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     And the winner is.........Pofung, or as just about everyone else knows them - Baofeng!  They're known for their cheap HT radios, and I'll quickly admit that I own two.  They're awesome for throwing in my carry-on when I'm flying, without beings stressed about what happens if they get smashed while being jammed in an overhead, or under the seat.  Apparently the Chinese company that makes these decided that Baofeng was too hard to pronounce for its growing base of American customers, so they are supposedly attempting to rebrand their radios bound for the U.S. to Pofung.  I guess that's easier to say?  I also happen to own the Pofung 9500 mobile radio - UHF only.  I grabbed it because at my old job, I was looking for a small, cheap, radio that I could mount at my cubicle, which could hit the local UHF machine.  
    

      It was perfect for that.  Since I've changed jobs however, it has been sitting in a box in my garage, so I pulled it out and set it up on my desk home, because there are actually a couple of UHF machines that see some use, that I can reach from here.  As I pulled out the manual to refresh myself on how to program it, I remembered how amusing a read the manual was.  If Baofeng was really worried about accommodating their American customers, they would have probably been better off forgetting about rebranding, and using that money to hire a native English speaker to translate their manual.  The directions are definitely all English words, but I'm not sure they quite hit the mark....without further ado, here are some quotes straight from the manaul that warrant Baofeng (Pofung?) getting the "Good Try!" award......

• "Thank you for purchasing Amateur Portable Radio, which is a dual band/dual display radio” (I like this one, because, aside from the bad grammar {my grammar stinks too, but at least I get close}, the radio is neither dual band, nor dual display.)
• "Don't launch with high output power..."  (Huston, we have contact!)
• There is a 1/8" jack on the back of the radio - the manual calls it the "Adjustable measuring port" and its function is "Production of set parameters when special port” (??!!!?)
• "If use outside launch coverage area, walkie-talkie fault of a loud sound."  (I think they're trying to say that if you attempt to transmit outside of a certain frequency range, you'll hear a warning sound....)
• This next one is a personal favorite - I think they're trying to explain the CTCSS and DCS tone scanning function...."When CTCSS or DCS functions activation, walkie-talkie to stop on the busy frequency, and decoding the CTCSS or DCS signaling.  If CTCSS or match the DCS signaling, cancel the mute interphone."
• And lastly, is the entire section that I am completely baffled by.  I don't quite know what the directions are describing, and to make it worse, the whole section is titled "2. Trumpet playing the opening ceremony."  (Maybe there is supposed to be a fanfare when you turn on the radio???!)

     Oh well....for what the radio cost (practically nothing as far as radio's go) I guess I should go easy on their translation attempts......

See you goodbye till next typing!

     I got plenty of time to play radio in my mobile shack today!  I had about a 7 hour drive (that took closer to 8, with a couple bathroom breaks and a lunch stop).  I started off the drive talking to a local ham, Roy, on one of the repeaters near my house.  It was nice to catch up with him because we hadn't chatted in a while.  We made our first contact a while back, because I heard him mention some things that made me realize that during part of his working career, he worked for the same company I work for now.  Consequently, it is also the same company my father worked at before he retired.  As it turns out, Roy actually worked with my father and knew him pretty well.  I heard Roy on one of the local repeaters during my drive and figured I'd say hello, and let him know I was headed to the buildings that both he and father knew as "HQ", which we now refer to with that loving title of “Corporate."  
     A little further in the drive, I made a couple HF, contacts; one with a ham from Chicago named Dennis.  As it turned out, Dennis was operating portable in a park close to where he lives - conditions must have been decent because we were both running "barefoot" on compromised antenna's - I on my mobile whip and he on a wire he had slung over a tree in the park.  That’s what ham radio is all about!
     After a couple other contacts I jumped onto a local repeater near the end of trip, and was told about a great restaurant by one of the local guys - it was just the thing after the long drive.  If anyone happens to ever be in the Westminster, MA area, I can strongly recommend The Old Mill.
     I'll have more project updates soon, so stay tuned!

     I don't have any real project updates for you, but I figured I would at least share what I did get done today.  My work took me close to one of the Ham Radio Outlet stores today, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop in!  I picked up a small dualband antenna for the NMO mount I just installed on the roof the car (see my post from 11/16/2015.)  I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, but I ended up getting an antenna that is a basic 1/4 wave on 2 meters, and 1/2 wave on 70cm.  I figure that with the antenna mounted in the center of the roof, it should work pretty well for me, and it's short enough to clear my garage door.  I figure I can always keep a couple other antenna's in the trunk if I want to swap out for any reason. I actaully have an NMO mount 5/8 whip flying around my garage that might as well travel with me in case I want to use it in situations where the different gain and takeoff angle could be advantageous.
     I also picked up some 1" wide copper braid that they had on their clearance rack.  This will be used to bond the various metal parts of the car together.  When I was setting up my first mobile shack I read a lot of information on K0BG's web site, and he has a great article on bonding, why it should be done, and how to do it.  I'll end up doing on this car like I did on the last one - 2 straps bonding the hood to body, 2 straps bonding the trunk to the body, 1 strap bonding each of the 4 doors to the body, and 3 or 4 bonding the exahaust to the body.  I'll also try to do what I didn't do last time, and put a couple straps bonding the engine to the body.  
     I also picked up a couple oddball connectors that I'll need down the road.  Stay tuned!

     I think I might have a reader!  I got one hit on this blog that I'm pretty sure wasn't me.....yippiee!  It's pretty early on, and I really havn't told anyone that I'm doing this blog yet, so anyone reading it at this point probably found it by accident.  For anyone who happens to stumble on this corner of the internet, I just started this blog as a way to document the build out of my ham radio shack at home, and the install of the radio equipment in my new 2016 Ford Fusion.  I haven't made any progress in the last couple of days for 2 main reasons. First, I have full time job, so most of my project work has to be on the weekends.  Second, I do some traveling for my work (which is why I want to be thorough on my mobile install!) and I was out of town the first half of the week this week.  
     I do have a question though, for anyone who happens to stumble on my blog - what is your preferred / favorite mounting location and method for the microphone you use for your radio?

     Good evening all!  As I write this post I am sitting in what serves as both my temporary office, and my temporary shack, listening to some DX talking on 7.156.  The thing that stinks, is that I can't really join the fray - my rain gutters, which are doing double duty as my antenna just aren't up to the task [ed. read more about my gutter antenna here].  That will eventually change!  We recently did an addition on our house, and the room that used to be our basement catch-all storage room / cat litter box area (gross!) will be turning into my new office, and my new shack!  Additionally, I am finally going to pick up my new car tomorrow, so my radio equipment that has been patiently waiting since being removed from the old car will finally get pressed back into service.  I've been talking with a number of the local hams about the status of these things (or really the lack of status) so I decided to start this blog while things are in the early stages, so that everyone can play along, give a newbie feedback and advice, and hopefully have some fun!
     As I make progress on these projects, I'll post info and pictures about what I'm doing here [ed. there are a bunch of pictures in the gallery too!].  While the two main ongoing projects will be the vehicle install and the shack build, if other things pop up, I might just slip them in here as well. ​