Thermal Evasion?

I have been playing with this kind of “stuff” for a while – the issue of a home brew wearable thermal barrier is a hard objective to achieve – commercially available products equal mucho $$$$.

Really interesting ideas for creating a thermal barrier “room” in your humble abode so that when the powers that be come through YOUR “hood” checking for folks that have not turned themselves in gone to the relocation centers for their own “safety” your house will appear empty – and do not forget the ceiling – there will be drone over flights looking for thermal signatures of folks who haven’t taken advantage of the “safe haven” being provided . . .

Damn It! – Bruce would you tone this shit down a notch or two!?!? – No. Never – just the old timey boy scout communist hater leaking out . . .

And don’t neglect your therapy – just saying . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Harbor Freight in stock Alert

My local Harbor Freight received a large Icon tool shipment for the sale display – pretty certain that a sale is coming . . .

In the shipment was several of these ratchet & bit sets – every review I have read or watched on these has been positive – the cheapy set I bought after selling all my stuff were quite frankly junk . . .

You see these everywhere – in different colors – usually $20 or so – especially around Christmas . . .

Just don’t is all I’m gonna say about these . . .

Now onto my score from Harbor Freight . . .

Every review I have read or watched about these has been positive – I have been checking stock on these and they were finally at the store . . .

Comes in a nice little case . . .

The ratchet is chrome vanadium and the bits are S2 steel – comes with a lifetime guarantee – neat stuff – even the little case has an actual hinge and not just a piece of plastic that is going to flex and break . . .

I am looking forward to abusing the Hell out of these putting them through their paces and seeing how they hold up – LOL!

Get them before they are gone is all I can tell you – and as far as buying any of the Icon display stuff at the front of the store ( depending on YOUR store layout ) the guy wouldn’t admit to anything BUT there just might be a sale on Icon “stuff” around the corner . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Choyong LC90 AM/FM/SHORTWAVE/INTERNET Radio – Quick Look

The LC90 is an incredible piece of technology packed into a very small package – NOT pocket sized ( not really cargo pocket even ) – BUT – it is way up high on the cool scale.

For it’s size – it packs performance way above it’s “weight” class . . .

I am not quite as enamored with it as Eric at Farpoint Farms is with his review – I wonder if he took a shower after his review – LOL! – but I admit I am impressed with the LC90.

Is the LC90 “The Perfect Radio” as Eric claims? – SPOILER ALERT! – the “perfect” radio DOES NOT exist – sorry to pop your bubble by the way.

Dan(?) at the OfficialSWLchannel is quite critical of the radio concerning shortwave performance – go dig through his videos and see what issues he runs into – and how the manufacturer steps up with a new update to address the issues – really impressive on Choyong’s part . . .

I updated mine to 4.2 when I got it – the biggest hurdle for me was wrapping my head around the fact that you have to use a micro SD card to update it – the update downloads to the card – then it installs from the card to the radio – and the SD card has to be 32 gig or smaller as the processor in the radio won’t address any card bigger than that.

I tried AM/FM/Shortwave briefly – I am setting up to put the Sangean ats-909×2 through the wringer – and that is eating up a lot of time.

And then I tried the internet radio – I’m all in as far as the internet radio thing goes – I am a fan of “Reggae” music and I’m stuck on Jamaica – will The Bruce ever get to the SWL side of it? – of course I will . . .

. . . part of what I’m doing now is logging all the “stuff” I’m getting on the SDR and then going to see how much I can get on the 909 – it is in front of the Choyong in the queue after all! – and get to a consistent as possible standardized “test” that I can compare ( as close as possible ) one radio versus the other – same antenna / same freqs / same time of day – trying to keep it apples to apples and/or oranges to oranges as close as I can . . .

And to answer a question in a more public forum the the Amazon answers thing – Yes the Choyong HAS ssb capability BUT YOU must upgrade the software/firmware to utilize it!

And the way you do it is actually easy . . .

Start with the radio off – insert micro SD card in the TF slot on the bottom of the radio – must be 32 gig or smaller – turn the radio on – go to settings – scroll down to update – and tell it to do it’s thing – it takes 3 to 5 minutes and works like a champ – I updated mine to 4.2 when I got it and and the update enabled ssb function. Dan @ OfficialSWLchannel had quite an issue with “birdies” while tuning shortwave – All I have done so far with shortwave is listening a little bit to hams on the 40 meter band and W.W.V. – more a simple function test than anything else.

The manufacturer has already released update 4.5 which pretty much solved the “birdies” – the only thing I can think of is with the latest update they are powering certain components in the radio so they don’t interfere with each other and create “harmonics” or the more common name “birdies” – which is way cool if you think about it . . .

Just won’t quite fit in a cargo pocket – and yes my 8 plus years old Riggs work pants are done when they come off tonight – they put up with Hell while I was working – and I use this particular pair for crap stuff – lawn mowing – working on the deck – and they are starting to come apart when washed so it’s time to wave bye bye to them – and they are fitting so well and are so comfortable at this point – LOL! . . .

So back to the Choyong – worth the money?? At $250 on the Zon (Amazon) – NOT a cheap date by any stretch – sound quality is most excellent – that’s why all the controls and ports are located on the right side of the radio – to preserve the sound qualities of the speaker “box” . . .

And the design effort paid off – small radio – good sound quality – the fact that it was designed to address issues and able to add functionality to the radio through updates is a big plus – once you wrap your head around the menu/control system it manipulates through functions fairly easy – the more I use it, the easier it becomes to use it – the AM/Fm/SWL functional use for me remains to be seen – it works in those modes but I simply don’t have time to drive to 10 miles west of WheretheHellamI?, South Dakota and get away from the interference blob of the city to really stretch it out – but hopefully I will get time here shortly to plug my MLA30+ into it ( and the 909 ) and see just what it will do in a somewhat urban setting with an amplified loop – and as far as the internet radio mode? – I’m all in on it – Oh Hell Yes!

So Bruce – – Should I??

If you are a Tech Geek kind of person – or a radio kind of a freak/geek person? – and can take a deep enough breath to get past the price of admission – Yep – Buy it! It is a rather unique blend of functions – great sound – and I don’t believe anyone has done this before – AM/FM/SWL/Internet Radio – and the 5 star support from Choyong is icing on the cake.

I really don’t have time to post more about this at this point – I’m way behind the curve for the day now . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

In May of 1941 – The War had Just Begun . . .

A little something for your Saturday . . .

First I found this – from Johnny Horton on “The Ed Sullivan Show” to get the party started . . .

And of course – “Sink the Bismarck” – and I found the version with Edward R. Murrow’s introduction – 83 years ago the world was a little bit different place – OR WAS IT??

If the chance ever presents itself – go to one of the surviving battleships and take a tour – the battleship of choice for us is the USS Alabama – you can get to it from and it is located in America – our house simply says no to travel through or into communist enclaves – no judgement – you do you – we do us . . .

It’s quite an experience going through one – we go through the Alabama every time we go to Dauphin Island – you always “notice” something different every time – the experience is different every trip . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Freedom of navigation. Russian style.

The correct name for the launch technique is “Depressed Trajectory Launch” – when you launch a ballistic missile in a non ballistic fashion – you do lose a some accuracy – think of it as using them as a direct fire weapon.

You have almost zero reaction time to counter strike – when presented with this scenario 60 plus years ago S.A.C. implemented “Operation Chrome Dome” – NOW? – TODAY? – Good Fucking Luck! – The commie fuck cocksucker known as clinton ordered all preloaded target pack data down loaded from all land based ICBM’s – it makes us all SO much safer, kinder, and gentler – and it can be reloaded anytime – Right?

The computers used in our launch facilities are incredibly robust – but slow – it takes 10 to 12 minutes to reload targeting data, and then another 3 to 5 minutes to launch – for a total time lapse of 13 to 17 minutes – a depressed trajectory launch from the Gulf of Mexico to targets in Wyoming and South Dakota? . . . 4 to 5 minutes . . .

There are exactly ZERO Ready Alert – loaded, locked, and cocked aircraft – ready to go – NONE! It almost takes an act of congress just to load canned sunshine on an aircraft – Launch said aircraft? Your kidding, right? 1 or 2 air bursts over a large target like an airfield – pin point accuracy not needed – and just like that you have no more airplanes – POOF! -GONE!

What does it take to sink a submarine? Just one true believer on board . . .

Just so you know who YOU are owned by – everything west of the Mississippi River has been sold ( by YOUR lords and masters in the 10 mile square ) to China – East of the Mississippi River belongs to Russia – Folks – The food producing land and the mineral resources are what’s being “sold” here – WE are just in the way!

Why were the Bakken oil fields and the Keystone pipeline stopped? To preserve it for the Chinese and the Russians . . .

Yes I know – I am YOUR Fucking Ray of Sunshine sometimes – Hopefully this turns out to be smoke / mirrors / and bullshit and not a bunch of canned sunshine being opened . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Just Tossing This Out Here . . .

Not exactly a “hidden” antenna by any means – but you can get a lot of wire up in a hurry – I’ve put up 300+ feet of 18 gauge wire in a matter of minutes – if you are trying to be low key night time would be better – obviously – if conditions allow – and remember that electric lines are NOT your friend – Just Saying! . . .

Not too worried about a specific length for listening and you may want to use a 9:1 unun in the mix – drive a short ground rod in and use a little water to get a decent connection – it will make a difference as well.

If kites are not your thing – a 6 foot helium balloon or two will pull wire up as well . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!