Idiot Day in Ct.

[WA1GFZ]

Man, all the losers with cell phones glued to their heads made for a nice ride home avoiding them. One of these days I'm going to mount a discone on the roof and dominate a radius of safety.

[KF1Z]

Yeah, nice cell phone jammer would be nice...

Problem is, once you hit the TX switch on it...
The idiots will swerve off and hit someone, trying to figure out why their damn fone doesn't work.

It's like the end of the world you know.... if you can't yap.

You should see the idiots out here Frank....
I'm WAY out in the willy-wacks.
There's no cell-signals out here...... 10 miles in one direction, 20 in another...
And you can't get there from here in the other two.

These people will even stop and get out of their car in the middle of the road, just to wave their phone around in the air to see if they can get any bars.



 

[WQ9E]

I drove 25 miles through dense fog this morning on the way to work.  This time of year even with no fog it would still be just the beginning of daylight but with the fog visibility was well under 100 feet most of the time.  I counted 8 cars on the way in with no lights on including 2 silver/gray minivans which I nominate for the ultra stupid award. 

The stupids are alive, well, and multiplying.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Requiring a 'hands free' system was a better idea. You know people will just yak, as IF anything they are saying was actually that important (enough to risk their or your life over??)

Cell jammers along the highways are a good idea too.

[WA1GFZ]

Very easy to break the habit. Don't turn the bleeping thing on.
I share my number with family and boss. He doesn't call but a couple times a year.
My family doesn't call unless they really need something. 
Friggen idiots WTF do they have to talk about.
I pull over.
I wish they would make it a $500 fine.

[ke7trp]

A friend of mine purchased a small Cell jammer recently.  He got real tired of driving on the highway with people on the phone around him. He mounted it on the parcel tray and runs it off a power converter.   The one he got was made for restaruants and casinos.

It works FB!  I could not believe it.. Going down the highway.. if someone passed you on the phone, He would flip a switch, The phone would go dead, The person would look at the screen of the phone.. Then set it down!  LOL!

C

[Opcom]

The above story remonds me of playing "radar tag" with an old cop X-band unit. brake lights galore.

I wish my cellphone had a hands free mode that I could hear. that is the biggest problem with the "speakerphone" function. it is too weak to hear over the noise of the vehicle. There are 4? bands to deal with in the US. A discone would work.. A cheap device written about on the internet, by a person who had build a more sophisticated one as well as the cheapie, should be do-able with a broadband RF preamp, a 45MHz oscillator, a mixer, another small preamp, and a 100mW power amp. all from mini-circuits. bandwidth is 700MHz to 2GHz. IIRC the TX and RX bands are offset by 45MHz so the phones will CM themselves. Unfortunately the towers put out much bigger signals than the phones, so the idea may not work well and could cause all kinds of interference. Is it better to buy a purpose made one? Maybe. Nothing here is construed as advice to do that which is wrong, it is only a technical discussion.

[ke7trp]

The cops wont ever win this one..  They want to block Cell phones on the highways.. But then nobody can call for help. They will probably find a way to gain revenue however.  They love those dollars and if there a new way to gain money, They will find it.

Brian, I find my speaker phone to be worthless.  I do find that the motorola units to be a life saver.  I dont care for the ones that route through the stereo.  They make models with a built in speaker. They are LOUD, Clear and require no user action. When you step into the car, The blue tooth will attach and the thing just works.

My dad has one that clips to his Visor.. When you get a call, it says "Call from Clark" you tap the button and then he talks to me. I cant even tell he is using the thing. Its that clear.

C

[Opcom]

that is probably the best argument. What if a person was jamming, and someone needed help or was having a medical problem? Wouldn't that be awful? So I guess it is wrong on many counts. A short range one, maybe less wrong, but I just looked at some of the high powered beasts out there.

[ke7trp]

The radio is simplex, The Phone is duplex.

C

[K5UJ]

Well, it's all easier said than done. Cell phones have become a real necessity in this day and age.

Baloney.  I have gone without a cell phone for years.  I had one once around 14 years ago.  Used it maybe once every two months.  When the monthly fee went up to $30 from $14 I cancelled it.  Have not missed it since.  

Who to you people talk to on those  things?  Why do you feel you must be reachable everywhere every minute of the day and night?  Hello Americans ("tap tap tap")....how hard is it to wait until you get home to talk to someone on the telephone

I see you idiots (present company excluded) wandering the aisles at the supermarket...."yeah, uh, ....okay, ...right...the 12 ounce?..."  how freaking hard is it to MAKE A SHOPPING LIST???

I get calls from people..."I'm waiting in line at the deli so I thought I'd call you....."   Hello--I have a life.  I have things to do...IF YOU ARE BORED WAITING IN LINE DON'T USE YOUR CELL PHONE TO KILL TIME INTERRUPTING MY LIFE!!!!

Can you tell I really hate cell phones?  

[Opcom]

Well, it's all easier said than done. Cell phones have become a real necessity in this day and age.

Baloney.  I have gone without a cell phone for years.  I had one once around 14 years ago.  Used it maybe once every two months.  When the monthly fee went up to $30 from $14 I cancelled it.  Have not missed it since.  

Who to you people talk to on those f****** things?  Why do you feel you must be reachable everywhere every minute of the day and night?  Hello Americans ("tap tap tap")....how hard is it to wait until you get home to talk to someone on the telephone

I see you idiots (present company excluded) wandering the aisles at the supermarket...."yeah, uh, ....okay, ...right...the 12 ounce?..."  how freaking hard is it to MAKE A SHOPPING LIST???

I get calls from people..."I'm waiting in line at the deli so I thought I'd call you....."   Hello--I have a life.  I have things to do...IF YOU ARE BORED WAITING IN LINE DON'T USE YOUR CELL PHONE TO KILL TIME INTERRUPTING MY LIFE!!!!

Can you tell I really hate cell phones?  

I hate them too. Despite that, I am responsible for major programs with global customers and therefore obliged to answer the cellphone at any time as the call could be from Europe or Asia or the Americas region, as well as to place calls at any time the other party may have asked to be called. I have to talk to them when they are at work. I've learned that many of those outside of the USA do not deal with work except in a narrowly defined set of their own work hours.

The thing is, there are many other people in the same situation and no way to tell if any given person is having a necessary conversation or a frivolous one unless you are unfortunate enough to be within earshot.

Cellphones were originally meant for business. I would not bother to own one except for work and would not put up with its costly annoyances except for the rewards of working as I do.

When the wireless telephone service and hardware became cheap, every barnyard animal in town got one. It's the pigs and turkeys that annoy me but they are part of the ecosystem.

If the word plague is to be laid to the plethora of cellphones, the responsibility sits on the shoulders of the networks and the cellphone manufacturers, and the semiconductor companies, and inventors and engineers, and scientists and technicians as well as test equipment manufacturers, and the hackers, and on advertisers and on magazines and radio and TV stations, and on everyone else right down to the company that makes "Fragile" labels for shipping the crates. We all did it together to make a living, and the incidental user is also to blame for not having any manners/ettiquette.

That is what has to change, if anything. Better Manners. Not taught any more in most schools or homes. never going to have that, so as we say, things are more as they are today than they have ever been before.

[ke7trp]

Its up to the people to teach when and where to use the phones. Thats the problem. We have a campain here called "NO PHONE ZONE".  Lots of friends are teaching there children... If you step into the car, The PHONE MUST BE TURNED OFF.  Loss of use is the result if the child txt's or takes a call.

C

[W3LSN]

There was an article in Radio World magazine a few years ago from an FM broadcast station that had its microwave Studio-Transmitter Link jammed by a mystery signal at random times of the day.  This went on for some months. At wits end, the station's chief engineer began a fox hunt with a spectrum analyzer, and eventually discovered that the jamming source was mobile. A week or so later he got lucky and found a likely source in an SUV that he tailed to the driver's home. A simple knock on the door with an inquiry about 2-way radios got the man to admit he was frustrated with cell phone users, and owned a jamming device which he operated while was driving around town. The engineer was not sympathetic, and reported him to the FCC. Men in dark suits and glasses took over from there.  

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[ke7trp]

Good story.. Jim.  You never know what you will jam if you fire one of those up.

C

[WZ1M]

I thought the people in CT. allready had a death wish, cell phones or not.
Gary

[K5UJ]

Baloney.  I have gone without a cell phone for years.  I had one once around 14 years ago.  Used it maybe once every two months.  When the monthly fee went up to $30 from $14 I cancelled it.  Have not missed it since.  

It's like anything else, cable TV and all the other luxuries we take for granted today. Once you get use to having something it becomes a way of life and when it's gone you want it back A.S.A.P.

I have a microwave oven I would find inconvenient to do without.  Ditto for my MFJ swr analyzer.  I think what happens is you get a gadget, and in some cases you modify your behavior to make use of it and that modified behavior becomes habit.  The problem with some gadgets is people modify their behavior to fill a non-existent need.  they don't really need to be calling me from the line at the amusement park; they don't really need 90% of their cell phone conversations that are pointless and inane, and that's the thing I find irritating.  I'm all for intelligent use of gadgets, but this (especially when driving) ain't that.  Here's the funny thing about all these so-called time-saving gadgets:  People say oh, all these things save time.  No they don't.  People have changed their behavior to use these things so much they wind up sucking up free time; not providing more of it.  Anyway, OTOH cell phones have lessened the incidents of AM RFI to landlines here so it is not all bad 

Rob 

[ka3zlr]

To keep us prepared for the next step. I remember down through the years someone once said "try to stay abreast of change, keep up" every so many Gens there's a movement the man was right. now it's no big deal today, but back then we looked at him an said awe yea sure....right.....buncha backward farm kids with portable phones...yup...we'll get right on that one Teach....lol..


Controlling the hands with cell-talkies would be something like controlling the population increase good luck  .

It's Mine lol..................

73
Jack.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Perhaps it's time to update state driver's exams to include tests of multitasking ability when driving. Some folks can, others can't. It's also a matter of supervised practice and training. When you take your driver's exam "check ride", one should be deliberately distracted by the examiner. If you flunk, no driver's license.

It's no different that all the stuff you have to observe and operate at the same time when flying a plane at 150+ MPH, yet somehow pilots (usually) seem to manage. There's been no call for "hands-free" radios in the cockpit.

[W3RSW]

One of these days I'm going to mount a discone on the roof and dominate a radius of safety.

Frank, I love the allegory.  Now you'll be a planet!  Just ask poor demoted Pluto; "A major planet is round,...  ...and able to clear the space in it's orbit. (IAU)"

[K3ZS]

I got a cell phone years ago to keep in touch with my sons, the long distance charges on the landline were high.  It was cheaper to have the cell phone.    My wife and I rarely take the thing with is when we go out except on long trips.   Most of my relatives now don't have landline service at all, just cell phones.  They are useful on trips when the hotel or motel charges for all phone calls.    I could do without the landline, but my wife still likes the tradition.

[ka3zlr]

Capitol Idea, and we can assign designer CPDL stickers for womens cars and manly stamps for Mens License plates.
This also would be a great plus for the creative Tax minded state Federal and local elected officials.

My CDL License that costs me better than a 100 dollars now needs another couple letters on it CP will be fine along with my bus license my Hazardous stamp my doubles an triples stamp my motorcycle stamp my Tanker stamp oh an my Class A Id.  lol

All in favor, oh wait this is a Socialized thing ooppss..

73
Jack.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Jack, the problem isn't politics, it's that driver training and testing is 50 years out of date- nationwide. People still seem to have a 'right' to drive, no matter how incompetent they are.

Most people *can* safely operate a cell phone while driving, given some proper training. Instead of requiring that, they're passing moronic regulations requiring hands-free equipment, or prohibiting cell phone use in school zones.

The driver's license regulators could and should set up some sort of computer-based home training, like a video game or flight simulator to train people how to safely multitask behind the wheel, and when to recognize that at times, it's just too hazardous to take your eyes off the road to use a piece of electronic gear.

At the very least, NO cell phone use until a driver has had 5 years of experience behind the wheel and a fairly clean driving record.

[KA1ZGC]

I haven't had a landline since 1999. They cost more than most cellphone plans, and have about .0001X the functional ability.

I seldom originate a call from my car, unless it's to inform someone that I'm ahead of/behind schedule. If I get a call from work or my immediate family, I'll answer it, get to the point, and get off the phone. Never so much as changed velocity, because I know to keep my focus on the vehicle first.

I think it's really funny how some people in this thread are broadly painting every cellphone owner with the same brush. Cellphones have nothing to do with it: either you're a safe driver, or you aren't. It's that simple.

If it wasn't a cellphone, it would be someone's makeup, iPod, or that woman in Florida who went off the road last week because she was shaving her bikini line on the way to the beach.

Alas, we live in a zero-responsibility nanny-state society. Nobody is ever to blame for their own stupidity, it's that damn cellphone. If it wasn't for the cellphone, all drivers would be perfectly safe. Spare me.

So now we advocate riding around with illegal cellphone jammers because we somehow disapprove of someone's activities, and assume all cellphone traffic is frivolous and trivial? Fantastic, right up until you jam someone's call to 911 because their passenger is having a heart attack, in which case you become the danger that deserves to be shot in the back, and you find all fingers now pointing at you.

People who live in stucco houses should not throw quiche.

[ka3zlr]

Hi Bill,

 I agree with what yer sayen Bill, my Point is if the Politico wud get ahold of an ideal like this I'd hate to see what wud come of it. I'm already
paying a ridiculous amounts now to keep this thing, but after 25 years of commercial driving I'm done i'm going to cash in all my Endorsements and go back to being just a regular civilian. Thank the maker.

I like your idea about the 5 years experience an the training video that wud be two big pluses.

73
Jack.