Chevelle is done finally, now out the door it needs to go

 

Looks like the worst of the weather is done. I really need a new ham radio. My poor little handheld just isn't cutting it. I need to get my radios set up in the truck so when this happens I can just walk out to the truck and be able to talk loud and clear to everyone. That'll have to wait till I have the transmission in it though.

 

Rick - I'd run, but I have nowhere to run to. I've been listening to the weather alerts on one of my scanners and I have the other one scanning the local 2m repeaters for updates from hams in the surrounding area. All my flashlights, portable dvd player and portable radios are freshly charged. Lots of food, water, blankets, a full tank of gas and a set of tire chains in the trunk so I'm good to go for a few days...just in case.

Get ready, Keith - Here it comes!

For HTs I have a pair of Yaesu VX7R tribanders and really happy with their performance. I read on various forums that a lot of people are happy with those Wouxun radios that hit the market a while back. I haven't tried one yet so no personal opnion on them though. The price sure seems right.

 

Back from my short road trip. My uncle liked the chrome rims and bought them. Only used for 2 months. American Racing Snipers. $350 plus locking lug set. Those along with the White lettered Nascars should perk his 99 Eldorado right up. Weather is justwindy as crap and nasty.
Mike-what did you do to the Chevelle? Any pics?

 

I have a Yeasu VX-170. It does well when I'm outside but when I'm inside my apartment (like today) or when I'm on the edge of the county it just doesn't quite get there. I live about halfway in between the two repeaters in the county so it just depends on the exact conditions which one I can hit hard enough to be understood. Sometimes one will work better than the other and sometimes vice versa. It's starting to eat battery life pretty quick too which doesn't help things. That's why I want to get my setup in the truck done so that I can just go out there and have plenty of power to transmit (plus being able to take off at a moment's notice). My car isn't exactly an ideal chase vehicle as light as it is.

 

I had some problems hitting the repeaters with just the rubber duck that came with the radio also. I made a couple of 2m antennas that I suspended from my ceiling with fishing line and a thumbtack. One was a basic dipole I made from an old tv rabbit ears antenna. It worked okay, but the horizontal polarization was working against me. So I made a vertical out of a panel mount SO239. I used some old metal coat hangers for the radials. I soldered the vertical radiator directly to the center connector of the SO239. For the ground radials I made a loop on the end of the radials and used machine screws, washers and nuts to secure them to the SO239 - one on each of the 4 corners. It got me into repeaters as far away as 25 miles with full quieting. Now I have an Icom 2820H set up as a 2m/70cm base and a dual band vertical outside so I have no problem hitting repeaters as far away as 50 miles. Simplex is a lot easier now also. I made the antenna for less than $5. This is what I made the vertical out of:

 

Very nice. When I get my truck set up I'll definitely be able to hit 40-50 miles with ease. It'll be such an improvement over the rubber duck, plus they'll be base radios as well and the truck is an extremely stable (and roomy) platform for emergency situations. I have enough room in the back that I can set all my medic stuff up in a worst case scenario. I really need to start looking into upgrading my license too at some point.

 

Have you tried a 'rat tail' on your HT to improve the performance of the rubber duck antenna? Wrap a piece of wire about 19" long around the lower threaded portion of the antenna mount, then thread your antenna on. Let the wire hang down and that's it. Believe it or not it will improve the tx/rx of your HT by offering a better counterpoise for the antenna. I liked it so well that I made a couple out of some old telescoping AM radio antennas that I use on my VX7R radios. It just might make enough of a difference to get you into the repeater(s) better, and all it costs is an old hunk of wire and a couple minutes of time.

 

I'll have to give that a shot. I don't have any wire laying around but I'll ask around and see if anyone else I know has some I can use.

 

Good evening everybody. My night so far has been quiet at work. For the last couple of hours I have been surfing MCF and the blog while waiting for a service call. It makes me realize how slow my Blackberry is.
When I got to work today one of my friends who works the day shift gave me some good news. Before I go any further I have to preface this by saying I'm not usually a vengeful person and usually let things roll as they are. The exception to this is if you stick your nose where it doesn't belong and intentionally screw with me.
Back in 2001 I joined the Disney HVAC apprenticeship that is co sponsored thru the local union hall. The union is run by a bunch of good ole southern boys and they don't like to be challenged or criticized. Well that is all fine and dandy as long as it doesn't affect me. The apprenticeship is four years long. You work for Disney for 40 hours as your on the job training and you go to the union hall two nights a week for three hours each night for school. After completing the apprenticeship you can apply to Disney for full time status as a journeyman. For the last ten years it has happened automatically. My first year I learned a lot on ojt but the school was a waste of time. The instructor oftenly fell asleep at the desk or played with his laptop. He did little teaching. I complained to the union president and was told that apprentices are lower than whale sh*t and that I needed to grin and bear it. That things would get better next year. My second year I was transferred to a new location at Disney and assigned to a journeyman that wanted to sleep the shift away and the school was no better the second year. I decided to take things upon myself and improve my situation. I looked into other school options and found that I could attend Mid-Florida tech which had a good HVAC program. I was told at Disney that even if I went to another school I still had to attend the apprenticeship classes at the union hall. I went to sign up at Mid-FLa Tech(MFT) and come to find out it is part of the Orange County School system. The union apprenticeship training is also part of the Orange County School system. When signing up for classes. MFT told me there was a problem. When they put me into the computer, the computer said I was already a student and that I was already attending classes the same time as the MFT classes. I said I didn't understand that and explained to them my schedule. They researched it and found that the schedule was submitted from the union hall and that I would have to go there and have them fix it. (Anybody see where this is going?) I go back to the union and explain my issue. They abruptly tell me that they didn't make a mistake and that I can't attend classes at MFT. (I never accused anyone of making a mistake). We went around and around and I'm getting pissed with the union secretary that I am trying to get to help me. She then suggests that I go talk to the union president which I did. I go round and round with him and he tells me the same thing that the secretary did. He then asks me why I want to go to MFT anyway. You are already in school he says. I blew up and told him because his F'in program sucks and walked out. Meedless to say I put a target on my back. I then went back to MFT and talked to the assistant dean of the school and explained my dilemma. After quizzing me to be certain I wasn't trying to stir up trouble flunking out of the union school, she had the computer program changed and I was admitted into school. The MFT program was awesome and I learned a lot. Unfortunately with the stress from my personal life anded to the stress I was not getting at the union and work I went thru my suicide attempt and breakdown. MFT is a two year program and I finished the first year in just under six months. It is a self paced program. Fast forward one year. I am now a third year apprentice and I havbe the highest GPA in my class. The instructor is a real dick and I chose to forgo the second year of MFT until my fourth year of appenticeship because I knew it would take every part of my being to bite my tongue though the third year class and didn't need the added stress of MFT. This instructor would spend much of the time telling us how good he was. His ego was huge.everytime he got a chance to take a stab at me he did. He kept telling me how I wasted my time and money at MFT. He also took credit for one of his students that aced the proficiency exams the previous spring. The exams were not mandatory up to that point. I decided that I wasn't going to take credit for my success at the exams when they came around in May. I blew them off and two weeks later the union terminated me from the program because I didn't go. They made the exams a requirement retroactively. I protested but it fell on deaf ears at the union. Disney informed me that if I wasn't an apprentice anymore that I didn't have a job. My manager was good enough to give me a week to get it fixed. I ended up taking a lesser position in engineering and went back to MFT and finished school. I then had the credentials needed to apply for a journeyman job.I went back to see my manager that I had when I was tern
Minated from the apprenticeship. He had told me what I needed to do to retain a job in engineering. He told me that with my credentials I could now apply for a journeyman job he had open. I did as he had told me and doing so was using some gray areas of the Disney hiring practices, but it had been done before. This guy that is an instructor at the union hall found out what I was doing and he called the union hall and told them. The union called Disney HOUR and protested strongly, enough so that my request was denied and that gray era was eliminated. I held a grudge for a long time toward this guy that made the phone call and closed this door in my face. Had he not done this I would have been a journeyman two years earlier than I got it and the pay difference was considerable. I ended up jumping through hoops and getting the president of Disney Orlando operations involved to change and set policy so that I could get the job I currently have.
The guy that made the phone call that screwed me over. Had a few years ago quit Disney. He came back to Disney back in October and was placed in my department. Being a union shop seniority is huge and this guy doesn't have any. Anyway we had a shift bid just before Christmas. This guy was working 5am to 1pm so that he could continue teaching at the school. I told my boss that when it came time for me to pick that this guy would be going to second shift so he can't teach anymore. My boss knows my history with the union and also what this guy did to me. Well they changes his classification so that I couldn't bump him. One of the other guys in my shop filed a grievance about this and won. They were going to have to do a new shift bid. This guy was so certain that I was going to bump him off his shift and force him to second that he up and quit on Saturday. I'm not usually vbengful but this put a huge smile on my face. Eventually what goes around comes around. Because he quit with no notice he is barred from seeking employment at Disney for five years minimum.