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NO POLITICS HERE This doesn't mean that nothing is ever published here that mentions a US political party—it just means that the editorial policy of this newsletter is to remain neutral on all political issues. We don't take sides.
A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is 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 web. 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 Messaging 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 readers’ comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging 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. I spend the whole week searching the INTERNET for news that I think may be of interest to you — so you won’t have to. This newsletter is an aggregator — a service that aggregates news from other news sources. You can help our community by sharing any interesting news that you find.
Editorial Opinion pi eces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any of advertisers or supporters. This newsletter is independent of any trade association. I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings, but I do freely express my own opinions. |
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There is not a lot of news about Paging these days but when anything significant comes out, you will probably see it here. I also cover text messaging to other devices and various articles about related technology. |
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—Workbench—Repairing an ice-damaged antennaSteel washer beefs up connection
If you’re evaluating low-power FM antennas, consultant Frank Hertel discourages the use of models that have “flat strap stingers,” the stainless steel metal straps that run from the feed point to the individual radiating elements. He says this is a concern particularly in an icy winter environment. One of Frank’s clients had the dilemma pictured in in the top photo. following an ice and wind storm. Note the broken strap. The problem presented as high VSWR. The antenna was 400 feet up the tower (which meant an $800 climbing fee at $2 per foot, even before any work is done). Evaluation of a different bay also showed the strap pulling free from the feed point because there was no flat washer. A different model that Frank has seen uses round stock with flattened ends for the feeder elements. He finds that design to be more robust and not subject to flapping around in the wind. The third photo shows Frank’s suggested fix for the broken strap: a stainless steel “fender” washer drilled using a Dremel or similar brand tool to provide slots wide enough to secure the strap when it is tightened. Fig. 4 shows how the strap can be routed through the slots, then sandwiched between the base washer and the top fender washer as in Fig. 5. Frank qualifies this “flat strap stinger” design as a “fair weather” model. Undesirable DXingI turned on the radio here in South Carolina the other day and a new FM station appeared clear as day, wiping out my local broadcaster. After listening for a couple minutes, I realized the signal was coming from Florida. Tropospheric ducting occurs when a temperature inversion in the lowest layer of the atmosphere permits FM and TV signals to travel much farther than normal. Hot, muggy summertime weather usually increases the ducting. But the effect can happen any time of the year, as I found out. What drives PDs and engineers crazy is that the ducting effect can occur for hours or even days — and there’s no solution. Share your own experiences of this phenomenon. Programming insightsA good many readers of Workbench are current or former jocks, programmers or operations directors. Even for those who haven’t programmed a station, discovering new ways to gain listenership can be a fascinating study. Programming consultant Gary Berkowitz knows adult contemporary music. He’s been a major-market air talent, programmer and consultant. (Like me, Gary is also a jingle nut. Google his interview with Jon Wolfert of JAM Productions on YouTube.) As a service to the industry, Gary publishes AC Programming Today, a periodic e-newletter that’s free upon request. The most recent issue discusses cumulative audience — universally called cume — and TSL, or time spent listening. Gary explains you can’t have TSL without cume. It’s a quarter-hour game, and the station with the most quarter-hours is the winner. Holding the audience for at least five minutes in a quarter hour is the goal. Fascinating, even for engineers. Even if your format is something other than AC, you’ll find Gary’s newsletter informative. Sign up for your newsletter at https://garyberk.com/newsletter. You’ll blow the minds of your GM and PD at the next managers meeting when you start talking about cume and TSL instead of chips and modules. Hey, sunny …When Frank Hertel sent his antenna fix discussed at the beginning of this column, he included a note about increased sunspot activity. Sunspots are bursts of electrically charged energy that can interfere with other electromagnetic waves. Pops or bursts of noise or hissing are common to sunspot activity. Frank noted that we are three years from the next peak of sunspot activity in 2025. The sun activity then will yield increased sessions of interference on a daily basis, but there are estimates that there’s potential for more interference than normal this year, too. Typical interference begins in late spring and runs through early December. It can also affect satellite reception. It’s wise to be aware of this phenomenon. |
| Source: | radioworld.com | March 16 2022 |
| Leavitt Communications |
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Apple is getting serious about smart rings
Apple is still not making wedding rings that spy on your spouse, but it is continuing to research specific uses of "finger-wearable input assemblies." Similar to Genki's Wave for Work, an Apple ring would. have multiple controls Aside from when a 15-year-old joke about wedding spy rings did the rounds recently, there has been little about Apple working on smart rings. Meanwhile, Oura has been adding heart rate tracking to its smart rings, and Genki has a Wave for Work ring that controls presentations. Now a newly-revealed patent shows just how detailed Apple's thinking about smart rings has been. "Finger-wearable input assembly for controlling an electronic device," is concerned as much with literally how a user's finger might fit into one, as it is what they could use it for. It also only uses the word "ring," in any context, five times. The phrase "input assembly" is included almost 250 times. That's because once one finger is wearing the device, the patent's attention is on how it can receive input. And it's because in some configurations, the device the patent proposes is less a ring, more a fingertip unit, with a closed front end. "When an input assembly is provided with a rear open end...," says the patent, "the input assembly may be translated along a longitudinal axis of a user's wearing finger... between a first position for active functional use by the user... and a second position for passive storage or holding." Some drawings in the patent show a fingertip device. But most options described have the device at "a position at which the rear open end surrounds the user's wearing finger between the second and third knuckles (e.g., a position where a typical decorative ring may be worn)." Where there are rings that already work by providing providing physical buttons, Apple believes they are, "often inefficient and/or ineffective and they often limit the ways by which a user may interact with an input assembly to generate particular user control signals." So what Apple proposes is a ring - sorry, input assembly - that includes ways to detect and respond to both multiple gestures, and multiple fingers. "As an example," says the patent, "an input assembly for controlling an electronic device may be provided that [receives] a first digit of a user's hand for wearing the input assembly." "[Then it detects] a first touch event by a second digit of the user's hand when the input assembly is worn by the first digit," continues the patent, "[and] a second touch event by a third digit of the user's hand when the input assembly is worn by the first digit." In other words, once you've got the ring on, there will be controls that respond to some input from your other fingers. For instance, a side button might be reached and tapped by your thumb on that same hand, or you could swipe across a control using a finger of your other hand. This new patent is just the latest in a long list of them, stretching back to its first smart ring patent in 2015. |
| Source: | AppleInsider |
Paging Transmitters 150/900 MHz The RFI High Performance Paging Transmitter is designed for use in campus, city, state and country-wide paging systems. Designed for use where reliable simulcast systems where RF signal overlap coverage is critical.
Built-in custom interface for Prism-IPX ipBSC Base Controller for remote control, management and alarm reporting.
Prism-IPX Systems LLC. 11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
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Summit Preview: PBS North Carolina CTO Fred Engel Discusses ATSC 3.0-Based First Responder Pager SystemBy Phil Kurz published on March 14, 2022 On March 31 at the TV Tech Summit, Engel will discuss the trials and prototype receiversRALEIGH, NC—An update to the analog pager system used to dispatch first responders to emergencies is long overdue, says Fred Engel, CTO of PBS North Carolina. The existing system, more than a half century old, may have been great in its day, but by today’s standard is unacceptably slow, taking precious minutes to deliver dispatches and details of emergencies that could have been delivered in seconds with a modern digital alternative.
Shortly after he joined PBS NC in 2016, two officials from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology approached Engel with an idea about how to replace the existing system: rely on a robust ATSC 3.0 over-the-air datacast to transmit dispatches to the first responder community as part of the bit payload allocation of public television stations statewide. Since then, the project has received wide praise and industry recognition. It’s also received a government grant to develop prototype digital pagers with 3.0 receivers. The units, developed by Device Solutions in Morrisville, N.C., are undergoing field testing this month. In this interview Engel, who will present as a member of the virtual TVTech Summit panel on NextGen TV services March 31, talks about the new 3.0 pager prototype, the field trials and other projects being investigated in PBS NC’s ATSC 3.0 lab. (An edited transcript.) TVTech: When do you expect the field trials of the 3.0-based paging system for first responders to begin? Fred Engel: The initial trials will begin this month. Our business partner Device Solutions has built a handful of the standalone pagers. The other one is an ATSC 3 paging device receiver with a Bluetooth communication device to talk to a cell phone. TVT: Can you offer a little more detail on the field testing? FE: When we wrote the narrative for the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] grant we wrote what the goals of the Small Business Innovation Research Grant would be. The first thing we do is just go out there and see how well they work. Device Solutions works with a nonprofit called the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina [WRC]. WRC is very interesting, they've done a lot of work in IoT devices and cellular devices. They have two or three RF anechoic chambers—really real quiet RF environments. They have a mannequin that replicates the human body. So, they put that mannequin in the chamber, and then they move these IoT devices around at extremely low levels of RF coming out of the antenna in there. That's how they can model how well this will all work. One of the people at the WRC, an electrical engineer, has worked for a consumer antenna manufacturer, so we're working with a few of those folks who will devise a measurement plan to go out in the field with this device and compare it to the analog voice pager, which works on a VHF radio. We're also working with some NC State graduate students studying consumer science. A few are interested in doing this as a graduate student project where they gather and analyze the data, create dashboards and whatnot. We want to be very, very scientific on how we do this. There are multiple software products out there that look at what the anticipated reception capability will be at any point from the tower site out to various locations. One that I want to get is Progira planning software. They have developed an analysis that looks at up to two PLPs. We have a very robust PLP for all this emergency data delivery, and then we'll have another PLP for our typical TV programming. We are looking at some of the projections from that at our WUNK transmission site in Greenville [N.C.] The numbers look remarkable. TVT: What about terrain considerations in North Carolina? FE: North Carolina is flat on the east side. We're in the Piedmont area which is a little more hilly. Then, of course, in the western part of the state there are mountains. So, it is a good place to start in Greenville to get a good baseline. We'll start out there and try to do the scientific measurements. You go out in radials leaving the transmission site. I’m sure there will be different scenarios for indoor reception. We’re going to tag along with them [WRC] as they're doing the measurements. We’ll be there to assist, but they are the ones who are really gathering the data for this. We’re just going along to see what happens. TVT: You’ve recently said your ATSC 3.0 lab at PBS NC is pursuing additional projects. What sorts of things and do they fit in with the 3.0 digital pager project? FE: One of our other efforts is on the remote learning side using ATSC 3 as a method of delivering educational content to receiving devices that can then connect to students’ computers or other devices. We want to verify that [signal strength and reception characteristics] alongside WRC, working with them. They're not working on the education project. That's our project that we're working with some other folks. But we can do those analysis at the same time. So we have a van outfitted for this ready to go. We've got a whole batch of antennas that we're going to be using plus whatever these small devices that the public safety folks will be using. TVT: Tell me about the Big Stick in Greenville. Is there a vertical transmission component? FE: Yes. That’s a million watts horizontal and 500 kW vertical (ERP). When the digital transition took place in the late ‘90s, early 2000s—when they created the DTV network here, they made sure that every antenna had that horizontal and vertical component to it. TVT: I asked about the V-pol because I am guessing that will be the typical orientation of the digital 3.0 pager. Tell me about the receive antenna that is being used. FE: On receive antennas, sometimes you can get antenna gain from a receiver. If you measure just with a dipole, you'll get this, but if you have a series of elements that provide an additive effect to it, you'll get gain. These devices, the gain actually has a negative sign in front of it because they just don't work as well as a dipole. They just can't. Device Solutions is working with the folks from the Wireless Research Center on that design because WRC has a lot of experience working with small form-factor UHF antennas. This picture of the device is a prototype; the commercial product will be significantly different when it comes out. TVT: Once the tests are completed and you’ve confirmed performance is superior to an analog pager and the design is finalized, how will this 3.0-based digital pager make it to the first responder market? FE: We at PBS North Carolina, we didn't know anything about this [the existing analog pager and the time needed to dispatch responders with it] being a concern. But the first responder community did. They came to us with a problem looking for a solution. One of the good guys who was working here when I got here in 2016 connected me with two guys in particular—Red Grasso and Allan Sadowski from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. Allan, who is now retired, is an electrical engineer and a prodigious reader and writer. He looked at ATSC 3 and knew about it and said, “Let’s talk to Fred at PBS and see about this.” I’d love to say this was my idea, but it wasn’t. It was theirs. So to answer your question, assuming it works, then it's going to be up to the public safety community to evangelize it into their community. One thing I’ve learned in my dealings with the folks in public safety here in North Carolina, and my previous job in Kentucky, is, you only get one chance. It better work. That's why we've been so cautious and deliberate in our efforts on this. It has to work, and I feel confident that it will, but you know, you really have to prove it. Editor’s note: Fred Engel and his associates have published three ATSC 3.0-related white papers, which are available online. They include: “Public Safety Datacast Paging,” “The Educational Broadband Gap: A Whitepaper on Utilizing ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV to Address Remote Learning Needs” and “ATSC 3.0 and Public Broadcasting: A Whitepaper Supporting Public Broadcasters’ Efforts in ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV.”
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| Source: | TV Technology | Thanks to Mike Candell. |
ATSC 3.0From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ATSC 3.0, also known by the moniker NextGen TV, is a major version of the ATSC standards for television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). The standards are designed to offer support for newer technologies, including HEVC for video channels of up to 2160p 4K resolution at 120 frames per second, wide color gamut, high dynamic range, Dolby AC-4 and MPEG-H 3D Audio, datacasting capabilities, and more robust mobile television support. The capabilities have also been foreseen as a way to enable finer public alerting and targeted advertising. The first major deployments of ATSC 3.0 occurred in South Korea, with the country's major television networks launching terrestrial ATSC 3.0 services in May 2017 in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In November 2017, the United States' Federal Communications Commission approved regulations allowing broadcast stations to voluntarily offer ATSC 3.0 services. If a United States broadcaster elects to begin transmission of ATSC 3.0, they must also broadcast ATSC signals for at least five years thereafter. There is not a mandatory transition or deadline to transition to ATSC 3.0 as existed for the transition from analog NTSC to ATSC. Source: Wikipedia |
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| Easy Solutions |
Providing Expert Support and Service Contracts for all Glenayre Paging Systems.The GL3000 is the most prolific paging system in the world and Easy Solutions gladly welcomes you to join us in providing reliable support to the paging industry for many more decades in the future. Easy Solutions provides cost effective computer and wireless solutions at affordable prices. We can help in most any situation with your communications systems. We have many years of experience and a vast network of resources to support the industry, your system and an ever changing completive landscape.
Experts in Paging Infrastructure
Please see our web site for exciting solutions designed specifically for the Wireless Industry. We also maintain a diagnostic lab and provide important repair and replacement parts services for Motorola and Glenayre equipment. Call or Easy Solutions |
GLENAYRE INFRASTRUCTUREService ContractsI would like to recommend Easy Solutions for Support of all Glenayre Paging Equipment. This Texas company is owned and operated by Vaughan Bowden. I have known Vaughan for over 35 years. Without going into a long list of his experience and qualifications, let me just say that he was the V.P. of Engineering at PageNet which was—at that time—the largest paging company in the world. So Vaughan knows Paging. GTES is no longer offering support contracts. GTES was the original group from Vancouver that was setup to offer support to customers that wanted to continue with the legacy Glenayre support. Many U.S. customers chose not to use this service because of the price and the original requirement to upgrade to version 8.0 software (which required expensive hardware upgrades, etc.). Most contracts ended as of February 2018. If you are at all concerned about future support of Glenayre products, especially the “king of the hill” the GL3000 paging control terminal, I encourage you to talk to Vaughan about a service contract and please tell him about my recommendation. Click on the image above for more info about advertising here. |
INTERNET Protocol Terminal The IPT accepts INTERNET or serial messaging using various protocols and can easily convert them to different protocols, or send them out as paging messages. An ideal platform for hospitals, on-site paging applications, or converting legacy systems to modern protocols.
Additional/Optional Features
Prism-IPX Systems LLC. 11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022 |
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From contact center agent to airline pilotPublished on March 14, 2022
From contact services agent to airline pilot—this is how Iterum Connections empowers agents. Nothing is as satisfying to me as a co-founder of a contact center as helping to get promising agents jobs, equipping them with the training they need to excel in customer service, and then witnessing their success. Meet Leilani Laverde. At age 20, Leilani joined a major contact center as a contact services agent in Panama City, Panama. She had a unique background, a trait that we find all too often when recruiting agents. In this case, Leilani had just finished commercial flight school. Rather than idling by while she waited for a full-time position as a pilot, Leilani worked full-time with us. She recalls the interview and onboarding process as friendly and our human resources experts as helpful and informative. Our HR team also helped Leilani as she prepared for her interview as a first officer for Copa Airlines. She soon landed the job. Still, the experience as a contact services agent vested her with the resources and skills she needed for a better life. Leilani was able to use her salary as an agent to help support her family, while also paying her student loans from flight school. Now a first officer at Copa Airlines, Leilani daily flies abroad from the company’s main hub in Panama City. In any given week, she may pilot a flight with hundreds of passengers to Miami, Guayaquil, Medellín, Buenos Aires, or indeed a combination of Latin America’s most important cities. Looking back on it, working as an agent has proven more than a way of making money before moving on. Leilani gained unique skills that are in high demand. "Working as a contact services agent helped me with my English proficiency," Leilani recalls. She also credits her time as an agent as helping to improve her skills in business negotiation and conflict de-escalation. One might think that the sky is the limit with her—but she plans to go beyond it. Already the captain of a major airline, Leilani will continue her pathbreaking career flying. In a few years’ time, she also sees herself as a flight instructor and a small business entrepreneur. We can’t wait to see her dreams come true. Contact center services have the potential to serve as a launchpad for agents around the globe. I certainly see how. Negotiation; conflict de-escalation; fluency in a foreign language: these are skills that promise business success, and they will remain highly useful well into the future, no matter the industry. At Iterum Connections, customers get the solutions they seek through interactions with our agents. At the same time, agents like Leilani gain the experiences and skills they need to realize their goals. This is just how we want it. Because at the end of the day, the purpose of our business is empowering people—customers and agents alike.
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Paging Data Receiver PDR-4 The PDR-4 is a multi-function paging data receiver that decodes paging messages and outputs them via the serial port, USB or Ethernet connectors. Designed for use with Prism-IPX ECHO software Message Logging Software to receive messages and log the information for proof of transmission over the air, and if the data was error free.
Prism-IPX Systems LLC. 11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022 |
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R.H. (Ron) Mercer |
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OWNING A SHORTWAVE RADIO IS ONCE AGAIN A SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY by: Jenny List An abiding memory for a teen fascinated by electronics and radio in the 1970s and 1980s is the proliferation of propaganda stations that covered the shortwave spectrum. Some of them were slightly surreal such as Albania’s Radio Tirana which would proudly inform 1980s Western Europe that every village in the country now possessed a telephone, but most stations were the more mainstream ideological gladiating of Voice of America and Radio Moscow. It’s a long-gone era as the Cold War is a distant memory and citizens East and West get their info from the Internet, but perhaps there’s an echo of those times following the invasion of the Ukraine. With most external news agencies thrown out of Russia and their websites blocked, international broadcasters are launching new shortwave services to get the news through. Owning a shortwave radio in Russia may once again be a subversive activity. Let’s build one! WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE PORTABLE RADIO?
There was a time when everyone had a radio, and radio listening was a universal occupation. From 1930s families clustered round an ornate family radio to the teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s with their portables, it’s a defining 20th century image. Though many of us still listen to radio here in 2022 the chances are that we no longer do so over AM and certainly not over shortwave. We can get instant access to almost any content online, so it’s by no means certain people will have a radio. If those shortwave transmissions are starting again, how can their intended audience pick them up? Perhaps it’s time to look at shortwave radios with a 2022 slant. If you lack a shortwave radio and a dig around all your family’s junk hasn’t turned up a relic from decades past, then the simplest way to get one is of course to buy one. AliExpress is full of “world band” radios starting from somewhere under $20, and if you don’t mind waiting for shipping from China then it’s the path of least resistance. But there’s the problem, international events are moving fast and there might not be the luxury of waiting three weeks, or even for that matter of being able to order one at all in a warzone. How can you make one? Yet again there’s an extremely simple option in the Silicon Labs series of one-chip radios. These provide a high-performance shortwave receiver with a minimum of external parts, and really are a miracle of integration. But yet again, in a warzone and in the middle of a chip shortage they just might not be an option. So how can you make a shortwave radio receiver using what parts might be at hand from available consumer electronics? We’ll first be taking a look at some possible avenues, and then introducing a few of the readily available building blocks. WHERE DO YOU START?The best way to start is to look at the things that you might already have. Such electronic flotsam and jetsam as battery-powered AM radios, car radios, or even $10 RTL-SDR sticks. All of these can be modified or converted to receive the shortwave broadcast bands, often with readily available parts. Probably the simplest method possible might be to directly modify an existing AM radio. I’m indebted to [Phil M6IPX] for passing me on an instructables link for a method to do this. It involves changing the resonant frequency of the ferrite rod antenna coil in the radio, and I’m guessing, relying on a harmonic of the local oscillator father than the fundamental to do the mixing. It doesn’t cover all the broadcast bands, but it might do at a pinch.
The next method lies in converting the shortwave signal from its original frequency to one that can be received by a radio you already have. Radio amateurs will be familiar with the receive converter, a device that mixes the signal from an antenna with a fixed frequency local oscillator to produce an intermediate frequency of their difference, and it should be relatively straightforward to use this technique. An AM radio tunes in around 1 MHz and can be used with a converter to cover just one of the many shortwave broadcast bands. [Phil] again suggested a 16 MHz crystal oscillator module might be used with a mixer to tune the 15 MHz (19 m) broadcast band onto an AM radio, and a commonly available 4.433 MHz PAL colourburst crystal with a simple transistor oscillator might do the same for the 5 MHz (60 m) band. If I were making such a rough-and-ready converter for an AM radio, I’d try to find a car AM radio to serve as my IF, because these radios are well screened and have a handy co-axial antenna input.
Meanwhile an RTL-SDR can be modified for shortwave reception by either modification or by using a converter. The direct sampling hack bypasses the onboard tuner chip to pipe signals directly to the SDR chip and can be performed by anyone with good SMD soldering skills, and for those unwilling to try it an alternative approach is to use a converter with a 50 MHz oscillator. A few years ago I produced such a converter using a CMOS chip as my entry in the Hackaday Square Inch competition, but there are even simpler circuits to be found. Finally, perhaps the simplest usable shortwave radio is the direct conversion receiver. Its principle is similar to the receive converter in that the signal from the antenna is mixed with that from an oscillator to yield the difference between the two, and when the local oscillator is the same frequency as the desired station that difference can be fed to an audio amplifier and listened to. It requires three relatively simple circuits in oscillator, mixer, and audio amplifier, and while it doesn’t provide acceptable performance for music radio it’s fine for speech. THE NITTY GRITTY: PARTS AND CIRCUITSHaving fired everyone up about receive converters and direct conversion receivers, it’s time to take a look at those building blocks. How can you make them from the components you’ll find in electronic junk, without ready access to the global electronic parts supply chain?
There are many ways to make oscillators and mixers, but for our purposes the components we are interested in are crystal oscillator modules for the local oscillator, wideband RF transformers for the RF coupling, and diodes as the mixer elements. Variable frequency oscillators are a little more tricky to build but can be made from the most basic of components, but if you have a signal generator or even a Raspberry Pi with appropriate software you can use them instead. Crystal oscillators are ubiquitous on all sorts of PC expansion cards and other computer boards, and provide a logic-level squarewave on their output pin when provided with 5 V. Meanwhile any Fast Ethernet interface will contain an RF transformer, and small signal diodes can be found across multiple different types of electronics. Beyond these parts there may be a need for the normal discrete components such as transistors and passives, but yet again these can be scavenged from a wide variety of sources. A diode ring mixer is a very straightforward circuit using a couple of RF transformers and four diodes. It works by using the diodes as switches operating at the local oscillator frequency to alternately pass and block the signal frequency. The result is the intermediate frequency (IF), which is the difference between the incoming signal and the local oscillator. It can be very easily made with an Ethernet transformer and four signal diodes using the circuit shown. With a 100 Mbit Ethernet transformer, it should have 100 MHz bandwidth. There are multiple ways in which this circuit can be used with a suitable oscillator as either a receive converter for an AM radio or as a direct conversion receiver. For the converter, simply connect the output of a crystal oscillator module to the local oscillator pin and feed the output to an AM radio, while for a direct conversion use a variable oscillator and connect the output to a sensitive audio amplifier such as a microphone or phono amplifier. The coupling to the AM radio can either be direct to the antenna socket of a car radio, or via several turns of wire wrapped round the case of a portable AM radio. There is a problem with this circuit in that it has no filtering and thus picks up both both the sum and the difference of local oscillator and IF frequencies, but it should be good enough to pull in a shortwave broadcast. These are not the only ways to make a working shortwave receiver — after all everything from a crystal set upwards can be coaxed into working — but we think they are probably the best ways to make one using the electronics likely to be at hand. Perhaps you have some ideas to add to the mix? Leave them in the comments! |
| Source: | hackaday |
Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects. Click here Note: We do not like Patent Trolls, i.e. “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question.” We have helped some prominent law firms defend their clients against this annoyance, and would be happy to do some more of this same kind of work. Some people use the title “consultant” when they don't have a real job. We actually do consulting work, and help others based on our many years of experience. “If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.” — Chinese Proverb |
Remote AB Switches ABX-1 switches are often used at remote transmitter sites to convert from old, outdated and unsupported controllers to the new modern Prism-IPX ipBSC base station controllers. Remotely switch to new controllers with GUI commands. ABX-1 ABX-3 switches are widely used for enabling or disabling remote equipment and switching I/O connections between redundant messaging systems. ABX-3 Common Features:
Prism-IPX Systems LLC. 11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022 |
The Difference Between the Dark Web and the Deep WebYou might use "dark web" and "deep web" interchangeably, but you shouldn't.By Jake Peterson —March 15, 2022 1:00 PM Drugs, death, and depravity probably come to mind whenever you hear about the dark web. Or, is it the deep web? Is it both? You might find yourself conflating the two terms, with the assumption that both the dark web and the deep web are the same place for illegal and generally shady activities. But while the dark web is a part of the deep web, the deep web isn’t really the dark web. What exactly is the dark web?Let’s start with the type of Internet you likely think of with the phrases “dark web” and “deep web.” You probably imagine an underground, secretive network of sites, where illegal activities are aplenty, passing drugs, contraband, and illicit media with reckless abandon. These sites surely exist, and they’re one part of what’s known as the “dark web.” However, the dark web isn’t solely a playground for the perverse. While those sites take all the attention, the dark web isn’t actually defined by the contents of its sites (even if most of us define it as such). Instead, the dark web is simply a collection of private networks that can’t be accessed by traditional methods. What is the “surface web”?The Internet as most of us know it is called the “surface web.” Essentially, it’s a collection of sites that are indexed by search engines. If it pops up in a Google search, it’s a part of the surface web. That’s not the case with the dark web. You can’t open Chrome, type “drugs, please” and expect to find these sites. In fact, you can’t use Chrome at all, nor any traditional web browser. How to access the dark webIf you want to access the dark web, you need special tools to do so. (You can find out more on accessing the dark web here.) A specific browser, such as Tor, for example, is required to get started. Just as you use Chrome to access public Internet sites like Facebook or Lifehacker, you use one of these browsers to access dark web pages. It’s not only the browser that makes the dark web unique, however: Since you need special protocols to access these sites, that traffic is often private and anonymous. That’s what makes the dark web an attractive option for illegal activities—the site activity isn’t traced back to individual user accounts. Crypto, like Bitcoin, is the currency of the dark web, since it also protects your privacy during transactions. That said, it isn’t all bad. While the most common use-cases for the dark web might be against the law, anyone with a reason to be anonymous can utilize the networks. Common examples of “good” on the dark web are whistle-blowers who need a place to leak their information without having the governments and organizations responsible for that data knowing who they are. So what exactly is the “deep web”?The dark web is simply a subsection (a small one, at that) of the deep web. Also known as the “hidden” web, the deep web is the collection of sites that aren’t indexed by search engines. While that definition includes dark web pages, it also includes entirely innocuous sites as well. Most of these sites are hidden behind login pages, and can range from banking and email, to paywalled content like streaming. Sure, you’ll find Netflix via a Google search, but you won’t find the player for Better Call Saul, Season 1, Episode 5 unless you log into the site first. It also consists of protocol pages, responsible for identifying user accounts when you log in to a site, running payments when you make a purchase, and other sites you never need to see. In short, it’s both the backbone of the Internet, as well as a part of the Internet you regularly see yourself. Deep web pages aren’t indexed, but they often have URLs that can be linked to directly, accessible from traditional web browsers like Chrome or Firefox. In short, the deep web is not a scary place. The dark web can be, but not necessarily. |
| Source: | LifeHacker |
| Leavitt Communications |
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Reuters FCC revokes U.S. authorization of Chinese telecom firm Pacific Networks By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday voted to revoke authorization for Chinese telecom Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet to provide U.S. telecommunications services. The 4-0 vote to revoke the authorisation first granted in 2001 is the latest move by the American regulator to bar Chinese telecommunications carriers from the United States citing national security concerns. The FCC said Pacific Networks and ComNet are indirectly and ultimately owned and controlled by the Chinese government. Jeffrey J. Carlisle, a U.S. lawyer representing Pacific Networks, declined comment. In January, he told the FCC that Pacific Networks and ComNet are owned by CITIC Telecom International Holdings. The FCC says the carriers are ultimately controlled by CITIC Group Corp, a Chinese state-owned limited liability company. Carlise's letter said the carriers "engage in very limited and small scale facilities-based operations in the United States that do not pose national security concerns.... The primary business of the companies is providing retail calling cards." The Chinese commerce ministry criticised the U.S. actions, and said China would adopt measures necessary to safeguard the legitimate rights of its firms. "The U.S. should stop the groundless crackdown on Chinese firms right now and the wrongdoings of politicizing trade and economic issues immediately," Gao Feng, a spokesman at the ministry, said during a regular press conference on Thursday. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted the three-year commission effort to address Chinese telecom carriers. "Taken as a whole, our actions have strengthened our national security," Starks said. In March 2021, the FCC found Pacific Networks and ComNet had failed to "dispel serious concerns regarding their retention of their authority to provide telecommunications services in the United States." In January, the FCC voted to revoke a similar authorization for China Unicom's U.S. unit to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns. In October, the FCC revoked the U.S. authorization for China Telecom (Americas), saying it "is subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government." Chinese Telecom failed to convince a U.S. court to reverse the decision. In 2019, the FCC rejected China Mobile Ltd's bid to provide U.S. telecommunications services, citing national security risks. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Jing Xu, Ellen Zhang, Ryan Woo Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio & Simon Cameron-Moore) |
| Source: | yahoo! finance |
| Inside Towers Newsletter |
Switch Continues Expansion of Its Top-Rated Data CentersBy John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor Switch, Inc. (NYSE: SWCH) is not your ordinary data center operator. The company promotes itself as the leader in exascale data center ecosystems with a focus on enterprise-class and emerging hybrid cloud solutions. Exascale in this context means very high performing, high-powered facilities. Switch touts its facilities as the only Tier 5-rated data centers in the business. According to ratings from the independent Upside Institute, a Tier 4 data center must be completely fault tolerant and have redundancy for every component with an expected uptime of 99.995 percent or the equivalent of only 26.3 minutes of downtime annually. Switch claims its exascale Tier 5 rating significantly exceeds Tier 4 performance in all parameters. The company operates five “Prime” exascale data center campuses that are strategically located within low latency reach of major U.S. markets. The Prime campuses are The Core (Las Vegas, NV), The Citadel (Tahoe Reno, NV), The Pyramid (Grand Rapids, MI), The Keep (Atlanta, GA), and its newest, The Rock (Austin, TX). The fifth Prime campus, The Rock, is the outcome of Switch’s acquisition in May, 2021 of Data Foundry, a carrier-neutral colocation provider, for $420 million in an all-cash transaction. Headquartered in Austin, TX, and with data centers in Austin and Houston, Data Foundry is strategically located and provides Switch with attractive growth opportunities in Texas. The acquisition adds over 400 customer logos, offering robust cross-selling opportunities and significant customer expansion potential. Data Foundry’s properties in Austin and Houston comprise over 500,000 square feet and 60 megawatts (MW) of power. Then in June, Switch announced The Rock campus location in Texas through a land purchase agreement with Dell Technologies. With that land, Switch can construct over 1.5 million gross square feet (GSF) of Tier 5 data center space next to Dell’s global headquarters in Round Rock, TX. The Rock campus ecosystem will reach over 2 million square feet and 185 MW of power upon completion. Switch will uphold its sustainability commitment by powering these facilities with 100 percent renewable energy. These five campuses tally 16 data centers in six locations. At year-end 2021, these sites together had capacity for 32,410 server cabinets, with 88 percent already in service, on 5 million GSF of space and 508 MW of power. As designed, these data centers have full build-out capacity for 92,710 cabinets on 16 million GSF and 1,588 MW expected before the end of the decade. Switch’s data system design and operation are paying off. The company reported full-year 2021 total revenue of $592 million, up 16 percent over 2020 levels. Adjusted EBITDA was $315 million compared to $268 million in 2020, and AFFO was up 12 percent year-over-year to $244 million. The company maintained an active expansion plan with $456 million in capital expenditures. Since 2015, Switch grew top line revenues and Adjusted EBITDA at a 14 percent CAGR. For 2022, the company’s midpoint guidance is for revenues of $667 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $351 million. Excluding land acquisitions, capex is budgeted at $535 million for data center build outs and expansion. Switch’s data centers serve over 1,350 colocated customers from various vertical commercial and government segments led by e-commerce, cloud, software, digital content and multimedia companies. In 4Q21, the top 10 customers accounted for 37 percent of total revenues. Switch derives its revenues from leasing space to multi-tenant customers and providing network and connectivity services between customers or to other data centers. Of the total 2021 revenues, colocation recurring revenue was $469 million or 79 percent while connectivity accounted for another $102 million or 17 percent. Colocation recurring revenue includes the licensing and leasing of cabinet space and power. Connectivity services include cross-connects between cabinets, broadband services and external connections to carrier networks. Switch bills customers for these services on a fixed and recurring basis each month for the duration of their contract. Non-recurring revenue for the year was $16 million or roughly 3 percent of the total. mainly for customers’ one-time installation services. |
| Source: | Inside Towers newsletter | Courtesy of the editor of Inside Towers, Jim Fryer. Inside Towers is a daily newsletter by subscription. |
| BloostonLaw Newsletter |
REMINDER: Form 499-A, Accessibility Certifications Due April 1The Annual Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet, known as FCC Form 499-A, is due on April 1. The filing, which applies to every wireline and wireless telecommunications carrier that provides interstate, intrastate, and international telecommunications, and certain other entities that provide interstate telecommunications for a fee, requires the reporting of revenue information from January 1 through December 31 of the prior year, along with certain other information. Also due April 1 is the Annual Access to Advanced Services Certification. This filing, which applies to all providers of telecommunications services and telecommunications carriers subject to Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, requires the filer to certify that it has procedures in place to meet the relevant recordkeeping requirements and actually keeps the required records. BloostonLaw has an extensive experience with both filings and has a compliance manual available for the Accessibility filing. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer. HeadlinesFCC Publishes Additional Data Specifications for Broadband Data CollectionOn March 9, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the release of the BDC Mobile Technical Requirements Order, which adopts technical requirements to implement the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) mobile challenge, verification, and crowdsourcing processes. The FCC has also published two documents setting forth data specifications related to the BDC. They are available at https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/resources. The two data specifications provide additional detail about the technical elements of the data to be collected as part of the mobile challenge, verification, and crowd-source processes. The Data Specifications for Mobile Speed Test Data document provides information on the on-the-ground speed test data that must be collected and reported by approved third-party mobile speed test apps that consumers will use to run crowd-source or challenge speed tests and submit those test results to the Commission’s BDC system; other entities participating in the BDC mobile challenge process or collecting crowd-source data; and service providers responding to mobile challenges or verification inquiries. The Data Specifications for Provider Infrastructure Data in the Mobile Challenge and Mobile Verification Process document specifies the data files that mobile service providers must submit when they choose to respond to a mobile challenge or verification inquiry with infrastructure data. These files include specific fields related to the location and height of base stations; base station carriers; base station loading; and, if a mobile service provider chooses to submit band-specific coverage maps along with speed test or infrastructure data in response to a challenge or verification inquiry, information on how those coverage map files should be formatted. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, the FCC encourages the broadband service providers that are required to file in the BDC system, as well as governmental and third parties seeking to submit broadband availability data voluntarily, to review these data specifications closely and align their data to the specifications prior to the opening of the filing window on June 30. The filings are due September 1. Carriers with questions or seeking assistance in preparing and filing data for the BDC may contact the firm for more information. BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer. FCC Inspector General Issues Advisory on Deceptive Lifeline, EBB/ACP PracticesOn March 11, the FCC’s Office of Inspector General issued an advisory Memorandum regarding “improper and abusive enrollment practices that are part of some providers’ online enrollment processes” for Lifeline, Emergency Broadband Benefit, and Affordable Connectivity Program. According to a Press Release, certain providers impermissibly coerce and deceive applicants for Lifeline service into enrolling in unwanted EBB/ACP service or into transferring their EBB/ACP service away from their preferred provider. A copy of the full Memorandum can be found here. It details the deceptive practices referenced above. For example, one provider provided customers with the opportunity to enroll in or transfer their ACP/EBB service on its application, but also included a mandatory check box consenting to enroll in or transfer ACP/EBB service, regardless of whether the customer opted out in when asked previously. Alongside the Memorandum, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing that it will refer any potential violations of the Commission’s rules to the Enforcement Bureau (with a copy to the Office of General Counsel) for further investigation and appropriate enforcement action. In addition, Commission staff will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the complaints submitted by consumers to assess the scope of the issue. This evaluation will be essential in determining additional action to take against providers that engage in this misleading enrollment activity. The Bureau will also continue to track and refer to the Enforcement Bureau consumer complaints related to tying Lifeline enrollment to enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program. The FCC also directed USAC to conduct program integrity reviews of the enrollment and onboarding practices of Lifeline providers participating in the Affordable Connectivity Program, and indicated that it will coordinate with the Office of Managing Director and Office of General Counsel on recouping any improperly disbursed funds as warranted. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer. ReConnect Applications Available for Review and ChallengeOn March 14, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a total of 42 Public Notice Filing(s) (PNF) have been published for applicants to the ReConnect program. According to the USDA announcement, the PNFs will be posted on the Rural Development Public Notice Filing Portal for 45 calendar days, where they can be viewed and responses can be filed. For the purpose of filing a Public Notice Response (PNR), respondents must first determine whether they are already providing broadband service to any of the geographic areas included in any of the recently published PNFs. Broadband Service means fixed, terrestrial service as defined in the latest federal register notice for the respective financial assistance program under which the Proposed Funded Service Area (PFSA) was submitted for consideration. Mobile and satellite services will not be considered in making the determination of whether or not broadband service already exists in a PFSA. The announcement indicates that all information submitted by existing service providers as part of a PNR will be treated as proprietary and confidential. Carriers with questions about the PNR process may contact the firm for more information. BloostonLaw attorneys are able to assist with identifying potential overlaps and preparing PNRs. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, John Prendergast, and Sal Taillefer. FCC Reminds Carriers of Ongoing Obligation to Ensure Federal Tariffs are LawfulOn March 14, the FCC issued a Public Notice reminding telecommunications carriers of their “continuing obligation to regularly evaluate and revise their tariffs to ensure those tariffs are consistent with the Commission’s rules and orders.” According to the Public Notice, the Commission’s decisions in various proceedings, including tariff investigations, may require carriers to revise their existing tariffs to ensure they comply with the Commission’s rules – and that even tariff provisions that have been deemed lawful pursuant to section 204 of the Communications Act are subject to reevaluation and may be found to be unlawful on a prospective basis. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and Gerry Duffy. Law and RegulationComments on Secure Internet Routing NOI Due April 11On March 11, the FCC announced the publication of its Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on secure Internet routing in the Federal Register. As a result, comments are due April 11, and reply comments are due May 10. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, the NOI seeks comment on potential vulnerabilities threatening the security and integrity of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and how best to address them. The BGP is a central part of the Internet’s global routing system. It is used to exchange reachability information among independently managed networks on the Internet According to an FCC Press Release, the BGP’s initial design does not include explicit security features to ensure trust in this exchanged information. As a result, “a bad network actor may deliberately falsify BGP reachability information to redirect traffic.” The Press Release further indicated that Russian network operators have been suspected of exploiting BGP’s vulnerability to hijacking in the past. The NOI would also examine the impact of these vulnerabilities on the transmission of data through email, e-commerce, bank transactions, interconnected Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and 911 calls—and how best to address these challenges. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and Sal Taillefer. Omnibus FY Appropriations Bill Passes House, Includes $550 Million for BroadbandOn March 9, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending package, which includes appropriations for approximately $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending, of which $550 million will go toward broadband expansion. Most of the broadband funding — $450 million — will be made available in the form of additional funding for the ReConnect program. The remainder will be made available through other programs, such as the Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program. The bill also contained a number of modifications to the requirements of the ReConnect program, not least of which is defining a “sufficient” broadband as twenty-five megabytes per second downstream and three megabytes per second up-stream, and requiring (to the extent possible) that projects receiving funds must build out service to at least one hundred megabytes per second downstream, and twenty megabytes per second upstream. According to Roll Call, the passage of the bill “did not come without drama … Democratic leaders had to send the bill back to the Rules Committee Wednesday evening to strip $15.6 billion in funding for immediate COVID-19 needs and move that as a stand-alone bill — which ultimately was delayed until next week.” BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer. FCC Proposes 23.8% USF Contribution Factor for Q2 2022On March 14, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the second quarter of 2022 will be 23.8 percent. The Commission calculates the quarterly contribution factor based on the ratio of total projected quarterly costs of the universal service support mechanisms to contributors’ total projected collected end-user interstate and international telecommunications revenues, net of projected contributions. The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) submitted the following projections of demand and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2022: ($ millions)
To determine the quarterly contribution base, the FCC decreases the second quarter 2022 estimate of projected collected interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues by the projected revenue requirement to account for circularity and decrease the result by one percent to account for uncollectible contributions. To arrive at the final proposed contribution base, USAC reduces each provider’s contribution obligation by a circularity discount approximating the provider’s contributions in the upcoming quarter. BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer. IndustryFCC Releases Voice Telephone Service, Internet Access Service Status ReportsOn March 10, the FCC released its data on voice telephone services as of December 31, 2019 and on Internet access service as of June 30, 2019. Copies of the full reports can be found here and here, respectively. The Voice Telephone Service report is prepared using Form 477 subscribership information for incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), mobile voice providers, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (“interconnected VoIP”) service providers. It was previously titled the “Local Telephone Competition” report. Highlight’s from this most recent report include:
The Internet Access Service report summarizes information about Internet access connections in the United States as of June 30, 2019 as collected by FCC Form 477. For purposes of this report, Internet access connections are those in service, over 200 kilobits per second (kbps) in at least one direction, and reported to the FCC through Form 477. Highlights from this most recent report include:
FCC Announces $640 Million in RDOF Funding Ready for AuthorizationOn March 10, the FCC announced that it is ready to authorize more than $640 million through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to fund new broadband deployments in 26 states bringing service to nearly 250,000 locations. To date, the program has provided $4.7 billion in funding to nearly 300 carriers for new deployments in 47 states to bring broadband to almost 2.7 million locations. To be authorized to receive the total 10-year support amounts, these long-form applicants are required to submit acceptable irrevocable stand-by letter(s) of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter(s) from their legal counsel for each state where they have winning bids that are ready to be authorized in accordance with the instructions provided below by the applicable deadline – prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on March 24, 2022. A list of the eligible census blocks covered by the winning bids announced is available under the “Results” tab on this page: https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/round-results. For a list of RDOF providers and funding amounts by state, see https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904. DeadlinesAPRIL 1: FCC FORM 499-A, TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTING WORKSHEET. This form must be filed by all contributors to the Universal Service Fund (USF) sup-port mechanisms, the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, the cost recovery mechanism for the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), and the shared costs of local number portability (LNP). Contributors include every telecommunications carrier that provides interstate, intrastate, and international telecommunications, and certain other entities that provide interstate telecommunications for a fee. Even common carriers that qualify for the de minimis exemption must file Form 499-A. Entities whose universal service contributions will be less than $10,000 qualify for the de minimis exemption. De minimis entities do not have to file the quarterly report (FCC Form 499-Q), which was due February 1, and will again be due May 1. Form 499-Q relates to universal and LNP mechanisms. Form 499-A relates to all of these mechanisms and, hence, applies to all providers of interstate, intrastate, and international telecommunications services. Form 499-A contains revenue information for January 1 through December 31 of the prior calendar year. And Form 499-Q contains revenue information from the prior quarter plus projections for the next quarter. (Note: the revised 499-A and 499-Q forms are now available.) Block 2-B of the Form 499-A requires each carrier to designate an agent in the District of Columbia upon whom all notices, process, orders, and decisions by the FCC may be served on behalf of that carrier in proceedings before the FCC. Carriers receiving this newsletter may specify our law firm as their D.C. agent for service of process using the information in our masthead. There is no charge for this service. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, and Gerry Duffy. APRIL 1: ANNUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED SERVICES CERTIFICATION. All providers of telecommunications services and telecommunications carriers subject to Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act are required to file with the FCC an annual certification that (1) states the company has procedures in place to meet the recordkeeping requirements of Part 14 of the Rules; (2) states that the company has in fact kept records for the previous calendar year; (3) contains contact information for the individual or individuals handling customer complaints under Part 14; (4) contains contact information for the company’s designated agent; and (5) is supported by an affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury signed by an officer of the company. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer. MAY 31: FCC FORM 395, EMPLOYMENT REPORT. Common carriers, including wireless carriers, with 16 or more full-time employees must file their annual Common Carrier Employment Reports (FCC Form 395) by May 31. This report tracks carrier compliance with rules requiring recruitment of minority employees. Further, the FCC requires all common carriers to report any employment discrimination complaints they received during the past year. That information is also due on June 1. The FCC encourages carriers to complete the discrimination report requirement by filling out Section V of Form 395, rather than submitting a separate report. Clients who would like assistance in filing Form 395 should contact Richard Rubino. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer.
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| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
Can you help?
Brad, Our project is nearing completion and being prepared for installation. I'm to the point where I'm working on pagers instead of infrastructure and I'm finding I need more crystals! We are trying to make use of everything we have (including the crystal controlled stuff). Could you please drop yet another inquiry into your newsletter, please? I am looking for pager crystals on 929.0625MHz, preferably 17.9MHz IF crystals for things like Advisors and Advisor Golds, but I can use 45MHz IF crystals for Bravo Plus, etc. Fundamentals would be 75.930208MHz (17.9MHz IF), and 73.671875MHz (45MHz IF). Special thanks to Bob Burchett of Electronic Enterprises for the Unipage M15 terminal equipment, it's working really well with our Nucleus transmitters! Also thanks to Ron Mayes of Advantage Communications for help with a part we needed. Speaking of, anyone with surplus Unipage equipment, I wouldn't mind hearing from them (parts is parts, right?) Thanks for keeping paging resources alive, Brad. Couldn't have made this happen without your support and some fine folks on the newsletter here. Best, Chris Baldwin Chris Baldwin, #9513L |
For Sale (repeat)
The ASC1500 is a dual redundant unit and it was pulled from service — all working — and I have the manual. Background information on Paging Systems and the ASC 1500 here Radio Paging System Basics. I also have a few other paging items; satellite uplink and other stuff. Robert L. “Bob” Burchett |
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| THIS WEEK'S MUSIC VIDEO |
“Peace Through Music”A Global Event for the Environment | 200+ Artists Unite to Save Our Planet
This is long, but very good. |
| Source: | YouTube |
 Best regards,  Newsletter Editor 73 DE K9IQY Licensed since 1957 |
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