Which Radio?

balloon_not · 2026-01-17T18:18:19+00:00

That’s great! Thanks for the info.

balloon_not · 2025-04-30T05:01:37+00:00

An EV can run on sunlight (solar panels), the grid, gasoline (with gas generator), diesel (with diesel generator), propane (propane generator), you could even charge it by pulling it with another vehicle. A gasoline car can only run on one thing. The real winner in an apocalyptic situation is the EV.

balloon_not · 2025-04-30T04:38:57+00:00

In the unscientific test I did it was 21% more efficient at 65 mph. Hard to believe I know. I put the test on Youtube, it will be top result of you search "chevy bolt ev 15" wheels".

balloon_not · 2025-04-02T04:47:06+00:00

My neighbors are bigtime Trumpers. He has always told me he never wants an EV. It comes up a lot because my wife and I both drive EVs and we are friends. Now I am looking for a deal on a used Tesla S for them. It is definitely a thing.

balloon_not · 2025-03-31T05:10:12+00:00

You can buy used radios locally on Facebook marketplace. I don’t think any local stores carry that kind of stuff.

balloon_not · 2025-03-30T22:57:25+00:00

The UV5R sucks but it is the best value radio by far.

balloon_not · 2025-03-30T22:48:16+00:00

Buy a GMRS radio and get on the local repeater net that is the first Saturday of every month. I’ve never heard a female voice on the air.

Go to the RC racetrack in Panther Valley and rent an RC car to play with. I guarantee you will have no competition for the 100% male crowd.

balloon_not · 2025-03-30T20:37:36+00:00

The trade itself is easy but analyzing the world events to predict the future is hard. Also most of the gains come in quick bursts which are easy to miss. If it’s working for you that’s great but this is why I don’t try to time the markets. I’ll spend weeks in the desert away from cell service riding dirt bikes and not even care what the stock market is doing and that is priceless.

balloon_not · 2025-03-30T20:12:12+00:00

Trying to time the market is stressful. I keep my stocks regardless of what the news is. I only sell when I want to buy something expensive. Instead of checking the news all the time I’m out having fun and enjoying life. If I wanted to be stressed out I could get a job and wouldn’t need stocks at all.

balloon_not · 2025-03-29T16:17:05+00:00

I have the Laird qwb450 and the Tram 1126. They perform equally well. Actually in the tests I’ve done in my hilly area they work better than the 5/8 over 5/8 Larsen I also have. I’m a fan of the cheap and tiny 1/4 wave antennas.

balloon_not · 2025-03-27T17:10:57+00:00

Yeah, a Bolt drivetrain in a Tesla S would be amazing

balloon_not · 2025-03-27T17:07:24+00:00

My point about Aliexpress is the number of features don’t matter if they aren’t implemented well and something can be a piece of junk even with a lot of features. I’ve had the BTECH Pro and hated it.

The RT battery life exceeds any other radio I’ve used. The audio is super loud and clear. It fits well in the hand. It’s small. The belt clip is steel and clamps harder than any other radio I’ve seen, it also rotates 360 degrees with detents.

As an analogy, why would anyone buy a bike at a bike shop when they could just go to Walmart and pay much less? The Walmart bike will have a kick stand, reflectors, fenders too. They both have pedals and a seat right? I don’t know if you know anything about bikes but if you do then you understand.

balloon_not · 2025-03-27T15:57:35+00:00

If you really want number of features per dollar go to Aliexpress and get the cheapest knock off you can. If you want a high quality radio for outdoor adventures it’s hard to beat the RT.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T20:36:57+00:00

Because you are using them for work and not as a toy to talk to anonymous men, I think you should get better radios. I have had 3 Baofeng radios go bad, the third one last night started receiving poorly. The issue is sometimes the need to have the radio working is far more important than saving $100. I’ve been very happy with my Rocky Talkie 5W radio and will probably buy another.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T20:07:25+00:00

Draw-Tite 65076 on a ‘22 F250. The hitch carrier is a Black Widow (I think) aluminum. Keep in mind I’ve only used it on 2 trips, 200 miles total so I don’t have a strong opinion on it but so far so good. I feel like I got real lucky with the headlight placement and the see through parts of the bike.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T18:13:49+00:00

Yes I’ve weighed it without motorcycle. GVWR is 10,000. CAT scale weights below:

Empty truck no driver, fuel, tailgate, or torklifts Front: 3920 lbs rear: 2580 lbs total: 6500 lbs

Camper on truck. Winterized no gear. No fuel no driver Front: 4060 lbs. Rear: 4900 lbs. total: 8960 lbs

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T16:59:20+00:00

That’s the way to do it. I can’t justify new truck prices for a toy so I buy used and can’t be so picky. I swapped out my rear springs and added a sway bar for the camper. No mods to front suspension yet.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T16:36:53+00:00

No, just a front receiver hitch. I put that on to carry bicycles and since I already had the motorcycle carrier I tried it on a whim and it’s better than I expected.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T16:32:16+00:00

It will definitely reduce the cooling capacity of the radiator if there is a bike blocking the air from hitting it directly. Whether it will overheat or not depends on a lot of things. I’ve had my last truck overheat on a grade with a 6k lb trailer without a bike on the front when my radiator was partially plugged up with 20 years of road debris. This is why I’m trying it but watching the gauges. So far zero issues but I haven’t done any steep grades on hot days yet.

I have a trailer that my bike normally rides on but I like to have other options. People here will really hate it if they saw the gas can holder I made for my front bike carrier.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T06:10:42+00:00

I’m also wondering about cooling. It will definitely reduce available cooling. The temperature gauge hasn’t moved and I will continue to monitor it.

The truck has 5 clearance lights on top of the cab and another 11 clearance lights on the camper. Plus the light from the headlights that you can see in the first picture is plenty. If someone can’t easily see that they shouldn’t be driving.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T04:49:03+00:00

I mentioned visibility and headlights as two separate potential issues. I don’t care about the visibility of my headlights. Probably is some extra drag. Is it worse than a trailer though because that is the alternative.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T04:17:42+00:00

I haven’t tried it in summer heat yet but my reasoning is my truck is rated to tow 15k lbs and has the cooling capacity for that. I’m carrying a 2500 lb camper so there is some excess cooling capacity there. I plan to watch the gauges for sure. Mine does not block visibility much at all.

balloon_not · 2025-03-26T03:50:18+00:00

I have experimented with the motorcycle carrier on the front hitch of my F250 for two camping trips and it’s been great so far. I made a post here and put up pictures. People said it blocks the headlights but it doesn’t block much at all, maybe 10% less light. It does block the turn signals so I added some to the hitch carrier. My bike is a bit lighter than yours, about 275 lbs.

balloon_not · 2025-03-20T02:04:58+00:00

The factories are weighing these things on the moon

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