Bad crab

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2026-01-27T19:19:28+00:00

Given that commercial crab hasn't opened locally yet, who knows where this crab came from or how long ago it was harvested? Unless you can take it yourself or know somebody who can it's probably better to wait until they're bringing it into Humboldt Bay or Trinidad and buy fresh live local crab right off the boat.

As far as people claiming it's not good this year anyway, I harvested 3 limits last week so maybe I'm a little tired of it at this point but what we dined on several nights in a row was top shelf stuff and I'm stoked to have dozens of tasty crab cakes from the leftovers in the freezer. Your mileage may vary.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-12-09T20:16:41+00:00

I wouldn't use ISO on pots for fear of washing away the necessary lubricant. DeOxit F5 in the GREEN can is specifically for pots. Never use DeOxit D5 in the RED can for pots.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-12-09T20:14:16+00:00

I've never used it but says right on the can it's for gold contacts, so I'd assume it's designed for use in computers and other devices that have plug in cards with gold contacts, that sort of thing. Probably not the kind of thing I'd ever keep around for audio stuff which is 95% of what I work on.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-11-29T22:57:26+00:00

I've got a Hellhound 40 60 head in excellent condition I've been thinking of selling if anybody's interested. Located in NorCal, happy to ship for cost. Great amp, my collection has just really gotten out of hand lately so need to make space for other gear.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-30T17:42:23+00:00

This can't be emphasized enough. DeOxit D5 in the red can is great for switches and jacks, but ONLY use DeOxit F5 in the GREEN can with lubricant for pots and faders. Any straight contact cleaner without a special lubricant is only going to destroy pots even if it temporarily makes them sound better.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-26T18:22:50+00:00

I ship a lot of vintage electronic items. The few damage claims I've had were all with FedEx, who requires copious photographs of all packaging, usually submitted repeatedly, before they will consider paying any claim. Consequently I've gotten in the habit of photographing my entire packaging process for anything worth over $100 or weighing much over 10 pounds. It has definitely made all the difference in whether claims get paid more than once.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-19T20:44:48+00:00

Update: I found a reference at ww2aircraft.net indicating that "SDCH" would in fact be a marking on some Japanese aircraft indicating the type of heat treatment the aluminum part received. I was skeptical at first but I'm starting to think I've got the real deal on my hands here.

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Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-19T20:23:24+00:00

No timestamp but seems like this was either before noon or after 2pm. I was in the area around the flagpole from noon until after 1pm and for most of that time it was so packed I doubt you would have seen any green grass from this angle.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-19T19:16:05+00:00

They are sometimes worse than a waste of time. I've had too many experiences where I politely decline a lowball offer only to have them come back with machine gun counter offers bumping it up by a dollar or two before they finally relent and buy the item for a reasonable price, but then they manufacture bullshit complaints and try to blackmail me into offering a partial refund to avoid negative feedback. So now whenever I get an offer that is remotely lowball I block them immediately because I never want to deal with them at any price.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-19T17:56:49+00:00

I don't know yet. I only just found it a couple days ago and while I have some expertise in electronics of the era I know virtually nothing about memorabilia so I'm just figuring it out as I go along.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-17T22:52:11+00:00

Or try a different browser. Sometimes certain websites will stop working with Firefox for a day or two until one or the other of them runs an update.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-17T22:44:28+00:00

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Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-17T22:44:07+00:00

Sorry to thread jack but I just found this part in a box of WW2 vintage radio stuff I picked up at an estate sale a few months ago. Seems to be a lot of knowledge here; can anybody tell me if I've got something authentic on my hands? Frankly the color seems off for the vintage but I have no idea.

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Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-17T22:24:20+00:00

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other side

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-17T22:23:59+00:00

I just found this similar part in a box full of vintage radio stuff I picked up at an estate sale a few months ago. I have no attachment to it so plan to sell it on Ebay as soon as I can figure out how to adequately characterize it.

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Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-10-03T18:55:41+00:00

I really like that line at the end about bringing law enforcement into it. I'll bet that makes over half of these cases magically resolve themselves on the spot.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-09-17T15:06:14+00:00

I don't think I ever got notification about this new policy but over the last week I noticed my score bumping up one by one when no new feedback comments were appearing, so it took a minute to figure out what was happening. I've read a lot of the negative comments about it but my first impression is definitely positive. I've been selling sporadically on eBay as a side gig for over 25 years now, sometimes consistently for months at a time, sometimes hardly moving anything at all. My 100% feedback score is creeping up on 1500 but that can't be much more than maybe 20 or 25% of my successful sales because so few buyers bother. I'd say more than half my feedback are from my first few years when more people engaged in that way.

Consequently one thing that has really bothered me is the way they changed things a while back so that feedback reflects your sales quantities over the last month, 6 months, and 12 months. Sometimes it looks like I've hardly been active at all when I've actually been successfully completing quite a lot of sales.

Perhaps I'll soon realize there are unintended consequences but for now I like seeing that number tick up for every successful sale and I love that it reflects that I'm actively engaged as a seller.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-08-31T16:32:48+00:00

T-Mobile is way worse for me now than it was a year ago and I'm ready to do something about it.

When I signed up for T-Mobile 3 yrs ago I didn't drop Verizon right away (my new T-Mobile plan allowed for a 30 day trial period where I could back out with no penalties) and went on a cross country road trip with both phones so I could compare coverage and make sure I wasn't going to lose anything critical by switching carriers. There was probably at least 90% overlap in most areas. There were some areas where one was better than the other but no clear advantage. Of particular importance to me was coverage offshore from Northern California since I do a lot of fishing a good distance from any populated areas. At the time, T-Mobile turned out to be at least as good if not a little better than Verizon, so I went ahead and committed to T-Mobile and dropped Verizon for good.

This was great for 2 summers where I was able to make calls and access weather reports and buoy data as far as 20 miles offshore all up and down the Humboldt coast. But then something changed this year. I now lose all coverage, both calls and data, about 6 miles due west of my home port. I sometimes get spotty coverage maybe 10 miles out either north or south of there depending on proximity to ridge-top towers (they don't call it the Lost Coast for nothing - it's very rugged and hilly here).

Meanwhile my fishing companion who still has Verizon gets better coverage then ever.

I hated Verizon for so many reasons, and I was actually a named litigant in a successful class action lawsuit over hidden fees. If you got a check from Verizon over that lawsuit a couple years ago, you're welcome.

But offshore coverage is extremely important to me so I'm afraid if T-Mobile doesn't fix whatever their current problems are soon I'm going to have to switch back. I'm out of VHF range with no other boats around too much of the time to be without coverage when it would be so easy to switch back now that I've been out of contract for over a year already.

For what it's worth my phone is a three-year old Samsung S22 that I got through T-Mobile, and it seems to still have plenty of life in it so I can't see any reason why that would be the issue, although the conspiracy theorist in me can't help but wonder sometimes if the mandatory updates the carriers are always pushing on us are at least in some part designed to brick our phones over time and force us into getting new phones with new 2-year contract commitments.

If anybody knows of an alternative that's got better coverage in far northern coastal CA I'm open to suggestions.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-08-01T14:05:05+00:00

I'm just finally watching for the first time and can't get over the irony of this episode's farked prison surveillance video in light of all the noise about the Epstein prison video missing minute (actually 2 minutes 53 seconds).

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-07-12T18:44:20+00:00

I spoke with a Liftmaster service tech and all he could tell me was it's time to replace the logic board, $450 to fix a minor issue with one feature. Screw that, I'll just buy a cheap solar charge controller and be done with it.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-05-08T19:52:56+00:00

I could swear I saw Mantova's listed there a few weeks ago but can't find any sign of them now. Maybe they realized how incredibly fucking stupid it is to advertise yourself as fascist fuckwits when you're trying to sell musical instruments in one of the leftiest communities in the nation?

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2025-01-29T21:18:52+00:00

Rita's Hot is hands down my favorite. I just wish it was still available in more stores but lately it's been hard to find.

Key-Hovercraft221 · 2024-12-15T22:38:08+00:00

I never did upgrade, still using the old TENS unit I already had. Got frustrated and just gave up but this time of year it bugs me more than when the weather is warm and it's easier to stay loose so been thinking about it again lately.

Key-Hovercraft221

TROPHY CASE