"Oki": 4x4tographer's 2018 Jeep JLUR

[4x4tographer 2,923]

The fam and I took a little spur of the moment trip up to Sedona yesterday to get out of town for a bit. We ended up running through Broken Arrow, as @Yodamom hadn't see it yet, and I think it's frankly one of the biggest bang for your buck trails in the area.

 

I love living in the north valley as that puts places like Sedona just 1.5 hours of our driveway and makes for an easy getaway whenever we want a dramatic change of scenery. ❤️ 

 

A few photos just as we entered the trail and aired down.

 

Submarine rock is my absolute favorite part of this trail. I could spend most of my day hanging out there. When there are no vehicles around and the tourists quiet down, its amazing how quiet this large of an open space really is.

 

Chicken Point always has some pretty dramatic scenery.

 

A little flexing just before Devil's Staircase

 

Here's the staircase itself. 

 

The girls hanging out with the Jeep at Chicken Point.

 

Brynna really wanted a photo with one of the Pink Jeeps  since "her room is pink and he pants are pink and pink is her favorite color". She's also let me know that she wants her own pink Jeep when she's old enough to drive. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by 4x4tographer

[Stacey and Scott 1,228]

We ran Broken Arrow last year for the first time at 2am, the night sky was amazing.

[4x4tographer 2,923]

Finally got a chance to get some air time in with the new Midland MXT275 GMRS radio. I have to say - I'm hooked. I was out looking up repeaters, joining some local and national networks, and listening in to a Wednesday night "radio net" with the AZ GMRS Repeater Club.

 

Like, a serious, 5-alarm, full-blown nerd alert. 🤓  I actually had a serious fleeting thought about setting up my own repeater in the attic, but I came back down to reality. Then I saw this portable 5 watt repeater and about had a nerdgasm. 

 

 

In using the Midland, I'm getting the hang of using it, and have fallen in love with the "scan" feature. It basically will cycle through every available channel until it picks up a transmission. It will stick to that channel through the transmission and wait 3 seconds before resuming the scan. 

 

On our drive to/from Sedona last weekend I got to listen in on several new GMRS users testing their equipment with some other folks, doing radio checks. There was some fun rag chewing to listen in on as well. 

 

So far, the system appears to be working flawlessly, at least for receiving transmissions. I haven't attempted connected with anyone yet personally, though I did do a few successful test transmissions to my Baofeng handheld ham. To date, I've been rocking the 6dB gain 32" MXTA26 antenna. I want to try to hit the repeaters located at the White Tank Mountains (20miles) or Towers Mountain at Crown King (32 miles) to see if I can.

 

 

In looking for a better way to mount up the mic (I used to use a retractable lead which left the mic swinging everywhere) I stumbled across this magnetic mic (not to be confused with Magic Mike). It has a pretty crazy strong magnet that securely holds the handheld in place. I mounted it up to my overhead molle panel and am really happy with the location. Right within reach, and it doesn't shake around or wobble everywhere like the old lanyard did.

 

 

Here's a shot of the mic sitting nice and flat.

 

 

 

Since I've been getting out on the trails more and more often @Yodamom sort of pushed me into getting a tracking device for her husband. Strange request, right? 😅 After looking at what some of the ORP members are using, and at a lot of reviews, we settled on the SPOT X 2-way messenger with Bluetooth. SPOT was running a pretty decent deal of $50 off after the holidays which helped to bring down the price to a more palatable level. Its looking like the price went back up, so I'm glad I saw that deal when I did.

 

I'm still getting the hang of it, but was able to successfully get it activated and synced up. Sent my first test "check in" yesterday and 2-way message with Michelle, which was awesome to see work. 

 

For anyone unfamiliar with it, it offers a pretty crazy array of features that work anywhere in the world with line of sight to a GPS satellite constellation. Big selling points for us were the tracking options, check ins, 2-way messaging, and the SOS feature for those doomsday scenarios. It also comes with an internal rechargable li-ion good for 10 days of tracking at 10min intervals, which I think is plenty.

 

On the negatives list, however, the unit is a little counter-intuitive to use. It'll take some practice to get used to using it, but I was left scratching my head on a few of the features. Needed to do a little more intensive reading to figure out how certain things work, or the reasons you'd use them. The admin side of the website also feels like something out of the 90s. My last complaint is that the keyboard isn't easy to use, especially if you have fat fingers. I think this has something to do with the dust proofing they've done, but its not a big deal since you can pair it to your phone and just hammer out a message that way.

 

 

Here's a shot of the SPOT X on the dashboard (please excuse the Sedona dust and fingerprints!). Everything is mated up nicely to my 67Designs rail system. I picked up a new carbon fiber arm for it with a RAM ball "DAM Adapter" which converts the 67D arm from a 20mm ball to a standard 1" ball that RAM uses. This now supports the SPOT X.

 

[Yodamom 74]

@4x4tographer 

[shellback91 1,851]

27 minutes ago, 4x4tographer said:

Finally got a chance to get some air time in with the new Midland MXT275 GMRS radio. I have to say - I'm hooked. I was out looking up repeaters, joining some local and national networks, and listening in to a Wednesday night "radio net" with the AZ GMRS Repeater Club.

 

Like, a serious, 5-alarm, full-blown nerd alert. 🤓  I actually had a serious fleeting thought about setting up my own repeater in the attic, but I came back down to reality. Then I saw this portable 5 watt repeater and about had a nerdgasm. 

 

 

In using the Midland, I'm getting the hang of using it, and have fallen in love with the "scan" feature. It basically will cycle through every available channel until it picks up a transmission. It will stick to that channel through the transmission and wait 3 seconds before resuming the scan. 

 

On our drive to/from Sedona last weekend I got to listen in on several new GMRS users testing their equipment with some other folks, doing radio checks. There was some fun rag chewing to listen in on as well. 

 

So far, the system appears to be working flawlessly, at least for receiving transmissions. I haven't attempted connected with anyone yet personally, though I did do a few successful test transmissions to my Baofeng handheld ham. To date, I've been rocking the 6dB gain 32" MXTA26 antenna. I want to try to hit the repeaters located at the White Tank Mountains (20miles) or Towers Mountain at Crown King (32 miles) to see if I can.

 

 

In looking for a better way to mount up the mic (I used to use a retractable lead which left the mic swinging everywhere) I stumbled across this magnetic mic (not to be confused with Magic Mike). It has a pretty crazy strong magnet that securely holds the handheld in place. I mounted it up to my overhead molle panel and am really happy with the location. Right within reach, and it doesn't shake around or wobble everywhere like the old lanyard did.

 

 

Here's a shot of the mic sitting nice and flat.

 

 

 

Since I've been getting out on the trails more and more often @Yodamom sort of pushed me into getting a tracking device for her husband. Strange request, right? 😅 After looking at what some of the ORP members are using, and at a lot of reviews, we settled on the SPOT X 2-way messenger with Bluetooth. SPOT was running a pretty decent deal of $50 off after the holidays which helped to bring down the price to a more palatable level. Its looking like the price went back up, so I'm glad I saw that deal when I did.

 

I'm still getting the hang of it, but was able to successfully get it activated and synced up. Sent my first test "check in" yesterday and 2-way message with Michelle, which was awesome to see work. 

 

For anyone unfamiliar with it, it offers a pretty crazy array of features that work anywhere in the world with line of sight to a GPS satellite constellation. Big selling points for us were the tracking options, check ins, 2-way messaging, and the SOS feature for those doomsday scenarios. It also comes with an internal rechargable li-ion good for 10 days of tracking at 10min intervals, which I think is plenty.

 

On the negatives list, however, the unit is a little counter-intuitive to use. It'll take some practice to get used to using it, but I was left scratching my head on a few of the features. Needed to do a little more intensive reading to figure out how certain things work, or the reasons you'd use them. The admin side of the website also feels like something out of the 90s. My last complaint is that the keyboard isn't easy to use, especially if you have fat fingers. I think this has something to do with the dust proofing they've done, but its not a big deal since you can pair it to your phone and just hammer out a message that way.

 

 

Here's a shot of the SPOT X on the dashboard (please excuse the Sedona dust and fingerprints!). Everything is mated up nicely to my 67Designs rail system. I picked up a new carbon fiber arm for it with a RAM ball "DAM Adapter" which converts the 67D arm from a 20mm ball to a standard 1" ball that RAM uses. This now supports the SPOT X.

 

My rig is getting jealous and my wallet is starting to cry watching these builds! 🤣 But seriously, those are some great gets. After I get my navigation set up ironed out (and some maintenance done) something like a Spot X is on my radar. Maybe I can find something gently used somewhere along the way this year.

[4x4tographer 2,923]

 

6/7ths of my lift kit have arrived! The front adjustable track bar is so excited it tried to open itself early!

 

Hopefully the final box will be here in a week or so. Currently sitting on a pile of parts to install. The "Era of Amazon" has really diminished (unfairly) my ability to suppress my impatience. 😅

 

[johnpa 799]

Sounds like a wrenching party is in order. 

[theksmith 4,143]

2 hours ago, 4x4tographer said:

6/7ths of my lift kit have arrived! The front adjustable track bar is so excited it tried to open itself early!

 

Hopefully the final box will be here in a week or so.

 

that last box is probably just extra bolts and the instructions - not really needed. let's start taking things apart!

[4x4tographer 2,923]

1 minute ago, theksmith said:

 

that last box is probably just extra bolts and the instructions - not really needed. let's start taking things apart!

 

Unfortunately that box has both the front upper/lower control arms 🙄. I got an email from Clayton this morning saying it'll ship on Wednesday though!

 

Not sure how practical it is to get started without them. Whatcha think? Could get a sweet rake going with a lifted rear! 😄

[theksmith 4,143]

2 minutes ago, 4x4tographer said:

 

Unfortunately that box has both the front upper/lower control arms 🙄. I got an email from Clayton this morning saying it'll ship on Wednesday though!

 

Not sure how practical it is to get started without them. Whatcha think? Could get a sweet rake going with a lifted rear! 😄

 

i just kiddin - don't start till you've gotten every box and opened them and verified every single little piece is actually there!