>>17926
The Military Energy Gum (MEG) spearmint flavor tastes... REVOLTING! After a minute or so, the taste gets even worse. The cinnamon flavor is not so bad, but still horrible. This is gum; those cretins can make it taste great. Did they make it taste like garbage so people would not chew up a lot and overdose on caffeine? You really have to chew it with regular gum to make it palatable. Did I get bad batches?

Black-Black caffeine gum from Japan has a strong menthol and peppermint taste (but only 5 mg per piece). It taste like chewing an Altoids. It actually clears your sinuses! As I stated before, I used it and Xylish to stay awake in boring classes and in long road trips. Keep chewing a fresh stick or piece of gum every hour when the effects start to wane.

Another good tip for staying awake for long road trips is to listen to radio plays, like Dragnet (1949-1957 377 episodes), audio books, radio Shakespeare plays, or mystery dramas (but they have to be interesting to you to keep your attention). You have to pay attention to what is being said and described, but you are not visually distracted in doing this.

>>17927
Dunno. I always hate spearimint no matter what it is so I've never tried it. That said, the flavor quality control is hilariously bad with this gum. In addition to the flavor mixing I mentioned (which should only show up in 1-2 packs out of a box), the strength of the flavor can vary quite a lot.
I get the blue "normal mint" is basically mint+the bitterness from concentrated caffeine. I actually like the bitterness.

Funny you mention Black-Black, I actually ordered some a week ago and it's headed my way. It's my absolute favorite gum.

>>17927
The bitterness might be intentional as the bitter taste can be a bit of an eye opener for a lot of people. This is why my go to is Red Bull: it's got enough bitter to wake me up, without being terribly unpleasant.

Cold for easy. Methylphenidate for medium. Dextroamphetamine to make hard/grueling easy.

>>17855
a bunch of people at my unit tried this to try to stop using dip, mixed reviews depending on flavor, basically dip packets, except instead of tobacco, it is just coffee grounds, so you still get a caffeine buzz

also
>where to buy buy banned caffeine inhalers

I once had some neon fabric lying around, and decided to sew a neon yellow (like construction vest yellow) helmet cover) I forget what I did with it because it was pretty useless. I want to start working more with nylon fabrics to make my own gear, since I have used a lot of gear and usually buy it new to experiment with, I keep finding pros and cons, where if I just built something I liked I could take all the pros and eliminate the cons.

If you want to start from the ground up, go to your local department store or hobby store and peruse the fabric/sewing aisle, you can usually find paper patterns for hoddies or shirts that you can trim down depending on what kind of look you are going for. (maximalism)

alternatively, start with your plates and develop a system to strap plates to yourself (minimalism)

>>16739
at that point, I would start with a soft armor carrier (meant for concealability) and they sell for starting at around $30 on any police site.

Just take the sides and then copy them out of 600-1000D nylon

>FAA licensing
>bombs and chill
>getting PTSD over your tv dinner in your suburban home every night

seems to me to be the quintessential weekday operator

>>17911
Proceed with caution with those. I desperately wanted them to be good because they're almost half the cost of competitive weight/rating, but none of this "independently lab verified" stuff has ever actually been shown on those particular plates, only on the crappy steel stuff. They're stuff is not listed on the NIJ website either. In fact I can't even find any "youtube testing" they make fun of on those actual plates.

A lot of stuff the owner says is gibberish and raises a few flags.

>>17913
If you contacted Armour Wear, the company that supplies Bulletproofme with those particular plates, you could have the certification information sent to you. But yeah, only their IIIA stuff is listed on the NIJ compliance site. Might be because that's the only product they've submitted for any government contracts or something? I dunno. But if you got the information, you could find out what lab did the testing and make a call based on that.

Bulletproofme is one of the oldest sites on the internet that has sold armor to civis, though. I have to imagine that they can't have stayed in business so long while making false claims as to the proofing of their products.

In any case, you make a good point. Researching what you plan to buy is never a bad move.

Dude just go on eBay and pick up some plates. I just bought 4 ceramic plates for $330 shipped. Shop around for a while. You might be surprised at what you find on there.

Any idea about eastern bloc soft vests and plates?

>>17915
do they have dates or other expiration information? also can you confirm they are not dropped (can create fractures and reduce resistance to projectile impact and shrapnel)

I run small plates in my rig mostly because I hate to sacrifice mobility for that little bit of protection, going for the miminalist perspective.

My view has always been lighter is better. I used to use level IV ceramic, but traded those. I downgraded to some level IIIA polyethylene plates with Soft armor behind them so my entire rig weighs less than 15 pounds (mostly in comms and ammo)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261306914004464

>>18214
Most of the stuff I have seen looks like they wear dedicated ballistic gear with gear worn over, or some of the SF wear specialty gear, most of which is pretty much unobtainable in the west (apparently there are limited places you can buy it, but import/export restrictions on body armor -ITAR type laws stop most of it from shipping internationally)

It also looks like some SF are fond of American/western made gear.

I do personally also like the look of german LE gear

Message too long. Click here to view the full text.

If the straps are sewn into the part of the pouch that is away from the body, they are probably lifter straps. Put your mags into the pouches so that the straps are under/behind them with the top sticking out, then fasten the end to the velcro to hold them in. Need a mag in a hurry-ish, grab the strap and pull upwards to lift the mag out until you can get a decent grab on it. Never seen a chest rig use lifters like that, normally you see them on IFAKs or the like. But that's the best I can figure from the picture.

Can't help ya with the smell, unfortunately.

> straps in mag pouches

Mine didn't have those straps, did I get jibed? What sting are you talking about, mine is like 'mil surplus' smell

Still want one.

Soak it with baking soda and water

I'm not sure if the straps were commonly cut or if the straps were a test run or specialized version for certain units. Getting one with straps is kind of rare, but I'll admit I like the one I have without straps so I don't see the issue. Other Pattern 83 gear doesn't have them so I'm getting the feeling it is a special case of getting them rather than most users removing them.

>>18164

which won't talk to anyone

>>18148
My first radio was a Baofeng UV-5R that took two years of abuse. I reprogrammed it and stuffed it in the traveling box. Remember the box?

I spend the better part of a day with manuals learning to program the damned thing by hand to get onto local repeaters. Yes, it was difficult to program. That's why they make programming cables and CHIRP. Now, I cut and paste to different radios with different firmware. I play with RTL-SDR and have a Yaesu FT-897 base station these days.

And FIVE Baofengs, mostly for hiking using mobilinkd for APRS or otherwise messing around. They're brilliant for what they do, which is work as programmed, take abuse, and be cheap as hell. Sure, they look awful and have an ill-conceived interface. But for $25, you have a great little HT that you can take out and mistreat with excellent results.

>>18174
I taped a little piece of paper inside the battery compartment with instructions on how to program a repeater offeset, since I always forget the correct order.

And yeah they're not great, but they're good enough and have drastically lowered the cost of entry into ham radio. I think a lot of the hate just comes from the same old farts who got super angry when code requirements got dropped.

Anybody get contacts on AO-91 yet?

https://www.amsat.org/ao-91-commissioned-declared-open-for-amateur-use/
>The satellite was launched on November 18, 2017 as part of the ELaNa XIV mission, secondary payloads aboard the Delta II rocket that carried the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) satellite to orbit. AO-91 also features the Fox-1 style FM U/v repeater with an uplink on 435.250 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink on 145.960 MHz.

Bumping a old and dead thread but the Chinese are starting to get into the HF game. The Recent RS-918 is a pre-assembled copy of the mcHF SDR kit radio for around $450, and Xiegu has two models of QRP radios, one (X5105) aping the Elecraft KX3 and being sold through MFJ.

Also Yaesu is now selling reengineered Baofengs (or rather, their version of the RDA1846 chip) as the entry-level FT-4X. Also the VX-8DR has been discontinued with no sign of a replacement, so if you see one for a reasonable price and want one, grab it.
https://qrpblog.com/2018/09/yaesu-ft-4x-review-it-is-after-all-a-baofeng/

>>18144
>>18144
That looks like it needs a good break in and a couple heavy washes

>>18145
Ah, I just did a bit more digging.

SARCO, of all people, claims to have some surplus uniforms in a similar pattern in stock, and even printed fabric by the yard:

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/ngo-contractor-uniforms---atafrex.aspx

Once again, I do not work for this company, and know nothing about the quality, but at the very least they seem to be offering Rhodie-style patrol caps with the flap in the back to keep the sun off the back of your neck.

The khaki base in these pictures looks quite a bit darker and yellower than in the Begadi product, but that could be the lighting. The single picture of the fabric they're selling makes it look much lighter and less saturated, almost off-white or pale grey.

>>8725
IS the Vector file available for purchase?

Rhodesian camouflage available from

https://www.fireforceventures.com/

happy birthday.

>>18260
Fuck, the site is down. Hope it comes back soon.

My dad couldn't have been happier. It's his 60th birthday today. He's a former DoD/Civilian Department of the Navy employee. He saw a MIRV test off the coast of Cuba in the early 80s. Currently works as a HVAC engineer.

(No batteries in PVS-7 in pic)

>>18258
MX-10130C/UV Gen 3

>>18258
Nice! I have a blemished tube from a PVS7 given to me by a friend in law enforcement. I've tried bidding on dead PVS7's and parts but the stateside sellers reject it for Customs teasons (itar). I keep trying anyways, hope to luck out eventually.

>>18261
Where are you located? There are some Russian NV scopes that use MX10130 tubes. Not sure if we can get those in the US but maybe in Euroland.

>>18265
I'm in Canada.

Tay-sachs