Jay is the manager of our tech support department and is my oldest son. Jay is gifted in everything mechanical whether it is building electric guitars and basses or working on automobiles and motorcycles.

Jay is forever shopping on Craigslist or eBay for his next project. Recently he traded some work for a chainsaw. He traded the chainsaw for a motor scooter. He traded the motor scooter for an old MG Midget that did not run. (In our politically correct world I doubt that we will ever have another automobile with the moniker “Midget”.)

He got the MG Midget running and promptly traded up for an MGB that need a paint job. The MGB was painted and traded for a motorcycle which was traded for some parts that became a custom electric bass which was traded for another motorcycle that was traded for his latest acquisition a large body Mercedes Benz Diesel automobile.

I am Jay’s wheelman in many of these adventures. We drive to some remote location (because Jay never trades for anything that is just down the street) to pick up his next “deal.” Then I follow him home while he drives a car with either no windshield, errant brakes or a hood that has to be wired to stay in the down position. Sometimes we do not learn that the vehicle is currently being used as a chicken coup or is totally infested with ants until we arrive to arrange transport. However, it seems all genuine bargains are picked up after dark or a minimum of 30 miles from home.

Here’s the irony: these situations are perfect for using 2 way radios and we are 2 way radio dealers and we always forget to bring a pair of radios from the office. Instead we use our cell phones. Cell phones are terrible for this use. The great benefit to using radio is the immediacy and ease of use.

Think about Jay and me on a dark highway at night. Instead of  fumbling around with dialing cell phone numbers etc we could have just pushed the talk button and reported in. No dialing, or redialing, or poor reception, or the battery dying, or even having to hold the cell phone by our ear in order to hear.

‘2 way radios rule’ in the right situation. Give us a call and we will help you determine if 2 way radios are right for you.

Best Wishes,

Manzie

I have made a practice of not offering my political opinion in my place of business. I don’t want to alienate anyone because we have political differences.

My  cousin Enzo is always sending me entertaining emails. Some of the emails he sends are funny and some are serious. The serious emails tend to be political in nature. Some times they are simply patriotic prose. Enzo recently sent the following email. I hope you are touched by it.

“You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

‘An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian , or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in   Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion.. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness..

An American is generous.. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September  11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were work ing in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11 , 2001 earning a better life for their families… It’s been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo , and Stalin , and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world.. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself . Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.”

Enzo asked me to keep this one going. He said “Pass this around the world.” For once I’m going to listen to Enzo.

Best Wishes,

Manzie

In the early 1980’s personal computers were becoming more and more available. An IBM PC/XT cost nearly $10,000 at that time but businesses of all kinds were buying them.

Do you remember secretaries? Secretaries did most of the typing and filing and administrative tasks in every office.

When the IBM PC/XT first appeared people thought it was a swell machine but didn’t really understand its significance until various applications became available.

As soon as word processing, accounting and simplified customer record keeping programs were developed you could kiss your secretary good bye.

As expensive as the early computers were they cost less than having a secretary. The good news was secretaries didn’t lose their jobs. Computers made them more efficient and more valuable. Secretaries became admins and expanded their responsibilities and capabilities.

We are on the verge of a similar phenomenon: the introduction of the digital 2 way radio. Digital 2 way radios cost about twice as much as a regular analog 2 way radio.

Two way radios have been used mostly for just talking. Push the button and talk. Let go of the button and listen.

Digital radios talk. Digital radios talk about 20% further than regular analog radios. Digital radios also make it easier to call everyone at once or just one person at a time. In addition to talking, digital two way radios track and text. Digital radios can be equipped with GPS tracking and texting features.

The real story here is that digital 2 way radios are like computers in that it is not the computer that is the big story. It is the applications or programming that is the big story.

Programming that is specific to various business applications are being developed for digital 2 way radios. These applications will be for nursing homes, factories, schools and many other places of business, education and industry. These applications will make  workers more productive, safer and more efficient. Once you see what a digital radio can do the additional cost will be meaningless.

The future of 2 way radios is digital. If you want to talk digitally give us a call.

Best Wishes,
Manzie