Yaesu VX-3R Knock-off: The Baofeng UV-3R

The Chinese are at it again. This time we have a knock-off of the Yaesu VX-3R. The VX-3R is a tiny, but full featured 2M/440 HT. At $175, it isn't super expensive, but not exactly cheap either.

Enter the Baofeng UV-3R... it looks a lot like my VX-3R, but you can get three of the UV-3R for the price of the Yaesu.




G4ILO is on top of things again with a great review of this new rig. Some of his key points follow:

"The UV-3R makes [another Chinese radio] look a quality product. This is the first new electronic product I've had that didn't come with a peel-off protective film over the display. The plastic casing is extremely thin and the plastic belt clip that can optionally be attached looks as if it would easily break. To be fair, the flimsiness of the Baofeng may not be due to cheapness but to save weight."

"Confusingly, the rotary switch on top of the radio must be pulled up before it can be rotated."

Note: the VX-3R works this way as well.

"I also checked the strong signal handling performance of the receiver the same way I did recently with my other hand-held transceivers. It was on a par with the VX-8GR and the JMT-227, at the poor end of the spectrum."

Here you can see the UV-3R in all its glory.



For $55 I am willing to roll the dice. When the storms hit last week, my wife was looking for my VX-3R. Unfortunately, I keep that one in my laptop bag. I was contemplating another radio already, so finding this one has tipped the scales. I'm off to eBay.

A Deal You Can't Refuse

M.J. Mollenhour, whom I had the pleasure to meet, is celebrating the imminent release of his new book by dropping the price of his first thriller to $0.99!

I don't have a Kindle, but I've got an iPad on the way and I have the Kindle client on my Android phone. I've downloaded some of the free books, but this was my first Kindle purchase. Perfect timing as I head to the beach in the near future.

Get it here:

We know who you are... and what moves you to act.

We know who you are...
When I read about the new features that are browser specific, I again think of how easy it is to differentiate computers using unique markers from various sources (network cards, browser version, ip address, plugins, etc.) There are no secrets on the internet.

And what moves you to act...
Targeted advertising, much like the ads on this humble blog, have evolved to the point that they do a fairly good job of predicting what you might buy. However, marketing technologists are not satisfied - they want to appeal to you using the technique that is most likely to persuade you. So, they've figured out that you would want to buy a BMW X6. Now they are going to show you an ad that has a German engineer describing all the advanced features of the X6 - if you are persuaded by expertise. If you think it will help you pick up chicks, then the ad might feature Pippa driving one.

Of course, business isn't the only one to have an opinion on the matter..
I am not just a number! At least the courts don't think you can equate an individual to an ip address.

Via Slashdot.org and Slashdot.org

Unintended Consequences

Who knew that the end of of quality was a good thing for throwing a monkey wrench in the process to cook cocaine? It seems the drug lords need cookware that can handle rapid temperature change. Unfortunately, the new generation of soda-lime glass isn't up to the job.

Via Bruce Schneier.

Please define: Gun Violence Victim

What qualifies someone to be a gun violence victim?

Being shot at?
Being shot?
Being shot twice?
Having a loved one shot?
Having a loved one shot and killed?
How about all of the above?

Apparently even answering all of the above is not sufficient if you are a Second Amendment supporter.

Linoge explains it all over at Walls of the City.

Definitely worth the click, some network bandwidth, and a couple of minutes to read.

The Gun Test - To Fail Means Jail

This should be enlightening...



They have some sort of test on the VolunteerTV web site.

Students Locate Osama

Using a probabilistic model and a GIS, students predicted the likely location of Osama bin Laden. I think the real utility of this science and technology will be revealed when supplemented with traditional intelligence gathering. I continue to be amazed as we get larger and more complete data sets with which to work this magic.

Lesser of Two Evils

I have written before about my thoughts on guns and self-defense. In response to the celebrations after the announcement of bin Laden's death, Andrew Zirschky wrote an article on Youth Ministry Today. He introduces Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pacifist German Lutheran pastor and theologian, and applies his philosophy to the events surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden.

Bonhoeffer knows that we may find ourselves deciding between evil or evil. In these situations, we must act, depending upon our own limited understanding of world, and knowing that the ultimate judgement will be God's. This same judgement will be applied to those responsible for the elimination of a terrorist like bin Laden and, I believe, to a father protecting his family by shooting an intruder. I need to think about this some more, but it allows for universal truths (murder is a sin) to apply consistently on earth while preserving hope that God will have mercy on one's soul in heaven.

Even this short article has piqued my curiosity about Bonhoeffer. One more for the reading list.



I'm a sucker for powerful quotes:

"The sword can never bring about the unity of the Church and of faith. Preaching can never govern nations."

“What is worse than doing evil is being evil.”

Fruit Server

We use a lot of RIM's Blackberry devices at work. From an enterprise IT perspective, they are great. They are simple to use and simple to manage. They don't have a lot of extra features and only a limited number of apps, but I can rule them with an iron fist using the Blackberry Enterprise or Express servers.

We rolled out a hand full of Droid Pro devices to my team. They are neat toys, but I would not want to give them to our user base. We've had a lot of problems out of them, which, as IT folks, we've worked our way through.

We also offer some "best effort" support to iPhones.

RIM has announced that they are releasing a cross platform that will support Blackberry, Apple, and Android. For lack of a better name, I will call it the Fruit Enterprise Server. We live in exciting times. (Yes, I'm a geek.)

Via Business Insider

Navy Seals - Winning.

After I heard that Navy Seals were involved in the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, I kept thinking about the movie. It is not a great movie, but definitely fits in my guilty pleasure category. I actually own it - I think I got a two disc set with Red Dawn for about $5 at Wally World. Winning squared.