Rachael, from Member Services (Scam!)

A persistent scam involving telemarketing calls from "Rachael, from Member Services" has continued to be active despite official attempts to stop it. I have just received one of these calls.

It's a minor inconvenience, of course--I always disconnect as soon as I realize that I am hearing a recorded message--but it's also illegal, and irritating in principle--because all of my telephones are registered with the national Do Not Call list.

I filed a complaint on the List's web site, but while there learned yet another bit of somewhat disheartening news: Some scammers are calling people, claiming to represent Do Not Call, and offering to put your numbers on that very list that should prevent their calling you. Of course, two things would follow from your having given your telephone number(s) to these horrible people: You are not on the Registry despite your believing that you are, and a scammer has just gotten your telephone number(s) from your own lips.

From the Do Not Call page:

Scammers have been making phone calls claiming to represent the National Do Not Call Registry. The calls claim to provide an opportunity to sign up for the Registry. These calls are not coming from the Registry or the Federal Trade Commission, and you should not respond to these calls. To add your number to the Registry you can call 888-382-1222 from the phone you wish to register, or go click on “Register a Phone Number” in the left column of [the Registry's] page.   

Your registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm>.

It's all enough to make one feel more or less completely surrounded.

(And this, doubters, is why we need big government.)


Mark_
29 May 2012

My Volvo Tow-Car Sleeps the Big Sleep

A few days ago the engine-management computer of my aging Volvo workhorse threw a rod, causing everything to gently wheeze to a stop @ 293,700 miles. That is not actually a lot of miles for these cars, but because it had a 5-speed manual transmission instead of the automatic, the computer is rare and expensive. The car had enough other issues (some relatively minor but also somewhat expensive things all coming due at the same time), that the net value of the car fell rather suddenly from negligible to zero.  I had been thinking of making a change anyway, so I "declared bankruptcy" by donating it.

(The Tow-er, Towed.)

KING-FM is the beneficiary/victim.

I am somewhat prideful about the fact that I got my nine years of occasional very hard use without having to replace the clutch (or brakes, or tires), but I am surprised and disappointed about what actually did happen to take it off the road.

Oh, well.

The Volvo has been replaced by something that will tow Walden with ease--and will handle the next trailer, too.

(The New Tow-er Towers; this is tall--I am standing on the running board.)

Ford F-150 ("half-ton") with four-wheel-drive: It's pretty far from new, but seems all in very good condition. This truck may seem familiar to Ranger campers; it's very similar to Phil's.

After a period of thinking that the Pleasure-Way conversion van was just the thing--but failing to find one--we have decided to go with a truck & trailer. We are now looking for a Casita Liberty Deluxe 17'. In one way, the layout of that trailer resembles that of the Pleasure-Way model we had sought: the bunk is aft, and is convertible--usable either as two twins or a single king (or dinette). Because it lacks the engine and command areas of a van of only slightly more length, it may be just a little more roomy. Casita GRP ("fiberglass") trailers are physically simple and robust--like the Kent Ranger 20!

Until we have located the right one of those, we will continue using Walden.

Anyway, for a few days our big summer trip was off; now it is back on.

Excellent!


Mark_
28 May 2012

External Antennas for iPhone

Because cellular reception at my house has always been pretty poor, and because I frequently go to where it's even worse, I have always had external antennas for my cellular telephones: 

• A large, no-compromise, "trucker" antenna designed for maximum efficiency (and maximum potential for poking someone's eye out; look at those ground plane spikes!).
• A smaller--safer and easier to carry around--plastic antenna.

My phones have always had co-axial antenna ports hidden behind little rubber "navels".  However, my new iPhone 4S lacks this feature, and in fact doesn't even have an internal antenna (which is usually a metallic/foil thingy against the inside of the case).

Wilson is selling an inductive adapter for our iPhones, and I have bought one.

However:

Although they do specifically mention iPhones 4 and 4S, I am skeptical.  My understanding is that the internal antenna of a cellular telephone is usually a thin metal (foil) thing; this "passive" antenna connector would cover that antenna and capture its signal, sending it up a coaxial cable to the external antenna.  There would be considerable inefficiency in this scheme, but in theory the very much greater efficiency of the big antenna (compared to the original internal "patch") would offset the loss.

iPhone does not have that internal "patch" antenna; instead, its metal frame is the antenna, which means that the adapter would have no hope of "covering" any significant part of it; intimate association (close adjacency) is needed for this to work.

Despite my doubts, I bought it anyway; it was not expensive, and if it helps even a little while I am out camping in the woods or driving between cities, such help might occasionally be welcome.  I am actually rather skeptical.  Wilson does apparently know antennas in general, but I fear that they don't quite understand this situation.

(Note that this is entirely passive; there is no (powered) amplification.  Wilson's amplified system is the Sleek.)

I hope my skepticism is misplaced.  We'll see.

Update: Now that my camping tow vehicle is an actual truck, I expect to permanently mount the trucker antenna on it.  The smaller external antenna will go into my gadget bag.

Mark_

26 May 2012