seriously, go take a look. He's got two more major points and then he gives you the real kicker in the last sentence.

Quote of the Day

Tam in the comments on Les's post about giving up cable and almost giving up internet access, too:

"Okay, yeah, see, that's just crazy talk right there. :p

Keep your priorities straight, man: I can order bottled water from the internet, but I can't get books out of my faucet."

TYT TH-UVF9: Tri-band

Well, the plot thickens. I got a reply from Radio-Mart about the TH-UVF9. It sounds like they are making a modification to the radio to get 220.

"The model is originally a dual band but we have the correct way to make it work on the 220MHz band also"

I've asked if they get full power out on 220 and if this is a software or hardware modification. I'll let you know more as I learn more.