Matt Bracken made some great points in Ferguson meets Ebola. I would encourage everyone to go over and read that article as he makes some great points.
If things head downhill and we need to shelter in place are you ready? Do you have a plan to quarantine new goods as they arrive?
I recommend to everyone that they teach tire changing to ALL drivers in their household if the driver is physically able. AAA and other roadside services are great and I have had a AAA membership for 20 years but sometimes they take time. Another issue can be location. If you don’t know the road number or name you can’t tell anyone including AAA your location. A woman sitting beside the interstate in a stationary car with a flat tire is clearly a potential target. A few minutes changing a tire (looking capable, self reliant AND having a tire tool in hand) really beats an hour wait on AAA. Youngest daughter made me proud a year ago doing a 6-7 minute tire change beside I95. After calling me to inform me of her situation and location she got busy changing the tire on her KIA. I started heading her way but less than 10 minutes after her first call she called again to say she was rolling again. She made daddy proud. Training family members in this activity also lets you locate and verify the jack, jack handle, proper locations for the jack on your car, special instructions etc. Better to learn on level pavement on a nice day than beside a lonely 2 lane sloped muddy shoulder on a rainy night. And speaking of mud, a 12 to 18 inch square board under the jack base is handy if you’re stopped off pavement and the ground is soft. Tire changing is a basic skill that every able bodied driver should know. It’s no fun and you may ruin your clothes BUT you’ll be safe and on your way in just a few minutes.
The following is the opinion of Doug Williams KS4TI. I’m open to comments via email or comment below.
I’ve been an Advanced Class ham for a couple of decades and during that time I’ve seen my share of behavior issues. During a 3 year period as the JARS Club President I had to help deal with a lot of those issues. I think there is now an issue that will take the participation of many to accomplish a change. The vast majority of my 2 meter repeater time is spent on either JARS 147.27 or South Wake 145.210 and this issue is present on both. We have a ham who breaks in to lively QSO’s to announce weather statistics or one of 3 other subjects with long keyups and monopolizes the repeater time without regard to the recent subject or number of folks who were participating. I’m sure that the reader is aware by now of the identity of this ham.
A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THIS SITUATION IS BADLY NEEDED and not just by one individual.
I believe none of this persons behavior is mean spirited, simply socially awkward due to his multiple challenges and the 3 subjects he constantly talks about are due to his limited life experience.
There is a push by some to get this ham retested for his license in the hope that he will fail and be gone. I do not think this is the answer for the following reasons:
1. This persons entire world is extremely limited by physical, mental and visual challenges. I would never want to be part of a push to further ‘shrink’ his world by removing ham radio and I don’t think other hams or clubs would want their names associated with this campaign. It would be like painting over some of the windows in a homebound persons room.
2. Counting on him failing may backfire on you. If the push for retesting is successful, the individual may pass again, the problem continues and your name and call sign are now remembered by other local hams, clubs and the ARRL as being associated with this failed action against an impaired person.
Several folks simply clear out when this individual ID’s and he bulldozes on in, derailing whats left of the conversation. I believe this makes the situation worse. I believe a better solution was demonstrated after the PrepNet on 10/7/14. When recognized after he ID’d he began about the weather. When he unkeyed someone steered the conversation back on track. He tried one more keyup and when conversation continued on the original subject he didn’t key up anymore. It may take more effort but hang around, hold the previous QSO together and continue. Quitting your QSO isn’t the answer.
On another occasion he butted in with very long keyups during drive time with 5 or 6 actively talking. When I reminded him that keyups should be kept short during that time of day he cleared out.
Bottom Line here, in my opinion, is CONTINUOUS, ON THE SPOT, FIRM CORRECTION is required for behavior that needs adjusting. That comes from a personal friend with a similarly affected family member. Sarcasm is useless and somewhat mean in this case. Simple statements like “you are keying down too long, others need to get in” or when he id’s try “Good morning, we are talking about antennas. If you would like to talk about antennas please come on in” etc.
It will take some effort by all but I believe in the end, simply correcting this person when needed and helping him fit in is no different than helping a person on crutches by holding a door for them although this will be more of an ongoing effort. Don’t hesitate to key up and help him.
I welcome comments to my email on QRZ.
73 de KS4TI
Doug Williams
Zanfel was discussed during last Tuesdays net. It’s an over the counter remedy for poison ivy exposure and I’m here to tell you that it works. I, KS4TI have had very good experience with it and if I had poison ivy and didn’t already have Zanfel in the medicine cabinet I would hurry out to find some. It’s available in most CVS and similar stores for about $40 per one ounce tube. That’s a lot of money but I’ve seen Zanfel outperform a visit to the urgent care doc plus the steroids etc that you might be prescribed. Bottom line is I get poison ivy (wife too) and this stuff works for me. Now some speculation….. I’ve seen several references to Mean Green Hand Scrub being nearly identical to Zanfel plus being MUCH less expensive. I have no experience with this but may try it next time. If any others have info on the effectiveness of Mean Green on poison ivy then let us know.
The geological north pole and the magnetic north pole are not the same and the magnetic pole ‘wanders’ around. One of our regular check-ins sent this link that explains a lot. Thanks to the contributor.
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/GeomagneticPoles.shtml