Thomas Varghese

After a long time we meet again @Rob H

Good morning @Gaurav. As its Wednesday and I can add myself to the drive I have added myself for your drive.

Good morning @Srikumar. As its Wednesday today and i can add myself for my 2nd drive I have added myself.

Thanks @marks. I was not in the drive. I was there in the 3rd leg of the drive at night. Drove 4 hours to and fro to get @Shaaz Sha's car back in action.

Except the desert will have some antennas dispersed throughout the desert the idea is good. I remember having a magnetic mounted flag pole on my car. It was good for something like 20 drives and once I went down a step really hard I haven't seen the magnetic mount or my flag since then. Actually I think the present set up of having cheap radios suits me. If I didn't hear a transmission and needs to really understand it I will ask for a retransmission. Regarding SQL I had a conversation with @Frederic long time before and tried his recommendations but to be truthful none of these settings in Boefeng works and doesn't make much difference. The earphone for the radios works for me better than the speakers it comes with.

Tuesday today and keeping my fingers crossed to join.

Kindly excuse me if I made any suggestions for recovery. I won't be doing that unless called for as I'm not fit for that role.

@GauravSoni when I was hunting for a radio in the beginning I had come across a CB radio unit which looks like the one used by police cars for 600 AED. Don't remember the brand but I remember it was Japanese made. I had to buy a radio antenna also for the CB radio to work for 250 AED. I was too tempted but finally ran away from that place. The shop owner claimed it has a 100 km radius to transmit. After buying my Boafeng and playing with it and watching videos about these radios I came to the conclusion that it was good I ran away without buying that almost useless equipment for our purpose. We cannot transmit on police frequencies or listen to their transmission. In US there are radio stations which use these and you maybe able to relay to the outside world you are in distress and you need help. But over here I don't know anything about these facilities. Even though my Boafeng screams or misses out some parts of transmission its fine for me. In case I miss out any message because of static I can request the message to be relayed again.

I wish @Wrangeld will get the opportunity to teach you the famous blip blip, left right, forward reverse technique too. Its a very effective technique in self recovering from most stuck situations. He dedicated almost half an hour or more to teach me in a very horrendous situation and I'm really thankful to him for that. Its become standard operating procedure for me when stuck and have saved me so many times. The drawback is you will need a massager to get both your arms into workable condition.

I saw from the drives you have done, you have never gone with @Srikumar before. You have driven with Richard. The problem is the no of drives you have to do as a fewbie to get promoted to fewbie plus. Srikumar's is a newbie whereas Richard's drive is a fewbie. If I'm in your position I would choose the fewbie over newbie.

@Serafino, me having been with carnity for almost an year you are in a very difficult predicament. A fewbie drive with @Wrangeld is very tempting & exciting. Same is the case with @Srikumar' drives too. If I am in your situation I would raise my hands up to surrender not able to decide. If you wish to join @Wrangeld I believe he will accommodate you in consultation with @Alex Raptor. I would be glad to move to @Srikumar's drive if there is a spot opening up there. At my level it doesn't matter which level of drives I sign up for. One day you will also reach to that level. All the marshals of carnity are different but ultimately you learn to drive in the sand. That's what all this is about. Hoping to catch up with you soon in one of the future drives.

We have the discussion of damaged vehicles recovering from the desert. People have been asking about mechanics and their availability. What I found out is all this matters only to 25% or even less. We actually need friends who will stand with us until the vehicle is repaired and taken out. This is the most important factor when trying to recover a damaged vehicle from the desert. I emphasis on the word friends. Once you come out to tarmac and source the parts and get a mechanic how will you re enter the desert to the place where your car is abandoned? You cannot hire a taxi and go straight to the point where your car was left. You cannot walk with the spare parts and the mechanic with his tools to where your car is. I emphasized on the word friends before as we need at least 3 cars to safely reach to the place where the damaged car is. If you don't have friends all the exercise of sourcing the parts, the mechanic and tools are futile. This is the most important aspect in recovering a car from inside the desert. Plus at least one of this friend should know how to navigate himself and guide others to the place where the car was left and after repair have to make everybody exit out. I left the desert drive for 2 months from Carnity because the friends I could trust 100% left for vacation. Now as they are all back I gained the confidence and will to continue with desert drives. See you all soon in the sands.

@Wrangeld I didn't see anyone waitlisted. If you are talking about @Serafino he already signed up for @Srikumar's drive. Its another matter if he wants to come back and join.

i have a confirmed drive with @Ale Vallecchi on Saturday morning. Other than that its only W/L YES IF I'M CONFIRMED I WOULD LOVE TO JOIN. I HAVE W/L FOR @Srikumar drive too same day. 1 of it is fine with me

Please read @Wrangeld's reply. Everything is explained clearly.

I didn't say the static will go with the headphones. I only said u maybe able to hear more if you use the headphones rather than the speakers of the radio. The speakers provided for the radio add more woes than making you hear clearly as these speakers produce blurred sound. Cheap speakers.

Try using the headphones provided with the handset which will make it much easier to hear.

I put the comment here as I felt @Serafino is relatively new to the club and I didn't want him to show up on your drive early in the morning believing he is on the drive and creating a headache for you. When we are removed from a drive I think we don't get a notification. Plus as its now little chance to get on your drive I didn't want him to lose the chance to drive either, so I pointed out @Srikumar's drive. Forgot to mention that there is a spot on @Ale Vallecchi's drive too and almost same region. There are spots in @Gaurav's drive too in pink rock area which may be far for @Serafino.

SINGLE DRIVE REQUEST To prevent all drives from getting full on Sunday by multiple RSVP, we would like to request everyone to please RSVP ONE DRIVE (for the weekend: Friday and Saturday) initially and then RSVP your second or third drive from Wednesday onward, please. Sun - Tuesday - Limiting one drive per member (For the weekend drives: Friday and Saturday). Wednesday onward - RSVP on multiple drives are open. P.S. You can waitlist your name anytime for multiple drives too, like below. Example: Gaurav - Second drive waitlist. This was the notification in the whatsapp. That's why the doubt as this drive is on Thursday. Thanks for the clarification.

@Serafino you need to wait until all the WL candidates get a spot on this drive or you can join the newbie drive of @Srikumar which has spots open. Kindly do as you wish.

I have a drive with @Ale Vallecchi on saturday confirmed.

I want to add 2 aspects to this query raised by @varunmehndiratta. There are 2 situations when you have to leave your car inside the desert. 1. The vehicle is in movable condition and can be towed away. eg. My car broke down in the desert when the battery failed and the engine wouldn't crank even while trying to jump start. @Alex Raptor towed my car with his F 150 and brought it to tarmac. The only problem was as engine was not running all power assisted services stopped. But it was still towable with lots of muscle power. If he didn't tow my car I had to get out of desert, buy a new battery and bring it back inside the desert and recover the car. 2. The vehicle is in immovable condition and cannot be towed away until the mechanical failure is repaired. eg. My differential broke down as I forgot to switch it back to 4HI from 4L after getting unstuck from soft sand. There are 2 scenarios to this - the axle can get dislodged and the car is still drivable in 2HI. Unfortunately in my case the differential cover itself broke. The front wheel was jammed. Wouldn't move an inch. The only solution was to disengage the drive shaft and disengage the axle which is not possible with ordinary tools we carry during offroading. We had to bring in a mechanic. We brought him inside with the tools and did what was necessary and released the stuck wheel. In a 2nd time a friend's car had his engine belt broken as sand jammed the AC compressor. We brought in the mechanic again inside, released the jammed compressor, fixed new engine belt and drove back. The 3rd time which was the unfortunate incident which happened to @Shaaz Sha's car in Sweihan. The upper arm of the left wheel broke and rendered the car immovable. There was no way the car could be towed out. The only solution was to source the parts and get the arm replaced with a mechanic. We did just that. No man who loves his car would sleep when his car is abandoned inside the desert. Also I'm of the opinion that cars shouldn't be left inside for a long time as once the tracks are blown away by wind then it becomes difficult to relocate the car even with maps. Kindly note you don't have to leave your car and go home abandoning it in a desolate place when you have friends who will stand by you come what may until the driver drives out and goes home in his car under its power. If anyone in Carnity faces such a situation you can call my number 0552690503 any time and I will be there to assist. I will not lead you to the car and drive it out as I never had that training but will stand with you by sourcing the parts and a mechanic to get it out.

@Wrangeld if I get a spot on @Srikumar's drive at the same time you can drop me from the waitlist

congrats @Lawrence_Chehimi