jeffhambone
Peace, through superior firepower
join:2002-02-02
Manassas, VA
 ·Comcast
| Rovers gone wild?
Some snarky comments from the masses, but IMHO this is pretty cool:
»thereifixedit.com/2009/10/19/spy···u-think/
Buried in the comments is a link to a site I've not seen before:
»www.hamsexy.com/cms/index.php
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Sarcasm is the Body's Natural Defense Against Stupidity |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm
·Mediacom
 ·FrontierNet Intern..
| You've never seen hamsexy?
What rock have you been hiding under?
Fair Warning... If you take your excessive antennas or "emergency lights" and your ARES group waaaay to seriously, then that site isnt for you.
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I'm tired of killing stupid people just trying to do my job and go home! |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON | reply to jeffhambone
Hamsexy is a great site. I've been a regular since 2005.
Unfortunately, it appears the forum database is fubar'd right now.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm
·Mediacom
·FrontierNet Intern..
| said by mr weather  :Hamsexy is a great site. I've been a regular since 2005. Unfortunately, it appears the forum database is fubar'd right now. I was wondering about that.
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I'm tired of killing stupid people just trying to do my job and go home! |
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Robotics
See You On The Dark Side
Premium
join:2003-10-23
Louisa, VA | I want my hamsexy back seth!!  |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
1 edit | reply to jeffhambone
Hamsexy sometimes does have a point, but it seems to me like they just go out of their way to ridicule anything that doesn't fit into their view of what the hobby should be.
Case in point - cars with big antennas, they ridicule. Surprise - you need a big antenna if you want anyone to hear you on HF, and most HF antennas on cars are perfectly legal. Mine passed state inspection with the 6 foot whip on it. Meanwhile there are cars with bike racks and ski racks with stuff hanging off that covers the license plate. Is that even legal?
There is a difference between a "rover" vehicle and a "whacker" vehicle. The rover vehicle needs the antennas to drive around and make contacts for a contest. A whacker vehicle simply has stuff on it to make the vehicle look like the driver has some kind of authority. |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON
| Hamsexy redicules cars with big antennas because for the most part they're done half-assed and look like crap. Radioreference also does a fair amount of critiquing with the way people have installed their radios, etc.
Yes you need a big antenna to play on HF but install it properly. Maybe take some suggestions from Alan Applegate's site.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC
| reply to jeffhambone
I'm not a fan of Hamsexy's ridiculing either.
Granted I'm glad they do their fair amount of whacker-bashing... They have the attitude more of the highschool fatass bully who has more pimples than brains, who drives around in Daddy's fancy car pretending it's his.
Most people simply don't have the budget to do things as nice as they want. Granted yes some of these guys go overboard (Rig held on the dash with a brick) most of them don't have many options.
Yes it's nice seeing a F-350 CrewCab with 10 identical radios in a custom stack with 5 grand worth of electrics to make it work... But not many people have this budget, hams especially! Most hams I know spend more on their rig than the car they mount it in, and at that they break the bank to do it. But the HS guys seem to insist that if you're gonna do anything, go big and go expensive or you're a looser.
I think any form of emergency logos or lights etc need to be banned from ham cars as almost anyone who mounts them, is whacker material who is probably putting more people at risk than anything useful. (95% fit this category, the remaining 5% I have some respect for) The problem is there's massive confusion on this site between people who just do it for the ego and flashy lights (WHACKER!) or people who just simply can't afford to do it any better (How exactly would you like to see a 5K$ wiring job on a 900$ shitbox??)
I say if it's mounted safely, without 243325251 antennas, and zero lights and logos, you've done your job. Look like pure ratshit or not, it's good. (The rover van I find is just fine, granted as long as he's working some kind of event etc... It's secure, ugly as shit, but secure... And he doesn't reek of whackerness with lights and logos)
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Justin - DSLR resident grouch and Mr Negativity
TSI Fanboy - "Dontchya wish your 'net was hot like mine! Ohhh Dontchya!"
Have a nice day! |
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don1p2
join:2004-06-11
Boston, MA
1 edit | reply to burner50
said by burner50 :Fair Warning... If you take your excessive antennas or "emergency lights" and your ARES group waaaay to seriously, then that site isnt for you. Reminds me of the old teen days back in the 70's...so much more simple back then....when the sinusoid ruled.
My local ham-friend's parent owned a 1970 Chevy Impala land ark. Lashing a couple of bamboo poles to the opposing real-steel bumpers and putting a mag-mount 5/8 wave on the roof made a nice 10 mtr inverted vee.
Worked the world for a couple months with an old Collins Xcvr, KWM-3 maybe....then we discovered women.
Damn, I wish this apartment that I live in now was not a Faraday cage....at least I could listen to you guys.
I miss getting "on the bands" 
Edit for spell.....CW never required spell chek |
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The Folsom
Kindly Shut Your Noise Hole.
Premium
join:2003-01-31
Yucaipa, CA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to mr weather
said by mr weather :Yes you need a big antenna to play on HF but install it properly. Maybe take some suggestions from Alan Applegate's site. K0BG has a great site, alright. He really knows what he's talking about, and has some great graphics on there. I always find myself amazed by the quality info. 
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I started out with nothing. Today, I still have most of it. |
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The Folsom
Kindly Shut Your Noise Hole.
Premium
join:2003-01-31
Yucaipa, CA
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to kewlkeed
I have a lot of respect for any ham who drives a well-mounted (read: safe) porcupine farm without all the extraneous BS lights and logos. When I see whackers, I just laugh.
I had one of those guys try to back me off of the scene of a traffic accident. He had too many antennae to count, and so many lights and logos he qualified as a whacker.
I calmly told him, "First off, I'm kind of trapped between these other vehicles. Second, you are NOT law enforcement, and you have no legal right to give me any kind of orders or instructions. Go away."
When the LEOs heard him screaming profanities at my rolled up window, one came over and told him if he didn't get back in his van, he would be cited for disturbing the peace.
Cop told me I was okay just where I was, and that he had encountered guys like this before.
The ironic part is, the scene was cleared withing five minutes, and we were back underway. Not the whacker, though... He was being "interviewed" by one of the cops... 
I've seen some real nice mobile installs and had a chance to speak to the hams who roll them. They also laugh at whackers.
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I started out with nothing. Today, I still have most of it. |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
| reply to jeffhambone
Have to agree about the whackers. They really need to get a life. I've seen it in other hobbies and occupations, too. Guys who ran road rallies proclaiming themselves as "Pro-Am" racers, camera guys who think having $5k of gear hanging on their neck qualifies them as a "Photojournalist", and $10/hr security guards dressing up and acting like sworn peace officers.
It's not just an Amateur Radio thing....
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC
1 edit | reply to jeffhambone
Nosirreee. There's whackerism in just about any position that could possibly carry some form of a status.
We had/have that in my small town with the 1st responder group. They've been slapped so many times now that the whackers have slowly started giving up and moving on to more glorious adventurers. But when it was in its infantile stages, the program was loaded with so many people who just wanted to walk around with a radio and badges looking for their faces in the newspaper, that it was laughable. Then the king whacker threw the responder unit off an icy corner and totaled it while trying to speed though traffic (I dunno about the laws anywhere else, but technically speaking, responders here don't have the authority to actually speed AFAIK, they can flash and honk all they want, but they need to be under the limit)
My beef with HS is more when they show these ridiculous setups that (While look quite stunning and beautiful) cost thousands of dollars in just mounting equipment, and basically act as if that's how everyone is supposed to do it, and if they can't then they're not real hams. Akin to the ricers that trick out their cars like crazy, but don't either have the balls to actually race them, or know how to even drive them. "Yeah it looks great, but the dude in the beat up pickup truck over there could smoke your ass"
--
Justin - DSLR resident grouch and Mr Negativity
TSI Fanboy - "Dontchya wish your 'net was hot like mine! Ohhh Dontchya!"
Have a nice day! |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
| Exactly. I always crack up when I see the ones with the fancy metal badges that say "Licensed Amateur Radio Operator" or some such. And some of the mobile installations I've seen at hamfests look pretty insane. Do you really NEED five or six radios in your daily driver?
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC | reply to jeffhambone
Heheheh where was that quote now when I want it...
Something about fat smelly guys with 6 mobiles on their belt and big headsets walking around hamfests thinking they're king shit. |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs: | We used to call the "S.O.B." hams, for "Station On Belt".
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| reply to mr weather
said by mr weather :Hamsexy redicules cars with big antennas because for the most part they're done half-assed and look like crap. Radioreference also does a fair amount of critiquing with the way people have installed their radios, etc. Yes you need a big antenna to play on HF but install it properly. Maybe take some suggestions from Alan Applegate's site. Really? How about this comment from Hamsexy:
"Being a ham means never being able to go into underground
garages, pass under wires, truck exclusion barriers, trees,
runway glideslopes, etc. etc. "
Has nothing to do with "half assed" installs. It has everything to do with the fact that Hamsexy likes to poke fun at big antennas on cars.
Their obsession with Motorola is a hoot as well, since Moto hates ham radio (despite them owning Yaesu now). |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| reply to The Folsom
said by The Folsom :said by mr weather :Yes you need a big antenna to play on HF but install it properly. Maybe take some suggestions from Alan Applegate's site. K0BG has a great site, alright. He really knows what he's talking about, and has some great graphics on there. I always find myself amazed by the quality info. Alan does indeed have a lot of great info on his site, but he and Sarah Palin think alike - "drill baby drill!"
I know that drilling is the proper way to do it but some of us aren't willing to put holes in a brand new car.  |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON
| reply to Eat Me
said by Eat Me :Has nothing to do with "half assed" installs. It has everything to do with the fact that Hamsexy likes to poke fun at big antennas on cars. Uh, no it doesn't. Many guys on there recommend (and some even use) a tuner and ball mount with 102" whip for HF activity. That's very much a "big antenna".
Their obsession with Motorola is a hoot as well, since Moto hates ham radio (despite them owning Yaesu now).
Their obsession with Circle M ranch is probably due to the fact that Hamsexy was an offshoot of the Batwing Labs Batboard. Hamsexy has its share of EF Johnston ("big black Johnston"), Vertex, Kenwood and GE fans too.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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