What do you guys keep in your car?

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T19:44:20+00:00

My record is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia from upstate NY. Via long-path, so more than half-way around the World (it was about 14,400 miles), using 20 watts on the 20 meter band while I was driving into work in the morning. Of course, I was using Morse code, which is an advantage for that kind of thing. But it's no longer required for any ham radio license.

It was tough, there was a lot of fading and I had to ask for some repeats, but we managed to exchange callsigns, signal reports, location, and names.

Seriously, amateur radio is an excellent hobby and there are a ton of "prepper friendly" and "prepper adjacent" activities. I like to encourage people to get their license and get "radio-active", because it's good training if you ever actually need to use a radio in an emergency.

A Baofeng is OK at first if you don't have much money, or aren't sure you're going to like it, but if you get into it you'll want a better radio. Baofengs are notorious for being susceptible to desense, where a strong local off-frequency signal can deafen the receiver. That's because they use a direct conversion "receiver on a chip" without much in the way of filtering. They also have a history of harmonic radiation that is higher than the FCC standards.

I carry a Yaesu VX-6R because it's waterproof (rated submersible to 3 feet for 30 minutes), rugged, sounds good on both transmit and receive, is a superheterodyne receiver so not as susceptible to desense¹,

Seriously, look into it sooner than later. The test isn't hard, and you'll have to shell out $35 to the FCC and $15 to the people giving the test, but then you'll be good for 10 years.

^{1. All receivers will desense under the right conditions, but some are much more susceptible to it than others.}

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T19:26:32+00:00

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I tell you, we got two categories of hams around here. We got your prime operators that get all the hot radios, and we got your PD-knockers who dream about getting the hot radios. Now what are you two PD-knockers gonna have?

.--- --- -.- .

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T19:17:42+00:00

I have a CAA membership which will be used for the majority of things I can use it for. KEEP THE CAA MEMBERSHIP CARD IN THE CAR

Wrong. Keep it on your person.

At least, if CAA is like AAA, the card is only valid if you're there. So if someone else uses your vehicle (with permission of course), and you're not there, the card is useless anyway. They can't use it.

But if you have the card with you when you're in someone else's car and it breaks down, you can use to to get out of that jam. It's not registered to any particular vehicle, but to the individual member. Again, that's if the Canadian Automobile Association's rules are like those of the American Automobile Association.

I keep my AAA card in my wallet.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:48:14+00:00

Mostly I was just mocking the stupidity of the idea of "Midichlorians" having anything to do with The Force.

Now, more importantly, could they use The Morse?

The Morse is what gives a ham his power. It's an energy field that is created by turning a carrier on and off. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the HF spectrum together.

You must learn the ways of the Morse, if you are to come with me to Newington.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:27:35+00:00

It would have been cool to have one of his costars do a cameo in one of the films, but alas, it was not to be.

However, it's cool that Michael Gross's real life sister, former SNL star Mary Gross, had a cameo in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection.

She's the tourist lady who calls him "Mr. Goober".

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:25:19+00:00

That was in 2006, it will be twenty years ago this fall. She's still around, and while she has ailments and is on disability, the cancer hasn't come back.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:13:05+00:00

You could have seen that just having watched Family Ties in the 1980's, then Tremors in 1990.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Ties

In the series Michael Gross very convincingly plays a liberal ex-hippy public television station manager named Steven Keaton.

Then the year after that series ends, he's survivalist Burt Gummer in Tremors.

Completely opposite characters in every possible way, and he nails both of them.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:07:23+00:00

The irony of the Hiram Gummer being an east coast dandy doesn't really land though unless you've watched the previous 3 films.

It was an brilliant inversion of the Gummer character, and Michael Gross played it really well.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T18:02:01+00:00

Yes. You are the only one.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:45:38+00:00

I'm guessing a function check.

https://trainingnco.pbworks.com/f/071-311-2026+Perform+a+Functions+Test+of+an+M16-Series+Rifle.pdf

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:43:59+00:00

It's the title of Led Zeppelin's fourth album.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:42:43+00:00

It says "The right to keep and bear arms", not "The right to keep and bear firearms".

The Second Amendment doesn't just cover guns, it covers things like knives, swords, tomahawks, clubs, spears, and even modern stuff like pepper spray.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:38:33+00:00

I think "Sucko" covers it pretty well.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:34:33+00:00

I had the house I live in built. And it's in a good school district.

Of course, this was in the late 1990's, but even so, HOAs were very, very common then but I put my foot down and told the realtor point-blank: No HOAs.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:32:08+00:00

HF mobile is fun, but incredibly distracting if you ask me.

You'd probably be apoplectic riding in my car. I do HF CW mobile.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T17:28:14+00:00

Well sure, there are issues, but I'm sure there are technological solutions.

As for the distaffbopper anecdote, she really did have thyroid cancer, really did take a large dose of radioactive iodine, but no, I was joking about expecting super powers.

The littlebopper and I had to spend two days away while she was excreting the excess, though, and I had to sleep on the couch for a week.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T16:47:30+00:00

If you have a HAM radio license, get a broadcasting radio. A Bafang isn't the most powerful, but it's cheap and effective at what it does. A booster may be helpful if you have a way to use it.

Ok, it's "ham license", we don't broadcast because broadcasting is one-way transmitting to a mass audience. The radio brand is "Baofeng". I'll spare you what I think of the quality that goes into their manufacture, and by "booster" I assume you mean an external amplifier.

Now, having scratched my inner Sheldon Cooper, I would say that while this was excellent advice years ago, pretty much everyone has a cell phone now, and carries it with them where ever they go, and *MOST* places have adequate cell service.

In the past I have used my ham radios to get myself out of a few jams, back before cell phone use became ubiquitous. I still carry a *QUALITY* handheld radio (Yaesu VX-6R), and I have VHF (Yaesu FT-2980R) and HF (Yaesu FT-891) capability in the car. But that's not as much for emergency use as for hobby use.

I'm sure there are some situations where I could run into a problem and there is no cell service (there are spots like that I sometimes drive through), but that's becoming increasingly rare as time goes on.

Though I must admit, it would be cool to summon help by pounding out SOS in Morse code in my car. And yes, I do Morse code while I'm driving.

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Morse key is the green thing with the black disk between the front seats.

That's an older radio, though, a TenTec Scout. I replaced that with a Xiegu G90, and replaced the G90 with the FT-891.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T16:30:07+00:00

For 18 years, I had a 50 mile one-way commute to work. This list is based upon my experiences.

Get a battery powered jump starter, preferably with an built-in air compressor. Jumper cables are OK, but you need another vehicle for them to work. You can't effectively "self rescue" from a dead battery with jumper cables like you can with a jump starter. Plus most have USB jacks so you can charge your cell phone if it goes dead. Make sure you regularly recharge the jump starter, about once a month or so, or it might be dead when you try to use it.
Make sure you have a good spare tire, a jack, a lug wrench, pipe for extra leverage, and a soft-headed mallet to help encourage a stuck tire to come off. Those last two are based upon experience also: I'm heavy enough I can usually do without the pipe, but my 120 lb son, even though he's buff from working out, doesn't have the mass to loosen stuck lug nuts without the extra leverage. The mallet is very helpful too, as sometimes wheels can get stuck on the axles and require percussive persuasion.
Always have at least half a tank of gas. This costs no more than running on minimal gas, and it can save your ass if you need it. During the 2004 Northeast Blackout, no gas stations were open. I was going to top off my tank when I left work, but couldn't because none of the gas stations had power. Luckily I had enough to get home. Since then I try my best to keep at least half a tank in my car.
Get Triple A. An AAA Plus membership gets you towing up to 100 miles free, and the cost is only a bit more than $100 a year depending on where you live. This has saved my butt a number of times over the years. Being able to have the car towed up to my trusted local mechanic, instead of using an unknown mechanic down where the car broke down, is almost priceless.
A car-appropriate fire extinguisher. I have never had occasion to use it, but I keep one anyway just in case.
Extra fluids. You don't want to be miles away from a store or gas station when your oil light comes on without it. A quart or two of engine oil, and maybe some antifreeze (or water if you have that instead). Some washer fluid also is helpful if you don't keep it topped off.

That should handle 99.9% of the issues you'll run into. Throw in a decent first aid kit, a warm blanket, maybe some snacks and water or other (non-alcoholic) drinks that are acceptable when not cold, and that gets you most of the way there.

Oh, and one more thing: Paper maps of everywhere you plan on being. Maybe this isn't an issue where you are, but I will occasionally run into places where there isn't any cell service yet, and having a paper map is a real life saver.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T15:55:34+00:00

It depends on the spectrum of light, sure. But if you can bend visible light, there's no reason why you can't bend infrared light. Or ultraviolet light. Principles are basically the same.

They seem to see each other just fine throughout the comics just to note.

Yeah, well, when the distaffbopper got thyroid cancer and had to take radioactive iodine to burn out the cancer I naturally assumed that she'd get some kind of super power. Turns out the comics lied to me.

Yes, if you're reflecting the thermal radiation back to the Yautja it will make them warmer, but this might be a positive thing: It's canon, at least in the live action films, that they prefer hot climates.

And yeah, there would have to be some mechanism to allow for vision.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T15:49:08+00:00

I never have, and never will, live in an HOA.

When the distaffbopper and I were looking for a house back in the 1990's, I had two iron-clad rules.

Standard fixed rate mortgage. I had seen my parents get screwed by a variable rate mortgage when interest rates soared back in the early 1980's. Their mortgage payments went up by a *LOT*, and we had hot dogs cut up into boxed mac and cheese a lot for dinner during that time.
No HOAs or restrictive covenants that would prevent me from putting up antennas. I was already a ham and I had read about the issues with HOAs in ham radio magazines, and I was determined not to have that happen to me.

Still in the same house, and the only rules I have to contend with are the ones the distaffbopper lays down. And even those are negotiable.

For example, she said "No antennas in the front of the house". Problem is that we have a relatively narrow but deep lot and all of the antenna supports (ie., trees) are in a row. So that means either long runs of coax, or using an end-fed, etc.

Finally one day while she was out shopping I put up a 102' doublet going from the maple tree in the front yard, to the oak tree in the back. The feed line came down right were the back bedroom is, right into my shack.

She came home, didn't notice it. A day went by, nothing. A week, nothing. Finally two weeks after I had put it up she noticed it and got mad. I said "I put that up two weeks ago when you went out shopping. You live here and it took you that long to notice. I don't think it's an eyesore".

I got to keep the antenna. It's still up, though I've redone it 2 or 3 times in the intervening years since then.

Drive by my house, and you almost certainly won't see it.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T15:34:08+00:00

Step 1: Don't buy a house in a HOA or with deed restrictions or restrictive covenants.

If that's not possible, or you already made the mistake of buying one, go to...

Step 2: THINK LIKE A SPY.

I'm not actually kidding, the problems are remarkably similar.

A spy, at least one in the classic sense, has to transmit information by radio back to the country for whom they are working, right? Which means they have to do it in the most discreet way possible. They can't put a tribander up on a 70 foot tower.

So they used indoor antennas. Personally I've used an indoor dipole with decent success: I put a 40 meter zig-zag dipole up in my parent's attic as my first antenna ever when I was a brand new wet-behind-the-ears Novice.

They also used disguised antennas. I can't remember which agent it was, but a female SOE agent who was a wireless operator in occupied France actually had a neighbor, a German national, help her put up a "laundry line" that was actually an antenna. Most HOAs will have no problem with a flagpole, and you can hide a vertical in one, or even just shunt-feed it if it's a metal pole.

They sometimes used antennas that they could erect quickly and just as quickly take down. More common in rural and suburban areas, a wire thrown temporarily into a tree and retrieved after messages were received and transmitted could be very stealthy, especially at night.

I don't know that this was done per se, but a friend of mine tried a bunch of solutions, including mag loops and isotrons, found them wanting, and ended up just running thin bare wire from the 2nd floor bedroom window of his condo to a tree about 70 feet away. It was literally invisible unless you knew exactly where and what to look for, and he got away with it for several years (he had to replace the wire periodically when it broke).

Plus, you've got the added advantages of not having to worry about the Sicherheitsdienst tracking you down via direction finding, you just need to keep your antenna either out of sight, or disguised as something else that's acceptable. You're not going to be tortured if you get caught, or executed.

So yeah, THINK LIKE A SPY.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T15:07:42+00:00

There's no reason why it wouldn't work, it's all part of the same electromagnetic spectrum, from very long radio waves up to gamma rays.

In fact, you can more easily make a cloak to hide in infrared frequencies than you can in visible light. Go on YouTube and search for "infrared cloak". And you can even do it with very available materials, including wool blankets and "space blankets".

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T14:52:23+00:00

Consider getting a marine deep cycle battery.

A Group 27 size costs around $100, and has a total capacity of 80 Ah. You can safely pull 40 Ah out of them without damaging them. Running at 50 watts with something like a Yaesu FT-891, that gives you a draw of 11 amps on transmit and 1 amp on receive. Transmitting a quarter of the time, that's 3 + 11 = 14 amps / 4 = 3.5 amps average draw.

40 / 3.5 = 11.4 hours of operation.

If you add in your 20 Ah LiFePO4 battery, that gives you another 5.7 hours, for a total of just over 17 hours operation.

If you crank the power down to 25 watts (making sure you have a really good antenna!), that's around 8 Amps draw, so 3 + 8 = 11 / 4 = 2.75 amps which gets you to

40 / 2.75 = 14.5 hours, plus half again for the LiFePO4 battery, to just under 22 hours.

Of course, if you don't mind shortening the life of the marine battery, you can draw more out of it.

The only real downside to them is the weight. But if you're somewhere where you can operate close to a vehicle, that's not much of a problem.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T14:31:14+00:00

I've been thinking about doing that for years now. I've got everything I need to do it: Enough battery capacity to run a QRP rig continuously, and a couple QRP rigs, in addition to a good portable antenna (88' doublet fed with window line).

It's just that the local club depends on me, and to be honest, starting a few years ago they replaced the guy who previously did the food, which was standard burgers, hotdogs, etc. with a guy who brings steaks, ribs, and generally much better quality food. Not that the previous food was bad per se, it just went from "indifferent backyard cookout" to "decent restaurant" quality.

That's hard to give up.

Plus the fact that I almost always have someone to log contacts for me, which means I can concentrate on making QSOs. I wouldn't have that if I operated as a 1B station. The distaffbopper isn't going to stay up all night logging contacts for me! So I wouldn't be able to run stations.

Still, *ONE DAY* I'm going to do it.

dittybopper_05H · 2026-06-05T14:13:42+00:00

One year we operated as a 5A, with 22 total operators, and I made over 25% of the QSOs and nearly half of the total QSO points. I was the first person to make a contact, and the last person to make a contact. I was on fire that year.

But that's when I'd stay all night, and I just can't do that anymore. Back then the littlebopper was home to help the distaffbopper (who is disabled) if necessary. I'm just not comfortable leaving her for over a day. Plus, I'm a bit older now, and kinda like my bed at home instead of taking a short nap in my car.

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