plode

Yes, that is who I was talking about.

C.H.T.? What is that?

My car has just this antenna on the trunk lid- it's only a VHF/UHF antenna: I don't have HF(high frequency) capabilities in my car, but on ones that do, you'll often see this antenna(which is very common among mobile HF operators, it is called a screwdriver): And yeah, I was a volunteer firefighter for 5 years, and part of our coverage area was the GSP, so I got to see the towing rigs all the time...and they were exactly as you explained- window tint all around, including the windshield. I won't specifically name the company, but they have my county seat in the name I'm in the midst of getting back into the whole volunteer fire thing, albeit with a different department.

I know, I'm not blaming you or anything, I'm just saying the NJ legislature with its ridiculous laws and exemptions for some. Just like how people complain that cops are on their cell phones while driving...they are exempt. I have to keep a copy of the law in my car because I have an Amateur Radio in the car and cops think the mic is a cell phone...I've been pulled over for it before and had to show the officer the copy of the law I have with the amateur radio exemption highlighted. And when I did have the tint, and got pulled over, the first thing I did was put both front windows down. One type of vehicle that I'm seeing more, and more often with tinted windows are tow trucks. I don't know how they are getting away with that since they come to (almost) every accident, vehicle impound, and disabled vehicle that police call about and are on scene. I know one fairly large towing company that services most of my county, including the Garden State Parkway has most of their trucks tinted with what appears to be at least 5% tint.

So, it's one of those "it's legal for us, but illegal for you" kind of things. When I was a firefighter, I actually preferred cars in car accidents that had window tint as it kept the pane in one piece, rather than throwing tiny shards of glass all over the driver and passenger. In an accident, if one of those tiny pieces of safety glass ends up in your eye, you're going to have some vision issues, if you don't go blind.

I had 15% tint on my car before. It's roughly the same tint on the back windows of SUV's from the factory. It kept the interior of my car noticeably cooler than other cars that didn't have the tint. It really leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you get pulled over for window tint by a cop whose patrol car has tinted windows. It was not a K9 unit, as the city doesn't even have a K9 unit in their department. I never got a ticket for it, but it became such a hassle getting pulled over left and right for it that I took it off. And it's not like I was speeding, driving a loud car or something else... the cops openly said the reason they pulled me over was because of the tint.

Cops always tout the window tint thing as officer safety. If it's such an issue how come so many other states allow it and don't have any issues with officer safety? Do Florida cops have some special ability to see through window tint?

You cannot have anything covering the plates either.

Since I'm in Cape May County, we get preference for Southern State, so I would need the residency paperwork.

Here is the list of stuff it says to bring: Birth Certificate High School Transcripts Original high school diploma Original NON LAMINATED social security card(mine is laminated) and 2 copies of it Original and two copies of drivers license Firearms Purchaser ID card All permits to purchase a handgun All permits to carry a handgun(Hah! do they really think anyone has one of these?! , although it doesn't specify a NJ issued one, guess I'd have to bring my FL CCW permit) Any and all police records/reports. They don't specify if this includes accident reports...I was rear ended a couple years ago by someone. Good luck getting that from NJSP over a holiday weekend. Proof of residency. This one would be a really difficult one for me. All, and I mean all of my bills go to my P.O. Box in a town to the south of me. They say that it must be dated 6 months prior to the announcement of the exam(July of last year...). All of my motor vehicle registrations were just renewed last month. Cannot be a drivers license.

My friend who went through the process was threatened by them when he went for the pre-employment processing. They were screaming at him to just give them the account information so they could look. He swore up and down he didn't have one. They said "if we find out you have a Facebook account, you'll be brought up on charges". They then called all of his references- I was one of them. They were asking me if he had a Facebook. I told them no, he didn't. They then asked what the URL for my account was so they could look at my friends list. I told them that wouldn't work as my friends list is set to private-not even my own friends can see anything other than mutual friends. They then asked if he had a Myspace account, or a Twitter account, or another social media accounts. I said that I didn't think he did, but I don't have anything other than Facebook, so I couldn't say for certain that he doesn't have one. They also threatened me with charges if they found out he had a Facebook account. I don't have an issue looking at it, but keeping it unlocked to them for 6-8-12 months for them to look at everything- including messages with my family members is a little overboard. I'm not hiding anything on there, it is very safe...I have lots of relatives as friends and anything that is posted I would be OK with my grandmother seeing Heck, I was(and still am) friends with some of my previous employers on there and none of them had any issues with anything. Not to mention from a security standpoint I change my password fairly regularly. I e-mailed and explained I need more time to request a day off of work as per my companies policy. I haven't heard back yet.

The whole paperwork issue doesn't even matter with respect to the fact that I cannot get off of work to even attend the appointment. I just asked my boss if I could take off, and got a flat out no, and that I should have requested that Monday off right when I got hired last week. I'm going to write an e-mail to them explaining I cannot get off of work in that short of notice, I need at least 2 weeks.

Believe me, I know. One thing it specifically states they won't accept is a laminated social security card. Well mine is laminated, and I'd have to go down to the social security building either Today or Friday. They are open 9-3. I'm working both today and Friday from 9-6. I have to get my high school transcripts too. The school is only open 9-2. There would be a very slim chance I'd even be allowed to take off on Monday since I haven't even let my boss know yet(I didn't get the e-mail today until 4:45PM)which is less than a weeks notice- company policy requires 2 weeks of notice for all absences not sick related. But asking to take even a few hours off Today or Friday won't happen. It's too busy this week with the holiday and coming weekend. I could make it happen, but it'll likely result in me getting fired since I literally just started last week.

The application doesn't specify any laws, other than the statute for the law about lying on the application. It asks: DO YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER POSSESSED ANY PISTOL PERMITS, FIREARM PERMITS, FIREARM ID CARDS, OR FIREARMS DEALER LICENSES IN THIS OR ANY OTHER STATE, OR AREA UNDER FEDERAL JURISDICTION? Then it asks for permit numbers, issuing agency info. I wonder if that is to include a CCW permit from out of state. Then below that it wants firearm make, model, caliber, serial number, and asks if it is registered. On a checklist of items to bring to the pre-emplyoment processing it says to bring FID, and ALL Permits to Purchase a Handgun. Yup, I'm supposed to report to the New Lisbon Developmental Center Monday July 8th at 8:00AM. I got the notification today(well, now yesterday, July 2nd). My brother also took the Civil Service exam for Corrections, and got the notice today as well. He said he isn't going to go...he doesn't have the time to get the application done, and cannot get off in this short of notice. He's working 12-13 hour shifts for the next 5 straight days. I just applied on USA Jobs for the Federal Correctional Officer. It's about the same distance to the FCI from here as it is to the state prison I would likely be working at. Honestly, I don't think I'm going to continue with the NJDOC route. I'm really put off by them giving me less than a week notice to take off of work, and to fill out these 44 pages of such in-depth info. Something I don't like is that they want your social media e-mail and password, and my friend who recently went through the process says they tell you the password cannot be changed until you are out of the academy. I don't mind them checking it once, but them having access to my account for months isn't something I'm comfortable with. The content on my Facebook account isn't anything that would be questionable(unless they consider pro-gun posts and range pictures to be questionable ). I regularly have private conversations on there with family that I don't want some HR employee reading at will. I wasn't really interested in doing NJDOC anyway, but mainly took the test because the credit carries over to law enforcement positions.

I don't think I'm going to be able to complete everything they need on the application in 7 days, with 3 of those days being weekend/holiday, and I counted the Monday I'd have to be there at 8AM, so it's really 3 business days. They want a whole stack of documentation that I simply don't have, nor do I have a reasonable way to obtain a lot of it in 3 working days. At least one document has to come from the federal government- and I know for a fact I won't get that in 3 days. It says on the application you will be removed from the list for Corrections Officer Recruit if any of it isn't complete, so I'm not even going to bother trying. I know for a fact I won't be able to obtain a few of the items in that time period. Completely absurd that they only provided me with 7 days of notice for all of this. My boss will probably fire me for telling him I need off already without barely any notice- I literally started at the end of last week.

I know what it is...I'm just wondering, why? For one- the state government already has all of the information on my P2P's. But it kind of sets me off that they want the serial numbers off of my unregistered long guns. I fail to see what basis this information has on my background. I've been through TS Clearance background checks for the Federal Government, and none ever asked for any of my firearms information(nor did they ask for my social networking e-mail addresses and passwords- but this I can understand, sometimes looking at a potential employee's Facebook can provide a good overview of their character). But serial numbers off my firearms? Why?

So I took the civil service exam for Corrections Officer Recruit back in the spring. I scored very high, and they want me to start the pre employment processing. Well today, they e-mail me a PDF that is 44 pages long that I am to hand write detailing everything about my life. They also provided me with an appointment to show up at some developmental center almost 100 miles away in 7 days(yes, only 7 days notice). My employer requires 2 weeks of notice to take a day off, so that is going to be an issue, especially in the summer when we are busiest and he is short handed this season). Now as I'm flipping through this application, I see they want information on all of my firearms. Make, model, caliber, serial numbers, and if it is registered or not. I go on to read they want copies of my NJ FID, and copies of ALL of my P2P's I've used. I feel really uncomfortable providing all of this information to a government agency. Especially since quite a few of my rifles are unregistered- it is voluntary in NJ, but providing the serial numbers to a government agency- especially law enforcement seems almost like a De facto registry. One big question running through my mind is WHY do they need this information? Maybe one of the LEO's on here can provide some insight as to what they need that information for. ' Also, I don't want to hear the "if you want the job, just list the info".

I'd say go to a shop to try them on first before you go buying one online. Get one that fits properly and is comfortable. There are so many different shaped/sizes of heads that some helmets fit better than others.

I saw the commercial for the S4 active the other day. It would be pretty awesome to have a phone that is waterproof. I've had an iPhone for roughly the past 5 years, so I've grown pretty accustomed to having it. I also don't want to change my AT&T plan. AT&T has iPhone specific plans, and one I have is the unlimited data. While I can switch to another carrier that offers unlimited data, no other carrier gets any service here at my house. I'm quite literally in a dead zone for cell phone service and no carrier wants to do anything about it. My dad has Sprint and has to sit in one specific spot in the house to make phone calls on his phone. AT&T I have anywhere from no service-1-2 bars of 3G. I regularly get texts from friends saying they couldn't connect to my phone to call me.

I'm not quite sure I'm following you...what is it you want to do with the 2m rig and computer?

HF is 160m-10m. Technicians do get some privileges on 10M, but not much. 160m would be 1.8-2.0Mhz 80m is 3.5-4.0 60m is a odd band that most Ham's don't bother with, but can if we wanted to. 5.332-5.405. We're only allowed to use specific frequencies, like a "channel". 40m is 7.0-7.3 30m is 10.100-10.150 20m is 14.000-14.350 17m is 18.068-18.168 15m is 21.000-21.450 12m is 24.890-24.990 10m is 28.000-29.700 Maybe someone could start up a Ham specific thread so we aren't clogging this one up with technical babble that most don't care about

If there's enough of us that are HF capable maybe we can get some sort of informal net going. I don't know if there are any gun related nets on HF, haven't got on in a while.

So what was the "bombshell #2" that was going to happen today, that Scott talked about?

Not to worry, NJSP and the AG are here to remind you they are illegal in NJ without a permit. http://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases13/pr20130627a.html

I may be able to get you a Mitt Romney one. A friend of a friend of mine worked for his campaign. I'll see what I can do.