Black Friday Deal Threads

On reddit and at AR15.com.

WLN KD-C1: Range Testing

Testing the range of the WLN KD-C1:



I noticed it is up to $25 - I think when I first started posting about it, you could get it for $20 on Amazon.

Baofeng BF-888S Review and Testing

You can pick up a pair of BF-888S for about $32.

DC Rainmaker's 2016 Recommendations

If you need a fitness gadget, I'd start with DC Rainmaker's 2016 recommendations.

White Noise Machine

Random recommendation...

In order to get my infant daughter to sleep, we would stand in front of the stove/oven vent fan. The white noise from the fan really seemed to make a difference.

Since standing in the kitchen all night long wasn't really an option, we got one of these white noise machines about eight years ago.

It's been running every night since we bought it. I bet I paid more than today's $31 sale price, but it has been worth its weight in gold.

Unintended Consequences

The rule was supposed to keep beer joints away from churches... but now churches can't use some locations because of their proximity to beer sellers:

“Land just wasn’t available,” Arnold said. “To find 6 or 7 acres of land that you could build on that was affordable was very difficult, but there were plenty of lease spaces … the problem we were running into were landlords being apprehensive about leasing to a church because of the beer permit laws.”

Knoxville, TN beer vote splits religious community https://t.co/4hiO1QgyJL via @knoxnews

— Holston Conference (@TheCall_Holston) November 21, 2016

Connect Systems CS750

Connect Systems is starting early with a "Black Friday" deal on the CS750 for $180.

Do You Even Lift Flow Chart

Air Quality

Unfortunately, I've become a frequent visitor to the AirNow.gov air quality site.

UTK Diversity Dialogue Town Hall: Campus Carry

I wish I could make it to the Diversity Dialogue Town Hall: Campus Carry, but I've got a prior commitment for that time:

"The Division of Student Life’s Diversity Committee is excited to host the final Diversity Dialogue Town Hall event of the semester on Tuesday, November 15th at 6:30PM in Alumni Memorial Building Room 32. This Town Hall will cover the recently passed Campus Concealed Carry Policy (Tennessee Law TCA 39-17-1309) which allows generally all UT full-time employees with a valid handgun permit to carry a concealed handgun on UT property. 

We will hearing from members of the University of Tennessee Police Department, Faculty Senate, Students for Concealed Carry, and the Knoxville Chapter of Moms Demand Gun Sense in America."

A Matter of Degrees

The topic of demographics came up recently. (You probably can't image in relation to what.) It lead me to this Wikipedia page on Educational Attainment in the US.

I knew a large chunk of folks had a college degree (~30%), but I was surprised that Master's and up was about 12%.

Garmin TrueUp

Garmin released a new feature called TrueUp that will sync the data between various devices.

I just checked my Vivosmart HR and, sure enough, it includes all my steps from my 12 mile run this morning that was recorded on my Forerunner 235.

Check DC Rainmaker for all the details.

(He generally recommends that you stick with an ecosystem. So if you have Garmin watch, get a Garmin activity tracker. This feature is a great example of that advice paying off.)

Ham Licenses

Ham licenses chart.

Up: Total, Extra, Technician
This is a high water mark for all three.

Down: General, Advanced, Novice
No surprise that Advanced and Novice are going down since no new licenses are being issued for these classes. General licenses are expiring or being upgraded to Extra. We just aren't seeing the move from Technician to General to offset the other loses. The high water mark for General was December 2015, so not that long ago.

Baofeng Tech Halloween Sale

Baofeng Tech is having a one-day Halloween sale:

Baofeng Tech UV-2501+220 (Gen. 3) Mobile: $113.13

Baofeng Tech UV-5X3 5 Watt Tri-Band HT: $54.89

Happy Halloween!

"Ham Op" is 3rd Most Popular Costume this Halloween Season https://t.co/nvDeBCNxEW #HamHijinks #hamradio pic.twitter.com/YAltKER5ZH

— Ham Hijinks (@HamHijinks) October 27, 2016

Baofeng Tech: GMRS-V1

When you don't blog for a couple of weeks, you get really behind... Baofeng Tech announced the GMRS-V1 on October 13. The GMRS-V1 is FCC certified (Part 95A) for use on GMRS frequencies. The GMRS-V1 is also FCC certified for VHF/UHF scanning capabilities (Part 15B):

15 Modifiable GMRS Two-Way Channels (Channels 0-14) - Receive and Transmit
8 Modifiable GMRS Repeater Channels (Channels 15-22) - Receive and Transmit
105 Programmable Scanner Channels (Channels 23-127) - Receive Only
FM Radio
Flashlight
50 CTCSS Privacy Tones
346 DCS Digital Privacy Tones
NOAA Weather Radio Compatible
Tri-Color Adjustable Backlight

You can order the GMRS-V1 from Amazon for $54.99.

Programming can be done via CHIRP.

It's not the same, but it reminds me of the AnyTone Tech multi-service radios. Since it is only GMRS plus scanning, the certification process should have been much less contentious.

Boafeng Tech: Comparison Chart

Baofeng Tech has updated the comparison chart of all their radios. It's great summary of their options.

Posting

I'd be posting except I'm spending all my time dealing with this Microsoft bug. I'm a) an e-mail hoarder and b) an old school "uses folders to organize everything" curmudgeon*, so this is a huge pain. Sometimes dragging works. Sometimes hitting "Escape" works. Sometimes I right-click and "Move." Other times, I cut and paste.

Fixed in December. Bah, thanks for nothing Microsoft.

* If the Outlook client search was better, I might get away from my folders. It's no gmail when it comes to search for sure.

Beach Front Property

And I've got some beach front property I'd like to sell you...

Technically, Knoxville is considered an international port because you can navigate
waterways all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. #Knox225

— Mayor Rogero (@MayorRogero) October 3, 2016

FEIDA FE-M1: Mini HT with LCD

In addition to the Feida FE-768, there is the FE-M1 which includes a LCD display. 409Shop again wants us to play "guess the frequencies."