I have not. It mostly lives in my pocket though I do occasionally clip it to the pen pocket on my shirts or tactical pants. You can pull the clip off though and reform it which was one of the things that couldn't be done with the Zebra F701 I was using prior.

I figured I would show off my rOtring 600 collection. Daily use...you can see which one I carry in my pocket and keep with me everyday by the amount of "character". Both of the the pens have Fisher Space Pen inserts with blue ink (medium tip on the blue pen, fine tip on the black one). My lead holder collection started out with the Mars technico 780 and when I sat on one wrong and broke it I decided to try the rOtring 600.

So North America...our roads are typically straighter, many cities and communities are specifically built around automobiles and gradients are much more strictly managed (one of the reason most long haul truck sit around 500 hp, more power simply isn't needed for the majority of our loads).

Now you do see tandems in use here in the US but they are 28.5 feet long each. Canada allows what are called B-trains where they haul tandem 53 footers. Australia on the other hand has what are called road trains...which can be three to five full length vans.

Nice. So the tractor is a early 90's production?

We just call them conventionals as everyone builds them (even Volvo here in the US).

Bit of history, until 1976 the US had a maximum combination length restriction of 65 feet. For a standard 53 foot long van, that only gives you 12 feet of tractor. While you may be able to pull that off with SWB day cab in a conventional config...long haul drivers want sleepers and as long of a wheel base as they can get. 1976, fuel crisis and just about anything that could be done to lessen fuel consumption was done (national speed limit of 55 mph instituted, calls for manufacturers to build more fuel efficient vehicles, etc) and conventional trucks are typically more aerodynamic thus slightly more fuel efficient so the easy solution...extend the combo length limit to 75 feet. When you can haul a standard 53' van...have a long wheel base and a decent sleeper with a conventional tractor...why dick with cabovers?

It's truly a case of they've become rare because Mack, Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, International, GM, Ford, etc stopped making them simply because due to the lift of length restrictions, they simply weren't selling. Granted, you can still by a cab over Mack and Freightliner today...just not for tractor use (Class B application) though you could probably take an Autocar ACX as a 6x4 tandem drive chassis and add a 5th wheel to it. The cab profile would be lower to the ground compared to a traditional White-Freightliner cabover but the cab is relatively unchanged (in fact, the severe duty Autocar trucks have only updated the cab from the 1960's White-Freight cab in the last 10 years or so).

Better question, how many miles on the rig? What's the driveline?

Arizona…noon on the 7th of June when they highballed over the pass. Bulldog Mack with a can on the back and a Jaguar hauling ass.

GMRS is UHF (some countries have a similar service called UHF CB).

In the US you can run up to 50W legally and use repeaters. CB is limited to 4W AM/FM and 12W SSB. While 11m does offer performance beyond line of sight, CB generally suffers from poor antenna installations and excessive noise.

My 99 has roughly 160k on it. I don't drive it much though (the running joke is it hasn't seen a paved road in over a decade). Aside from clear coat issues...it's been relatively problem free in the 15 years I've had it.

4.0L's are actually known for averaging around 300,0000 miles between rebuilds.

Depends on what part of the world the OP is located in. UK and Germany...no. North America, it would be do able in most areas especially if you are learning in an automatic.

I have no tips for behind the wheel exams...I never had to take one.

Only true in North America. The overwhelming majority of non-electric vehicles in the rest of the world are still manuals.

I believe the UK still issues a restricted license if you take the behind the wheel exam with an automatic instead of a manual. I would imagine Germany is similar.

My personal favorite is my 01 Kawasaki Prairie. Rebuilt the carburetor but it still runs great and starts every time. Gets a little finicky trying to idle above 12,000 feet though.

Those are a bit different. They don’t use active noise cancellation. They just use the limits of the audio amplification circuitry. Essentially sounds above a certain threshold just don’t get amplified and the passive noise reduction does it’s thing.

There are two forms of noise cancellation. Active and passive. Passive essentially means just blocking sounds from getting by such as how over the ear hearing protection works. Active uses electronics and math. The active method is fairly simple to explain though may be more ELI 17 due to geometry and sinusoidal waves. A microphone picks up the ambient noise, and reproduces it in the speaker 180° out of phase which in turn nulls the sum of the noise’s amplitude. The out of phase thing, just means there is an ever so slight delay (which is dependent on the frequency).

Depends on the boot...

Hiking boots and snow boots...I typically use paracord.

Work boots...mine don't have laces.

Everyday boots...mine don't have laces.

Dress boots...mine don't have laces.

DC-3

More efficient wide bodies are already in common use and many air freight services have gone from shipping major hub to major hub with large wide bodied aircraft and then servicing minor hubs with smaller aircraft to more direct flights with medium sized narrow bodied air craft such as the 737.

But it still has 30 years behind the leader when it comes to longevity in regular passenger service.

That's how it is today. It's not how it is used to be though. For example, in the early 2000's Verizon, Cingular (pre-merger with AT&T) and AT&T all used to offer varying coverage plans...local, statewide and nationwide. If you roamed outside of your coverage plan...you would incur roaming fees. Today though, the coverage is simply assumed at the national level.

Charge you money for roaming outside of you standard coverage plan. If you can beat the roaming charges by maintaining an in-area tower longer...they feel cheated.

Yes but the higher you are, the further the distance to horizon. And like you stated depending on the tower’s location and the engineered coverage it needs to provide, it could be configured for mechanical down tilt, no tilt, or up tilt.

Depends on the cellular technology in use and the configuration of the tower antenna systems.

Aside from the issues having a 25,000+ foot elevation difference in terms of line of sight caused with roaming back when roaming was a big deal with carriers.