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Category: Impression

Mod Wars - USB charger blocking Ham Radio Communication

Having just installed a new ham radio setup to get APRS, I was keen to play with Kenwood TM-D710GA and Mobilinkd to track my location. So, on a few local trips, I turned everything on and waited. And waited and waited. Over the course of 30 minutes, I never got a single APRS beacon from another station. I knew something was wrong. And then I realized that the difference between my initial setup and my current situation was that the truck was on. Turning the truck off resulted in almost immediate APRS packets coming through. Crap, something is causing interference…

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Tundra Brake Break-in and First Impressions

October 28, 2017 New brakes nearly installed, I waited anxiously to see how the replacement brake line that Steve @Wheeler's Off Road sent was mailed - was it fast, or would it be slow? It was great - he sent it 1-day and I had it Saturday morning. Not only that, but he sent an entire brake line kit, so now I've got an extra line and set of crush washers to throw in the trail kit, in case something goes wrong on my or a buddy's truck! Thanks Steve! Installing the line was pretty straight forward, especially as I'd…

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CB radio first impressions

After running the CB for two weeks straight on The De-Tour, there are a few notes I'll make about it for anyone considering the same setup: It's a really nice setup. It fits so perfectly, especially with the AC housing "mod," that you don't even really need to secure it in any way...which is nice if you have to remove it for any reason (I did a few times to tune it). Even when wheeling, it didn't dislodge at all. The antenna setup worked out well - it tuned up really nicely once I got a SWR meter on it.…

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Mileage milestone - 60K

July 2, 2016. It's been close for a while, and it's been a long time coming, but on our way out of town for a what would become an off-road adventure to a brand new site - the truck hit 60K miles. That's an average of 3,600 miles each year, or a whopping 300 miles per month. Except that I'd driven it 10K miles in the first two months, so it's really more like 200 miles per month over the life of the truck. This truck is going to last me forever. I hope. So we arrived at our super-secret-undisclosed-location-that-you-have-to-rush-to-or-someone-else-will-get-there-first,…

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