Lou Schneider

The sticking point for entering the US market is the federal automotive safety standards. Will this vehicle meet them or will it be limited to being a glorified golf cart in the US, unable to use public roads?

If I may add a different perspective from what has been discussed so far. I retired 6 years ago with the intention of going fulltime. About 6 months before I retired I got on the waiting list for one of the Escapees co-op parks. These give you a fixed address and an economical lifetime lease on a space in a community of like minded people that you can use as much or as little as you want. These waiting lists are usually several years long and I planned to use South Dakota and one of their mail forwarding companies as my home base while I waited for a space to open up in the co-op. But due to a couple of factors including a real estate slump that forced others to delay their plans my name came to the top of the list before I retired. I jumped on the opportunity and signed up so when I retired I was able make the park my domicile for vehicle registrations, voting, health care, etc. My plan was (and still is) to use the park as a home base, returning for short visits a couple of times a year to take care of (so far routine) medical appointments, renewing vehicle registrations, etc. But when the "two weeks to limit the surge" Covid lockdown shut everything down for several months including tourist related places like public and private campgrounds many fulltimers found themselves with literally nowhere to go. Hopefully this never happens again, but it was a godsend to have a place where I could return and ride out the lockdown. As well as a place where I can stay if/when medical needs force me off the road. https://escapees.com/benefits/rv-parking/skp-co-op-parks/

Valley Electric's service area extends about 150 miles along the lightly populated Nevada-California border. The original proposal was to use the fiber line they installed to monitor their transmission equipment to provide high speed Internet to the very isolated ranches and communities along the way. They figured they would need 4000 subscribers in Pahrump to cover the investment and it would take a couple of years to build that up. They got 4000 commitments within a week of the initial offering (Pahrump doesn't have DSL or cable TV to provide similar service and wasn't even connected to the electric grid until 1960). This prompted the initial WiMax rollout until they could extend fiber to everyone.

Here in Pahrump (an isolated community of about 40,000 people) our local electric co-op floated the idea of providing high speed internet about 6 years ago. Based on overwhelming initial interest they set up an interim WiMax network by placing nodes on extended utility poles on a 1 mile square grid and giving subscribers over the air routers and external antennas. Originally they used Dish network style dishes with their offset feedhorns whick makes them look like they're pointing at the ground. Later subscribers got panel antennas. Speed is 40-50 Mbps up and down. As of now they've extended fiber to about half of the town and will be shutting down the WiMax network once everyone is switched over. The problem is there are about a dozen people here in the park subscribed to the WiMax service and we don't know how we can extend last mile fiber into the park. Our electrical service is all underground, and at 35+ years old any conduits are likely clogged with mud and debris meaning getting fiber to individual sites will require lots of new trenching ($$$). Here's a good video on how Valley Electric is building out the fiber network. https://fb.watch/mVNP_e5x5v/

I tried to use T-Mobile's home internet back in June in an outbuilding on my sister's property and it was (and continues to be) one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a company. My sister's property has good T-Mobile coverage but it's rural and 50 miles away from the closest T-Mobile store. So I signed up on the net and T-Mobile shipped the equipment to her house via UPS. Like others have said, the setup is location specific and you have to download an app to your phone so it can take a GPS tagged picture at the installed location. The original device came with a part rattling around inside it. I called their support line, they told me to plug it in and see if it worked before they'd authorize a replacement. I did, and it failed halfway through the setup. They sent me a second device. It had a jammed SIM card slot so I couldn't insert the supplied SIM. I again called support and told them I wanted to cancel (this was within the free trial period) and returned both units via UPS. At the end of June T-Mobile billed my card for $50. I called them again, went through everything that happened including returning both units. They said I had used 6.8 kilobytes of service which meant the account was active. Apparently this happened during the failed setup attempt. After much discussion including bumping up through two levels of supervisors, T-mobile acknowledged both units had been returned and the account should not have been activated. But since I was no longer a current customer, they wouldn't refund the $50 to my credit card. Instead, I will receive a $50 Visa gift card which should arrive sometime in October.

One more opinion - I'd go Lithium instead of AGM. Prices have really dropped on lithium batteries, you can get lithium for just a little more than comparable AGMs and they have many advantages over any lead acid battery. Besides much longer life, lithiums don't fade out as they discharge so you don't have to worry about the furnace blower slowing down and not tripping the airflow switch in the middle of the night. You can use 100% of their rated capacity without damage. Which means for every usable amp-hour lithium is often less expensive than AGM or even some conventional flooded lead acid batteries. Lithium's only drawbacks are they need slightly higher voltage to charge to 100% and you can't charge them if their internal temperature falls below freezing (32F). They'll produce power down to -20F or so but they'll be damaged if you try to charge them when they're cold. Most lithium batteries now include some kind of cold charging protection, either refusing to charge if they're too cold or having internal heating pads that will warm them up. But a few don't. Plug and play LiFePO4 batteries are safe, the ones that catch fire either use older chemistry or are massively larger in size.

If you have any doubt about younger families fulltiming in RVs attend any of the Xscapers functions. You'll see plenty of full time families in RVs of all types. Their Annual Bash sells out the Lake Havasu City rodeo grounds every January. By night they party hearty, by day activities are more restrained so people can work at their jobs and the kids can home school. I went to the Bash a few years ago and they're a very enthusiastic bunch. One of their nighttime party venues centered around a Mad Max type vehicle with propane flame throwers and a killer sound system blasting heavy metal music. The next day it led the kid's parade sans flames, playing Sesame St. music for the kids. https://bash.xscapers.com/about-us/

Back during the CB craze of the '80s a friend and myself decided to try using CBs on a trip. We decided our "handles" would be our ham call signs. Nothing wrong with that, handles can be anything you want. You wouldn't believe the grief and downright rudeness we got from others on the band, ranging from suggestions that we were operating illegally to get the h*** off of our channels.

I bought one of those for my workshop - it's essentially a mini-split without the connecting cables. Works great. It's not a new concept, I had a similar one 40 years ago but it lacked the modern features like easy start, etc. 12k BTU was on sale for $310 at Costco just before the heat started. It's very quiet as the the compressor and fan noise are isolated outside by the window, or in my case an insulated panel I built to go in place of the window.

Many years ago when the bus length limit was changed from 40 ft. to 45 ft. industry pressure kept CA from likewise changing the RV licensing laws to accommodate the longer motorhomes and CA dealers were selling the overlength Class As to unsuspecting buyers. Then one day a RV was pulled over for another issue and the driver started mouthing off to the CHP officer. He decided to throw the book at the offender and one of the things he checked was the length of the RV, which exposed the practice of selling 45 ft. motorhomes in CA. A few dozen buyers had their registration cancelled so they couldn't legally drive their motorhomes. It took several months for corrective legislation to pass, also establishing the noncommercial Class A and B drivers licenses so people could get these and re-register their motorhomes.

I'm in Pahrump and when I moved here I was told by the local DMV office that I couldn't get a noncommercial Class A license unless I had a rig that needed it. I was looking at a diesel pusher in AZ that required the non commercial Class A drivers license. The catch is only a few DMV offices administer the driving part of the CDL tests, the one nearest to me is in North Las Vegas and I couldn't legally drive the rig there to take the test or back if I or the rig failed the test (one issue was the low air brake pressure warning light was inoperative). I'd have to hire a driver to get the motorhome to the DMV office to take the driving test. I decided this was more hassle than it was worth and decided to pass on that rig, getting one that weighed less than 26,000 lbs instead. Here's a link to Nevada's Nevada's Noncommercial Class A Study Guide. It says which DMV offices administer the driving tests but doesn't address how to get the RV there so you can take the test.

The requirement to keep a Class A isn't driving commercially, you can keep a commercial Class A if you're laid off or unemployed. The catch is keeping the medical certificate that accompanies the license current, i.e. having to take and pass a CDL medical exam every year after age 65. When I retired in CA I traded in my commercial Class A for a noncommercial Class A (the RV version) which only requires a self certified health statement when it's issued, not ongoing medical exams.

Good news, but does nothing to address the supply of lithium, the primary component in lithium phosphate batteries,

It's a myth that Starlink needs a clear view to the north. The reason Dishy orients itself in that direction in the contiguous 48 states is to minimize the chance that it's uplink will interfere with satellites in geosynchronous orbit over the equator. Starlink satellites can be anywhere in the sky including to the south of your location. The wider your view of the sky is in ALL directions the more satellites you have a chance of hitting.

If it's better to use less, then it must be best to not use it at all, right?

It's the oldest RV Forum on the net, started by Radio Shack TRS-80 guru Ed Juge. When Ed retired from Tandy in 1993, he bought a motorhome and was unable to find any online groups dedicated to RVing. So he created the RV Forum on the Compuserve Information Service, which used a text based format and lots of local access phone numbers that integrated well with the acoustic couplers and 300 baud modems travelers were using at that time. It migrated onto the open net several years later when Compuserve went from being text based to a graphic format with lots of embedded advertising. Users with hard wired connections had the luxury of up to 56Kbps service but travelers were still often limited to 300 or 1200 baud, which was too slow to support the new format. Ed fell ill in the late 1990s and he passed the Forum on to Tom Jones, who continued running it until he passed the baton to RV Life last year. Tom is still an active administrator on the Forum.

Caig used to have the slogan "The less you use, the better it works" until someone pointed out the ultimate result. In other words, don't go overboard on soaking everything with it.

Preferred doesn't give you rights to a specific lot - your membership only gives you the right to stay in the park.

He's been active on The RV Forum (www.rvforum.net).

Aren't these self-inflicted problems? The guy is complaining because 1) he's using the Home Internet outside of the Terms of Service (at multiple locations instead of just at the registered address) and it's not working as advertised. I presume the reason T-Mobile is doing a gradual rollout of their Home Internet is to ensure they have adequate 5G capacity at the registered address to support this kind of heavy use. 2) T-Mobile charged him for the modem when he attempted to return it after the 15 day trial period. Cell phones are the same way, no? You'll be charged for that "free" cell phone if you cancel service before the phone is amortized.

Another point is when you're backing, drive the trailer wheels to where you want them to end up. Don't aim the back end of the trailer as it will move back and forth as the trailer pivots over it's wheels. It's also easier to back into a space on the driver's side because you can see the trailer better than backing into a space on the passenger side.

Something to remember is any third party provider is at the mercy of the carrier actually providing the service. Putting aside any claims of impropriety, cell carriers have a long history of abruptly cutting off third party providers, usually when they become too successful and start using more data than the carrier anticipated. When this happens the third party company is SOL and unless they can line up another carrier they are unable to provide service to their customers. It happened to me 10 years ago before I retired - we were using Milennicom to provide data service to a dozen or so remote transmitter sites and had to find another source on short notice when Verizon cancelled Milennicom's master contract. (we wound up getting an educational discount package directly from Verizon since the station was owned by a college). As Chris Dunphy of Technomadia puts it, any third party plan works until it doesn't. As far as Nomad Internet's ad still appearing here, I think it's just another indication of the relative lack of attention Escapees gives to this forum.

That map shows the primary source of power in each state. Natural gas is Texas's primary source of electricity at 47% of it's total. 20% comes from coal, 10% from nuclear and 1% from solar. Wind power is tied with coal at 20%. This points out one of renewable energy's big drawbacks. Besides needing to keep conventional power plants spinning in hot standby to take over at a moment's notice - winds die down and clouds obstruct the sun - renewable energy needs lots of land to generate significant amounts of power. Such land may be available in Texas, but not in the more densely populated areas of the country where the majority of the electricity is used. https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/2020/august/ercot.php

Nor do mobile home parks in CA typically have vacant spaces due to the complexity and expense of moving the home. Usually mobile homes are sold in place and before the purchase is finalized the new owner has to be approved by the park before becoming a new resident.

You may call it a "bad" or "unfair" business practice but AB 1472 as presently written takes the wrong approach to the problem and will have exactly opposite the intended effect. I lived in an RV for over 10 years in several CA RV parks before I retired and I can tell you if a park can't reset the residency clock by doing the "shuffle" and letting someone come back under a new lease, all that will happen is parks will lock people out for the remainder of the year until the legal clock resets. The underlying issue is having someone obtain resident status after being in the park for 9 months as stated in CA Civil Code Section 799. This is what should be corrected, not adding a new section that prohibits resetting the residency clock while leaving the residential status intact. Gaining residential status greatly complicates removing a troublemaker's RV from the park, for causes including non-payment of rent. It drags the process out from a simple 1 day or 1 week written notice to a full blown court ordered eviction with at least 60 days written notice Meanwhile the resident gets to stay in the RV park while the process plays out. This is the same as evicting someone from a house or from an apartment. An RV is defined as something that provides short term, portable living quarters. It's much easier to re-locate an RV than getting the necessary permits to move a mobile home or packing up and moving someone's belongings out of a house or an apartment. If you make it illegal for RV parks to reset someone's status to occupant or tenant via the "shuffle" all that will happen is the parks will lock them out for the rest of the year until the legal clock resets. Many motels in CA already do this, capping their length of stay at 14 days to preserve their right to expeditiously get rid of troublemakers.