Which race is that?

WUZombies

WUZombies

Adventurist
It took me a few clicks for my brain to catch up to the question I was being asked at one of the Buccee's super gas stations in Texas. On the back of my van I have an white oval sticker with 146.52 on it. It sort of looks like those stickers that runners are fond of putting on their Prius, so I can see some level of confusion. Except that I'm over 6ft tall and a former competing powerlifter with a large beard clocking in around 275 lbs (read: fat guy who obviously hates running). I'm not exactly someone who would run 146.52km, I usually don't even really enjoy driving that far.

So if you saw this sticker on my van, what would you think it was for?

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Can't find the image now but I remember seeing a build thread where the owner put the cb channel he monitored on road and the channel he monitored off road along with the 2m frequency he monitored and his Call sign on his rear window. Always thought that would be a great way to get into some conversations on the road.
 
I've had some good QSLs from all over by just checking in on 2M while traveling, some guys running really powerful stations with beams from surprising distances, but no one in traffic with me yet.

Not posted in the Communications forum to see what others thought.:)

On the big trip of the year I didn't get the chance to CHiRP in the repeaters along the route, so I would (my wife would) pull up repeaters in the area on Repeater Book and I would quickly key them in. The only 2M/70cm repeaters I had any luck with were the linked repeaters. If anywhere else is like my area out of the handful of repeaters one or two get used the most and the traffic is often limited to the morning and afternoon commutes (outside of weekly/monthly nets).
 
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Just installed my setup yesterday (Kenwood TM221 on a 2 meter firestik) but couldn't seem to get my SWR below 3:1. Going to do some troubleshooting today and try to figure out what's going on. Also installed my CB setup (Uniden Pro 520xl on a 3' firestik) and was able to pick up truck drivers about 7 miles out. I plan on putting info on my back window as posted above.
 
I'm kind of leery of putting my call sign on a sticker or getting a ham license plate. Anyone who sees it can go to the FCC website and get my full address. Maybe I'm just paranoid. NRA sticker and expensive kitted out truck scream that I probably have more cool stuff at home, and btw I'm not there. I used to put it in my signature line on the forums I frequent. I googled my call sign once, and every post I had ever made with that signature popped up.
 
Brushogger said:
I'm kind of leery of putting my call sign on a sticker or getting a ham license plate. Anyone who sees it can go to the FCC website and get my full address. Maybe I'm just paranoid. NRA sticker and expensive kitted out truck scream that I probably have more cool stuff at home, and btw I'm not there. I used to put it in my signature line on the forums I frequent. I googled my call sign once, and every post I had ever made with that signature popped up.
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Many states' DMV information is public data so addresses can be found from any license plate. The name on the plate return can then be used for location all sorts of stuff like criminal history, drivers license, professional licenses...publicdata.com is one of the easier sites to use for such things.

However, I agree that the callsign is much easier to search for. With that said the majority of burglars out there aren't quick enough to put it all together. That sort of base research doesn't typically happen, it's more a location and immediate opportunity type of things that starts with a knock and talk to see if anyone is home (typically during the work day). HAM radio gear is pretty low on their list due to the difficulty in turning it around as opposed to TVs jewelry and (as you correctly suspected) firearms. Except all the NRA sticker would do is increase your chances of having your truck window smashed while you're inside Target. YMMV as that's my experience from the previous career as LE and turds operate using turd logic, which is impossible to follow as rational normal citizens.

Anyways, I've gone through the same debate about HAM plates as you, I'm leaning towards saying FIDO and getting them.
 
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