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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.
FREE TO EVERYONE — SUPPORTED BY READERS 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 pieces 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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‘BlackBerry’ Review: Big Dreams, Little KeyboardsThe struggle to sell a revolutionary gizmo fractures a friendship in this lively, bittersweet comedy.
By Jeannette Catsoulis In Matt Johnson’s “BlackBerry” — a wonky workplace comedy that slowly shades into tragedy — the emergence of the smartphone isn’t greeted with fizzing fireworks and popping champagne corks. Instead, Johnson and his co-writer, Matthew Miller (adapting Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s 2015 book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry”), have fashioned a tale of scrabbling toward success that tempers its humor with an oddly moving wistfulness. That blend of patter and pathos was also evident in Johnson’s previous feature, “Operation Avalanche” (2016), as was an intrepid filming style that effortlessly conjures the rush of innovation. This time, we’re in Waterloo, Ontario, in 1996, where Mike Lazaridis (a perfect Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Johnson) — best friends and co-founders of a small tech company called Research in Motion (RIM) — are trying to sell a product they call PocketLink, a revolutionary combination of cellphone, email device and pager. While waiting to pitch a roomful of suits, Mike is distracted by an annoyingly buzzing intercom. Grabbing a paper clip, he quickly fixes it, noting that it was made in China. Disgust flits across his face, an expression we will remember when, much later, mounting problems force him to embrace a manufacturing option he despises. Clever callbacks like this allow “BlackBerry” to hauntingly connect the story’s downward slide with the innocence and optimism of its early scenes. The corporate types don’t understand Mike and Doug’s invention, but a predatory salesman named Jim Balsillie (a fantastic Glenn Howerton), gets it. Recently fired and fired up, Jim sees the device’s potential, making a deal to acquire part of RIM in exchange for cash and expertise. Doug, a man-child invariably accessorized with a headband and a bewildered look, is doubtful; Mike, assisted by a shock of prematurely gray hair, is wiser. He knows that they’ll need an intermediary to succeed. Reveling in a vibe — hopeful, testy, undisciplined — that’s an ideal match for its subject, “BlackBerry” finds much of its humor in Jim’s resolve to fashion productive employees from RIM’s ebulliently geeky staff, who look and act like middle schoolers and converse in a hybrid of tech-speak and movie quotes. It’s all Vogon poetry to Jim; but as Jared Raab’s restless camera careens around the chaotic work space, the excitement of disruption and the thrill of creation become tangible. It helps that the director is more than familiar with the feel of a friend-filled workplace: It’s how he’s been making movies since his first feature, “The Dirties,” in 2013. Fortified with strong actors in small roles — Michael Ironside as a pit bull C.O.O., Martin Donovan as the boss who sees the peril in Jim’s ruthlessness — “BlackBerry” remains grounded when the money rolls in and übergeeks from Google are enticed by multimillion-dollar offers. Some of the financial machinations, like Jim’s frantic attempts to fend off a hostile takeover by Palm Pilot, are less than clear; but “BlackBerry” isn’t just the story of a life-altering gadget. Long before that gadget’s death knell sounds in the unveiling of the iPhone, Jim has so thoroughly insinuated himself between the two friends that an image of a forgotten Doug, gazing down from a window as Jim and Mike head off to a meeting, is almost heartbreaking. More than anything, perhaps, “BlackBerry” highlights the vulnerability and exploitability of creatives in a cutthroat marketplace. The push-pull between genius and business, and their mutual dependence (brilliantly articulated during Jim and Mike’s sales pitch to a wireless provider), is the movie’s real subject and the wellspring of its persistent yearning tone. “When you grow up, your heart dies,” Doug says at one point, quoting “The Breakfast Club.” The sad sweetness of the Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset,” played over the end credits, is just the cherry on top. “The person who puts a computer inside a phone will change the world,” a shop teacher once told Mike. He was right; and if “BlackBerry” has a flaw, it’s perhaps in neglecting to trumpet the momentousness of that change, one that has made it seem we will all be typing with our thumbs forever. BlackBerry |
| Source: | The New York Times | (Thanks to Barry Kanne.) |
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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Raspberry Pi Beepberry Has Onboard RP2040 and Fits in Your PocketBy Ash Hill published May 18, 2023
Many of us remember the days of the Blackberry, and some might be eager to revisit the feeling of that classic PDA. Today we’ve got a Raspberry Pi project to share that does just that with Eric Migicovsky’s Beepberry creation. The Beepberry is a portable, pocket-sized computer for hackers and communicating on Beeper. According to Migicovsky, Beepberry is part of a partnership between Beeper and SQFMI. The Beepberry is officially available for preorder for $79. Although it has an onboard RP2040, a separate SBC is necessary to use the Beepberry. It’s compatible with the Raspberry Pi Zero W and other SBCs with the same form factor, including the MQ-Pro and Radxa Zero. Be sure to choose a unit without a pre-soldered header, as it needs to be low profile to fit onto the PCB. The PCB supports a small 2.7-inch 400 x 240px e-Ink display. This uses low power and will retain the last image projected on the screen until it’s powered on again. For user input, it features a tactile keyboard and a touchpad. The keyboard is backlit, making it easier to see and use in low-light environments.
Spec-wise, users have quite a bit to take advantage of. The Beepberry PCB also includes a programmable button, a programmable LED, 16MB of onboard flash, and a power switch. A JST connector is available for connecting a 2000 mAh LiPo battery. It also features a small GPIO breakout to attach additional accessories to the unit. Software-wise, the Beepberry is designed to run the 32-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS Lite. There’s plenty of documentation available on the Beepberry website, which also includes a section dedicated to the software. You can read more about programming the Beepberry in this documentation. If you want to read more about this pocket-sized Raspberry Pi project or maybe even snag one for yourself, check out the official Beepberry website and visit the online shop. The first units are expected to ship in August without a Pi Zero W, while units with a Pi Zero W will be released in September.
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| Source: | Tom's Hardware | (Thanks to Barry Kanne.) |
| SPECTRUM INTEL |
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| PRISM IPX Systems |
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Thousands of Users Worldwide Depend on Prism IPXOur Customers Trust Us To Make Sure That Their Messages Get Delivered
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BlackBerry expects up to 54% revenue growth in 2026, shares riseReuters
(Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd on Wednesday forecast as much as 54% jump in 2026 sales from current year on the back of growth in its cybersecurity business, sending shares up 5%. The security software and services provider expects 2026 revenue to be between $880 million and $960 million. "Gross margin for the Cybersecurity business unit is expected to increase by between 400 bps and 600 bps by FY26," it said. BlackBerry in December said revenue from its cybersecurity business would remain flat in the first half of 2023, but grow in the latter half. The company on Wednesday also reiterated its 2024 revenue forecast of $665 million to $700 million, compared with analysts' estimates of $701 million, according to Refinitiv data. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Vinay Dwivedi) |
| Source: | yahoo-finance |
| 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 |
| Readers of the Newsletter who are Ham Radio Operators |
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| Source: | Amateur Radio callsigns of readers. Please click here to add yours. |
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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Everyone should use Personal Voice; it does in 15 minutes what currently takes several weeks Ben Lovejoy
While Personal Voice was one of the most exciting of the upcoming accessibility features Apple announced this week, you may have thought it wasn’t relevant to most people. But a new report today suggests that we should all take advantage of it when iOS 17 launches. That’s because loss of speech ability can occur very suddenly through medical conditions like ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). By the time people realize they need a synthesized voice that sounds like them, it may be too late … From Stephen Hawking’s robotic voice to voice-bankingWe’re all familiar with the speech synthesiser used by the late Stephen Hawking. He could select words and phrases that would be spoken aloud, but in a very robotic voice. The next major development was much more natural-sounding speech, like that used by Siri. But the best option of all for those who can no longer speak clearly, or at all, is a voice that sounds just like you. This is possible using technology known as voice-banking. Your voice is recorded while you speak a bunch of phrases, and a computer system creates a voice that sounds just like yours, by learning the timbre, accent, intonation, and timing of your speech. Voice-banking currently takes weeksConventional voice-banking is a laborious process. It typically requires you to speak around 1,500 phrases, and can be expensive as well as time-consuming. Philip Green, a director of an ALS-focused nonprofit, told FastCo that voice-banking took him several weeks.
Team Gleason was founded by former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason, following his ALS diagnosis in 2011. Green continues:
In some cases, you can lose the use of your voice even before you know the reason.
Personal Voice works in 15 minutesWhat Apple has achieved with Personal Voice is using a powerful AI system to carry out the voice-banking process in just 15 minutes.
All processing happens on your deviceOne concern about conventional voice-banking is that it’s carried out on a server. Were that server to be hacked, it creates the risk of someone getting hold of your voice file, and being able to make phone calls that sound just like you. Apple accessibility lead Sarah Herrlinger says that the company was very mindful of this kind of risk, which is why all the processing happens locally on your own device, using the Neural Engine.
Everyone should use Personal VoicePersonal Voice not only reduces the time and effort involved for those already diagnosed with a condition known to lead to loss of speech, but is sufficiently painless that it makes sense for everyone to do it, as an insurance policy. Salesforce exec Brooke Eby agrees.
I’ll for sure be doing this — how about you? |
| Source: | 9TO5Mac |
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 |
Wireless Network Planners
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R.H. (Ron) Mercer |
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| Telephone: 631-786-9359 | |
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com  |
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Death of the password coming as passkey technology on brink of consumer adoptionThe Canadian Press
TORONTO — Anna Pobletts has spent the last few years on a mission to make passwords a thing of the past, but passkeys — the technology that could replace them — have never truly been on the brink of widespread consumer adoption until this year. "We're seeing some really big-name sites like EBay, Best Buy and (in early May) Google announced that they're supporting passkeys on your Gmail account," said Pobletts, head of passwordless at 1Password, a Toronto-based password management company. "It's really a tipping point all of a sudden, when one billion users could add (Gmail) passkeys, if they want." The move followed Apple, Shopify, Microsoft, DocuSign and PayPal, which were already supporting passkeys — a digital credential based on cryptography that can unlock accounts with a mere flash of your face or fingerprint scan on your phone. Passkeys are thought to be more secure than passwords because there is no string of characters, numbers and symbols to memorize, making them harder to hack. They don't need to be changed, can't be stolen by someone guessing or peeking over your shoulder and there's no way to accidentally use one on the wrong website. "Passkeys are so exciting because ... it's actually more efficient and more secure," said Claudette McGowan. After 19 years at the Bank of Montreal and almost three at TD Bank, she recently founded Protexxa, a Toronto-based platform that leverages artificial intelligence to rapidly identify and resolve cyber issues for employees. During her years in banking, passwords were the top vulnerability. "When things went off the right path, it was never because the encryption wasn't working or the firewalls wasn't working," she said. "There was always a human in the middle." Passkeys, however, are a defence against phishing attacks, where people are duped into giving their passwords to hackers who send them emails or texts with login pages posing as legitimate businesses. All 2,000 respondents in an online survey conducted for 1Password in January said they either received a phishing message in the past year or know someone who did. Passkeys make phishing attacks obsolete largely because of their structure. Passkeys, 1Password says, have two mathematically linked parts — a public key shared on a website or an app you have an account with and a private key that always stays on your device. When you log into an account, the website or app's server sends a scrambled "riddle" that can only be solved by the private key, which is then authorized to be solved by a user’s biometrics. Once the riddle is solved, the service knows the public and private key match and will sign the user in. It's impossible to reverse-engineer one key from the other. Without physical access to your devices and a way to unlock them like your fingerprint or face, no one can log in to your passkey-protected accounts. So why hasn't the world gravitated to passkeys sooner? "Passwords are a 60-year-old technology," said Andrew Shikiar, executive director and chief marketing officer of the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance. "It's hard to replace them because they're so ingrained in everything we do and passwords have the advantage of ubiquity. You can enter a password anywhere and you know how to do it." Passwords became the norm in part because of the late Fernando Corbató, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the 1960s, MIT researchers like Corbató were using a Compatible Time-Sharing System, where users in different locations could simultaneously access a single computer system through telephone lines. The model didn't offer much privacy for files, so Corbató developed the password, which was eventually adopted by just about every company looking to safeguard access to files and systems. But the FIDO Alliance, a global group aimed at reducing data breaches, is keen on disrupting that reliance on passwords. "The vast majority of data breaches are caused by passwords, so really by solving the password problem, you're solving the data breach problem," Shikiar said. And the FIDO Alliance has plenty of allies in the fight. Its members include 1Password, Google, Apple, EBay, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook owner Meta and PayPal, American Express, Sony and TikTok. (1Password will start supporting passkeys on June 6 and let users unlock their 1Password account with a passkey in July.) Some have joined because they see people abandoning online shopping carts when they don't remember their passwords, while others just want to make their products safer or easier for customers. But adapting websites, apps, servers and more to accept passkeys "can be tricky," Pobletts said. "It's definitely more complex than passwords, partially because it's new." The FIDO Alliance has created standards to help companies make the move and Shikiar is confident household names shifting toward the technology will spur others to adopt passkeys. But for the technology to really be a hit, the public will need education, he and Pobletts said. 1Password's survey found only one quarter of respondents had even heard of passwordless technology and 42 per cent are not using biometric logins yet. Some have misconceptions about how either technology works, Pobletts said. "Sometimes people don't realize that your biometrics are not getting sent to the website. They're not getting stored by Apple and no one's really holding onto your fingerprint data or your retina scan," she said. "But once people know and understand that your biometrics are safe ... they're really comfortable with it." Shikiar also expects people to adapt to passkeys because they won't be implemented all at once. Many companies will encourage customers to try them while keeping a password, which they will find themselves relying on less and less over time before the technology is phased out entirely. "There's a happy inevitability about it," he said, adding that he thinks within the next three years most services will be offering passkey support. "No one's like, 'oh my gosh, give me more passwords,' whether it's a consumer or a company. Everyone's ready to move past them." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2023. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press |
| Source: | yahoo! news |
Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, 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
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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 |
FCC’s Annual Fee Proposal Would Cut Radio Costs, Especially For Small Market Stations.May 17, 2023
After four consecutive years of paying more in annual regulatory fees, the radio industry is in line for a rollback this year. Under a proposal drafted by the Federal Communications Commission, most stations would see their annual fee shrink by five percent — but some of the smallest stations could see a reduction of as much as 43%. The decrease comes in part as the FCC reallocates how its full-time employee expenses are divvied up, as well as the creation of a new payment tier of radio stations that it says will result in fees that are “more equitably distributed” among all radio stations. “We share the broadcasters’ concern that market pressures are significant and, as currently structured, we risk that our fee schedule results in those that are least able to pay regulatory fees overpaying their share of fees, to the benefit of broadcasters with a larger population base,” the FCC’s proposal says. Its solution is splitting the lowest tier — those stations with a reach of fewer than 25,000 listeners — into two. The bottom tier would include stations that serve a population of fewer than 10,000 listeners, with the second group covering 10,000 to 25,000. Under the proposal, the remaining population tier thresholds would remain the same as in prior years. The Commission’s outline lays out how it plans to pay for the Biden administration’s $390 million budget for the agency. Under the plan, the FCC would continue to base its fees primarily on how many employees there are in the various bureaus that work with that industry. For radio, that is primarily the Media Bureau where the FCC says it must collect $137.9 million from industries regulated by the Media Bureau. But thanks to what the FCC says has been a “high-level, yet comprehensive” analysis of the work being performed, the proposal includes a recalculation of how some employee functions are divided. It means broadcaster’s share of the Media Bureau budget would shrink from $62.07 million in 2022 to $55.68 million in 2023 as broadcasters would go from being responsible for covering 16.25% of FCC full-time staff costs to a 14.27% share. At the same time, the employee cost burden would go up on the wireless and digital industries that broadcasters have for the past few years complained were getting a discount at the expense of the radio owners. “Our proposals today should better reflect the burdens that certain segments of the telecommunications industry impose on the Commission and our workforce,” the FCC says in the proposal (MD Docket No. 22-301). The National Association of Broadcasters did not get everything it sought, however. The FCC proposes radio and television stations will still need to pay a portion of costs associated with the Office of Engineering and Technology, the Office of Economics and Analytics, and the Enforcement Bureau’s Fraud Division. The FCC concluded the methodology used to proportionally assign full-time employees costs associated with workers who cross lines and work on projects across the agency is equitable and “allocating regulatory fees is not and cannot be an exact science.” The NAB said Wednesday it is happy with what it sees in this year’s fee proposal. “NAB commends the FCC's efforts in refining the regulatory fee process in a more fair and equitable way,” spokesman Alex Siciliano said. “This year's proposal aligns with NAB's long-standing advocacy for a balanced fee structure. NAB appreciates the FCC's willingness to address this imbalance and we look forward to working closely with the Commission during the rulemaking process,” he said in a statement.
Pandemic Programs Extended Into 2023Even though the pandemic is now officially over, the pain that broadcasters and other industries have suffered during the past three years is not. So the Commission says several temporary measures it put into place in 2020 will remain this year. That includes allowing a broadcaster to submit a single request to have their annual fee waived, reduced or deferred for all their stations on a single form. The FCC also plans to again reduce the 25% interest rate typically charged on installment payments, and again waive the down payment normally required before granting an installment payment request. It also plans to let companies that owe the FCC money — and are therefore subject to the Commission’s red-light rule — to nevertheless be allowed to seek some relief, even though their red light status would typically prohibit such requests. The FCC is also considering a rule change floated by the NAB that would permit regulatory fees to be paid in installments in advance of the annual due date. The FCC is taking comments on its annual fee proposal through June 14, with reply comments due by July 29. Once a decision is made, broadcasters must pay their annual fee by Oct. 1 or else face the possibility that any pending application will not be processed. The FCC also has the authority to charge a mandatory late filing fee. |
| Source: | Insider Radio |
| Leavitt Communications |
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| Inside Towers Newsletter |
New FCC Rules Require Carriers to do More to Block Robocalls
The FCC adopted more rules to expand call blocking requirements to ensure more robocall protections for consumers. The agency voted to extend its 24-hour traceback requirement to cover all voice service providers. Carriers will be required to support FCC and industry efforts to trace illegal robocalls across various networks and back to their originating sources. The rules will also require providers that originate illegal robocall traffic to block that traffic when notified by the Commission. The FCC will also now require all voice service providers to take what it’s calling “reasonable and effective steps” to ensure that any immediate upstream provider from which they accept call traffic is not using it to carry or process a high volume of illegal traffic. During the vote, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said: “I wish, as everyone does, that there was a silver bullet. No one wants to feel like we are playing whack a mole, but the reality is we have to be vigilant.” His colleague, Commissioner Nathan Simington, went off on the topic, which continues to be the highest consumer complaint to the Commission. “People ask why don’t we just ban robocalls? That is like saying why don’t you make it so the bridges don’t fall down or airplanes don’t crash. You can get there, it takes a lot of work.” He called the ongoing topic and process a “pain in the neck,” explaining: “I want to acknowledge everyone’s ongoing, very frustrating at times hard work in cracking down on this and keeping the promise of an open phone network where people really can trust their phones again in this age of very high levels of connection, not all of it wanted.” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, “scam artists are creative and whenever the agency shuts down one calling fraud scheme, a new one pops up somewhere else.” However, “in the last two years we have stopped more big robocall schemes than at any point in our history.” By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief |
| Source: | Inside Towers newsletter | Courtesy of the editor of Inside Towers, Jim Fryer. Inside Towers is a daily newsletter by subscription. |
| BloostonLaw Newsletter |
REMINDER: Small Voice Providers Must Fully Implement STIR/SHAKEN by June 30Small voice service providers – i.e., those voice providers with 100,000 or fewer voice service subscriber lines – are required to fully implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication standards by June 30, 2023. As we reported at the time, the FCC imposed a June 30, 2021, implementation deadline for STIR/SHAKEN but gave a two-year extension to small voice providers and voice providers that were otherwise unable to obtain the token necessary to implement STIR/SHAKEN. That extension was reduced to one year for non-facilities based small voice providers. Accordingly, small voice providers must have STIR/SHAKEN fully implemented by the end of June this year. BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer. HeadlinesFCC Places Budget Control Mechanism Item On CirculationOn May 11, the FCC's website indicated that an item on the budget control mechanism (BCM) that the agency for the Connect America Fund in its 2016 rate-of-return reform order has begun circulating among the Commissioners. Application of the BCM has been waived in recent years, with the most recent waiver applying to July '22 - July '23 tariff year. While no further information is available on the draft, the BCM has been a hot topic at the Commissioners' office lately. In the past two weeks, notices of ex parte have been filed by NTCA, WTA, Chickasaw Telephone, Totah Communications, and the Southeastern Rural Broadband Alliance indicating that these parties discussed the BCM. NTCA advocated for recalibrating the BCM at the current level of demand. WTA, Chickasaw Telephone, Totah Communications, and the Southeastern Rural Broadband Alliance all proposed another waiver for the '23-'24 tariff year. Absent a waiver or modification, the BCM will cost rural local exchange carriers approximately 18 percent of their broadband loop support and high-cost loop support. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and Sal Taillefer. FCC Releases Broadband Funding MapOn May 15, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the release of the Broadband Funding Map. The Broadband Funding Map and the map’s underlying data can be found at https://fundingmap.fcc.gov/. The Broadband Funding Map today contains data received from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the Department of Treasury as well as the Commission’s own data. Any funding data that are submitted to the Commission by other federal agencies in the future will be added to the map as part of regular updates the Commission makes. According to the Public Notice, the Broadband Funding Map allows users to identify, search, and filter federal funding programs by the Internet Service Provider receiving funding, the duration timeline, the number of locations included in the project, and the download and upload speeds. In addition to depicting where broadband funding exists, the Broadband Funding Map contains broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022—the same data that currently appear on the National Broadband Map. When the Commission releases more recent availability data on the National Broadband Map, the Broadband Funding Map will be updated as well. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and John Prendergast. Comments on Broadband Benchmark Calculations are due June
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This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm. |
May
May 15 – Comments are due on ACP Transparency Data Collection data fields.
May 18 – Oppositions to SpaceX/T-Mobile Supplemental Coverage from Space Applications are due.
May 29 – Responses to Oppositions to SpaceX/T-Mobile SCS Applications are due.
May 31 – FCC Form 395 (Annual Employment Report) is due.
June
Jun. 2 – Replies to Responses to Oppositions to SpaceX/T-Mobile SCS Applications are due.
Jun. 5 – Comments on STIR/SHAKEN Sixth FNPRM are due.
Jun. 6 – Reply comments are due on 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline NPRM.
Jun. 6 – Reply comments are due on Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act NPRM.
Jun. 6 – Reply comments are due on Scam Text Message Blocking NPRM.
Jun. 8 – Comments are due on Broadband Benchmark Calculations PN.
Jun. 10 – Deadline for voice service providers to begin blocking traffic from One Eye, LLC.
Jun. 12 – Reply comments on Sat-to-Cell NPRM are due.
Jun. 16 – 15-Day Access Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 20 – Applications for Community Connect Program are due.
Jun. 20 – Applications for Broadband Technical Assistance Program are due.
Jun. 23 – Petitions to suspend 15-Day Access Tariff Filings are due (by 7 p.m. ET).
Jun. 23 – Reply comments are due on Broadband Benchmark Calculations PN.
Jun. 26 – 7-Day Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 27 – Replies to Petitions to Suspend 15-Day Access Tariff Filings are due (7 p.m. ET).
Jun. 29 – Petitions to Suspend 7-Day Tariff Filings are due (NOON ET).
Jun. 30 – Replies to Petitions to Suspend 7-Day Tariff Filings are due (NOON ET).
Jun. 30 – Deadline for small voice service providers to fully implement STIR/SHAKEN.
July
Jul. 1 – FCC Form 690 (Mobility Fund Phase I Auction Winner Annual Report) is due.
Jul. 1 – FCC Form 481 is due. Jul. 5 – Reply comments on STIR/SHAKEN Sixth FNPRM are due.
Jul. 31 – Carrier Identification Code (CIC) Report is due.
Jul. 31 – FCC Form 507 A-CAM/Alaska Plan Line Count Data is due.
Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, & Prendergast, LLP is a telecommunications law firm representing rural telecommunications companies, wireless carriers, private radio licensees, cable TV companies, equipment manufacturers and industry associations before the FCC and the courts, as well as state and local government agencies. Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small and medium-sized enterprises whose vitality and efficiency depend on the effective deployment of communications.
Meet our Partners (This week, Mr. Duffy)
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Gerard J. Duffy, Partner |
Gerard J. Duffy has been a BloostonLaw partner since January 1, 1992. His areas of practice have focused upon rural telephone companies, commercial mobile radio, cable television and Internet issues. Mr. Duffy was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor (with honors) degree from the George Washington University LawSchool. He also holds graduate degrees in economics from the University of Illinois, and in accounting from Virginia Tech. Mr. Duffy is counsel for the Public Policy Committee of the Western Telecommunications Alliance, and a member of OPASTCO's Separations and Access Committee. He has spoken on local competition, universal service, CALEA, CPNI, numbering and related telecommunications issues at Western Telecommunications Association, OPASTCO, National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) and state telephone association meetings and seminars. |
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CORNERING THE ANTENNA MARKETby: Al Williams
Sometimes antennas can seem like black magic. However, when you see things like a dish antenna, it sort of makes sense, right? Just like a mirror focuses light, the parabola of a dish focuses RF energy. But [IMSAI Guy] shows another common-sense antenna arrangement: a corner reflector dipole. He had built one years ago and decided to do a bit of research and make another one. In a clever use of copper-clad board, he was able to make a reasonable reflector by soldering together three boards and an RF connector. A single wire makes the “driven element,” and by bending it to just the right position, you can change the characteristic impedance for matching. The antenna, in this case, is essentially a quarter-wave antenna with a ground plane and reflector arrangement. After the obligatory chalk talk, he breaks out the vector network analyzer and shows how well it matches. He didn’t, however, measure the gain or directional selectivity due to the reflector. Intuitively, you’d think this kind of antenna would be good for direction finding purposes. In fact, hams that use handy talkies for direction finding often use their bodies to block signals, much like these reflectors should. The [IMSAI Guy] reflector is pretty small, but you can easily make bigger ones. Using PCB material for antennas isn’t anything new, either, but we still enjoyed this simple corner reflector build. |
| Source: | Hack A Day |
| MUSIC VIDEO FOR THE WEEK |
“5th Annual Arhoolie Awards winner — Tuba Skinny”Feb 20, 2023 |
| Source: | YouTube |
Best regards,  Newsletter Editor 73 DE K9IQY Licensed since 1957 |
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