Just experienced an immediate need for my camera manual. We are currently on a road trip and could not figure out how to configure the camera. When we got to the motel, I was able to download the manual.

The Nexus 7 has really been beneficial on the trip.

This is one of those extremely obvious after-the-fact concepts. 
You can store your radio operating manuals on an Android tablet.
This is especially useful for the radios in your car.

A few days ago, I received a Nexus 7 as a birthday present. Since then I have been furiously experimenting with how to use it. While searching for possible books to read on the tablet, it occurred to me that the PDF versions of the radio operating manuals could also be stored on the tablet. Sure enough it worked. I did notice that the quality of the PDF image for the "old" radios was very poor versus the "new" radios. The radio manufactures, it would seem, are now providing higher quality PDF documents.

Thanks very much for the clarification.  AllenP has also provided a comment very similar to yours.

I recently received an email from the ARRL informing me of H. R. 607 - A bill to Enhance Public Safety.  The ARRL email was a bit vague on why we, as amateurs, should object. Basically, we will loose access to 420-470 megahertz band. Not mentioned by the ARRL email is the issue of privatization of the spectrum.  What this will mean for many public agencies is that they will have to pay private corporations to use the frequency band.  So how will they pay, by raising taxes of course. Moreover, though the purpose of the proposed legislation is to promote interoperability, private corporations tend to promote proprietary technologies that are NOT interoperable. Basically, it seems that HR607 will become another case of corporate welfare.

I see that there was a prior thread here:  http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,72481.msg486676.html#msg486676

A copy of the bill is located here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr607ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr607ih.pdf

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First, how are you making more spectrum available for public safety by removing the 420–470 megahertz band which is already in use by amateur radio. As such it is is already available for public safety, should amateur help be required.

Particularly disingenuous is the use of the word "recovered" in one of the titles "RECOVERED PUBLIC SAFETY SPECTRUM". Exactly how do you recover something that was never lost. The intent, I assume, is make the band appear vacant for publicity purposes so that it can be claimed to be an expansion of the frequencies dedicated to public use.

The real intent if this proposed legislation appears on page 25 of the proposed bill, the spectrum is to be auctioned off.


Follow me through here. The spectrum will be auctioned off, I would assume, to private corporations for the purpose of public safety. The public safety agencies (that will actually use the frequencies) will then be forced to lease (spend money) to utilize the formerly free public frequencies. To obtain the money required to use these "public safety" frequencies the public agencies will have to raise taxes. (The use of tax dollars is hidden by the word "grant".  Ultimately grants are supported by tax dollars.) Sounds like a sweet deal for the telcos!

If Congress really wishes to increase the frequencies devoted to public safety, they do not have to auction it off. The public agencies should be able to obtain "free" licenses for public service applications. This will keep costs down and meet the true intent of public safety.

In conclusion, establishing public safety frequencies, if free, will still substantially benefit private industry. Private industry will benefit through the sale of equipment and consulting services. That would be the correct way to "help" private industry. Privatizing the spectrum is an abomination.

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In the interest of balance, below is a link to the Public Safety Alliance videos. This group is in support of HR607. I just watched the first video, I think it is "junk", but at least you can see what those in support of HR607 have to say.

Public Safety Alliance website: http://www.psafirst.org/videos

To me the basic fallacy of the video supporting HR607 is that without this bill, you cannot have interoperability. Bunch of garbage. Interoperability is a MANAGEMENT problem. You do not need commercial "interests" or the sale of public spectrum to solve this problem.

Another problem with the first video, there is no mention of those who would loose access to the spectrum. Based on the presentations in the first video it would seem that the spectrum is unoccupied. At a minimum they could acknowledge that other PUBLIC services would be disrupted. The self-serving commentary of the video makes me wonder if they really have the interests of the "first responders" at heart or if these people are simply acting as corporate shills.

If the videos makes sense to you let me know! I hope that I am not going "overboard".

Very helpful responses. Thanks everyone. 

Thanks, as N7NBB and WD4MTW point out the installers know the cars; I don't. When we were in California, the installer was really good.  The ham radio looked as if it was OEM equipment to the car and the cabling was well hidden.  Recently we sold our car, so I took the opportunity to uninstall it. One "advancement" in the art of radio installation (since we bought the FT-8800R radio) has been the advent of U-Tube.  The U-tube video, there were several actually, showed how to take the dash apart so that a regular AM/FM radio could be installed.  One, I am thankful that I did not try to do the install myself, second it made the removal of the FT-8800R a breeze.

The "big" takeaway is that we now have instructional videos on the internet which show how radio installation can be done.

It may be "expensive", but what about a solar panel to keep the car battery or independent battery charged?  You would also need a charge controller for the solar panel.  My home set-up is a gel-cell with a solar panel.

Out of curiosity is it considered "bad-form" to have a mobile radio professionally installed??  We will be buying a new car soon, as in someday, so I will have to deal with this issue once again?

I stopped using E-bay six years ago.  Agree completely.

We are planning to buy a Ford Fusion. Any advice on installing a YAESU-FT-8800R?  Any pictures?

Back in September we bought a Garmin Nuvi650. I finally got around to investigating what Point of Interest (POI) files are. It turns out that a POI file will show you your distance, as you are traveling, from known locations.  One such file shows the location of amateur repeaters. So as you are driving around you can see the nearby repeaters and their frequencies.  Pretty nifty.

Below is the link to the POI factory, main page.
http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/recent

Here is the link to North Carolina Amateur Radio Repeaters (Done in 2007 so it is "dated")
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/1766
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Open Ham Radio repeaters in North Carolina in the 10M, 6M, 2M, 1.25M, and 70Cm bands.
The location is the general location of the city or town, not the actual repeater location.
The file gives the location name, frequency, offset + or -, and tone access if known.
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Here is a bigger listing of amateur repeater sites.
http://www.poi-factory.com/taxonomy/term/40

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The POI factory site, depends on users providing the content. I don't know whether this website should host something similar or whether hams should simply use the POI factory.  Anyway, just a thought on how we can use a GPS with Ham radio. It would be another useful feature for eHam.Net.

Do you still have the kenwood TS-60?