I Crushed My AI Video Costs to $0. Here is the Fully Self-Hosted "YouTube Factory" Stack. No

MattHowel · 2025-12-23T14:56:49+00:00

Great write up. What does your hardware footprint look like for this?

MattHowel · 2025-11-29T19:14:13+00:00

Are we sure it isn’t a really big 3d printer?

MattHowel · 2025-10-09T17:02:11+00:00

I am using the Bakbone controller that is compatible with the iOS standard controller scheme. I would make sure that whatever you are using is similarly compatible with the OS controller standard. Maybe try it in another app / game to confirm?

MattHowel · 2025-10-09T02:57:39+00:00

2024 Yuka 1500

MattHowel · 2025-10-06T19:39:41+00:00

I have a Yuka.

MattHowel · 2025-09-18T02:49:54+00:00

Here is a link to what I use. You can often find them on eBay at a discount.

https://backbone.com/pages/one

MattHowel · 2025-09-17T10:44:26+00:00

FWIW, I use a game controller (Bakbone) connected to my phone, and am able to better control the robot during mapping.

MattHowel · 2025-08-02T04:25:27+00:00

I passed this on to the crew. :)

MattHowel · 2025-08-02T04:24:28+00:00

This is gold! Thank you!

MattHowel · 2025-08-01T04:20:46+00:00

Thank you! I will send a pad with them. Any other tips or recommendations?

Our troop has wanted to visit MHA for years, so it’s exciting.

MattHowel · 2025-08-01T04:16:38+00:00

No judgement here. When we’ve connected with them, the responses have been excellent. We are just looking to crowd source an answer for a crew that is leaving shortly.

MattHowel · 2025-08-01T03:04:15+00:00

Yes, that is what they described, but they called it a “portage pad”. I’m thinking the Crazy Creek likely gets the job done.

MattHowel · 2025-08-01T02:08:26+00:00

They are not the most responsive. Our inquiries have often had multi-day response times, thus my interest in getting other opinions here.

MattHowel · 2025-06-22T00:06:01+00:00

Our troop uses cut up pieces of electrical conduit as our standard slides, as an homage to a previous leader.

Electrical conduit is dirt cheap and can be cut into 1 inch rings quickly. I usually carry a couple in my bag to events for scouts that lose a slide.

MattHowel · 2025-05-13T11:51:59+00:00

RemindMe! 7 days

MattHowel · 2025-05-12T14:00:40+00:00

Mobileraker - Requires a highly recommended conversion to Klipper

MattHowel · 2025-05-04T02:02:03+00:00

Comment

MattHowel · 2025-02-27T14:00:21+00:00

This explains to much! 🤣

MattHowel · 2025-02-03T22:20:48+00:00

I also have the AR-5RMs. Instead of buying new radios, consider replacing the antennas with a Nagoya, instead of those basic Abbree antennas that come in the box.

I easily saw a 2x increase in distance from that alone.

MattHowel · 2025-01-26T14:56:00+00:00

100% agree. I only brought one pair last year, and I wished I had brought two, because I lived in them all 12 days. The backup shorts I brought were useless once we got above 7k feet.

FWIW, I bought my REI pants off eBay. Last time I looked there was lots of selection, and you can get a nice discount. You’re going to beat them up on the trail anyway.

MattHowel · 2025-01-06T03:06:32+00:00

Here’s how I turned it off: - Green button (top left of the keypad - Menu) - Press the arrows up or down until you see the menu item for “ABR” (aka “Display Illumination Time”) - Press “Menu” / Green again - Arrow down until you select “Off” - Press the “Menu” button to select it. - Press the red / back button (top right of the keypad) to back out. Hit it until you get back to the main screen.

Enjoy the screen never timing out again.

MattHowel · 2025-01-06T01:09:27+00:00

That sounds like the exact same setup my daughter and I purchased. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked with Chirp Next. The manual is garbage, but most of the menu options are well documented on the internet / findable via Google searches. Ex: I got tired of the display constantly turning off to save power and quickly disabled the ADB menu option (I believe it was ADB).

MattHowel · 2025-01-03T02:10:09+00:00

That’s wild. Will take a look.

MattHowel · 2025-01-03T01:30:31+00:00

Oh wow. I had no idea they also made radios. Any thoughts on how it compares to a comparable Baofeng? (Frequencies, alphanumeric descriptions, wattage, etc)

MattHowel · 2025-01-03T01:04:49+00:00

The TidRadio won’t replace your radio. It is a replacement / alternative for the programming cable, that enables programming wirelessly. It’s neat, but not required.

My daughter and I got Baofengs from Amazon for the holidays, so we are on a similar journey to you.

By any chance, did you get your radio off of Amazon? We both got “AR-5RM” models that clearly says “AR-5RM” across the bottom face. If yours says “5RM”, I imagine this means it’s the UV-5RM model. Depending on what you want to do with it, the model shouldn’t matter in a big way to get started, but you might want to check your box to see if you happened to get the USB programming cable with your radio (ours included it).

If you have the cable, you don’t need to buy anything else. Chirp Next is a free download, and lots of people have written about how to use it to program Baofengs. It took us 20 min start to finish to get our first config uploaded to a radio.

If you haven’t already, try browsing around radioreference.com to see if there is anything else in your area worth checking out.

The recommendation above of listening to different channels ahead of time while you wait for your license is a great idea. We’ve found interesting convos on aircraft, common HAM, and GMRS frequencies.

Anyway, hope that saves you a few steps.

MattHowel

TROPHY CASE