FRIDAY - DECEMBER 29, 2006 - ISSUE NO. 242 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, I mentioned, a couple of weeks ago, that I had been interviewed by a reporter at The New York Times who was working on an article about Paging. He seemed like a nice fellow so I helped him with some industry statistics. I also took the opportunity to point out many of the things that we are doing to encourage the use of paging technology for critical messaging such as mass emergency alerting for natural disasters and terrorism. Well . . . the article was published on Wednesday and I was very disappointed. Although well written, it essentially says that paging's days are numbered, and it wont be long until it's all over. Most of us certainly do not agree with this assessment. I expect that several of our readers will be sending in opposing viewpoints for next week's newsletter. The complete article has been reproduced below. Please let me know what you think. I am happy to report all viewpoints here—pro and con. The Detroit News picked up The New York Times article and added the headline, “Pagers Nearing Extinction.” It was even carried by ZD Net India. Best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year. Now on to more news and views. |
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers—so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) |
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS |
Thank you for supporting AAPC in 2006, we look forward to working with you to promote your business in 2007! AAPC Places Representative on FCC Communications Panel The American Association of Paging Carriers greatly appreciates your participation and support. This has been a very productive year and AAPC has generated a tremendous amount of momentum in advancing the paging industry. With your participation, AAPC has provided a united front before the FCC to increase their knowledge of the reliability of paging communications during a crisis situation. After the 9/11 attacks and the failure of communications systems immediately following Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the FCC created an independent panel focused on improving communications. AAPC President, Bruce Deer, and USA Mobility’s president, Vince Kelly testified about the dependability of paging before this panel. The panel made several comments in its recommendations that included paging as a solution. In addition, as a result of the WARN Act, the FCC has established the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee. This committee’s purpose is to develop and recommend technical standards, and protocols to facilitate the voluntary transmission of emergency alerts by the Commercial Mobile Service (CMS) providers. AAPC is pleased to announce that Stephen Oshinsky, an AAPC board member, has been appointed to represent the interests of the paging industry on this panel. For those of you who do not know Stephen, he is Director of System Architecture for SkyTel Inc., a nationwide paging and narrowband personal communications service provider licensed under Parts 22 and 90 of the Commission’s rules. He also serves as Chairman of the Paging Technical Committee (PTC), a national engineering group dedicated to serving the technical needs of the paging industry. With Stephen’s appointment our industry will be represented at the national level as the committee works to develop an emergency alerting communications systems. This will hopefully prove to benefit all of us in this industry as well as the public at large. We will continue to keep our up-to-date on the committee’s activities as well as any other pertinent regulatory activities.
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To Send a Page, Press #, Then Hope It Still Works
By JAMES BARRON The patient was a pager. Remember pagers? They were the razzle-dazzle innovation that kept doctors tethered to patients, drug dealers tethered to customers, government officials tethered to underlings, reporters tethered to editors. In the 1980s and early 1990s, everybody carried them. They beeped. They chirped. Or, in what their manufacturers called their “silent” mode, they vibrated in pockets and purses, or clipped to belts.
Now try to find someone who has one. Beepers have become technological fossils, on the way to extinction in the world’s rush to cellphones and all-in-one devices that can handle e-mail messages and browse the Web. Beepers are a leftover from the days when a cellphone was a novelty the size of a brick with a battery that lasted minutes, not days. Cellphones were geeky, not glamorous. Mr. Shats, 52, rode the wave of pager technology up, and now he is riding it down. He has spent the last 19 years in a cluttered room with a meat-locker door and shiny metal walls that are covered in takeout menus and schematic circuit diagrams. His job is to repair pagers, to bring these relics of the early digital age back to life for the few who cling to them. He works for a company in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, called CPR Technology. The three letters once stood for Certified Pager Repair. Now the pager business is all but on life support, and the company makes more money retailing accessories for Nextel phones online and importing equipment that manufacturers can use to test electronics products before shipping them from the factory. But CPR Technology still repairs pagers, one of only a few companies in the New York metropolitan region to still do so. “There are a lot of people who will be using this until the end of time,” said the president of CPR Technology, Charlie Tepper, 46. Still, the numbers show that the end of time may not be far off. About 45 million pagers were in use nationwide in 1999. Now, the total is 7.4 million, down from 8.2 million a year ago, according to Brad Dye, a wireless messaging consultant who is editor and publisher of three newsletters including The Paging Information Resource. He says the average monthly paging bill is about $9, while CTIA — the Wireless Association, a trade group that represents cellular companies, says the comparable figure for a cellphone is $49.30. CTIA says there are 219.4 million cellphone subscribers. “It isn't that people didn’t like pagers,” Mr. Dye said. “It’s just that it was hard for the paging industry to compete with cellphones.” Once, pagers were a status symbol that demanded attention, their little screens displaying strings of numerals (although some pagers could also transmit letters). Was that a telephone number, or the primitive slang from the days before text messaging? Only the recipient knew whether a message was the code for “I love you” from a girlfriend or “the cops are coming” from a drug dealer’s lookout. Now pagers are a punch line on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” which featured a character who described himself as the “beeper king” after working his way to the top of a pager business. Another character said he could not give up his beeper because he was expecting a call from 1985. It is enough to make real-life beeper kings wince. But Robert G. Daigle, a vice president of Evalueserve, a research company that tracks communications trends, has a word for what has happened to pagers. “They’ve been disintermediated,” he said. “It’s a big fancy business term you use to talk about people who are no longer needed in business.” Nowadays the nation’s largest pager company is USA Mobility, which was born in 2004 in the merger of two smaller companies that had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001. A spokesman said USA Mobility now provides service to 4.2 million pagers nationwide. Hospitals continue to use pagers, in part because, unlike cellphones, pager signals reach into buildings without causing concern about interfering with medical equipment. Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, for example, provides more than 3,000 pagers to doctors, residents and interns. But Mount Sinai knows it will have to come up with an alternative before too long. “I think they will be a thing of the past in a couple of years,” said Eunice Davis, assistant director of telecommunications for Mount Sinai. “Not many companies make pagers.” Motorola, which dominated the market for pagers in its heyday, stopped making them in 2001. But that created opportunities for technicians like Mr. Shats and engineering entrepreneurs like Mr. Tepper. As Mr. Dye of The Paging Information Resource said: “The 40 million pagers that people quit using, they didn’t throw them all in the trash. A lot of those have been refurbished.” Which is what happens inside Mr. Shats’s little room, where patterns dance across his oscilloscope as he connects probes to troubleshoot an ailing pager. The metal walls keep out electronic interference, including pager signals, Mr. Shats explained. How old was the patient he was working on? His boss, Mr. Tepper, reached into a file and pulled out the manual for that model. “Copyright 1989,” he read. Some of the repair equipment Mr. Shats uses is older than that. Just outside the room is a row of computers that can be used to reconfigure the electronic code that gives a pager its identity. The computers are so old that they run MS-DOS, not Windows. Mr. Tepper talked about the days when he ran a company, MetroPage, which marketed Nynex paging equipment through retail stores. “The main clients were doctors, drug dealers and businessmen,” Mr. Tepper said. “We were behind a thick piece of plexiglass and had two dogs, a Rottweiler and a German shepherd.” There were threats, which Mr. Tepper remembers as “if my pager isn't on by the end of today, something’s going to happen.” Since then, he has diversified. “We would not be able to survive if we were only repairing pagers,” Mr. Tepper said. “Wouldn't be possible. In our heyday, we had around eight or nine people working on double shifts,” Mr. Tepper said. “At one point, we had three delivery cars, drivers with two-way radios. We’d be running around, picking up pagers to be repaired and connected. We’d be here till midnight, making sure these things were fixed and out the door the next day.” In the ’90s, Mr. Tepper and Mr. Shats took pagers apart and “reverse-engineered” their liquid-crystal displays, the windows that display the messages, so they could produce their own. Then Mr. Tepper found a factory in China to manufacture them. For several years, CPR Technology sold 300,000 to 400,000 such displays to other pager repairers, Mr. Tepper said. That branch of his business has fallen by 90 percent in the last couple of years, he said. But he became an importer for a South Korean company that makes equipment used to test newfangled devices like Treo 650 cellphones. These days he mostly leaves the repairs to Mr. Shats, who is not living the lonely life of a Maytag repairman. But things are not as exciting as, say, the time he opened a pager and discovered that it had become home to dozens of cockroaches. “I closed very fast,” he said, “and put tape around it to keep them from getting out.” |
Source: The New York Times
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IP Unity Enters Into Agreement To Acquire Glenayre Messaging
12/21/2006
Milpitas, CA and Atlanta, GA - IP Unity and Glenayre Messaging, a division of Glenayre Technologies, Inc. announced recently that the parties have entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement for the consolidation of the two entities. This purchase led by IP Unity investors, is subject to certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close within 30 days. The joining of these two companies is expected to create one of the market's largest independent suppliers of carrier-class, fully-featured, rich media messaging systems and advanced IP multimedia solutions to both incumbent and next generation wireline and wireless carriers.
The combined company will serve a diverse global customer base of over 2000 deployments for 300 wireline telco, cable, wireless and FMC service providers, large enterprises and public agencies, delivering a strong portfolio of rich media services from a single, IMS enabled carrier grade platform. The merged unified communications framework brings together messaging services and rich media distribution to users across disparate networks and devices. The company will offer an unrivaled portfolio of applications including voicemail, unified messaging, conferencing, SMS, MMS, text to speech, speech recognition, IVR voice portal, color ringback tones, prepaid billing, video portal, video conferencing, videomail and video gaming all built using open standards based technologies such as VoiceXML. The company will continue to invest in its powerful solutions partners and other third-party integrated applications.
"IP Unity has built a market-leading position in wireline, cable and fixed-mobile convergence deployments, while Glenayre has successfully penetrated the emerging wireless markets," stated IP Unity CEO and Chairman Arun Sobti. "The industry is at the stage when media rich applications are going to drive revenue and customer loyalty for our customers. With the core infrastructure poised for convergence, the combined company will have the optimal solutions for our combined customer base. We will have all the compelling competencies including scale, experience, partners, channels and innovation to support the largest and most demanding deployments worldwide."
The two companies currently have no customers in common and market their products in largely different geographies and networks. "Our products are well aligned. Together we'll deliver unparalleled value for any carrier investing in converged wireless/wireline services," added Bruce Bales, President of the Glenayre Messaging Division. "Convergence and IMS are about delivering uniform services regardless of networks and devices. The new company will deliver advanced services to our customers' legacy PSTN, next generation and 2G/3G wireless networks."
The new entity, to be known as IP Unity Glenayre, will have major locations in Atlanta, GA, Quincy, IL, Milpitas, CA, Amsterdam, Singapore and Bangalore, India. The company will continue to have multiple sales offices and support centers around the world.
Source: Digital Broadcasting.com
Wireless Messaging Software
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Daviscomms – Product Examples
For information about our Contract Manufacturing services or our Pager or Telemetry line, please call Bob Popow at 480-515-2344, or Susan Lunday at 870-424-0872 or visit our website www.daviscommsusa.com. E-mail addresses are posted there! |
NEWS FLASH
DON’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT SATELLITE OUTAGE Allow us to uplink your paging data to two separate satellites for complete redundancy! CVC owns and operates two separate earth stations and specializes in uplink services for paging carriers. Join our list of satisfied uplink customers.
For inquires please call or e-mail Stephan Suker at 800-696-6474 or steves@cvcpaging.com |
PageOne’s Text Messaging Solutions Available for British Army
Posted Dec 19, 2006
PageOne, a UK supplier of wireless SMS messaging technology and services, has announced that its two-way text messaging service will be run through ArmyNET, the Army's secure web portal.
ArmyNET offers operational servicemen and woman a secure, web based portal through which they can access non classified information anywhere they have internet access. Based on Open Source technology, ArmyNET allows soldiers to view payslips, unit movement orders, or to communicate with colleagues and family using career lifetime email and instant messaging accounts. Soldiers will be able to text each other and even their friends and family while away from home. The Army's Families Office is also looking at using the service from a welfare perspective, sending out text messaging to keep family members informed in the event of a Battalion being deployed on operations. The Families Office will then be able to keep families informed of what is happening before they see it on the news.
Source: EContentMag
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I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for WiPath Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. |
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Messaging & Cellular
www.ProductSupportServices.com Call Or E-mail For More Information |
Richard Lee Plessinger, 72, radio entrepreneur
Owned and operated stations locally and in Fla.
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | RGOODMAN@ENQUIRER.COM
As a teenager, Richard Lee Plessinger developed a two-way radio system, which he broadcast out of his parents' home in Oxford.
He went on to develop a paging system and ran several businesses that offered car phone service before cellular technology was developed.
He also bought several radio stations in Greater Cincinnati.
But Mr. Plessinger always dreamed of building and operating his own station, according to his son, Gary Plessinger of Hamilton. He did that after moving to St. George Island, Fla., about 18 years ago. He founded Oyster Radio in Eastpoint, Fla., which operates two stations - WOYS-FM (100.5) and WOYC-FM (106.5). He operated them until his death Dec. 19 of cancer at Hospice of Hamilton. He was 72.
The Plessinger Radio Group owned the old WCVG-AM (1320) in Covington, which was the country's first and only all-Elvis station. It was sold this year to Davidson Media Group for $1.9 million.
Mr. Plessinger also owned WAXZ-FM (97.7) and WAOL-FM (99.5), both in Brown County, and the old WJOJ-FM (107.1) in Milford, which is now KISS-FM. All of those stations were sold before his death.
Born in Union County, Ind., he spent most of his life in Hanover Township, just north of Hamilton.
He worked as an engineer at WMOH-AM (1450) in Hamilton for a number of years before starting a business that serviced two-way radios in Butler County. He developed a paging system in the early 1970s and installed and serviced car phones.
Mr. Plessinger owned Kentucky Communications, a paging and mobile phone service provider in Covington, Miami Valley Radio Telephone in Hamilton, and Beep Alert in Richmond, Ind.
In addition to his son, Gary, survivors include his wife, Clair; two other sons, Rick of East Point, Fla., and Scott of Hamilton; a daughter, Kim Reffitt of Oxford; a sister, Wilma Burgess of Dunnellon, Fla.; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
Services have been held. Burial was in Rose Hill Burial Park in Hamilton.
Memorials: American Cancer Society, 2808 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45206, or Hospice of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 633597, Cincinnati, OH 45263-3597.
Source: THE ENQUIRER Cincinati.com
GTES has recently made the strategic decision to expanding its development activities to include wireless location technologies; a market that researchers forecast could reach $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ a complete one-stop wireless location service, providing the flexibility of being protocol neutral and network agnostic. Targeted at business customers who need to track their high-value shipments or better manage their service or delivery fleets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that combines configuration flexibility with ease of use. GTES is offering SHERLOC™ services both directly and through authorized resellers. If your company has an interest in finding out how location services can enhance your revenue stream, and has the contacts and expertise to make you successful in the location marketplace, please contact us for further information at www.sherlocgps.com and select “Reseller Opportunities,” or call us at 770-754-1666 for more information. www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the Paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. Continued Support Programs CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
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Registration Number | Status | File Number | Owner Name | Latitude Longitude | Structure City/State | Overall Height Above Ground (AGL) | |
1 | 1050903 | Constructed | A0382848 | CSSI* | 32-16-09.0N 098-18-52.0W | Lingleville, TX map | 93.0 |
2 | 1050905 | Constructed | A0446642 | CSSI* | 32-49-04.8N 098-06-13.3W | Mineral Wells, TX map | 24.8 |
3 | 1056264 | Constructed | A0446643 | CSSI* | 32-58-33.0N 097-56-33.0W | Whitt, TX map | 92.4 |
4 | 1057649 | Constructed | A0382852 | CSSI* | 32-20-33.0N 097-44-57.0W | Glen Rose, TX map | 60.9 |
5 | 1057656 | Constructed | A0446641 | CSSI* | 32-18-08.0N 098-29-36.0W | Desmona, TX map | 83.2 |
6 | 1057659 | Constructed | A0382844 | CSSI* | 32-21-23.0N 099-26-01.0W | Baird, TX map | 89.3 |
7 | 1232880 | Constructed | A0317614 | CSSI* | 32-51-05.0N 098-06-31.8W | Mineral Wells, TX map | 134.0 |
8 | 1042515 | Constructed | A0050114 | CSSI* | 32-44-21.0N 097-48-00.0W | Weatherford, TX map map—close up | 112.8 |
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Federal agency dashes longtime tradition
Federal agency removes longtime Morse Code condition
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, December 26, 2006
By MICHAEL FISHER
The Press-Enterprise
Dot. Dot. Dot. Dash. Dash. Dash. Dot. Dot. Dot.
![]() William Wilson Lewis III / The Press-Enterprise |
Bob Wade, president-elect of the Riverside County Amateur Radio Club, says he prefers using Morse Code but admits the federal decision eliminating a basic knowledge of Morse Code for amateur radio users could stimulate interest among younger people. |
In Morse Code, it means SOS, and it's an appropriate message for the archaic communication system that is fading into the electronic haze 170 years after its creation.
Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission eliminated a requirement that amateur radio users show a basic understanding of Morse Code before they are issued an FCC license. The decision, expected to take effect in early 2007, has rankled some longtime home amateur radio enthusiasts, and left the future fuzzy for the venerable Morse Code, already abandoned by the military.
Invented by Samuel Morse in 1836, Morse Code uses a combination of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The code can be transmitted as electrical pulses zapped along a telegraph wire, as long and short audio tones on a radio or with flashing lights.
"A lot of old timers cut their eyeteeth on Morse Code and hate to see it go away," said Bob Wade, president-elect of the Riverside County Amateur Radio Club. "It's outdated and a lot of the new people wanting to get into amateur radio claim that it's a real hurdle for them."
FCC officials said the change will make it easier for some would-be enthusiasts to get involved in amateur radio, also known as ham radio, to communicate with others across the nation or the world. There are about 680,000 ham-radio operators in the United States, mostly in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Ohio. Ken Nelson, with the Coachella Valley Amateur Radio Club, applauds the move.
"It's pretty much a dying thing," the Whitewater retiree said, adding that the world has "just kind of gotten away from Morse Code."
"A lot of old timers cut their eyeteeth on Morse Code and hate to see it go away," says Bob Wade, of the Riverside County Amateur Radio Club.
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Wade, who prefers tapping out Morse Code instead of talking when prowling the airwaves, said he hopes the FCC decision will increase interest in the hobby. |
"I guess it's progress," Wade said. "If this makes amateur radio more desirable to younger people, then so be it. A lot of ham radio operators are getting old, and if we don't get a lot of new people coming in, the whole hobby is going to die off."
The death knell for Morse Code began chiming more loudly in 1999, when improvements in radio and global positioning satellite systems led the U.S. Coast Guard to stop monitoring the Morse Code maritime distress frequency, enthusiasts said. The Coast Guard later dropped the requirement for Morse Code proficiency on its ships.
Amateur radio provided a last venue for Morse Code use, and that world now looks to be shrinking given the FCC decision, explained Roger Reinke, secretary-treasurer for the Morse Telegraph Club Inc., whose 1,600 members hail from across the United States and Canada.
The Virginia man said, demographically, it's mostly older men and women who are versed in Morse Code, from ham radio operators to retired railroad company and telegraph workers.
"In a sense, it's the beginning of the end," Reinke said. "In another 15 or 20 years, I'm not sure how many people will be proficient with, or comfortable with, or interested in using (Morse) code."
Reinke described a bit of sadness among telegraph aficionados with the slow passing of Morse Code, as did Wade.
"I suspect there are going to be some hams that even if they don't know Morse Code, they will want to learn it just to learn it. But, I'm sure the numbers will decline as the old ham radio operators die off," Wade said.
While considered a hobby, amateur radio is often relied upon for emergency communications when conventional communication systems are damaged or fail during national disasters or a crisis. Ham radio volunteers helped coordinate disaster relief after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and during Hurricane Katrina last year.
Wade, a station manager for the Riverside County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, said the county's Emergency Operations Center does not have Morse Code capabilities.
Reach Michael Fisher at 951-368-9470 or mfisher@PE.com
Source: PE.com
We at Unication have listened and delivered.
About Unication Co., Ltd.
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FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
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Update: New City Parking System Test
Dec 5, 2006 05:53 AM
How many times have you parked at a meter and didn't have enough change? Well, that could soon be a thing of the past. The City of Lansing is testing out a new hi-tech device that would allow drivers to leave their change in the car.
It's a common sight near parking meters- drivers searching their cars, their pockets, anywhere for loose change.
Russ Sanders, parks downtown: "You never have change when you need it."
Todd Callaway, parks downtown: "It can be a real pain in the neck. I'm constantly getting tickets just because I never have enough change on me."
But instead of saving all their loose change, drivers may now have the option of paying for their meter with their cell phone. Drivers buy a pager and leave it on their dashboard. They get meter time by calling a toll-free number and using their credit card, and the pager records the purchase.
Andrew Kilpatrick, City of Lansing Transportation Engineer: "For people with cell phones, this will be easy to pull up, call this number, pay for their parking. If they're late in a meeting, they can call back and add time right from wherever they are."
The city is looking for feedback from volunteers who will test the device for the next three months.
Andrew Kilpatrick: "We wanna get as broad a cross section of users downtown as possible."
If enough of them like it, the city will make it available to the general public, helping drivers get an edge in the race against time.
Source: WLNS News Lansing, Michigan
• FIREHOUSES • SCHOOLS • PUBLIC FACILITIES • GOVERNMENT FACILITIES • EMERGENCY ROOMS • WHAT DO FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES, WISPS, HAVE IN COMMON? THEY ALL USE NIGHTHAWK. Nighthawk Systems Inc. manufactures low cost and reliable remote control products for fire house alerting, volunteer alerting, activation of warning signs and sirens, and a number of applications for public safety. The Company manufactures the EA1 and the FAS-8 which have been designed specifically for these applications. Both products are paging based and will work with any public or private paging network. They are available in all VHF, UHF, and 900 MHz paging frequencies. The products can serve as the primary notification system or an excellent, low-cost backup to existing systems.
The EA1 is the solution for remotely activating public warning signage. Examples include tornado sirens, flash flood warnings, fire danger, Amber Alert, icy roads, etc. The EA1 can also send text messages to scrolling signs. This can occur in conjunction with the activation of audible alarms and visual strobes. This is ideal for public notification in buildings, schools, hotels, factories, etc. The group call feature allows for any number of signs or flashing lights to be activated at the same time over a wide geographic area. In addition, the EA1 Emergency Alert is the perfect solution for low cost yet highly effective alerting of volunteer fire fighters in their home. When activated the EA1 will emit an audible alarm and activate the power outlet on the units faceplate. A common setup is to simply place the EA1 on a table and plug a lamp into the faceplate. When paged from dispatch or any touch tone phone the EA1 will awaken the fire fighter to a lit room. As an option the EA1 can be ordered with a serial cable, allowing for attachment of a serial printer. When paged the alphanumeric message will be printed out at the same time the alarm sounds and the outlet is activated. The EA1 is an ideal complement to alphanumeric belt pagers common to volunteers.
The FAS-8 is designed for activating one or more relays in a firehouse and if desired, printing the alphanumeric message to a serial printer. For this application the FAS-8 is set to activate upon receiving the proper paging cap code sent from 911 dispatch. Up to eight different devices can be activated all with individual time functions. The most common devices to turn on include the PA amplifier, audible wake up alarm, and house lights. The most common device turned off is the stove. The FAS-8 can accept up to 8 different cap codes and have separate relay and time functions per cap code. This allows for different alerting to be accomplished at the same physical location depending upon which cap code is sent. This can be very helpful when fire crews and medical crews are housed in the same building.
Put the innovative technology of Nighthawk to work for you. For more information on any of our products or services, please contact us. Nighthawk Systems, Inc. Phone: 877-764-4484 |
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DANIELS™ ELECTRONICS LTD.
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Please click here to e-mail Ayrewave. | SATELLITE CONTROL FOR PAGING SYSTEMS $500.00 FLAT RATE TAPS—Texas Association of Paging Services is looking for partners on 152.480 MHz. Our association currently uses Echostar, formerly Spacecom, for distribution of our data and a large percentage of our members use the satellite to key their TXs. We have a CommOneSystems Gateway at the uplink in Chicago with a back-up running 24/7. Our paging coverage area on 152.480 MHz currently encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Kansas. The TAPS paging coverage is available to members of our Network on 152.480 MHz for $.005 a transmitter (per capcode per month), broken down by state or regions of states and members receive a credit towards their bill for each transmitter which they provide to our coverage. Members are able to use the satellite for their own use If you are on 152.480 MHz or just need a satellite for keying your own TXs on your frequency we have the solution for you. TAPS will provide the gateways in Chicago, with Internet backbone and bandwidth on our satellite channel for $ 500.00 (for your system) a month. Contact Ted Gaetjen @ 1-800-460-7243 or tedasap@asapchoice.com |
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
From: martyh@videotron.ca
Subject: Radio Operator for Sixty Years
Date: December 22, 2006 5:18:07 PM CST
To: brad@braddye.com
BTW, BRAD, I was licensed by DOT, (Dept. of Transport) in 1946. The examiner and issuer of document was GEORGE PICARD, now deceased, who was the radio operator on the CALIFORNIAN who went to the aid of the TITANIC. AT that time RADIO was an "ad-on" and was not monitored 24 hrs a day. But "SPARKS" as he was known here, always played around with the radio on cw, and heard the "CQD" and begged the captain to change direction which they did but after 2 hours the CAPTAIN decided to resume his trip!!! SPARKS was a wonderful man who examined me and gave me my license 60 years ago!!
Marty
Marty Hornstein VE2MH
martyh@videotron.ca
UNTIL NEXT WEEK |
That's all for this week. Please accept my best wishes for a Happy New Year.
With best regards, | Brad Dye P.O. Box 13283 | ![]() | ![]() | |||
Skype: | braddye | WIRELESS ![]() MESSAGING | ||||
Telephone: | +1-217-787-2346 | |||||
E–mail: | brad@braddye.com | |||||
Web: | Consulting page ![]() | |||||
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