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.

Baofeng UV-3R: Review by Dave, N9EWO

Paul has pointed me to Dave's (N9EWO) review of the, as he call its, the VGC / Baofeng / Magiksun / Comtex / Zastone UV-3R "Micro" Dual Band Handheld Transceiver. You have to scroll half-way down to find the start of the UV-3R info, but it is worth a little mouse work. He has lots of good information.

First, he's found two other brands the radio is sold under - Comtex and Zastone.

Second, he's encountered a few problems with the radio and has some fixes like this one for :

"When we do PC uploads to the UV-3R transceiver using the "409shop's" Universal USB cable,the 5 Khz channel step appear like this [B. 4BK] on the LCD afterwards on some memory channels and/or each VFO . Software version used : 1.01.01.
We cured this bug by going to Menu # 9 after and just rotating through the loop of "steps" once to wash out the weird step entries (done after every upload ).
Needs to be done for both VHF/UHF VFO AND also for EVERY memory channel used to clear these weird entries out and for the display to show properly ."

He also mentions the slow scan times and loud receive audio, but comes to the same conclusion that we all do:

"Cheap, Fun and Useful."

Football Cops

Justice is a team sport.

On Target Training Center is now on Twitter

You can follow Doug from On Target Training Center on Twitter. His account is @OTTC_Doug.

La plus ça change

If Tam sees some strange hits on her old posts at View from the Porch, then that's from me walking through history. During my walk, I noticed that things haven't changed much.

2011 - Gas prices coming down.
2005 - Tam talks about gas prices.

2011 - Tam asks what is the difference between a SWAT team & Depart of Education federal agents?
2005 - Tam points out militarized police arresting a man for loitering.

2011 - Atlas Shrugged is an eye-opening read for me as the movie comes out.
2005 - Tam says Atlas Shrugged approaches philosophical scripture status.

I Pack

It might remove the element of surprise, but I must have... get yours here.



You can compliment it with some stickers.

Shirt via TNJeff.
Stickers via Linoge.

Dropbox - Even Worse

I posted that I shouldn't put sensitive information in my Dropbox, since there are tools being released to compromise your "secure" storage.

Apparently, you don't need a tool or even a correct password. Dropbox allowed any password to work with any account for 4 hours.

Via Slashdot.org

New Acronym: BUR

I was writing a reply to a comment and described the Baofeng UV-3R as a BUR. Those from the gun world might recognize the similarity to the short-hand BUG. BUG is a "back up gun", so BUR is "back up radio".

I think the UV-3R fits this bill perfectly. It is small and light weight. You can use the AA battery pack for emergency power. (That's another reason I prefer flashlights that use AA batteries as well - I can move the batteries between devices if needed.) And it is inexpensive enough that I could buy a couple UV-3Rs and toss them in the glovebox without having to get a second mortgage.

General Knowledge

So over at the the Quest for C Class on the Exurban League blog, they have a list of General Knowledge every firearms enthusiast should possess. They have a few categories...

Know the basic operation and use of:
Be capable of:
Know how to (but not always accomplish):
Know (and ALWAYS accomplish successfully):

For ham radio, I wonder what the list would look like? I don't have the experience to complete it, but I'll throw out some things and see what sticks.

Know the basic operation and use of:
UHF/VHF Transceivers on Repeaters
HF Transceivers
Power Supplies
Coax

Be capable of:
Build a half wave dipole
Build a quarter wave ground plane
Use a manual tuner
Sending and receiving CW at 8 wpm.
Soldering
Reading a circuit diagram

As I learn more about ham radio, I think this would be a good list to build.

They lead in with a quote from Robert A. Heinlein and as a bonus I measure myself against the list.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Change a diaper - check!
Plan an invasion - probably not.
Butcher a hog - doubt it.
Conn a ship - I do have some small sailing experience.
Design a building - Do levels for Dungeon's & Dragons?
Write a sonnet - I've heard of iambic pentameter and been to the Globe in London.
Balance accounts - check!
Build a wall - 16 inch centers.
Set a bone -
Comfort the dying - I hope so.
Take orders - Sir, yes, sir.
Give orders - check!
Cooperate - check!
Act alone - check!
Solve equations - check!
Analyze a new problem - check!
Pitch manure - I'm not much of a salesman.
Program a computer - check!
Cook a tasty meal - Sustenance is the goal for me.
Fight efficiently - you don't want to find out.
Die gallantly - untested.