Value of Life

Bruce's article led me to Wikipedia... estimates of the value of life. Almost $8M according to the FDA. I don't know if reading this made the number go up or down for you.

Leixen VV-808: Sale

I got an e-mail saying the VV-808 (VHF version) is on sale for $118.24 including shipping to the US. (The UHF version is still at $144.04 with shipping.) That's not the sub-100 number I think starts to make it interesting again and I don't know if this is just a temporary sale to gauge response.

The Latest Gadget!

I'd buy that!

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Yahoo Group Changes

People don't like change... but I wouldn't really miss the daily messages about someone's trouble programming their radio.

Good Company

A different Bricoleur was the Twitter General Counsel. Cool.

Norris Dam Good BBQ Sauce

A friend of mine is trying to start a new business selling his own BBQ sauce. He's doing a KickStarter to raise funds to get the business going. He's a culinary school graduate and has been the head chef at a couple of restaurants. His mother passed away recently, but before she did she said she hated that she would not be around to see him follow his dream of selling his BBQ sauce. He has now quit his job and is trying to make a go of it.

The sauce is called "Norris Dam Good BBQ Sauce." The name is obviously a play on words - Norris Dam is close to Knoxville and was built in the 30's.



If you are interested, you can find his KickStarter page here. As of this writing, he is about halfway to his goal.

Zastone ZT-9908: Digital Radio

Nate found another digital radio... the Zastone ZT-9908. You can get one for $97 at Amazon or $103 on eBay.

"Zastone (a company known to release clones of the UV-5R, and more recently a clone of the BJ-9000) have updated their website recently."

They are now offering a UHF only digital radio. Users manual is here (PDF). And the specs are as follows:

Features

DPMR Digital Standard

Analog ,Digital , both ,Channel Selection

Multi Working modes optional

Aadvanced Organic Electroluminesence Display

UHF430-470MHz

199 storage channel

Single Call ,Selective Call ,Group Call function

Message Edit ,Send and Receive support 

ANI ID Function

Time display & setable

CTCSS 50/DCS 104

DTMF Function

Multi Frequency Step Setting

Repeater Offset

Priority Channel Scan

Scanning modes Selection

Channels Name Edit

Specification

General：

Frequency: 430.000MHz—470.000MHz

Channels: 199

Channel space: Digital：6.25 kHz ；Anolog：25/12.5kHz

Size: 132*63*40mm

Operating Temperature: -10-- +55 degrees

Power Voltage: 7.4V

Standby Current: About 35mA

Weight: about 300g

Transmitter:

RF power output: 7.4V   HI≈4W±1dB   LO≈1W

Emission Current: HI≤1.6A   LO≤0.80A

Maximum Frequency deviation: Wide band±5.0/Narrow band 2.5kHz

Harmonic: <-65db div="">

Adjacent channel Power: Wide band 60DB/ Narrow band 65DB

Receiver:

Sensitivity: <0 .25uv="" db="" div="" s="">

SQ sensitivity: <0 .16uv="" div="">

Intermodulation rejection: 55dB

Audio output: ≥800mW

Receiving current: ≤300mA

SQ standby: Average 35mA

Including 

Radio ZT-9908 *1

Battery 1800Mah *1

Charger *1 (AC adaptor & desktop)

Antenna *1

Back clip *1

Strap *1

Manual in English *1

Random Cool

Baofeng UV-5R:

John passes along the following:

"The (Chinese) Radio Documentation Project has just gotten its latest update by Jim KC9HI.
If you are the owner of a UV5R (or any of it's cousins) this IS the manual.
A copy is available at http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-Manuals.html"

 It is a great resource (and in a convenient PDF file). If you have a UV-5R, you will want to snag a copy.

Job

So, a funny thing happened to me recently. They came and told me I didn't have a job anymore. I said a few goodbyes and packed my stuff up and left. I hesitated to say anything here, but I figure I should since you might think this would mean more time for blogging, but it's not really turned out that way. I seem to be blogging less. Looking for a job is a full time job. And when I take a break, blogging is not high on my list. I suspect it will ebb and flow.

I'm not ready to hit the panic button today, but I'm taking some cost cutting measures - no more lawn service, reducing my cable bill, stopped contributing to my daughter's college fund, stopped making additional payments toward my mortgage principle, etc. I didn't spend a lot on gas, but that should go down a little since I will be at the house. Also, my lunch expense should go way down since I used to eat out almost every weekday. Discretionary spending will grind to a halt. For example, the family routine of stopping at Starbucks on the way to church every Sunday has stopped. I probably won't run as many races (at $25-30 per) and when I do I'm going to register early to get the discounts.

You might also think this would be a good time to work on my Extra. I thought about that, but I've decided to look at some IT certifications. My recent background is general IT management in manufacturing. Given the change in/decline of manufacturing, I'd be open to working in other industries and for smaller companies. I think my first step will be getting the ITIL Foundation certification. If I want to be more technical, it looks like the CCENT is just one test and the CCNA is two. (I have an old, old MCSE and an even older Novell cert, but nothing from Cisco.) There is also a CompTIA Green IT cert that might be interesting.

Since my parents and my wife's parents are in Knoxville, I'm focusing here for now. I'd really hate to move away. I've been looking around and applied for a couple of positions, but no interviews yet. (I'm not to this point yet, but maybe next week.)

I should add that it has been very humbling to reach out to old friends, co-workers, and classmates and receive so many words of encouragement and offers of help.

Thanks for letting me vent a little. And to reuse a line from a comment I made on another blog... posting will be more or less frequent than usual. So, sorry in advance if I don't get back to you right away.