durangodon

1 hour ago, pemase said:

I read that EPDM, TPO and PVC exist.

1 hour ago, pemase said:

Could you tell me which membrane you recommend

I've had RV's with all three.  I prefer PVC.  It requires no maintenance except for washing.  It has two benefits over TPO, both of which are vinyl.  First, it is smooth surfaced and much easier to clean.  Second, it doesn't have the felt backing.  The felt backing on TPO will absorb and wick water  and hide the source if you do have a small leak and/or condensation point.

9 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Not sure what that means, if anything.

I think it means that a lot of people view this website without signing in unless they want to post.  It could also mean that there are a lot of search engine bots viewing these forums.

8 hours ago, Dawncoleman2008 said:

My Airstream has been winterized for several seasons. Yesterday I opened the LP valves to utilize the heater. In doing so, an oily substance blew out from the stovetop area. It was clear, but had an odd odor. I would say there was about 2 tbsp of oily liquid that was discharged. What is it, and is it dangerous? I closed the LP valves and did not light off the system as it worried me. Does anyone know what caused that oily liquid to blow out?

Don't be surprised if  you have to purge your propane lines and regulator.

Once, my Weber Baby Q grill quit lighting.  I found the problem to be that the grill's regulator was full of oil.  I tried shaking all the oil out of the regulator but that didn't work.  The grill was several years old so I figured it was just a long time accumulation and ordered a new regulator.

Installed the new regulator, fired up the grill and used it.  Next time I went to use it, it wouldn't light.  Long story shorter.  The bottle of propane I was using had an excess of oil in it.  I had to replace the regulator again, in addition to the hose from the 20 lb. bottle to the grill.  I also replaced that bottle.  Haven't had a problem since for several years.

1 hour ago, 2gypsies said:

Medicare does cover refractions and all costs associated with eye issues if checking or treating things such as macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetes, glaucoma, etc.

Yes, it's part of the diagnostic regimen.  They won't pay for refraction to prescribe glasses or contacts though.  I should have been more clear.  Thanks.

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

But it does not pay for the normal vision check used to prescribe glasses or the glasses themselves. At least it didn't for us and the supplement plan G doesn't either. 

That's what refraction is.

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Regular Medicare does pay for medical issues with eyes, but not for glasses and normal vision care.

Not exactly correct.  It does pay for normal vision care, just not for refraction.  You can go once a year and be dilated and have your eyes checked for health.  The exam includes looking for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other conditions.  I consider that normal vision care.

Although regular Medicare does not normally include eyeglasses, it will pay for eyeglasses following certain procedures, including cataract surgery.

8 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Don't supplements just pay the amount that Medicare doesn't cover (20%?) that otherwise would be paid by you?  Medicare Advantage plans pay the providers what ever amounts are included in the contracts the providers agreed to. Do supplements include any of the additional coverage that Medicare doesn't cover, like the annual physicals, eye care, hearing testing, dental coverage, and fitness programs that many Advantage plans include? I'm not arguing, just trying to understand why providers would prefer Medicare's fixed rates versus the negotiable rates that Advantage plans pay. With Medicare and a supplement, it seems they get paid the same with or without the supplement. What am I missing? 

I think you have a pretty good understanding.  I think the choice of Medicare type should probably be based on one's personal health, lifestyle, risk tolerance, and which plans are available to the individual. 

I'm not an authority on it, but I will point out a couple of things.  Regular Medicare does pay for eye care.  They don't pay for refraction, so doctors usually charge separate for that (I pay $45 for refraction when I want/need it).  I've been to the ophthalmologist an average of three times per year since I've been on Medicare and had multiple surgeries.  Medicare and my supplement paid for all of it, except for refraction.

I've also been to an ENT several times, one year for extensive testing, yearly for checkups and wax removal.  Never paid a cent for any of it.  Hearing tests were included.

I had open heart surgery under Medicare.  Bills came to over $450,000.  I didn't pay a cent.

I have seriously considered switching to an Advantage plan as my supplement premiums have risen over the years (now $159 month).  I have two reasons for hesitation.

The first is that my overall cost exposure would go up.  My maximum out of pocket costs right now are the total of my premiums.  The Advantage plans I've seen are somewhat higher.  The older I get, the closer these two seem to come together, though.

The second reason is all of the Advantage plans available to me have limited networks, usually based on my geography. I can see how this could be a problem for me.  For example, my brother is on an Advantage plan with an extensive medical group down in the Houston, TX area.  When he developed prostate cancer and needed daily treatments for two months, he had to drive 2 hours each way every day to a treatment center in his network.  He probably passed up twenty or more locations which could have done the treatment under regular Medicare and been much closer to home. 

In conclusion, I don't think there is any simple answer for most people.  That's why I highly recommend using someone who is trained and experienced in the field to help choose a plan.

After Kirk posted that link I went and read some of the reviews.  The first review and several afterward recommended the barbeque.  Anyone who thinks that is good barbeque has never eaten good barbeque.  It is cooked like a Yankee would cook it, roasted in an oven then saturated with barbeque sauce, just roast beef with sauce.  🙂  But, to each his own.

I've stayed at that campground a half dozen times or so.  Yes, the guy running the place is a jerk.  The sites are nothing special, the food is mediocre, and the prices are too high.  However, it was half way between here and there so I pulled in and stayed.  I knew going in what to expect, so I wasn't disappointed. 

I will say that I got Good Sam discount every time, don't know why you were refused unless they quit doing it and just continue to advertise that they do.

3 hours ago, usbusin said:

Climate has been changing since the beginning of time.

So has the population.  🙂

Declining sperm count?  Down from millions per event?  It only takes one.  There's 8 billion people in the world, we could use some downsizing.

9 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Since you are shopping used, look for a Lazy Daze or a Born Free or Bigfoot.

FTFY

57 minutes ago, Chad Heiser said:

I have one Mobley sim in a desktop LTE WiFi router at home and another one in an Insty connect WiFi router in my RV.  Both routers are on 24/7.  I have not noticed and speed issues with either of them and they are my only source of internet in either location.

I've had the Mobley account ever since they were first offered.  I never noticed any problems with it, stayed up and running continuously for days, weeks, months.  I never did any streaming.  When I would run a speed test, it was always around 10-15 Mbps and good enough for browsing.

About a year ago I tried streaming a movie and it kept buffering.  Speed test showed about 12 Mbps.  I rebooted the Nighthawk MR1100 that my Mobley sim is in.  Speeds went to 70 Mbps.  Went back to streaming, no problem.  I went to HoFo and read about people having to reset their modem in order to maintain usable speeds. https://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1894167-Stand-alone-AT-amp-T-Unlimited-ZTE-Mobley-Hotspot-now-only-20!!!!!

I started running periodic speed tests.  Sure enough, when I would reboot the modem, my speeds would triple or better and stay that way for a few hours before eventually slowing to 10 Mbps or below.  If I wasn't streaming occasionally, I may not even notice. 

I don't know if this is an intentional throttling, deprioritization or what.  Don't know why some people experience it, and others do not.  However, it is a common complaint.  Some people have dropped their Mobley service because of it.  It's not so bad that I can't live with it.  It takes about a minute to reboot.

8 hours ago, docj said:

In fact, IMHO the existing prohibition on mobile use is primarily to force users to purchase the expensive dish in order to have mobile capability/

If you'll look on the availability map for Starlink, you'll see that a large part of the USA in the Easter half is not even eligible for Starlink service yet.  Starlink has made it clear that mobile use is spotty, at best.  If, by mobile capability, you mean the ability to move about the country and set it up wherever, then they can't really offer that when they don't even offer service to a large part of the country.

If, by mobile capability, you mean in motion service, then that requires a more advanced and expensive dish and setup.

9 minutes ago, ogaddcb said:

The  ZTE Mobley AT&T car connect has been the primary  internet access tool for years now. I have the SIM card installed in the original ZTE box device. In the last few months, I have noticed a degradation of service  in that when I first fire up the device, I get the normal 10up/ 15-20 down.  After about 2 -3 hours of constant on but no activity on my parts the upload speeds stay the same around 10 but the downloads degrade to less than 2 mmps.  Connectivity is not lost but performance down load sufffers.  I can unplug the ZTE and plug it back in and the performance recovers. The ZTE is the original SIM card. Our home 20 is in Angelina County so I don’t think it is a traffic problem. Has anybody else noticed this situation.  

Yes, it's a quite common thing to see on howardforums.  I have to reset mine about every 3 or 4 hours.  Some people have speculated that if you are driving around (like it was intended to be used) and hitting different towers it doesn't do it.

2 hours ago, dragonfly said:

Do the insurance companies insuring Medicare members raise there rates every year like BC/BS did with my earlier non-Medicare plan I had with them?

When you go to Medicare.gov and look at plans available to you, each one will be listed with premium costs.  Out to the right side of each plan it will say whether the premiums are set or if they might go up.  Those with lifetime set premiums are higher cost initially usually.

Yep, needless deaths.  People have access to information and make choices, choices have consequences.  Choosing to not get the vaccine is no different than choosing to text while driving, use tobacco, drink alcohol, eat high fat or high sugar diets, not exercise, etc.  All of those things cause needless early deaths and are well publicized. 

The fact is we all die someday.  Until we do, we make choices.

9 hours ago, Jinx & Wayne said:

Just switched over to Visible two days ago. The switch was a nightmare. First I had no service. Go through the procedure again and I had text in and out but no phone. Two hours waiting to chat and an hour and a half of chat got me text both ways and outgoing calls. Another hour and a half browsing the internet for fixes finally got me both text and phone both ways. It is working well now. I hope it stays that way.

 

Wayne

I would say you were fortunate that it all worked out.  I was all set to port my number over to Visible until I started reading some of the reviews.  No way I was going to risk my phone number to a company with no decent support system.  Here's some examples https://www.trustpilot.com/review/visible.com

Verizon has really been pushing Visible lately, evidently with no increase in their customer service capability.

I'm sure that filling procedures vary from State to State.  Here's a quote from the following ARTICLE  which also reflects my understanding.  In the campgrounds I've had experience with, the bulk propane supplier furnished a certified scale as well as the bulk tank and maintained both to standards.

A good propane dealer will fill the tank on a scale to tare weight plus 20 lbs.  Tare weight should be about 17.5 lbs.  Then, once the tank has reached the 37.5 lbs, the dealer should charge by the gallon for what was pumped into the tank. 

Most dealers I've seen just charge a flat rate for a given tank size, but they still should fill the tank on a scale to proper weight.

Me neither.  https://dieseliq.com/dodge-ram-8-0-magnum-v10-engine-specs-info-reliability-problems/

11 hours ago, DJW said:

durangodon

A:  Because my wife of 54 years was on my @#$ about moving into a smart phone.

B:  I was told that my 50 year plus sons would communicate more and that the 3 grandchildren that I have in college would reply to grandpa's text faster than they would answer the phone.

😄  I had bought her a Iphone 12 128 GB and she thought I should have one

😧  I had cut back to 1 scotch a day and her pedicure account was now flush with cash.

 

Dennis

 

 

I hear you.

For what it's worth, you shouldn't have to put in a six digit code to answer a call on any phone.  If you do, then it needs to be set up differently.  On my iPhone, I just tell the thing to call Dennis and it does.  If Dennis calls me, I just answer it.  No entering codes or fingerprints or facial ID or anything, just push a button to answer.

Or, maybe you're just having some fun with us over it all.

1 hour ago, DJW said:

Rynosback

Yes that is correct my phone is unlocked and you know why because it is a $%^&ing phone.  I say hello and I say goodbye on it.  I am not married to this bitch it does not follow me around, it is not on my night stand when I go to sleep at night, I don't check it every 30 seconds to see if the world is still here.  I don't use it's maps to figure out where I am going.  I had a flip phone for 15 years but the battery keep falling out.  I had hoped to wait until 7 G came out but being 72 I did not figure I would live that long so I went for the 5 G.  There is nothing on my phone that someone could gain access to that I would not tell them if they asked.  So yes I would prefer not to be required to punch in a 6 digit code to use a device I paid over $800 for just because some other dip !@#$ programs their life into a $%^&ing phone.

Dennis

PS:  That was fun to wright.

I get it.  Did you try the procedure that I spelled out above to turn off Passcode?  I'm not sure if that would work for what you want to do.

I am curious.  Why would you buy one of the most expensive phones on the planet, if all you really wanted was a basic phone without all the smart features?  They still make flip phones for those who feel like you do.  To each his own.

I think because most incidents could be handled in well under 2 hours, not to mention a variety of other driving, training, and backing up another station, etc.  The vast majority of firefighter calls nowadays don't involve fires and don't involve long time periods.

I installed IOS16 Monday.  It did not go through a new setup.  I use fingerprint option to access my iPhone SE2.  Sometimes, it asks me for passcode to open phone if my fingerprint is messy, most times not.  For some things, you have to use passcode to make changes to your phone.  It's always been that way for iPhones.

Under Settings, Touch ID and Passcode you can Turn Passcode Off.  I don't know what that means, but I would never do it.  To get to that setting, you have to enter your passcode.

Less than 45% of US households have access to fiber.  Given that most campgrounds are not located in urban areas, I doubt that fiber is available to the vast majority.  In my dozen years of full time RV'ing, I don't remember staying in a campground that even had access to cable internet, much less fiber.

Unless I'm misunderstanding your proposal, I don't think it would be either a "slam dunk" or "not terribly expensive".

https://www.fiercetelecom.com/broadband/fba-report-43-us-households-now-have-access-fiber