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Where in the world is... HardDrive?
- Thread starter TheRealPorkchop
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I do, because I listen to my radio. Good sounding radios are pretty rare. Good techs are rarer.
I've been saying this for years and people hate me for stating the obvious.
LOL
If people would keep their fingers out of the radios they would all sound good.
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You don't "state the obvious" to try to beat it into people with straw man arguments and hair splitting.
You go out of your way to make everyone else look bad and Fine Tunes look good.
Your videos and comments, most of which stretch the truth and some that by your own admission are fake news is why people hate you. If all you ever said was 'I used Fine Tune CB and I am happy" you might not be where you are now.
You have no credibility.
If I was "hard drive" I would tell you to shut up. You do more harm than good to him.
You orchestrated your own character assassination.
You can be a pain in the ass but I don't hate you.
Yes. Resist putting the “twist” into some of those posts. Unnecessary. They tell me the same thing. Ha!
Agreed.
I dislike mischaracterizations.
Channel 19 is a business tool. Committing a big truck to a course of action is fraught with risk. Your entire livelihood is on the line. Have relevant risk at your job? Extrapolate on value.
Knowing the questions to ask over the air is experience — sometimes painful — but being heard is the first real difficulty. Second is a pair of “ears” immune to noise.
One can argue antenna, antenna incessantly. With nearly all company-spec trucks it becomes a dead-end at some point. Modifications is a tender subject. And that’s who is out there in nearly every case: wage-earners in fleet vehicles.
Being in a strange city and heard intelligibly by a local LTL driver in his daycab & pup trailer is the Holy Grail. He can route a blind man. Construction & detours. A wreck at the only intersection you can legally make turn. Find that guy and you just saved your day. AND your week. Hearing him is where, IMO, noise reduction is the worthwhile approach.
With respect, as quiet as Class 8 tractors are today, it’s an eye-opener to someone who hasn’t experienced the volume of noise. The AC isn’t working. All windows and vents open. Or the side glass is so dirty, there’s no way to safely maneuver without them opened. Etc. Windows closed there’s still the power train and wind noise.
Boats and small aircraft are worthy noise analogues. But much better transceivers.
The transceiver is a big part of the noise-reduction battle.
And to those thinking HD does nothing special, get on 19 in your mobile with windows cracked at 65. Of a dozen or more to be heard with skip rolling, he will be near the top In intelligibility. And unlike many of those others, he’s not an ass on the air. He conducts himself in an ideal manner: Respect for morale.
Recommend some techs. I’m all ears. HD serves a built-in audience of truck drivers needing better tools.
I was running Biblical rains yesterday Little Rock to Fort Worth. Think I MIGHT have wanted to know as much as I could? What was out ahead of me? My hands are already full with no-brain drivers, truck & car within sight.
I get it that Amateur Radio is a big world. I also get it that this forum has been the best I’ve read (with respect to other contributors elsewhere). And I get it that The Rebbe gets a bone in his teeth, he’s like those Pennsylvania regiments in The Late Misunderstanding.
Do y’all acknowledge Allan Applegate (K0BG) as authoritative (loosely, always an excellent source)? Even he acknowledges Class 8 difficulty. His section on connecting to power is very relevant. But antennas? Hands in air; what to do, what to do, what to do . . . .
As we don’t have Motorola, etc, handing out guides, and few worthy techs with relevant experience, the vehicle manufacturers have left us high & dry for a place to start. These trucks are substantially more complicated (not just expensive) than a LEO fleet vehicle.
What IS provided is a joke. If this were a D9 dozer, yeah, fine.
HD might seem sketchy (Facebook is past sketchy), so, who else? (Answer or not as you will. It isn’t a demand, but the challenge to the mischarActerization of value offered. Context. Difficulty. Etc).
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Oh, I see your point. For guys who never go anywhere (local or regional truck drivers) then a 885 Uniden with RM 203 plus Uniden BC20 Speaker will suffice given they’ve done the best they can with antenna type & mount. They already have constant awareness to the changes in those areas. They KNOW the territory.
Not so for long distances. Big changes in weather. Different signage. (This list continues awhile).
Driving a car somewhere is nothing like doing the same in a tractor-trailer. An adjoining universe with different rules of physics.
But you don’t understand my several points. Sure, a box stock radio SHOULD be good. Even good enough. And then it isn’t.
Rhetorically, is your CB on and in use 10-14/hours per day, six days per week?
It’s also fruitless (though correct) to wish that CB was technically different. Superior. What we have is what we have to work with.
I don’t much care about how anyone “feels” about HardDrive, or that what he offers “isn’t special”. That’s not accurate to what I’ve heard, seen, or found advertised.
Travel the country. I passed 100k miles this calendar year back near Labor Day.
If a radio can be “improved” I’m willing to try it. You four-wheelers might scoff at a guy spending what you consider too much.
But what if you (anyone) knew how to use it (the genuinely improved radio) to up your annual income by several thousand or more per year, PLUS reduce stress, reduce expense, and generate more time off on a daily basis? Driving takes it from you, and you don’t get it all back with a sleep break.
How well the driving decisions are made on a minute by minute basis (is the thing).
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Not so for long distances. Big changes in weather. Different signage. (This list continues awhile).
Driving a car somewhere is nothing like doing the same in a tractor-trailer. An adjoining universe with different rules of physics.
But you don’t understand my several points. Sure, a box stock radio SHOULD be good. Even good enough. And then it isn’t.
Rhetorically, is your CB on and in use 10-14/hours per day, six days per week?
It’s also fruitless (though correct) to wish that CB was technically different. Superior. What we have is what we have to work with.
I don’t much care about how anyone “feels” about HardDrive, or that what he offers “isn’t special”. That’s not accurate to what I’ve heard, seen, or found advertised.
Travel the country. I passed 100k miles this calendar year back near Labor Day.
If a radio can be “improved” I’m willing to try it. You four-wheelers might scoff at a guy spending what you consider too much.
But what if you (anyone) knew how to use it (the genuinely improved radio) to up your annual income by several thousand or more per year, PLUS reduce stress, reduce expense, and generate more time off on a daily basis? Driving takes it from you, and you don’t get it all back with a sleep break.
How well the driving decisions are made on a minute by minute basis (is the thing).
.
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Unfortunately - even our hands are tied.
The trucks back then were more equipped for CB radio than todays - the biggest culprit is the re-design of the truck mirrors. The clap-trap of old has been replaced by single arm pylons that MAY OR MAY NOT offer any means to ride along an antenna or two not without blocking some major blind spots.
So unless the truck driver that actually sits in the Gosh Darn Thing and drives it - Van Damme or not - he's the last person they consulted - so it's more like intro to be first - person to be insulted.
Tying an antenna on a grab arm on the back panel of a truck is an invitation to buffoolery and scoffing - you may be heard for 500 feet - and that about it.
I'm frustrated at the lack of concern from your boss as to what your needs really are and what is actually being met and you have to keep your mouth shut so you could at least have a paycheck.
Rant=Off...
I just remember the days when union shops provided you more care than todays truck stops and refueling stations - at least - back then - you had a coffee pot and someone to talk to.
The trucks back then were more equipped for CB radio than todays - the biggest culprit is the re-design of the truck mirrors. The clap-trap of old has been replaced by single arm pylons that MAY OR MAY NOT offer any means to ride along an antenna or two not without blocking some major blind spots.
So unless the truck driver that actually sits in the Gosh Darn Thing and drives it - Van Damme or not - he's the last person they consulted - so it's more like intro to be first - person to be insulted.
Tying an antenna on a grab arm on the back panel of a truck is an invitation to buffoolery and scoffing - you may be heard for 500 feet - and that about it.
I'm frustrated at the lack of concern from your boss as to what your needs really are and what is actually being met and you have to keep your mouth shut so you could at least have a paycheck.
Rant=Off...
I just remember the days when union shops provided you more care than todays truck stops and refueling stations - at least - back then - you had a coffee pot and someone to talk to.
I much appreciate all that I see you post, HA. Even extending to what I care to understand about the technical ends.
Your comments here are spot on.
I’ve a ways to go with the current truck and will start a thread at some point.
Oh, and heard about, “the truck driver shortage”? Read that as, “truck drivers with what was once the average IQ or greater”. That’s who is really in demand. And declining rapidly as a percentage of the total. So it leaves a few of us with more bargaining power.
What we tell New drivers we feel who will be good is to first find their niche specialty, and then find the firms at that end where in order to get hited one must await a current driver to first to die or retire (as they don’t advertise).
Your comments here are spot on.
I’ve a ways to go with the current truck and will start a thread at some point.
Oh, and heard about, “the truck driver shortage”? Read that as, “truck drivers with what was once the average IQ or greater”. That’s who is really in demand. And declining rapidly as a percentage of the total. So it leaves a few of us with more bargaining power.
What we tell New drivers we feel who will be good is to first find their niche specialty, and then find the firms at that end where in order to get hited one must await a current driver to first to die or retire (as they don’t advertise).
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