Cajunxfire and I will be headed over from Mandeville, Louisiana on Thursday between 4 AM & 5 AM. If you are in Texas (or anywhere en route) and interested in joining us, let me or Cajunxfire know.

Also, my husband, Marc, will be headed to the Dragon from Destin, Florida some time Thursday morning. If you are interested in meeting up with him or having him join your convoy, let me or Marc know. Marc is not in the Forum, but he is on Facebook. You can message me for his number if you would like.

 

leaving from Melbourne Fl Wed morning, around 6am Oct. 4 ,,across 528 ,to turnpike to, 75 north (around) Atlanta, but am stopping in Blairsville, Ga., from Blairsville to BBQ in Franklin NC on Friday. will arrive at Fontana Village on Friday after the BBQ jim
Blairsville to Fonta Village is 1 h 43 min (75.3 mi) via US-129 N and NC-28 N

 

Bump -Two weeks until trip to XFire ToD Fall Event begins!!!

 

That is a long way for one day and then the Gumbo afterwards.
I will be leaving Florence Al. about 8:30 AM Thursday, ETA about 3:00.

 

It's almost all interstate, maybe they plan on averaging 95 or so, that would make it just a 6 hour drive ...

" EAST BOUND AND DOWN, LOADED UP AND TRUCKIN "

 

Hey Wayne! You would be correct on that one. I have already done the calculations and that is why we must leave so early, unfortunately. I am already taking Thurs & Fri off right before my school's Fall Break (I am off the entire next week.. Go figure! At least I can have a slow drive home!), so I figured taking Wednesday off would be pushing it a bit. I will be working all day Wed, so I will need to go to bed right after work in order to get enough sleep for the long drive on Thursday.

It is about a 10 hour drive and Marc and I actually did it in one day back in July, so I know it can be done. We were flat exhausted, but we got it done. We actually intentionally did it in one day because we wanted to practice doing it to see if it could be done.

 

Gee... I wonder how you know THAT.

Anyway, you know I am still *hoping* we can meet up along the way. I'll have to run some calculations to see if it is even possible.

 

I just plastered this all over Facebook:

DRAGON UPDATE: As I look over the lists of attendees, I see we have many who are not attending the Friday BBQ over by Franklin. This is a GREAT time, but it's almost too late to sign up now anyway. SO, at the end of Crystal's potluck (say around 8pm) we will have a short meeting - check the dry erase board in the lobby for location.

This will be a "DRIVER'S MEETING" for those NOT going to the BBQ on Friday. We will discuss routes and activities. Those of you going to the BBQ just need to be in the parking lot or lobby by 930am Friday.

Again, keep an eye on the dry erase board in the lobby all weekend. Also, we will use Channel 7 on the grounds of the lodge for co-ordination and as a substitute for Facebook and cell phones - cause you won't have neither up there.

PLEASE COPY and PASTE this text onto any FB page you care to spread the word to. Thanks, all!

 

Nathaly. Hamburg, NJ. Friday night - Sunday morning.

 

I keep seeing references to using "channel 7". Excuse my ignorance, but will someone tell me what this is? Thanks, Don

 

GMRS/FRS radios. We use them for communication within a convoy, like telling folks there's a left turn coming up, or the tail-end-Charlie telling the leader that we have become separated.

 

I really like the Midland product line for 2-way radios. But just about any of the ones on the market will provide reasonable service. Best to get a pair with at least 15-18 mile range. We used to have a set of Cobras that had a range of only 3 miles. We got them when we used to go to Carlisle car shows every year. But up in the NC/TN mountains, 3 miles just won't cut it.

 

Trying to find the link to the first timers info but not seeing it this time. Any way, Radios are a must, and some spare parts like CPS are good to have. Tire plugs, a power strip since the hotel is light on wall outlets.

 

And "miles" is not the true way to classify a two way radio, power out would be. Since all are limited to the same power the one with the best antenna will talk the furthest. That is tough for the consumer to discern.

 

Thanks for the reply on the radios. I picked up a two pack of Cobra "16 mile" at, of all places, ALDI's for $19.99. Well see how well they work.

 

To: KDW4Him. What does CPS stand for?

 

Crankshaft Position Sensor

 

Newb info for the Dragon consists of two or three threads with appropriate titles here:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...-events-meets/

We have not moved it!

There are two threads near the top that speak of Dragon info.

 

I think you will find ( as all the reviews say ) that these are mostly JUNK.
Look me up at the Dragon, I'll lend you one of my Midlands.

 

Take them back - you wasted $20. I am sick and tired of people buying junk and showing up at the Dragon only to tell us they can't hear what is being said. I wish there was a way to get the cheap junk off the market.

Do you want to actually hear what is being said? Do you want to know what is going on? Do you want to be able to tell us that you neeed to pull over for some reason? Then read on.

ALL FRS radios run the same power and must comply with the same antenna and ERP limitations. THis is the law. But while the radios cannot EXCEED these limits, there ARE differences, the more expensive radios do have much better receivers and some of the cheap ones (like you bought, sorry), actually operate at less than the legal power limit.

Audio quality on the cheap ones will mean you will constantly be saying, "I heard that, I wonder what they actually said".

I work in the Land MObile division of Kenwood - we don't offer FRS radios, which makes me sad, but fact is, the FRS market is a waste of time because people wont' buy a quality radio when they can buy junk - and the market if flooded with junk.

SO, I must recommend the competition (I may vomit typing this so stand back....)

Dedwards likes Midland. And some of their stuff IS about the best you can buy (not their CHEAP stuff, tho).

But........
I like Motorola (just threw up all over myself). The Talkabout T460 or T465 I do like, as much as I can like them, since none of these have external speaker jacks, something that I insist on. I run a mini cable from the speaker jack to the input on the AM/FM/CD player in my car and that way I have 5 inch speakers and 60 watts of audio so I can hear what people are saying at 50mph with the top down.

But if you have the factory sound system, you don't have an AUX jack, so don't worry about it. Now, there is one more thing, the higher-end products (Motorola and others) have headset jacks, so you can use a headset (legal since you only cover one ear) which makes listening easier and with the adjustable mic gain, you can set the mic to low sensitivity and be able to talk on the radio with the top down or music playing and it does not sound too bad to other radios in other cars.

Anyway, you do not need to buy from this place, but here are some models that I like:
2 Radios

ANy questions? KDW4HIM and I have worked in the industry for over 30 years each.


Again, take those things back and get something worth buying, so you enjoy your upcoming vacation.


Mark Christopher
Field Application Engineer | Communications R&D
JVCKENWOOD USA Corporation
3970 Johns Creek Court, Suite 100| Suwanee, GA 30024
mchristopher@us.jvckenwood.com