From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Oct 20 13:07:45 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9KH7jL18398; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:07:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:07:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410201707.i9KH7jL18398@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #501 TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:08:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 501 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft to Debut 'Istanbul' Application (Monty Solomon) AT&T Wireless 3rd Quarter Net Income of $0.04 Per Share (Monty Solomon) Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results (Monty Solomon) Hacker Hits California University Computer (Monty Solomon) Hacker Hits Berkeley Computer; More Details (Lisa Minter) InterCall Canada Audio Conferencing? (Geoffrey Welsh) "Technical" Cable/Wire (Cyril) Find Some Books to Swap on www.myswapmeet.com (myswapmeet) Kennedy, Johnson, Goldwater (Anthony Bellanga) 'K' vs. 'W' Radio and TV Call Signs (Anthony Bellanga) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work) (David Clayton) Re: Verizon Taking Lesson From Hooterville Telephone Company (Ed Clarke) Re: REN Boosters From England? (Paul Coxwell) Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange as Customer Gets Blue Photos (L Minter) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:08:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft to Debut 'Istanbul' Application By MARK JEWELL AP Business Writer BOSTON (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. introduced on Tuesday a desktop computer application that aims to seamlessly integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling. Microsoft plans to debut the product, code-named "Istanbul," sometime in the first half of 2005. It will compete with efforts from rivals including IBM Corp. and smaller players such as Convoq Inc. to link together various channels of communications and promote their most effective use. The products employ "presence" technology, which tells users whether co-workers are online and their degree of availability _ whether they can take a phone call or prefer to be e-mailed or to instead join a Web conference, for example. The idea is to enhance the "buddy list" concept of instant messaging so workers can choose how to best communicate in a given moment, bringing an end to games of phone tag in a world of packed schedules. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44392180 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:15:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Wireless Reports Third Quarter Net Income of $0.04 Per Share REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 2004-- Delivers $1.1 Billion in OIBDA; Operating Free Cash Flow and Net Customer Additions Increase From Second Quarter AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE) today said Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the quarter was $0.04, an increase from $0.02 per share in the second quarter, and $0.02 below last year's third quarter EPS of $0.06. The year-over-year decline in EPS was due primarily to lower operating income. Third quarter services revenue declined 1.5 percent from the second quarter to $3.813 billion. Services revenue declined $260 million, or 6.4 percent, from the year-ago quarter. Services revenue was positively impacted by higher data revenue and an increase in revenues from regulatory program fees. Led by strong customer demand for messaging services, mMode and business data solutions, revenue from wireless data services increased 145 percent over the prior year period. More than offsetting these increases were lower monthly recurring charges received from the company's postpaid subscriber base and higher promotional incentives to support customer retention efforts during the quarter. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44377666 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:17:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results Motorola Reports Third-Quarter 2004 Financial Results - Oct 19, 2004 04:00 PM (PR Newswire) - Third-quarter 2004 sales of $8.624 billion, up 26 percent compared to third-quarter 2003 sales of $6.829 billion. - Third-quarter 2004 GAAP earnings of $479 million, or $.20 per share, up 313 percent compared to third-quarter 2003 GAAP earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share. - Third-quarter 2004 GAAP results include: (1) income of $195 million, or $.05 per share, from the sale of investments, (2) net expense of $81 million, or $.02 per share, related to the retirement of $1.7 billion of long-term debt, (3) expense of $67 million, or $.03 per share, related to the impairment of goodwill, (4) expense of $55 million, or $.01 per share, for previously-announced severance charges, (5) a tax benefit of $39 million, or $.02 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, and (6) expense of $19 million, or $.01 per share, for Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (FSL) separation costs. As previously reported in Motorola's third-quarter 2003 earnings release, third-quarter 2003 GAAP earnings included net special-item charges of $27 million, or $.01 per share, as detailed in that release. - Third-quarter 2004 positive operating cash flow of $1.3 billion, which enabled the company to complete the quarter with net cash of $4.4 billion, compared to net debt of $41 million at the end of 2003.(1) SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today reported sales of $8.624 billion in the third quarter of 2004. This is a 26 percent increase from sales of $6.829 billion in the third quarter of 2003. Motorola also reported net earnings of $479 million, or $.20 per share, in the third quarter of 2004, presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), an increase of 313 percent compared to third- quarter 2003 GAAP earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share. Third-quarter 2004 GAAP earnings include: (1) income of $195 million, or $.05 per share, from the sale of investments, (2) net expense of $81 million, or $.02 per share, related to the retirement of $1.7 billion of long-term debt and cancellation of associated interest rate swaps, (3) expense of $67 million, or $.03 per share, related to the impairment of goodwill, (4) expense of $55 million, or $.01 per share, for previously-announced severance charges, (5) a tax benefit of $39 million, or $.02 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, and (6) expense of $19 million, or $.01 per share, related to FSL separation costs. Motorola reported GAAP net earnings of $116 million, or $.05 per share, in the third quarter of 2003. As previously reported in Motorola's third-quarter 2003 earnings release, third-quarter 2003 earnings included net special-item charges of $27 million, or $.01 per share, as detailed in that earnings release. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44375553 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:30:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Hacker Hits California University Computer By REUTERS Filed at 9:02 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A computer hacker accessed names and Social Security numbers of about 1.4 million Californians after breaking into a University of California, Berkeley, computer system in perhaps the worst attack of its kind ever suffered by the school, officials said on Tuesday. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-crime-hacking.html?ex=1256011200&en=d6c672d337c23540&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Read further on this in the next article in this issue. Lisa Minter brings more details on the hacker attack on Berkeley. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hacker Hits Berkeley California University Computer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:47:44 EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A computer hacker accessed names and Social Security numbers of about 1.4 million Californians after breaking into a University of California, Berkeley, computer system in perhaps the worst attack of its kind ever suffered by the school, officials said on Tuesday. "The investigation is continuing but we have no idea if the (personal) information has been compromised," said Carlos Ramos, assistant secretary at the California Health and Human Services Agency. He said state agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating but the hacker had not been found. The names accessed by the hacker were being used by a UC Berkeley researcher who had collected data on elderly people and individuals who provide in-home care to seniors to study the impact of wages on in-home care, Ramos said. The data, which included home addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth, was being used at the state's authorization but without the consent of the individuals whose information was being used in the study. Ramos said the state is authorized to share with researchers the personal information of individuals who participate in state programs administered by the state social services department. George Strait, a university spokesman, confirmed the school's computer system had been penetrated in what he believed was the most significant hacking job the university had experienced. The university detected its computer system had been broken into at the end of August, but did not notify the state until Sept. 27 after the school had done its own investigation with the FBI, Strait said. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service.. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: InterCall Canada Audio Conferencing? Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 12:04:32 -0400 I'm shopping our telecom services around, but none of the telcos can match the audio conferencing rates offered by InterCall Canada. (http://www.intercall.ca/) We do enough conferencing that it would be worth severing that service from our otherwise bundled services, but I'm a bit reluctant to roll out new numbers and accounts with an unfamiliar company. They seem to have operations in a few countries, and they are owned by the West Corporation, whom I've heard of but don't really know. Any expeiences/comments? Thanks, Geoffrey Welsh If anything worth doing is worth doing right, then surely anything not worth doing right is not worth doing at all. ------------------------------ From: cyril.dary@cote-azur.cci.fr (Cyril) Subject: Seeking Technical Advice on Cable/Wire Date: 20 Oct 2004 02:38:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for experts/companies/laboratories who are working on cables and wires. Caracteristics : low voltage/modulated impedance Objective : creating or buying (!) a cable/wire able to process simultaneous sources/data/information merging lan standards and wireless technologies. Applications : not only computers but telecommunications, domotics Any other informations are welcome (patents, associations, etc.) ------------------------------ From: everything.myswapmeet@gmail.com (myswapmeet) Subject: Find Some Books to Swap on www.myswapmeet.com Date: 20 Oct 2004 07:54:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Guys, instead of buying expensive books why don't you swap it with some one ... Check it out -- it has some listing for CCIE -- VoIP and networking under San Francisco Bay Area. www.myswapmeet.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:51:20 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: Kennedy, Johnson, Goldwater Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld on request PAT, to prevent $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. Pat, in the thread on the Sinclair owned TV stations, you added (in part): > Barry Goldwater (who ran against Kennedy as I recall) ... and > Remember how Goldwater was thought to be such a war hawk > when he was running, and all the smears against him by > the Democrats? And his Democratic opponent, John Kennedy, Kennedy was assassinated on Friday 22 November 1963. Then Vice-President Johnson became President. As incumbent, he was the "favorite" for Democratic nomination at their Summer 1964 convention in Atlantic City. Even back in 1963, Goldwater WAS indeed the "expected" or "favorite" for the Republican nomination, and he was nominated at their Summer 1964 convention in San Francisco. But Goldwater actually challenged President Johnson in 1964. Kennedy had already been dead for close to a year by then. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:00:10 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: 'K' vs. 'W' Radio and TV Call Signs Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld at request I'm re-sending this. I never got your auto "ack", and this hasn't appeared yet. I originally sent it about 24 hours ago, early on Tuesday morning. PAT, to prevent $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. John Mayson wrote: > You're thinking of KDKA (Pittsburgh PA) > Originally coastal stations on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico got > "W" callsigns and Pacific stations got "K". When we started > assigning callsigns to broadcast stations some Texas stations like > WFAA and WOAI ended up with W's. Pittsburgh's KDKW [sic] and > Philly's KYW were allowed to keep their pre-existing callsigns. > The government quickly redrew the line along the Mississippi because > the more populous east was eating up too many "W" callsigns. > I only know of one exception to the Mississippi rule. The FCC > allowed a Waco, TX TV station (and possibly radio) to adopt WACO. There are many other "central plains" states (west of the Mississippi River) with 'W' calll-signs for *old* radio stations dating back to the *early* 1920s era, along with subsequent TV counterparts associated with those *old* radio stations. The original boundary between 'W' and 'K' was roughly the Rocky Mountains. Other states (west of the Mississippi, east of the Rockies) in addition to Texas, with 'W' call-signs for such *old* radio stations (and subsequent TV stations associated with those radio stations) include Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. Offhand, I don't know why Arkansas doesn't have any 'W' radio stations today -- maybe they did at one time, but the few old stations changed their call-signs, of course to 'K' stations ??? The following website gives an excellent history of the rules and such for the 'W' and 'K' usage, including why there are some 'K' stations which happen to be *EAST* of the Mississippi (such as KDKA Pittsburgh). It seems that those few 'K' radio (and TV) stations *east* of the Mississippi River are in the midwest and northeast. http://earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm Anthony Bellanga ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:44:32 +1000 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) contributed the following: >> Streetcars, while quaint, have limitations. > Yes, they do. But in certain situations they are superior. They held > more people and accelerated faster than a bus did, providing faster > and more comfortable service. However, in street service they get > blocked behind stuck cars. The older models (pre 1930) were noisy and > rough riding, but the 1930 and onward, especially the PCC* cars were > very nice. > *PCC was an industry top-down new design of a streetcar with high > comfort and performance and efficiency in mind. Anyone lucky enough > to ride the Newark (NJ) City Subway before new cars got to see how > smooth and quiet they were. The design was copied in Europe and > thousands of cars were built there. And if you want to have a look at the one city in Australia that fought off the "fashion" to get rid of their "Streetcars" (we actually call 'em Trams), and is currently extending lines and upgrading its fleet, go to: http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/DOI/Internet/transport.nsf/AllDocs/C7E281CCFFC65BFC4A256AE6000FE6BF?OpenDocument And their also is a PCC car in a tram museum here (somewhere ...) Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: 20 Oct 2004 11:54:45 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org In article , HorneTD wrote: > Just be aware that voice over cable requires electric power at both > ends of the circuit and several places in between. In the event of a > power outage your phone service dies. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A suggestion has been made here in this > Digest a few times that to eliminate the problem of a lack of power > due to a storm, or fallen wires or whatever, use a UPS for the VOIP > phone adapter and your modem. This will allow you to make emergency > calls during the power outage. PAT] It's the line amplifiers in between that are the problem. There's a backup generator at the headend but the fiber nodes require power when you go from fiber back to coaxial cable and any amplifiers also need power (comes in on the coax). In other words, if your cable service goes out, so does your phone. On the other hand, Cablevision has been more reliable in the past few years than Verizon. I have an intermitant problem with the fiber-to-copper node that services my local area. EVERYBODY's phone goes out for half an hour or so. Cellphones remain working. Try reporting that to Verizon. Normally I wouldn't care very much, but it also takes down my T1 (lots of errors, then loss of sync, then all the leds on the smartjack go out). My voice telephone(s) also lose dialtone. It also takes out all my neighbors (as verified by a cellphone). ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: REN Boosters From England? Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:41:33 +0100 John McHarry wrote in message news:telecom23.486.14@telecom-digest.org: > Points well taken, but I don't think FCC approval is required for a > ringing booster. I comment because it reminds me of being in the UK > some years ago when modems required some sort of approval. Everybody I > knew just built adaptors for US modems. When Brits came to visit us, > we had a couple people who could cobble them the other way. You had to > flip a couple wires around, much like wiring a 10 base T > connector. When I visited the BT labs at Martlesham Heath, the first > thing they did was present me with a prewired adaptor in a little > plastic package. The rule was kind of a dead letter, even with them. Sorry for the late reply -- I missed your response first time around. I just mentioned the approvals for sake of completeness, although I have no idea whether the U.S. rules may have changed in recent years. Technically, here in the U.K. any equipment connected to the PSTN is still supposed to have appropriate approval, but as you say, it's not something that is or ever has been strictly enforced. I was using unapproved U.S. and home-brew modems on the lines 20+ years ago and still have quite a number of old WE 500/2500 sets around the house, which strictly speaking shouldn't be connected (but you didn't hear that from me! ). The UK vs. US connections has been something of an ongoing problem ever since RJ11 type jacks started appearing on telephone equipment aimed at the British market. These days, almost all modems sold here do put the line on the center pair, then the RJ11-to-UK cord is simply a 2-wire to connect to the *outer* pair on the British jack. But many other pieces of telephone equipment need the third wire for the bell/ringer, and use an RJ11 modular connection on the phone itself but with a flat 4-wire cord connecting to the British plug, thereby putting the tip and ring on what would normally be the second pair of the RJ11. Naturally people start having problems when they swap cords around and end up trying to use the wrong type of interconnect. Paul. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange as Customer Gets Blue Photos Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:53:15 EDT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try not to smirk as you read this report. PAT] LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone firm Orange says its picture messaging service can "make someone feel really special." But when one customer called the company helpline she received some pictures that made her feel outraged instead. What she expected was a photo from a customer service representative to make sure her camera phone was working. What she got was a series of close-ups his genitals. "This ex-employee sent some indecent photographs of himself. He was dismissed within a week," an Orange spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "We've looked into the matter, collated the information and handed it over to the police." Worldwide camera phone sales are rising fast and expected to total 150 million this year. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #501 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Oct 20 15:12:22 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9KJCLd20063; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:22 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:22 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410201912.i9KJCLd20063@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #502 TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 502 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Old Stock Quotation Things? (Jim Haynes) Can't Detect Modem With SBC Yahoo DSL (Olga Sayenko) Restaurant Designates No-Cell-Phone Area (Lisa Minter) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Jack Decker) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (GlowingBlue) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (John Cummings) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Justin Time) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Rich Greenberg) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (John Hines) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Robert Weller) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Bruce Bergman) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Paul Coxwell) Re: Lee's ABC of the Telephone (Justin Time) Re: Radio Questions (Ben Schilling) Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange Was Not Funny at All! (Fred Atkinson) Last Laugh! Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency (Lisa Minter) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Old Stock Quotation Things? Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 16:37:29 GMT I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. Some of them are for systems to run a stock ticker tape through a projector. I can understand that, as the forerunner of the Trans-Lux 'flipping ball' displays used in brokers' offices. Some others use rotating number wheels to display the high, low, open, and closing prices of a single stock. A bank of these could display data for several stocks; but still a very limited number chosen from the market as a whole. What was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? They are obviously a lot more costly than the projection scheme, both in the hardware and in the operation. I presume an operator had to pick the selected stock trades from the ticker tape and send the data to the display board. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: sayenko@yahoo.com (Olga Sayenko) Subject: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL Date: 20 Oct 2004 10:11:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I just signed up for SBC Yahoo DSL. I got the modem and some filters from them and tried to install the software. The installation fails when the software tries to detect the modem and can't. I called support, but that's pretty much useless. So my questions are: 1) Why would the software have trouble detecting the modem? 2) When you sign up for DSL is it necessary for a technician to have physical access to your line? I registered for a specific date, but there was no information regarding someone actually coming to my house. 3) Can you configure the connection without installing all that software on your machine (god knows what they got in there!) Thanks, Olga [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I got SBC DSL a few years ago there was no installer visit. It is a fully automatic process. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Restaurant Designates No-Cell-Phone Area Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:02:53 EDT BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Diners at The Vineyard can distance themselves from the din of cell phone chatter. The restaurant has designated a "No-Cell-Phone" area, after customers who complained about listening to conversations from adjacent tables asked for the ban. "We had a therapist in from New York in who was giving marriage counseling on the phone for 30 minutes and there were two other tables in the dining area and both complained," server Brittany Peacock said. The seating preference changes with the time of day. "At dinner there are people who don't want cell phones," Peacock said. "At lunch people come in and expect to take a call in the middle of the day and they want cell phones." If someone receives a call while in the cell-free area, they are asked to go outside or into the other area. "It's an interruption. It's loud. Normally you speak louder on a cell phone and it interrupts the peaceful atmosphere of a restaurant," customer Bo Landry said. "I think you need an option if you have emergencies a lot of people have kids at home with a baby sitter, but also think it's a nice to go to an area where it won't interrupt your meal." *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 02:41:23 -0400 From: Jack Decker Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Pat, please conceal my e-mail. My guess is that the Intermatic is an AC transformer only, with no rectification or filtering. That's perfectly okay for incandescent lamps, which generally don't care if they get AC or DC. So, it would depend on what you want to use it for. If, for example, you want to power automotive-type incandescent lamps (up to 1 Amp total current) it should work fine. If you want to power anything that requires filtered DC, though, you'd have to add a rectifier and filtering circuit. The rectification is easy, you just use a bridge rectifier circuit rated at 1 Amp or greater, but the required level of filtering would depend on what you want to power, and that gets a bit more complicated. On the other hand, the Radio Shack unit can probably handle all your needs. The exception to that is inductive loads (anything with a coil of wire involved), which at very least will draw far more current with DC than with AC. For example, if you try to run an old fashioned doorbell on 12 volts AC it will probably work fine, but put it on 12 volts DC and it will probably ring much louder and the coils will get much warmer, perhaps dangerously so. So, don't substitute DC for AC on any sort of inductive load, which would include anything that has another transformer in it, or a relay or some other device with a coil of wire (the coiled filament of a light bulb doesn't count, there's not enough inductance there to matter). But for a purely resistive load (such as lamp bulbs) that would otherwise run on AC, substituting a DC power supply of the same voltage should not cause a problem. ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:11:27 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom23.500.2@telecom-digest.org: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. Pat, The above unit supplies a 12 volt DC output, the same kind of output as your car battery. It contains a transformer to lower the 110 volts to 12 volts but also includes electronic circuitry to convert the voltage to DC. It can be used to power electronic equipment that requires a 12 Volt DC source. This can also be used to power lights, just like the lights are powered in your car. The only provision is that you do not try and power more lights than the unit can support, when that happens the circuit breaker "reset" button on your box will trip. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. Pat, the above power unit is a 12 volt AC according to the Frequently Asked Questions section of their support web page as shown below. a.. Why do low voltage lighting systems require a transformer? You must have a transformer to reduce the 120-volt AC home current to a safe 12 volts AC. Do not attempt to hook up a line of 12-volt lamps directly to an ordinary home outlet without using a 12-volt transformer. If you were to hook up the TV or Scanner to this type of power unit it will most likely destroy them, unless they are designed to accept an AC/DC input of either type. You would have to check the specs on your scanner and TV to see if they would accept an AC input. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? I would not suggest hooking any electronics made for use in the USA to a 12 Volt AC power supply unless first confirming the equipment was designed to work using AC voltages. Lights can be powered using AC or DC as the bulbs could care less what type voltage they get fed. Using the lights on the DC power supply should work just fine as long as you do not exceed the capacity of the power unit. From what you describe the DC unit will trip the built in circuit breaker if you exceed the limits, protecting the power unit in the process. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Formulas are something I never could memorize, anyone else know the answer? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. If I had to choose myself, I would get the 12 volt DC system and make sure to keep it dry. Verify the light strings have nothing but lights, no motorized devices or timers and you should be OK. > PAT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The light string is just fifty feet of 12 or 16 gauge wire. The Radio Shack transformer/power supply is in a walk-in shed behind my house (which has electricity from my house.) The Intermatic transformer/timer unit is there also. The shed is enclosed, so nothing in there gets wet. The fifty feet of wire is mostly protected also (but *not* entirely I am sad to report) in the breezeway which is part of my back yard, and it feeds the lighting there, six lanterns and two 'floodlights' which go in the ground around the sidewalk area. The built in clock in the Intermatic Malibu 88-T turns those lights on and off. The floodlights are the most wattage of the bunch, little halogen things surrounded by tin-foil which put out ten watts each. The six lanterns, staked in the ground, put out maybe five watts each, also with reflectors built into the shells which hold the 'flashlight-like' bulbs. Intermatic built the transformer to go with the lanterns, etc. The transformer has quit responding at all (except the clock part still runs okay) and I suspect there may be a dead short in the wiring somewhere. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John A.Cummings Organization: ARRL, CWA, and IEEE Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 8:11:54 -0400 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. > PAT I would suspect that the lighting transformer is indeed, ONLY a transformer. Light bulbs don't care about AC/DC. Electronics won't like that AC. Watts = Volts * Amps Volts = Watts / Amps Amps = Watts / Volts I hope that gets you started, Pat. Please munge or withhold my email address. John A. Cummings Member of the ARRL, CWA, and the IEEE. reply-to: jcummings@withheld on request [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I made one mistake in my earlier report. The Intermatic is 110-120 Volts AC with 1 Amp. Output is 12 Volts, but the tag has been defaced at that point so I cannot tell you more about the output. But elsewhere I see a note in the instructions which warns *do not exceed the 88 Watts output of the various bulbs on the string.* There is no push button tripper on it to reset the circuit as there is on the Radio Shack unit. PAT] ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: 20 Oct 2004 06:06:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. > PAT Pat, One of the old Ohm's Law formulae was P=IE or Power (watts) equals I (current) times E (voltage)so, 3*13.8=41.4. This doesn't work out in the Intermatic case, as you say the power is 88 watts with the supply rated at 12v and 1A. In this instance you need to do the more exact conversion of P=I2R or Power equals the square of the current times the resistance. One of the transformers may be reporting the input power rather than the output power. This sounds like the situation for the Intermatic. 120W of input at 120VAC is 1A, and with the losses due to conversion to DC could easily scale down to the 88W on output. That would mean the transformer/power supply actually pumps out close to 7A at 12VDC (84W). Because they both are DC supplies, polarity becomes an issue, especially for the TV and scanner. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: 20 Oct 2004 12:42:43 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. This is putting out DC, about 40 watts worth. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. This is putting out AC, not DC. Must be more than one amp because 88 watts at 12 volts is about 8 amps which would match the number of bulbs. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? No, one is DC and the other is AC. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Disreguarding inductive effects which for DC and AC lighting is negligible watts = volts times amps. W=V*A V=W/A A=W/V > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. Depends on what you want to do with them. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/Asst Owner:Sibernet-L [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I want to do is (a) replace the Intermatic which runs the lights around the sidewalk and (b) replace the Radio Shack unit which variously has been used for a CB Radio, the scanner, and a small portable television set, all of which were intended for use in a mobile setting at one point. So many of my *nice* toys have been stolen or otherwise rendered useless over the years, and I am reduced to 'mix and match' transformer parts, etc. I have a boxful of plug in the wall transfomers here which I do not know what they are for. Thank goodness the manufacturers usually idiot-proof those things (different size barrels on the plugs, etc) so I cannot just go around trying them at random. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:45:45 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Volts * Amps = Watts TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? The Intermatic is most likely AC output since that works better for lights. AC, in changing polarity 60 times a second, goes through zero, which is "off". Incandescent bulbs, and our eyes don't react fast enough for this to be noticeable, but it extends bulb life. ------------------------------ From: Robert Weller Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:21:12 -0700 Hi Pat, What is your application? That is, what is it that you are trying to power? The Radio Shack unit supplies a nominal 12-volts DC, while the Intermatic supplies a nominal 12-volts AC, _probably_. You cannot, in general, substitute an AC power supply for a DC one, or vice-versa, unless your load is very simple -- like a light bulb. Bob Weller ------------------------------ From: Bruce L. Bergman Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:41:31 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net If you want to post this, please mung the E-mail address. On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:05:30 EDT, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? No, they are not interchangeable. The Malibu Lights transformer is raw 12V AC with no rectifier or filtering at all -- which works better for the application of those outside lights, as AC will go farther without as much voltage drop problems. Some outside lighting circuits go several hundred feet and the light would visibly dim more at the far end when running on DC. You can NOT use the Malibu transformer as-is for the TV or scanner, if they didn't go "BOOM!" right away the 60-Hz hum would be horrendous. Now if you want to build a filter section for the Malibu transformer with a bridge rectifier, filter capacitors and a choke, you could get a decent unregulated DC supply that would work ... Add a TO-3 regulator chip and a big heatsink (and the proper ancillary parts) and you could build a simple regulator section for it. The Radio Shack 12V DC supply is rectified and filtered heavily to remove as much 60 Hz hum as possible, for running electronic gear. You could use one to run the outside lights (if you get one that is large enough for the load) but it's a waste. Spend the money on the regulated DC supply. If you ask around the Electricians in your area, you can get a used small Malibu transformer for free or cheap when someone installs a larger system. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Volts times amps equals watts. 13.8V * 3A = 41.4W Google on "Ohm's Law" and you should get a gazillion answers. ;-) Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net. ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:12:27 +0100 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom23.500.2@telecom-digest.org: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Pat, First of all, the specifications you quote on that second unit don't tally with the intended use. On a DC circuit (or non-inductive AC circuit, such as simple filament lights) the wattage is equal to the product of voltage and current. 12V x 1A = 12 watts maximum. The specified maximum load of 88W would equate to 88 / 12 = 7.33 amps, so something's not quite right there. Many of the small power packs intended for pathway lighting output AC rather than DC and are unregulated, but you can run regular filament lamps on DC anyway, so no problem there. Your 3A supply would only run up to about 40W of lights though. Another point to consider is some of those cheap supplies intended for scanner/CB/etc. use are rather liberally rated, and although they'll output 3A on demand, they tend to get rather hot when called upon to deliver that full load over an extended period. Paul ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Lee's ABC of the Telephone Date: 20 Oct 2004 06:10:12 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jason wrote in message news:: > Many thanks Jim! > I picked up more than a few volumes from that site today. I'll > probably be grabbing an edition of the "Principles of Electricity > Applied To Telephone and Telegraph Work" as well. > -Jason Now you know why some of us old and grey haired types have forgotten more than some of the "newbies" have learned in school. They just didn't think it was important to go back to how things worked, just assume they would and go from there. ------------------------------ From: Ben Schilling Subject: Re: Radio Questions Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:25:50 -0500 Robert Bonomi wrote: > You havn't looked very hard. > Some more that I dug up: > WJON St. Cloud, Minnesota > WWJO St. Cloud, Minnesota > WYRQ Little Falls, Minnesota Both St. Cloud and Little Falls Minnesota are on the Mississippi River. I think Little Falls is actually on the East bank of the river. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange Not Funny at All! Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:11:05 -0400 *Try* not to laugh? I don't think it is at all funny. Fred ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Last Laugh! Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:56:23 EDT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, this is not a report of a police sting operation, where police tricked someone into doing a sex act then proceeded to bring a gazillion officers and police cars to the scene to arrest the hapless person, nor is it a report about some nosy neighbor getting into something then ratting on someone else to save themselves. Instead, it was purely an accident. PAT] LONDON (Reuters) - British police sprang into operation after receiving an emergency '999' phone alert from a woman in apparently in some distress -- only to discover it had accidentally been made by a couple having sex. Officers at Durham in northern England became alarmed when the call came through to their headquarters in the middle of the night and all they could hear was what sounded like a woman crying with a man's voice in the background. Police traced the number and rushed to the scene, where they found the embarrassed and disheveled couple who explained they were "messing around." "It happened while they were having sex. The woman had depressed with her foot the '9' button on the phone which happened to be on the floor," a Durham police spokesman told Reuters Wednesday. "It certainly put a smile on the faces on the police side -- we were just very relieved it wasn't a violent situation and that the couple were clearly getting on very well together." *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #502 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Oct 20 19:04:52 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9KN4oN22190; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:04:52 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:04:52 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410202304.i9KN4oN22190@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #503 TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:05:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 503 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone Company (R Greenberg) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone Company (SELLCOM Tech) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone Company (J Kelly) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone Company (Lisa Hancock) Sinclair: From Bad to Worse (Lisa Minter) Re: Sinclair's Disgrace (Dave Garland) Re: Sinclair's Disgrace (AES/newspost) Re: Sinclair's Disgrace (SELLCOM Tech Support) Re: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL (Clarence Dold) Re: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace Power Transformer (Gordon Hlavenka) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace Power Transformer (Ken Abrams) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace Power Transformer (Ted Klugman) Re: Computer Users Face New Scourge (Geoffrey Welsh) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: 20 Oct 2004 14:46:28 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , Ed Clarke wrote: > It's the line amplifiers in between that are the problem. There's a > backup generator at the headend but the fiber nodes require power when > you go from fiber back to coaxial cable and any amplifiers also need > power (comes in on the coax). Depends on the cable company's preparations. In my neighborhood, the local cable co has at least 2 boxes with gas meters connected to them. I haven't looked inside but my guess is a natural gas powered generator set. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:47:14 GMT Ed Clarke posted on that vast internet thingie: > In other words, if your cable service goes out, so does your phone. > On the other hand, Cablevision has been more reliable in the past few > years than Verizon. I hate Verizon as much (or more) as anyone else, but in all fairness when we had the last big ice storm and ran on generator for about 7 days our "backup" Time Warner cable internet went down and stayed down. Our Verizon DSL stayed up the whole time. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Ramsplitter firewood splitters If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:55:50 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:15:57 GMT, HorneTD wrote: > Tony Pelliccio wrote: >> I recently moved three blocks east of my former location and contacted >> Verizon to move the line. >> I was assured that at 8:30AM on the 15th service at the old address >> would cut and the new address would be active at 10:30AM. >> Service at the old location cut at 11:30PM on Friday but the new >> location wasn't up yet. I've been going around and around with Verizon >> for days about this. They say the switch is telling them service is >> fine and to find my network interface and they'll take it from there. >> What I found was I'm pair #14 on a 50 pair breakout box with screw >> posts and nuts to hold the wiring down. I had to ANAC about 30 lines >> before I found mine. >> Thing is, I know I'm going to have to wire my jacks as whoever did the >> wiring before was a hack. But I had this faint image of having to >> climb a telephone pole to make a call that harkens back to Green Acres >> and the Hooterville Telephone Company. >> Needless to say -- the CATV line is in the house and the HSI is >> getting installed Thursday so I just might port my service to Vonage >> and be done with the stodgy phone company once and for all. > Just be aware that voice over cable requires electric power at both > ends of the circuit and several places in between. In the event of a > power outage your phone service dies. > Tom H > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A suggestion has been made here in this > Digest a few times that to eliminate the problem of a lack of power > due to a storm, or fallen wires or whatever, use a UPS for the VOIP > phone adapter and your modem. This will allow you to make emergency > calls during the power outage. PAT] Where my brother lives if the power goes out across town, or even in a town 30 miles away (where the headend is), his cable tv and internet die. Hard to believe that Mediacom has no UPS's or generators for the headend or any of the line amps. I think they bought some cable co's that were pretty messed up though. In time I suppose they will clean them up. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Jeff nor Lisa) Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: 20 Oct 2004 14:09:08 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com HorneTD wrote: > Just be aware that voice over cable requires electric power at both > ends of the circuit and several places in between. In the event of a > power outage your phone service dies. True. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A suggestion has been made here in this > Digest a few times that to eliminate the problem of a lack of power > due to a storm, or fallen wires or whatever, use a UPS for the VOIP > phone adapter and your modem. This will allow you to make emergency > calls during the power outage. PAT] Our cable system requires line amplifiers and if commercial power fails to the neighborhood the cable goes out, too, and takes a little longer to be restored; apparently they have to reset stuff from their base. In our neighborhood at least, cable telephone would not be as reliable. Per the original post, it sounds like it's a fuzzy situation because there was no standard interface block, just a master junction box serving multiple homes. My apt is served the same way. When I got a new line installed, I had the installer come inside and tell me what cable pair (there were many in the outlets) was the live one, and Verizon did not expect me to pay for his time to do so because of the situation. They didn't want me routing around their outside building box. The poster also mentioned the property was poorly wired, perhaps there was a short or confusion as a result of that. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:18:05 -0400 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse The effects of Sinclair Broadcasting's cynically partisan decision to make its stations air an anti-Kerry movie continue to ripple through the industry. While Sinclair (whose owners are major Bush contributors) still plans to air the film, the reaction remains negative, and Sinclair's behavior isn't helping. On Monday, Sinclair fired the head of its Washington bureau for having the temerity to criticize the airing of one-sided propaganda (ironic, considering Sinclair is claiming a First Amendment right to air the film). Jon Lieberman had correctly pointed out that running the film brought the network's credibility into question, telling the Baltimore Sun: "[It's] biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election. For me, it's not about right or left -- it's about what's right or wrong in news coverage this close to an election." It didn't take long for Sinclair to send its top DC reporter packing, issuing a statement that labeled him a "disgruntled employee": "Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion, including Jon Lieberman. We are disappointed that Jon's political views caused him to speak to the press about company business." So Leiberman's entitled to his opinion, he'll just be fired for expressing it. Also on Monday, one of the veterans who appears in the film filed a libel lawsuit against its producer (who, it should be noted, is a former Tom Ridge aide). Kenneth Campbell, a former Marine and now a university professor, said the producer used deceptive editing to delete key context from his comments. Lawyers for Campbell sent letters to Sinclair and to a movie theater planning to air the film; the theater canceled the screening. Like Lieberman, Campbell is not connected to the Kerry campaign, just someone angered by Sinclair's decision. In addition, the broadcast network's stock has continued to drop with investors concerned about a loss of ad revenue. No doubt in response to this backlash, the nationwide In Demand pay-per-view network has decided not to offer a Nov. 1 showing of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" (Moore is now reportedly considering legal action). Obviously, there's a big difference between an opt-in, pay-per-view offering and the preemption of primetime network coverage on free TV, but if In Demand is worried about violating the fairness doctrine, Sinclair is well beyond the pale. Like the candidate it supports, Sinclair Broadcasting is sticking to its guns, even if it means going alone. - Jeff Fleischer Read the MoJo Blog online for more: http://www.motherjones.com/news/blog/index.html @2004 The Foundation for National Progress *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Foundation for National Progress and Mother Jones Magazine. . For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Sinclair's Disgrace Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:41:55 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) wrote: > It's his personal stations, so he is not "demanding" anything, but > merely showing what he feels like showing, as any station owner may > do. A TV station owner is free to show F/911 if it so chooses. To pick a nit, they are not *his* personal stations. They belong to a publicly traded corporation, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (a legal entity that in theory exists for the public good). He happens to control the majority of stock. ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Sinclair's Disgrace Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:20:24 -0700 In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock): > us continually everytime they got a chance, was a (gasp!) Roman > Catholic, and if *he* got elected, before long, the (gasp!) Pope would > be running America, 'since all Catholics have to obey the Pope.' Given some of the public statements made by senior members of the U.S. Roman Catholic hierarchy in the current campaign, one might not entirely dismiss this, as being representative of their objective anyway. ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Sinclair's Disgrace Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:44:30 GMT The media has been so biased towards the communist, anti-American, socialist party of traitors etc., I hardly think the truth about a traitor will "disgrace" Sinclair. The disgrace belongs to anyone who would even think of voting for some traitorous lying trash like Kerry. Kerry should still be in jail for betraying his country. Like there is not enough info from www.scaryjohnkerry.com www.notfondakerry.com and www.swiftvets.com etc It is astounding to me that people can be so clueless when "See BS" gets caught red handed interfering in the election and "ABC" have shown their extreme corruption and prejudice towards the socialists/communists that now control the Democratic party. Steve at SELLCOM The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of anyone anywhere unless they are also correct regarding these matters. Information published here is without warranty express or implied or any of that stuff. http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Ramsplitter firewood splitters If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ooops! About time to close out this thread I suppose. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@XReXXCanXt.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 20:02:24 UTC Organization: a2i network Olga Sayenko wrote: > I just signed up for SBC Yahoo DSL. I got the modem and some filters > from them and tried to install the software. The installation fails > when the software tries to detect the modem and can't. I called > support, but that's pretty much useless. So my questions are: > 1) Why would the software have trouble detecting the modem? Drivers are required for USB-connected modems. If you are connecting via ethernet, you don't need their software at all. If you have a router, it is pretty simple. If you have no router, Windows XP New Connection Wizard will make the connection. http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5448 SBC Yahoo: What software is included? Do I have to install it? http://makeashorterlink.com/?W25F12399 describes exactly how to set up a Linksys Router with SBC DSL and no software. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 16:03:03 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Olga Sayenko wrote: > Hi, > I just signed up for SBC Yahoo DSL. I got the modem and some filters > from them and tried to install the software. The installation fails > when the software tries to detect the modem and can't. I called > support, but that's pretty much useless. So my questions are: > 1) Why would the software have trouble detecting the modem? How are you connected to the modem? Via ethernet or via USB? It makes a difference as to the answer. > 2) When you sign up for DSL is it necessary for a technician to have > physical access to your line? I registered for a specific date, but > there was no information regarding someone actually coming to my > house. No. Tech should not actually need to come to your house. > 3) Can you configure the connection without installing all that > software on your machine (god knows what they got in there!) Yes. In fact don't load anything from SBC. Google for "raspppoe" -- works much better than the software SBC supplies. You do need some sort of PPPoE client to connect. That can be done using the SBC supplied software (last I checked, they used "enternet" by, made by Efficient Networks -- but that has been discontinued. Don't know what they send out nowadays), you can download "raspppoe" and use that, or if you have windows XP, I think that has built in PPPoE support now. There are other PPPoE software solutions available as well. Enternet is no longer sold by Efficiant Networks and has been replaced by a product called "Tango Access". Another popular one is made by Finepoint Networks, Called WINPOET. Lastly, (and IMO the best option) is to buy a firewall/router with built in PPPoE support. My favorite is the sonicwall series of firewalls, but most folks consider them to pricey for home use. Linksys, dlink, and Netgear all make less expensive boxes that support PPPoE. -Sean ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 12:26:01 -0500 From: Gordon S. Hlavenka Reply-To: nospam@crashelex.com Organization: Crash Electronics Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. I > had been using it to run a small portable TV set and a scanner radio > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? You could definitely use the RS box to run the outside lights, no problem. It's overkill compared to the Intermatic, but it will work just fine. You _might_ be able to use the Intermatic with electronic devices, but that's somewhat dicier. The current output is lower, but if the TV or scanner draws less than one amp the Intermatic will be able to support it. BUT: The Intermatic output is not "filtered"; if your TV/scanner does not filter its power input (most don't) then you will have so much 60Hz hum you won't be able to use the device. It's also possible the hum could damage the TV or scanner. You can add an external filter to the Intermatic supply. Wrap a few dozen turns of 14ga wire around a big bolt and connect one end of the wire to one of the output terminals on the timer. Then get a biggish capacitor (say, 10,000uF at 16vdc or better) and connect it from the other end of the bolt to the other output terminal. Connect your TV/scanner across the output side of the coil and the Intermatic terminal connected to the capacitor. Intermatic ---- Bolt/wire ----+-------O CAP Intermatic -------------------+-------O Make sure you obey the polarity markings on the capacitor. If the Intermatic doesn't have polarity markings on its output, check it with a meter. (You'll need to know for hooking it up to the TV/scanner anyway ...) > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Are you sitting down? Volts times amps equals watts. :-) Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com "If we imagined he could _find_ the car, we could pretend it might be fixed." - Calvin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My brain just had another movement, so I must inquire: The RS box has a push button on the back of it to reset the circuit if it blows out. *Whose* circuit is it protecting, the house current to the RS box or the RS box to the external devices? On the same idea: the Intermatic box does *not* have such a push-to- reset switch on it. Since the Intermatic box does *not* have such a button on it, would it be a prudent idea to devise some protection of my own for the new one I have to buy? For example, an automobile fuse holder with a little glass fuse wired on one side of the output line? I think -- not certain -- the sidewalk lights have a short on the line somewhere resulting from a very heavy rain we had a few days ago. I would like to protect my $39 investment when I get the new one and if having a fuse in the output line would help do that, then I will. What size/strength fuse is recommended? ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:21:59 GMT > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. Well, I guess we aren't in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. Indy ??? You DO get around, don't you? ;-) > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Watts = volts times amps (P = IxE) and Amps = watts divided by volts (I = P/E) So, to run your 88 watt string of lights, you would need about 8 amps at 12 volts (with a little to spare) Neither of your proposed supplies comes close. Ramblings: A 110V string of Xmas lights would likely turn out to be MUCH cheaper. If you are stuck using 12V bulbs, a 10A (automotive) battery charger would likely be cheaper than a "real" power supply. The light bulbs shouldn't care that the output is "dirty" (unfiltered). Good luck! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just FYI, "Indy" is a nickname for Independence, Kansas; its what people around here frequently call the town. So, we are still in Kansas, Dorothy. Frankly, I cannot imagine ever going anywhere else to live; the people here are just too Libertarian and laid-back, all 8800 of them. And starting today, October 20, for the next ten days through the end of the month, it is the Neewollah festival. Much drinking and carousing going on. Originally started 73 years ago as a single day event on Halloween to keep kids out of mischief (and Neewollah *is* the word 'Halloween' spelled backward) it has grown to be a ten day Octoberfest event each year, not only for our community but sort of the 'Mardi Gras of southeastern Kansas' with people visiting from all over; theatre and music, a large parade through the downtown area a week from Saturday, etc. A town with only *one phone exchange* (620-331) for everyone where people give their phone number by saying the last four digits only can't be all that bad a place to live. Regards me being 'stuck with 12 volt bulbs' the Intermatic 88-T power supply came with it, and I got it for five dollars (the whole set of lights, wire, etc) mind you, at the Church of the Epiphany rummage sale in July. It worked just fine until the very heavy rain a few days ago. But I like your idea of a 12 volt-DC battery charger as a cheap alternative. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:12:37 GMT From: Ted Klugman Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Organization: Optimum Online On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:05:30 EDT, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. The Rat Shack power supply is DC. The Intermatic power supply is AC. By themselves, they are not interchangeable. You *could* wire up some diodes and a capacitor with the Intermatic power supply and you'd get DC out of it. To convert volts & amps to watts: watts = volts * amps (P=VI) You didn't specify what your power requirements are, so I can't say what can and can not be done with these power supplies. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My mission is to 'let there be light' at least on *my sidewalk* through my backyard. My neighbor across the street has the same setup around his backyard swimming pool; he got his from the evil Walmart Superplace here in town. I got my set from the Episcopal Church rummage sale at a considerable savings last July. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Computer Users Face New Scourge Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:00:16 -0400 Phil McKerracher wrote: > Well, not really. Most likely, he hasn't been patching his computer > with security updates, given those symptoms. He hasn't found and used > the readily-available free tool for removing this particular worm. Two computers I've looked at recently had something wedged into Windows Explorer as a Browser Help Object causing the default page to be reset and causing ads to pop up at various times. AVG didn't detect it, McAfee didn't detect it, and Symantec/Norton didn't detect it. Ad-Aware didn't remove it, nor did Spybot Search & Destroy. Manual removal didn't work, as it was running in Explorer and reinstated itself as soon as I removed it. I'm guessing that my next move is to use some kind of offline registry editor and/or delete the related files without booting Windows. Reinstalling Windows Maybe these folk would not have gotten these infections if they were up to date on patches, but removing them isn't trivial. Geoffrey Welsh If anything worth doing is worth doing right, then surely anything not worth doing right is not worth doing at all. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I use a tool called 'Hijack' available on the net to get those critters out of my computers. Its a free download and well worth it. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #503 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Oct 21 17:11:15 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9LLBEJ02969; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:11:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:11:15 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410212111.i9LLBEJ02969@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #504 TELECOM Digest Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:11:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 504 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson SBC Communications Reports Strong Third-Quarter Results, (Monty Solomon) AT&T Announces Third-Quarter 2004 Earnings (Monty Solomon) Online Intrusion Risks Large Identity Cache (Monty Solomon) XM Satellite Radio Confirms Deal With MLB (Monty Solomon) Multi-link SR3 and Caller ID? (Richard Coutts) Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance - Today? (Lisa Hancock) Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed (Danny Burstein) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (Reed) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Privacy Eroding, Bit by Byte (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium (Dave Close) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Bruce Bergman) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Juan A. Monico) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (palee@riteaid) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:26:41 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: SBC Communications Reports Strong Third-Quarter Results, Accelerates DSL Gains, Delivers Second Consecutive Quarter of Revenue Growth SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2004--SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC): -- Reported third-quarter earnings of $0.63 per diluted share, $0.38 per diluted share from continuing operations -- Wireline revenues up 1.7 percent, consumer wireline revenues up 2.8 percent -- Average monthly revenues per consumer retail line up 9.2 percent, driven by success in bundling -- 402,000 DSL lines added in the quarter, up 28 percent from gain in second quarter, to 4.7 million -- Strong long distance growth, with 1.3 million lines added in the quarter to reach 19.8 million in service -- Continued progress in large-business market, with more than 450 contracts of $1 million or more signed this year -- 16.5 percent operating income margin, above the range provided in company's full-year outlook SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) today reported strong third-quarter results driven by the continued success of its bundling strategy and by solid momentum in key growth products such as DSL and long distance. SBC reported third-quarter 2004 earnings of $2.1 billion, or $0.63 per diluted share, and earnings from continuing operations of $1.2 billion, or $0.38 per diluted share. Reported revenues from continuing operations grew 1.4 percent, and revenues including proportionate results from Cingular Wireless grew 2.1 percent. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44423705 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:27:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Announces Third-Quarter 2004 Earnings BEDMINSTER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2004--AT&T (NYSE:T) -- Consolidated revenue of $7.6 billion -- Third-quarter loss per diluted share of $8.95 -- Adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.75 - reflects lower depreciation due to asset impairment AT&T (NYSE:T) today reported a net loss of $7.1 billion, or $8.95 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2004. The company's current-quarter net loss includes non-cash asset impairment charges, as well as net restructuring and other charges. This compares to net income of $418 million, or earnings per diluted share of $0.53, in the third quarter of 2003, which also included net restructuring and other charges. Excluding the asset impairment and net restructuring and other charges and their associated tax benefits, adjusted net income for the quarter was $593 million, or adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.75. This includes an after-tax benefit from lower depreciation of $331 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, due to the asset impairment charges. A reconciliation of reported earnings per diluted share to adjusted earnings per diluted share is provided in the appendices on page 11 of this document. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44422389 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:32:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Online Intrusion Risks Large Identity Cache http://news.com.com/2100-1029-5420149.html By Robert Lemos An August intrusion into a social researcher's computer may mean that more than a million Californians need to call the credit bureaus. On Tuesday, the California Department of Social Services warned the providers and recipients of the state's In Home Support Services (IHSS) that their names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth may be circulating the Internet. IHSS allows individuals to get paid for providing in-home care to senior citizens. The warning comes after an unknown attacker slipped in through a security hole in a social researcher's unsecured computer at the University of California, Berkeley, on Aug. 1, perhaps making off with 1.4 million database records containing personal information. The researcher noticed the trespass on Aug. 30 and the university notified the state in mid-September. The California government's recommendations for potential victims of the data theft underscore how little people can do to curb the illegal use of their information. While putting credit accounts on fraud alert may make it harder to co-opt financial accounts, forget trying to change a Social Security number, the Department of Social Services stated. "There are drawbacks to doing so, since it may result in losing your credit history, your academic records and professional degrees," the department said in a statement. "The absence of any credit history under a new SSN would make it difficult to get credit, continue college, rent an apartment, open a bank account, get health insurance... In most cases, getting a new SSN would not be a good idea." http://news.com.com/2100-1029-5420149.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:52:37 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: XM Satellite Radio Confirms Deal With MLB By ELLEN SIMON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- XM Satellite Radio announced an 11-year, $650 million deal with Major League Baseball on Wednesday, the latest move in a costly race with rival Sirius Satellite Radio, which earlier this month signed a five-year, $500 million deal with shock jock Howard Stern. Both companies, which have lost a combined $2.5 billion in the last 12 years, are making investments in big-name radio personalities and big-league sports in the hope that they can quickly boost the number of paying customers before the bills for those services come due. And in the tussle between the two companies, XM has the early lead. It now has 2.5 million subscribers who pay $9.95 a month for 130 channels of music and talk radio via satellite receivers. That compares to 700,000 subscribers paying Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. $12.95 a month for 120 channels. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44413528 ------------------------------ From: rcoutts@comcast.net (Richard Coutts) Subject: Multi-link SR3 and Caller ID? Date: 21 Oct 2004 09:39:05 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I've been using a Command Communications ASAP DR401 for routing three distinctive ring lines -- one for my home number, one for my business number, and one for my fax. It has worked great, but it filters out the Caller ID (I can put a Caller ID device in series before the DR401, but I really need at after the DR401, at each phone). So, I'm now looking for a device that doesn't filter out the Caller ID. I'm looking at Multi-Link's SR3, but I can't find any information online about how it handles Caller ID -- does it also filter out the Caller ID info? Also, what is Multi-Link's web page? I haven't been able to find it. Thanks, Rich ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? Date: 21 Oct 2004 11:36:19 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Years ago, the Bell System carried network broadcast transmissions from first radio and then television. After WW II one of the functions of the new coaxial cable and microwave systems was capacity to carry TV signals. With satellites and competing companies that own their own fibre networks, does AT&T still carry broadcast transmissions today? If not, when did the transition start? Was this a blow to AT&T revenues? Likewise, who actually carries long distance telephone calls? I use Verizon, do they own their wholly own long distance network capability of reaching any US central office? What medium is typically used -- ground coax, microwave tower, satellite, fibre. Or do all the other carriers simply contract in bulk with the established AT&T, Sprint, and MCI? With satellites, is there a problem with transmission lag time? In 1970 AT&T descriptions, long distance routing had a triangle design. That is, most calls were sent to a toll center for subsequent routing. However, local exchanges had their own links to some nearby exchanges. For example, New York City to Newark NJ is "long distance" since it crosses states and LATA boundaries, but is physically so close calls be carried over plain copper interoffice trunks. Are such close LD calls still sent that way? It would seem strange to bounce 10 mile call off of a satellite. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Yet Another Telco Tax proposed Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:23:39 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In the continuing tradition of government that try to offload taxes onto third parties (that way they're not "raising taxes", you see ...) California has a very real problem with medical costs. The hospitals and other medical providers provide services, but don't take in anywhere near as much money as they claim to be expending. Hospital and medical finances are such a huge mess they put Enron to shame. Normally this isn't a telecom issue but ... The telco point: The usual folk have pushed forward a fee on telco services to cover the shortfall. Quoting from a VOA clip: "A voter initiative that Doctor Higgins calls a "Band-Aid" could provide a short-term fix, and he supports the measure. Appearing on the November 2nd ballot as Proposition 67, it would raise 500 million dollars a year by adding a three-percent surcharge to the cost for telephone calls made in California. To which the curmodgeons retort: "It's the wrong solution for a real problem. This is a phone tax. This is a tax on a service that has absolutely nothing to do with emergency medical care whatsoever. http://ibb7.ibb.gov/newswire/2df1f60f.html _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Reed Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 02:58:34 GMT Jim Haynes wrote: > I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. Some of them are > for systems to run a stock ticker tape through a projector. I can > understand that, as the forerunner of the Trans-Lux 'flipping ball' > displays used in brokers' offices. Some others use rotating number > wheels to display the high, low, open, and closing prices of a single > stock. A bank of these could display data for several stocks; but > still a very limited number chosen from the market as a whole. What > was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? They are > obviously a lot more costly than the projection scheme, both in the > hardware and in the operation. I presume an operator had to pick the > selected stock trades from the ticker tape and send the data to the > display board. > jhhaynes at earthlink dot net One such device was the "Quoteboard" by Ultronic Systems Corp. I worked on these from 1969-1973 in the Chicago financial district. They were installed mostly in commodity brokers, with some in stock brokers offices. They were an electro-mechanical monster ! IIRC one nest of modules would display 5 ticker symbols, and multiple nests could be driven from 1 logic controller. Data was fed to the board at 1200b/s on a dedicated receive-only Bell 202 modem circuit, that originated from the Ultronics data center near Philadelphia. They combined all the raw market tickers into a special data stream just for these boards. The modules had alphanumeric dials that could be set by office personnel to select the ticker symbol they wanted to display. The logic would decode the dials, then control stepper motors to move a fabric loop, that had numbers printed on them, to display the latest quote. Ultronic also had 2 ticker tape display systems, similar to the T-L Jet. They were all electronic, the older one used large NIXIE tubes (Lectrascan), the newer used a matrix of neon bulbs (Ultrascan). If you haven't already, see http://www.classicstockticker.com/ He has pictures of various machines. --reed ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: 20 Oct 2004 20:20:41 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) wrote: > I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. ... What > was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? I can't comment on the specifics, but some general observations: First, keep in mind that many inventions that get patented are never put into commercial production for a variety of reasons (too expensive to make, too hard to make, no market, no investors, etc.). The item you found may be one of those. Stock brokers used to have a public area (maybe still do) where investors would sit and watch a projection of the ticker. They often had a news Teletype as well. This is obviously one application. Other financial institutions may need such devices for a large group of people to see the stock ticker. There are other applications in which a large group of people would need up-to-date information. One such place is the race track, where both bettors and tellers need to see changing odds. Another place might be a railroad reservation office where clerks need to see space availability on various trains. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 20:38:02 EDT Subject: Re: Privacy Eroding, Bit by Byte In a message dated 19 Oct 2004 19:41:00 -0700 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) writes: >> ... And I think that up until the 1950's or so, most >> everyone felt that way. Then along came the pushers of credit cards, >> and somehow we got to a point where it was just considered normal to >> live beyond our means, while paying the credit card companies usurious >> interest rates. > Actually, installment buying has been around since the 1920s and > widely used by consumers to buy new electric appliances that were > coming out in those days. Department stores had charge codes and if > you spread out your payments, your interest rates were high. Sears, Roebuck had a massive credit card operation which generated more profit in many years than its retail operations. It goes back many generations. Sears sold it to Citibank earlier this year. Department store cards were prolific. Aluminum plates (a little smaller than today's plastic credit cards) called "Charg-A-Plates" were used by department stores in many cities, notched to show which of the participating stores you had accounts at. If you opened an account at another store, they would punch another notch on the plate on the spot. Multi-store credit cards became popular in the 1950s. In Dallas, the Highland Park State Bank Charge Plan was one of the first in the country, and pitched small businesses with the proposition that they bank could handle the credit for them cheaper than they could do it themselves while giving them a wider range of prospective customers. At the same time an affiliated bank started a similar plan in Oak Cliff. Texas Bank & Trust Company (a downtown bank) started the competing "Texas Bank and Trust Company 'Charge-It' Plan. I was later told (shortly before it was bought out by some mega-chain) that the Preston State Bank MasterCard was more prestigious than an American Express gold card. Since I'd had one slmost since its inception (as the Highland Park State Bank) I never had given it a thought. (The Highland Park [later Preston) State Bank plan and its affiliate in Oak Cliff joined MasterCard; Texas Bank and Trust Company jointed BankAmericard [now Visa].) Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some of the stores also tried to 'cut corners' on their charge account expenses by issuing *their own store charge accounts' automatically to people who had planned to pay for their purchase with a Visa/MC card. The store's assumption was 'if the person has been approved by Visa/MC and their credit checking system, then we do not have to waste time and money checking their credit; Visa/MC already did that part (at their own expense!) for us.' The store clerks were trained when someone came to the cash register and proffered a Visa/MC card in payment, the store clerk was to say, "Wouldn't you like one of our credit cards instead?" and if the person agreed, the clerk would fill out an 'instant application' on the spot, have the customer sign it, call the office and get a credit limit established and a new account number assigned, usually all in two or three minutes. The purchase would then be placed on the *new, store account* rather than the Visa/MC card originally offered in payment. It was a gamble that usually worked pretty well for the stores until Visa/MC started *doing it themselves* by setting up new Visa/MC accounts with miniscule limits lower (in the event of a credit write off) than what it cost Visa/MC to set up the account to begin with. Capitol Financing and Aquistions (known by many folks as the 'What do you have in your wallet' CAP ONE people) are famous for it. Anyone -- *literally anyone* -- can apply for and recieve a Cap One Visa credit card with something like a $50 or $100 credit limit on it. Any number of places now issue 'secured' Visa/MC cards; the credit limits on which are 'secured' by an account in the bank offering the card. Why bother to go to the trouble of an expensive (and often times inaccurate) credit bureau report when the bank has its hands on your security deposit/'savings account' anyway. Cap One's attitude is if we lose fifty or a hundred dollars to find out the guy is a deadbeat, we would have spent considerably more with a traditional approval process. Pay your bill promptly, Cap One (and the other Visa/MC operators doing this) will raise your limit up, inch by inch. You call them, and ask if you can have a hundred dollars more on your limit, as long as they have your phone number and you have been paying on time, they'll raise your limit by one hundred dollars. So the department stores with their own charge account systems which had been worshipping the almighty Visa/MC soon found out that having a Visa/MC (or two, or three, or six) in your wallet meant nothing in many cases. Then of course also came debit cards, in which your 'credit limit' is the amount you have in the bank at any given time, and those were being passed off to store clerks as 'credit cards'. So the person who presented a 'secured' Visa/MC or a 'ultra low limit' Visa/MC or a 'debit card' Visa/MC knowing damn good and well it would never get approved at the authorization center **if the clerk had called it in, or swiped it**, knew that the clerk _would not call it in_ and would instead offer them a new charge account from the store instead. So the stores, in their effort to be 'penny-wise' (intercepting Visa/MC purchases by offering an instant approval on a new store account) were in fact 'pound-foolish' when several months later the new account had aged-out to worthless and write-off time. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium Date: 20 Oct 2004 20:55:57 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California I wrote: > But this dialing plan makes Vonage essentially identical to Sprint > PCS. Dial as 7, 10, or 11 digits, as you like. But dialing 7 can be > chancy since it isn't clear if they assume your home NPA or the one > where you currently are located. (Of course, a cell phone doesn't need > a time-out to determine number length.) John McHarry (and others) comment: > I don't see how they could impute anything other than your home > NPA. Your current IP address doesn't tell them much about where you > are. But I was referring to Sprint PCS. They may have a rule about 7-digit numbers, but it isn't well known, so I consider them chancy since I don't know which cell tower is handling my call. I agree that Vonage and other VoIP carriers don't have the ambiguity. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ From: Bruce L. Bergman Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 06:40:47 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Pat: "Withhold E-Mail Address" - just tell them that I'm on Earth and Linked to it with a Net. (That should be obscure enough to fool the harvester bots.) ;-) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My mission is to 'let there be light' > at least on *my sidewalk* through my backyard. My neighbor across > the street has the same setup around his backyard swimming pool; he > got his from the evil Walmart Superplace here in town. I got my set > from the Episcopal Church rummage sale at a considerable savings > last July. PAT] Okay, then it's time to do a bit of diagnosis of the Malibu Lights system to see where the problem is, and get them back on. (And I'm sure that the readers that ever get stuck troubleshooting a complex lighting system will find this /very/ interesting ...) You'll need a DC voltmeter and/or a 12-volt test light. You can get a test light with a pin probe, a 12V lamp in the handle, and a ground lead with clip at any decent auto parts store for a buck or two. Disconnect the 12V output wires from the Malibu transformer, plug it in, turn on the timer, and see if there is power at the output lugs. The 88W Malibu brand transformer is not fused where you can repair it, there's a self resetting (up to a point) circuit breaker but it's hiding somewhere inside the potting compound. The transformer is dropped into the bottom half of the plastic case, and then polyester resin and sand filler is poured in to encase it into a big block and waterproof it, with only the wire leads sticking out. After the resin cures, they wire the timer and put the top on, box it and ship it. If the output is dead with no load, the transformer is trash -- they aren't kidding with the "No User Serviceable Parts Inside" sticker. If you have 12 volts when the output leads from the transformer are lifted, and it disappears when you touch the output leads to the lugs for a second (with a nice little spark as you make and break the connection) there's a short somewhere. First, check the very end of the main 12-gauge SPT2 low voltage cord, to see if the wires got shorted there. (The wires need to be split about an inch back, and then taped separately.) Check any tap splices or straight splices on the main lead, if the insulation job is bad the two leads can touch there. Then pull up the wire as it goes through the planters and flower beds and look for shovel hits on the wire, that's a popular way to short and kill the system. (I think the wire magnetically attracts any nearby shovels, but YMMV.) If all else fails, it's inside one of the light fixtures. Wires burned and shorted together, lamp socket prongs bent to where they're touching ... Hooking up a series load lamp with the transformer output can visibly show when you've found the problem. You will need a high wattage 12-volt lamp like a headlight or a fog light assembly - in the 50 to 100 watt range. (Not much larger than the power source can supply, or you will overload the transformer.) One series lamp lead to the transformer, the other one spliced to the light wiring. With the short still on the system, the series lamp will be full brightness and the landscape lights will all be out. Then start disconnecting the light fixtures from the main lead one at a time. When you clear the short the remaining good landscape lights will start glowing dimly and the series lamp will dim noticeably -- Stop Right There. Whatever you moved was the bad connection. ;-) --<< Bruce >>-- ------------------------------ From: Juan A. Monico Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:01:54 -0700 On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:05:30 EDT, in comp.dcom.telecom you wrote: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using=20 > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. >> Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that >> the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can >> use)? >> How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? >> I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 >> for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or >> not get away with. >> PAT Hi Pat. Please feel free to call me if you need more information. Volts X Amps = Watts This equation requires that the quantities be either all DC or all AC. Unfortunately you probably need two different units. The light transformer is just that, a transformer only. Ordinary light bulbs will work on AC or DC. Normally these units provide AC only. The numbers you quote for the light transformer don't compute. For 88 watts it would have to provide at least (88watts/12volts) 7.4 amps. At 1 amps it could only supply 12 watts and with 10 watt light bulbs it would run out of capacity at 1bulb. Even with 5 watt bulbs it could only handle 2 bulbs. Their web page http://www.absolutehome.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=16071 clearly rates the unit at 88 Watts so the 1amp figure you quote is probably wrong. So for this application you need a 12 volt AC transformer with at least 7.4 amps capacity. Even though this is a simple device it will be difficult to find a cheaper one off the shelf. One can be constructed but will require some sort of enclosure for safety, Now for your TV supply. Most equipment rated for 13.8 volts DC will also work on 12 volts DC since while the actual voltage from a fully charged automobile battery is 13.8 volts DC it can and often does drop to less than 12 volts if the charger isn't running. All Electronics (www.allelectronics.com) have a suitable unit: Cat # PS-1242 12Volt DC 3.5 Amp Power Supply $18.00 you may have to change the plug because of type, size or polarity. This unit has automatic overvoltage and current protection so you won't need the reset button. They are a reliable Mail Order supplier of surplus equipment based in California. I (and many other Ham Radio Operators) use them frequently. Their shipping charges are reasonable and their service is usually quick. I hope this helps. Juan A. Monico 15020 Ripple Rock Road Campbell River, BC CANADA V9H 1N9 Tel: 250-830-1088 ICBM: 50 09 36"N 125 22 19"W Radio: VA7MXA, N6MXA GridSq: CO70hd Internet: juan@monico.org Politicians, like diapers, have to be changed frequently, and for the very same reason. ------------------------------ From: palee@riteaid.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 12:17:25 -0400 Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer In TELECOM Digest V23 #500, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote (in part): > I have two transformers: One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 > Volts at 3 Amps. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. ... Are these two power > supplies interchangeable...? The Radio Shack power supply is DC [direct current] at 13.8 V (the output of a "12-volt" automotive charging system). The Intermatic Malibu light power pack is simply an AC transformer with a timer on the primary (line voltage) side. I think the "1 Amp" rating you saw was the line side draw (120 VAC 1 A). > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? For DC, it's pretty simple for simple loads on a linear power supply, which is almost certainly what the RS unit is: watts = volts x amps. AC calculations are trickier -- that's likely why Intermatic gives their power consumption figures in watts (the 88-T is rated at 88 watts). For a rough calculation, though, you start with 120 VAC at 1 amp (120 volt-= amps) supplying a 10:1 power transformer (120:12 volts) with a typical transformer power factor of about 0.75 (0.733 in this case): 120 V x 1 A = 120 VA x 0.7333 PF 88 watts (output) When you calculate how many Malibu lights the 88-T will handle, power factor is practically 1.0, since lamp filaments are almost pure resistive load. I'm not going to further flaunt how long it's been since I've done any real AC calculations ... Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789 P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My problem is *something* caused a short on the line which caused the Malibu 88-T to get fried. That something was probably the all-day drizzle/rain we had the other day in the one spot where the cord strung to the various lights was not properly protected. I will endeavor to find/correct that problem, but, wouldn't it be good to put an external fuse in the line to prevent that from happening in the future? I am thinking of one of the little glass fuses and fuse holders you can wire in series with the line. I *assume* (correct me as needed) such a fuse in the line would stop any short from reaching the Intermatic power supply. I would rather, next time, blow one of the little five in a box for two dollars fuses rather than be in bed asleep when the short develops (if in fact I get it cured) and the Intermatic silently fries away all night until I wake up, or worse, have my backyard shed burn down (unlikely, I know). What are your thoughts? What *size* fuse should I use of the little glass ones that fit in a holder from RS? Not to small to not allow the little lights to work correctly, but not too big so it won't do a prompt job of stopping any shorts. Ideas? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #504 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Oct 21 19:15:11 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9LNFBR04221; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:15:11 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:15:11 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410212315.i9LNFBR04221@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #505 TELECOM Digest Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:15:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 505 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson They Can Hear You Now (Lisa Minter) Callsigns and Horse Teeth (jmayson@nyx.net) 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Neal McLain) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work) (John R.Covert) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work) (Mark Crispin) Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Sinclair's Disgrace (Lisa Hancock) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Minter Subject: They Can Hear You Now Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:06:08 EDT IQUITOS, Peru - A few miles downriver from this city in the western Amazon jungle, Andres Alvarado hops off a boat and walks up a muddy path to a hollowed-out log resting on a wooden stand. He beats the log with a stick, sending a series of low-pitched tones into the rain forest. "This is what they call the 'telephone of the jungle,' " says Alvarado, a tricycle taxi-driver and tourist guide. Moments later, as children of the Bora Indian tribe come bounding down the path to answer the "telephone," Alvarado's belt begins beeping: It's his cellphone. Iquitos and nearby riverside hamlets are among the more remote outposts in South America's expanding mobile phone system, part of a global network that is beginning to penetrate even the poorest and most undeveloped corners of the world. For millions of people living in countries where getting a fixed phone line remains a bureaucratic impossibility, the cellphone revolution has allowed them to leapfrog from archaic forms of communication straight into the digital era and that is changing the fabric of their daily lives. In East Africa, the mobile phone has brought a first, tantalizing taste of modernity to people who live on less than $10 a day. In China, the world's biggest market for cellphones, they are embraced by rich and poor alike, a tiny pocket computer with which to surf the Internet, play video games or even do banking. Here in Iquitos, where speedboats and lumbering old fishing craft ply the brown, wide waters of the Amazon, fishermen grab the wheels of their vessels with one hand and their cellphones with the other to check the price their catch will fetch at markets downriver. Alvarado uses his mobile phone to round up clients for his tricycle taxi. And earlier this year, it beeped with the most important call of his life. "My mother-in-law called me from the delivery room," Alvarado recalled. His wife had gone into labor with their first child, and he raced to the hospital on his tricycle. "We all thought we were going to have a girl, but it turned out to be a boy." He flashed the news from the hospital to his sister in Lima via his cellphone, the kind of call that might seem routine in the United States but which still carries for him an aura of science fiction. For Alvarado, a bright-eyed 23-year-old who has rarely traveled beyond the river cities and hamlets of the Amazon, the change brought about by the cellphone has been profound and rapid. A few years back, when Alvarado's grandfather died in a town several days' journey upriver, his family in Iquitos learned the news by telegram. A mourning relative walked several hours to the telegraph office, dictated the sad news to a telegraph operator, who sent it to another office, where the message was typed up and delivered by hand to the Alvarado household. "By the time we found out, they had already buried him," Alvarado said. The number of cellphones in Latin America has tripled since 1999, and one in five people now owns one. In Peru, as in many other countries in the region, there are more cellphones than fixed phone lines. Today, the world's fastest-growing cellphone markets are in places like Iquitos in rural South America and in sub-Saharan Africa, despite widespread poverty. "My cellphone gives me an 'address' just like any other businessman," said Baruwani Mbabazi, a money-changer who is part of a brisk trade in U.S. dollars in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. His $20 purchase of a used cellphone has liberated him from having to stand on the street waiting for customers. "I can't imagine my business without it," Mbabazi said. Rwanda's cellphone boom has followed a pattern typical of many developing countries. It now has more than five times as many cellphones (134,000) as fixed telephone lines (23,000), according to the International Telecommunications Union. As in Rwanda, people elsewhere across Africa are coming to appreciate and rely upon the magic of the cellphone; communicating with a distant friend while under a baobab tree in Mali, for example, or on the Kenyan savanna. In Senegal, farmers use them in their annual, age-old battle against plagues of locusts, calling each other and the authorities to keep track of the progress of insect "hopper bands." In Somalia, men in loincloths flash their cellphones as they guide camels to port. Masai warriors in Tanzania pull phones from their red *shuka* robes to call gem brokers when they find glimmering purple-blue tanzanite, a rare gemstone found only in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro. But mostly, Africans use their phones for the same purpose as people everywhere -- conversation. "We're a nation of talkers," said Kayode Sukoya, a Lagos taxi driver known by the nickname "Guv'nor." He links the cellphone's popularityto the ancient storytelling customs of Yoruba culture. The cellphone is spreading, thanks to "prepaid" service plans, which can lower the cost to a few dollars a month. In Lima, Peru's capital, vendors sell prepaid phone time the same way they sell peanuts: by standing between lines of cars waiting for the light to turn green. You hand over the equivalent of a few dollars and get a coded card, which you use to "charge up" your phone with time credit. In Peru, these consumers far outnumber "postpaid" users, who get a bill for their calls each month. "To get a postpaid cellphone, you need to have a consistent source of income, and since the economy here is mostly informal, people don't have that," said Juan Edgar Chavez, southern Peru sales director for Telefonica Moviles Peru, the largest cellphone company in the country. As in the United States and Europe, cellphones link people in the developing world in ways no one imagined possible just a few years ago. In South America, the cellphone has become a tool of rebellion, and a *de rigueur* accessory for crime bosses who, in certain corners of the region, act as a kind of parallel government. In Brazil, drug kingpin Luiz Fernando da Costa was widely believed to have used a cellphone from his prison cell to control his minions in the *favelas,* or slums, of Rio de Janeiro, leading authorities to install jamming devices outside the city's largest penitentiaries. The cellphone is the communication instrument of choice for leaders of the secessionist Aymara Indian movement in the highlands of Bolivia, where it comes in handy when trying to coordinate strikes and highway blockades. In China, which has more than 300 million users, the cellphone has come to symbolize the national search for prosperity and self- expression. On the streets of Beijing, along with on-the-go businessmen, farmers chatter on cellphones as they drive their vegetables to market in mule-drawn carriages. Xiao Zhao, a 15-year-old purveyor of false documents, uses his phone to keep one step ahead of the law. "You can't glue yourself to a fixed telephone and still do the business," he said. "Once the police get your regular phone number, they'd be able to find out where you're living and have you arrested." One enterprising Chinese author has written a novel meant to be read in 70-word chapters transmitted by mobile phone text message. "Outside the Fortress Besieged" tells the story of an extramarital affair in 60 chapters totaling about 4,000 words, according to China's state-run press. The text-message explosion in China has not escaped the attention of the authorities, who this summer announced a plan to employ new technology to improve surveillance of mobile phone messages. Officials said the campaign was aimed at cleaning up "pornographic, obscene and fraudulent" phone messages. Some say the new scrutiny is aimed at squelching political dissent. Chinese police sometimes use text messages as an anti-crime tool: When they find a cellphone that is being used for illicit purposes, they use a computer to call the phone and flood it with phony text messages, running up such a high bill for the owner that the phone becomes unusable. Xiao, the phony-document seller, said this has happened to him. "I've changed numbers twice since last year," he said. Providing the good, reliable service the market demands is not easy in developing countries such as Peru, where engineers face a series of technical challenges presented by untamed jungles and rickety electrical grids. Each base station requires electricity. "In rural areas, the electricity fluctuates," said David Holgado, Telefonica's chief technical officer. "It's supposed to be 220 volts, but sometimes I get 160 or 250." Often, only battery power keeps the cellular station and all the people using it to make calls online. A donkey is required for the technician with the unenviable task of performing routine maintenance on the antenna that sits atop a 13,100-foot peak above the city of Pasco, one of the highest in the world. "There is a lot of equipment to carry, and of course there is no road or any other way to get up there," Holgado said. Telefonica covers Peru with 400 base stations, the circular towers now a ubiquitous feature of the urban landscape in the U.S. On flat terrain, each tower transmits a signal with an 18-mile radius. But in Peru's mountainous topography, the signals are shadowed out or echo in unpredictable ways. One recent evening, two Telefonica technicians sat inside a nondescript office in the Lima headquarters monitoring the nationwide cell system on a video wall displaying charts and graphs that pulsated as if the network were a living organism. "What we look for are the symptoms of trouble," Holgado said. "Because you see the symptoms before you see the problem itself. Right now, everything is operating normally." One small square showed the base station at the jungle port of Puerto Maldonado, on the Madre de Dios River near the Bolivian border. Puerto Maldonado is so remote that the usual fiber-optic or microwave connections linking base stations to the home network in Lima are unavailable. So all the calls from the jungle outpost where Spanish conquistadors once searched in vain for the mythical El Dorado are routed through space. In some villages, people climb to their roofs to get a good signal, Holgado said. In others, they raise 60-foot-high antennas and rig their phones to them. In villages without electrical power, people charge up their phones with car batteries. "You see all the ingenuity we Peruvians are famous for," said Carlos Zamora Guanillo, a Telefonica engineer. The fishermen of Iquitos know all about ingenuity. Sometimes you have to be quick on your feet to sell your Amazon catfish, or *zungaro* at the right place. Having a cellphone can help you get a good price at the big markets in faraway Leticia in Colombia, on the border with Peru and Brazil. Juan Flores, who was elected president of the Artisan Union of Fishermen of Iquitos in part because he owns a mobile phone, talks about the phone signal in the same tone he might use to describe shifting currents and hazardous sandbars. "When you get to the fork of the Ucayali or the Maraon, it doesn't work," he said, naming a couple of Amazon tributaries. "But in Tamshiyacu, the signal is pretty good. By the time you get to Yurimaguas and to Pucallpa, the signal is nice and strong." The fishermen follow the signal upriver and down, in long, flat boats with thatched roofs that look a lot like floating cigars. The other day, one of the ships of the Iquitos fleet, the El Veloz Quinto (Speedy the Fifth), hit a sandbar and began to sink. The captain couldn't raise the local river patrol on his radio. Luckily, he had a cellphone. He called their office and read them the riot act: "What's wrong with you guys, aren't you listening to the radio? Get out here quick, or I'm going to lose all my ice." They saved the ship. But the ice was lost. ------------------------------- Times staff writers John M. Glionna and Yin Lijin in Beijing, Davan Maharaj in Nairobi, Kenya, and Jube Shiver Jr. in Washington contributed to this report. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Los Angeles Times. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: jmayson@nyx.net Reply-To: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: Callsigns and Horse Teeth Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 02:44:07 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com Whenever I get into these discussions on the Internet, I always think of that old adage about Greek philosophers. They would argue for hours, even days, over things like how many teeth a horse has and no one would bother to go look in a horse's mouth. I looked up callsign history. I was mostly right. According to this page: http://earlyradiohistory.us/recap.htm there were three owner requests for exceptions to the E/W rule: WACO, WDGQ, and WMT. There are other W callsigns west of the Mississippi and these exist for a number of reasons including: pre-existing callsigns, portable stations that moved from east to west, stations that changed their community of license across the divide, and government error (KTGG in Michigan because the FCC thought "MI" stood for "Missouri"). Now to give this more of telecom flavor ... I used to work at a major long-distance company, the one with a logo similar to a large object in the Star Wars movies. A clerk was sending circuit orders to the small independent local telecos in our region and addressed an envelope to Mississippi with an "MI". I told her that was Michigan and she said no, Michigan would be "MN". I said "MN" was Minnesota which she claimed to be "MA". I start to point out that was Massachusetts, but saw it coming ... Mass. would've been "MS" which is Mississippi and around we go again. I figured the USPS went by the ZIP Code anyway, so the order probably got there. John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, no matter how many teeth you saw in the mouth of some particular horse, there can always be exceptions. For example, how many toes does a cat have on its paws? Some people would say 'five', which is normally the correct answer. But some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex' and my first cat 'Nicholas' (the one who was so warm and loving, not the later Nicholas who was always hateful with humans) was that way. Nicholas had six toes on each of his two front paws, five toes on each of his back paws. I guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years or so. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 02:37:38 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Anthony Bellanga wrote: > Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. In my experience (mostly in cable TV), the Mississippi-River rule can be more accurately stated as follows: "K" = west of the Mississippi River plus the entire state of Minnesota. "W" = east of the Mississippi River plus Louisiana parishes located in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans DMAs. But even with this version of the rule there are numerous exceptions, especially in the case of low-power television stations (LPTV, Class A, translators, and boosters). Here's my list of television-station exceptions: - "K" callsigns in the "W" half: K07WE Baton Rouge LA K10NG New Orleans LA K14IE New Orleans LA K55EX New Orleans LA K58GB Baton Rouge LA K59DG New Orleans LA K65FP Baton Rouge LA KDKA-TV KDKA-DT Pittsburgh PA KFOL-CA Houma LA KWBJ-LP Morgan City LA KYW-TV KYW-DT Philadelphia PA KZUP-CA Baton Rouge LA - "W" callsigns in the "K" half: W61AF Grand Marais MN W62DB Minneapolis MN WBWX-CA Minneapolis MN WCCO-TV WCCO-DT Minneapolis MN WCMN-LP Saint Cloud MN WDAF-TV WDAF-DT Kansas City MO WDAY-TV WDAY-DT Fargo ND WDAZ-TV WDAZ-DT Devils Lake ND WDIO-TV WDIO-DT Duluth MN WDSE WDSE-DT Duluth MN WFAA-TV WFAA-DT Dallas TX WFTC WFTC-DT Minneapolis MN WIBW-TV WIBW-DT Topeka KS WHO-TV WHO-DT Des Moines IA WIRT WIRT-DT Hibbing MN WOAI-TV WOAI-DT San Antonio TX WOI-TV WOI-DT Des Moines IA WOWT WOWT-DT Omaha NE Source: TvRadioWorld . There are even more exceptions in the case of radio. Robert Bonomi mentioned several of them in TD V23:500, but there are many others (far too many for me to attempt to list here). For anyone really interested, the place to start is: . Bonomi's list included: > WOI (AM, FM, and TV ... ), Ames, Iowa WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ Marshalltown DMA; it's still licensed to Ames, but it claims "Des Moines" in its publicity. ISU does not operate a TV station (most public television stations in Iowa are operated by Iowa Public Television, a state agency independent of the state universities). > WWL Waterloo, Iowa. Intrestingly, KWWL is in the same town. WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. > WSUI Iowa City, Iowa Also the home of KSUI. *SAME* owner, > even. :) WSUI(AM) and KSUI(FM) are licensed to the University of Iowa (formerly, State University of Iowa; hence, "SUI"). UI does not operate a TV station (same reason ISU doesn't). > WOW Omaha, Nebraska AM only; sister TV is WOWT. > WMT Cedar Rapids, Iowa WMT(AM) and WMT-FM only; sister TV is KGAN(TV), formerly WMT-TV. > WOC Davenport, Iowa AM only; sister FM is WLLR(FM); sister TV is KWQC(TV). > WRR Dallas, Texas FM only (PAT: classical music, streamed online!) > WBAP Ft. Worth, Texas AM only. > WCAL Northfield, Minnesota FM only. Sold to Minnesota Public Radio on 8-10-04; formerly owned by St. Olaf College. > WJOD Asbury, Iowa FM only (Dubuque market). > WJON St. Cloud, Minnesota AM only; sister FM is WWJO(FM). > WNAX Yankton, South Dakota AM only. > WOWT Omaha, Nebraska TV only; sister AM is WOW. > WTAW College Station, Texas AM only. > WWLS Moore, Oklahoma WWLS(AM) and WWLS-FM only. > WWJO St. Cloud, Minnesota FM only; sister AM is WJON. > WYRQ Little Falls, Minnesota AM only. > and, some hair-splitting (Metro area crosses the river, > transmitter_could_ be on the Illinois side of the Missippi): > WIL St. Louis, Missouri FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. > WRTH St. Louis, Missouri The FCC has no record of this callsign. > WLTE Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota FM only. Transmitter is located in Minnesota, on the east side of the Mississippi River. That's still on the "K" side of the line according to the version of the rule I stated above. > WMCN St. Paul, Minnesota FM only. Transmitter is located in Minnesota, on the east side of the Mississippi River. > WBJI Blackduck, Minnesota FM only. Blackduck is in Beltrami County (page 72-B2 in DeLorme). > WIRN Buhl, Minnesota FM only; Minnesota Public Radio affiliate. Buhl is in St. Louis County, near Hibbing (page 75-D6 in DeLorme). > WACO Waco, Texas. FM only. R. T. Wurth wrote: > There were some W-s, WEW and WIL, licensed to serve St. Louis, > west of the Mississippi, and thus signing as WEW, St. Louis, and > WIL, St. Louis (technically broadcast radio/tv call signs had to > include the community of license as well as the call letters). > These would appear to be breaking the Mississippi rule. I can > think of a few possible reasons that might make them technically > non-exceptions. It is possible that they transmitted from > across the river in Illinois, and that the rule referred to > transmitter site, not to community of licensure, or it may have > been that they were originally licensed to E. St. Louis, IL, and > then petitioned to move their license to St. Louis. Does anyone > know the real explanation? Were these stations exceptions, too, > or were they special cases? They're both exceptions. Callsigns are attached to the community of license without regard to the location of the transmitter. WEW(AM) is licensed to St. Louis, but the transmitter is located in Washington Park, Illinois. FCC record at: . WIL-FM is licensed to St. Louis, and the transmitter is located in Missouri. FCC record (scroll down below WILL-FM) at: Neal McLain [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 15:38:45 EDT From: "John R. Covert" Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Mark Crispin wrote: > You'll see streetcars in Germany and Austria, as part of an > aboveground S-Bahn network which is invariably slower and less > preferred to the underground U-Bahn. The S-Bahn quickly becomes > rapid transit once in suburbia. Mark, let's get the terminology correct. In Germany, "S-Bahn" is short for "Stadtbahn" (City Railroad) and is almost invariably run by "Deutsche Bahn" (the national railroad) using full-size electric rail vehicles in a system fully integrated with the intercity rail network. It's the equivalent of "commuter rail" in the United States, although in some cities (Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and Hamburg in particular) it is quite well developed and provides a significant amount of very high speed service within the city limits. It is not "streetcar" in any sense of the word. The U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn) is usually completely separate, and typically operated by a local city transit agency, quite often the same agency which runs the busses and streetcars. There will often be a transit union of several companies across nearby communities to provide a single fare structure (often including the Deutsche Bahn's S-Bahn services in the area). Streetcars and S-Bahn have nothing to do with each other. In fact, it's much more likely that streetcars and U-Bahn will be integrated, as is the case in cities other than Berlin and Hamburg, where there was previously no heavy-rail U-Bahn, and tunnels were built for certain portions of the streetcar system. Two examples come to mind immediately: Bonn and Stuttgart, where the light-rail streetcars go into tunnels with these streetcar stations marked "U". However, the major S-Bahn stations in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart (and most other cities) are the same stations at which you would catch a long-distance train to anywhere in Europe. The S-Bahn also serves many local stations, most of which you would pass through (without stopping) when travelling on high-speed intercity trains. Regards, /john ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 13:33:46 PDT From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) On Thu, 21 Oct 2004, John R. Covert wrote: > Mark, let's get the terminology correct. In Germany, "S-Bahn" is > short for "Stadtbahn" (City Railroad) Schnellbahn. I checked my dictionary to verify my memory on this point. If Stadtbahn is used today that is a new usage. > It's the equivalent of "commuter rail" in the United > States, although in some cities (Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and > Hamburg in particular) it is quite well developed I suppose you know that the Berlin S-Bahn is more or less totally reconstructed since the fall of the wall. Prior to that time, the U-Bahn was run by West Berlin authorities and the S-Bahn by East Berlin authorities. Most U-Bahn lines served the west, although one line had a stop in the east (Friedrichstrasse IIRC) and there was another line that was east-only. The S-Bahn was entirely streetcars in West Berlin, and generally avoided. Berlin's S-Bahn could have been how S-Bahn came to be interpreted as "Stadtbahn" since it very definitely was not schnell in Berlin!!! In Munich, the S-Bahn is a high-speed line from the suburbs into downtown, but only one or two stops in town (e.g. at Hauptbahnhof); everywhere else in town you take the U-Bahn or walk. I don't recall streetcars in Munich, but there definitely were streetcars in the Vienna ring which were part of the S-Bahn system. Those streetcars were definitely not schnell; I could walk faster than they would transport you. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you; I think that maybe you aren't aware of some of the history. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:57:48 GMT > On Monday, Sinclair fired the head of its Washington bureau for having > the temerity to criticize the airing of one-sided propaganda (ironic, > considering Sinclair is claiming a First Amendment right to air the > film). I don't like Sinclair, but I'm afraid I can't find any irony here. Sinclair owns the stations -- he can put anything he wants on and hire or fire anyone he wants to. There is nothing in the First Amendment that guarantees there will be no consequences for speaking up -- it just guarantees the gummint can't do anything to stop you. "The truth will set you free" (and if you don't believe it, tell your boss the truth someday :-). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Sinclair's Disgrace Date: 20 Oct 2004 20:05:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You may be interested in a show to > be aired on October 27 at (I think) 10 PM eastern/9 central on > TV Land, called "Politics and Prime Time". Thanks for the flag, that show should be very informative. I just hope they show the historical commercials in their _entirety_, rather than quick brief snippets. > TV Land has been doing promotions for it for several weeks now, > including the infamous one of Barry Goldwater (who ran against > Kennedy as I recall) I think you mean Johnson. It's tough to say what kind of president Goldwater would've made. But Johnson was a HUGE disappointment. Vietnam, instead of going away, became a huge mess. The Civil Rights era became a huge mess though much of that was not Johnson's fault. > The other good one TV Land has shown almost daily of late is Bush > the First telling us "what America needs is a family structure like > the Walton's, not Homer Simpson." I know it sounds corny, but I agree with that statement. I've seen too many "Homer Simpson"-like families who had plenty of opportunity but screwed it up through their own irresponsibilities. I've got enough gray now to have seen lousy long term behavior patterns that end badly. > Smears and innuendo are nothing new at election time, are they, Lisa? Heck, no! I've already mentioned Nixon's early campaigns. At the same time, Truman was quite nasty in his 1948 campaign against Dewey. We like Truman (who was an excellent president) and cheer his big upset win, but he got pretty shrill in his campaign. Cover-ups aren't new either. It appears FDR's 1944 campaign was a huge coverup to hide FDR's failing health from the public; he had a very serious heart condition by that point. (In fairness, FDR himself appears to have been in denial and didn't follow doctor's orders. Even back then they wanted him to quit smoking.) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #505 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Oct 22 01:12:51 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9M5CpA07127; Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:12:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:12:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410220512.i9M5CpA07127@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #506 TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:13:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 506 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance Today? (Anthony Bellanga) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Mark Roberts) Re: 'K' v. 'W' television station callsigns (Neal McLain) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Garrett Wollman) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Dave Close) Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth (jtaylor) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (AES/newspost) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Jeff Spidle) Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 11.20 (Monty Solomon) Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (Lisa Hancock) Partners Wanted (Marcel Riley) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:11:06 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance Today? Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld at request PAT, in order to deter $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. Lisa Hancock wrote: > Years ago, the Bell System carried network broadcast transmissions > from first radio and then television. After WW II one of the > functions of the new coaxial cable and microwave systems was capacity > to carry TV signals. > With satellites and competing companies that own their own fibre > networks, does AT&T still carry broadcast transmissions today? If > not, when did the transition start? Was this a blow to AT&T > revenues? Today, MOST all "long haul" and/or point-to-multi-point (network) radio and TV is distributed by satellite. But remember that AT&T also owns or is part-owner of several satellites as well. "Short haul" (within the same city) distribution, such as "remotes" seem to be handled half-and-half by the local telco (sometimes even on a "dial-up" 3-Khz bandwidth basis! but also on a permanent or temporary "leased line" basis too) as well as by private microwave equipment owned by the TV or radio station, under FCC license for such microwave too. If a local radio or TV station is doing "remotes" on their own from distant locations (Hurricanes, Iraq, etc), they would more than likely use satellite equipment. The first use of satellites for radio/TV pick-ups or distribution first began in the 1960s when such satellites were new, novel services, mostly for special events, such as Olympics, Coronations, Space Shots, etc. In the mid-1970s, the major radio networks (CBS, NBC, Mutual, ABC, and even APRadio, UPI Audio, and even the less important radio services) began to use RCA and Western Union domestic satellites for remote pickups of sporting events outside of the usual program centers of New York or Washington, as well as for sending "time-zone-delayed" feeds to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco (and the major radio networks usually owned stations in all of the above mentioned major cities as well), when the program was picked up in Chicago, L.A., or Frisco, it then was distributed by Bell System landlines throughout the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones, sometimes with different programming in different time-zones, delayed one, two or three hours. When full landline distribution was in effect for both network radio and network TV, Chicago would usually be the first point in the Central Time Zone on a program fed out of New York or Washington DC. And depending on how the network chose to have AT&T wire-up their network, either Hollywood or San Francisco would be the first point in the Mountain Time Zone for a program fed from the East or Midwest. Chicago, and likewise Hollywood or Frisco, would tape, transcribe (on wax disc), or "kinescope" the TV or radio program as fed from the east, for playback one, two, or three hours later, throughout the remainder of the network. But with the use of RCA Satcom or WU Westar satellites, all program delaying could be controlled directly out of New York or Washington DC. In the later 1970s, Mutual (which was radio only), NPR, APRadio, and UPI Audio, and some other "minor" radio and TV networks (and I think PBS-TV as well) decided to begin converting over to 100% satellite distribution. In the "long run", use of RCA or Western Union with satellites would be "cheaper" than using long haul AT&T lines. Of course, there still might be the use of the local Bell or "independent" telco on the distant local end, especially if the radio or TV station couldn't place their dish in the same location as their studios. Local telco loops would be needed to "backhaul" the program from where the dish were located, back to the studio. Also in the later 1970s, emerging national-in-scope Cable-TV services such as HBO, CSPAN, CBN, CNN, etc. chose to distribute via satellite directly to local cable franchise operation centers rather than use Bell System facilities. I also don't know if Bell had enough landline VIDEO capacity using the technology of the time for all of the new emerging cable services, on a NATIONAL basis. Afterall, AT&T had mostly been doing the distribution for ONLY three or four major national TV networks for some 25+ years by the late 1970s -- CBS-TV, NBC-TV, ABC-TV, NET/PBS, and the original (early 1950s) DuMont Network which I understand was re-worked (as far as AT&T circuits were concerned) into the "ad-hoc" Hughes Television Network of the 1960s/70s. The three radio networks which also had associated TV networks -- CBS Radio, NBC Radio, ABC Radio, continued to use satellites only for backhaul of sports and specials which didn't originate in New York or Washington DC, and also for "trunking" Central and Pacific programming to Chicago and Hollywood or Frisco into the 1980s. And while CBS-TV, NBC-TV, and ABC-TV also were using RCA and Western Union satellites for the same purposes into the early 1980s, it wasn't until 1982 or 1983 when the "big three" for *BOTH* their radio and television networks, decided to migrate over 100% to satellite. On the RADIO side, CBS, NBC, ABC all chose to go to a "proprietary" *DIGITAL* system, all integrated so that an affiliate which was going to carry programming and services from multiple providers could have a single full-service set of equipment. CBS Radio, NBC Radio, ABC Radio, and a one-time RKO Radio Network, all chose to use "DAT" (Digital Audio Terminal) Technology from Scientific Atlanta and distribution from RCA Americom's SATCOM. (Mutual, PBS, NPR, APRadio and UPI Audio all went with Western Union Westar in the late 1970s/early 1980s). I don't know if CBS-TV and ABC-TV went with RCA, WU or someone else, but in addition to CBS Radio and ABC Radio along with NBC Radio going with RCA, so did NBC-TV. Afterall, RCA owned the National Broadcasting Company. Later in the 1980s, when General Electric purchased RCA and NBC, the communication satellite division was renamed GE American Communications. Today, the players, movers-and-shakers, etc. have changed a bit in name or owners, as media and technical entities have merged and consolidated, but there's no turning back from the use of satellite for long-haul national/network radio and TV. Also, note that the remaining radio and TV networks, the "Big three", made their announcement to migrate to 100% satellite around 1982 or 1983, for full use by 1984 and 1985. Remember what else happened 20 years ago, on 1/1/84 -- this was the official beginning of divestiture, the break-up of the Bell System, where AT&T had to spin-off all its BOCs. The "big-three" knew that RCA Satcom was relatively stable, but were probably worried about what the new world of post-divestiture would bring! > Likewise, who actually carries long distance telephone calls? I use > Verizon, do they own their wholly own long distance network > capability of reaching any US central office? What medium is > typically used -- ground coax, microwave tower, satellite, fibre. > Or do all the other carriers simply contract in bulk with the > established AT&T, Sprint, and MCI? The "big three" of interexchange are AT&T, MCI, Sprint. But there are many others out there with regional or national full networks, including Qwest (the Long Distance side though), Global Crossing, Vartech, and others. I think that Verizon as well has established somewhat of a long distance network as well. Of course, ALL of the common carriers do buy and route traffic over each other depending on the circumstances. > With satellites, is there a problem with transmission lag time? YES! In the 1970s, when AT&T (Bell) announced and even began to utilize, Comstar (owned jointly by AT&T and GTE) satellites for long-haul toll traffic trunking, there was major concern by many large business customers. Two way voice telephone conversation with such a delay/lag for the uplink and downlink to a small radio device some 23,000 miles over the equator was indeed a concern, especially if a corporate customer was conducting a teleconference! But it was a MAJOR worry for two-way data transmission. Radio/TV network broadcasting is different in that a program usually originates from one point (or maybe a small number of locations) and is sent to "everyone" across the country. But a two-way telephone (or data) or full participating mulit-party teleconference needs to be as "realtime" as possible! AT&T did establish means for "forced" landline distribution of switched "telephone" connections, to "avoid" satellites, for large business customers. There were special routing codes to be used if the call were really a data call, or a conference, etc. Also, for telephone calls originating or terminating outside of the mainland US or Canada, AT&T had to introduce special routing instructions so that no domestic satellite circuit would be involved, since the connection to the overseas location (including the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and even "far-northern Arctic" Canada) might involve an international satellite hop! Since one satellite "hop" involves awkward delays, imagine what two or even three satellite hops would be like! There are going to be times when more than one satellite hop, sometimes even as many as three, are going to be unavoidable, but those are quite RARE. But where possible, AT&T's policy was to keep the number of satellite hops when introduced into a 2-way switched telephone call, to ONE and ONLY one. > In 1970 AT&T descriptions, long distance routing had a triangle > design. That is, most calls were sent to a toll center for > subsequent routing. However, local exchanges had their own links to > some nearby exchanges. For example, New York City to Newark NJ is > "long distance" since it crosses states and LATA boundaries, but is > physically so close calls be carried over plain copper interoffice > trunks. Are such close LD calls still sent that way? It would seem > strange to bounce 10 mile call off of a satellite. Because of the complaints about satellite hops on most domestic (and even many international calls), and also because of the falling prices and proliferation of land-based and undersea fiber optic, as well as digital microwave, about the only times you might encounter a satellite hop within the North American network on a switched 2-way (voice) telephone call is if one of the parties is in a remote Arctic location, such as in remote parts of Alaska, or way up in northern Canada outside of the landline network. There *ARE* landlines in Alaska and also northern Canada's territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), but the more remote parts of the Arctic parts of North America only interface with "down south" by satellite. Some Pacific Ocean and Caribbean points of the North American network might also still regularly use satellite to connect with each other or the mainland, but telephone calls within a particular location will still be landline, whether copper, fiber, microwave, etc. Anthony Bellanga ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:19:16 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters Neal McLain had written: > Anthony Bellanga wrote: >> Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. > In my experience (mostly in cable TV), the Mississippi-River rule can be > more accurately stated as follows: > "K" = west of the Mississippi River plus the entire state of > Minnesota. > "W" = east of the Mississippi River plus Louisiana parishes > located in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans DMAs. > But even with this version of the rule there are numerous exceptions, > especially in the case of low-power television stations (LPTV, Class > A, translators, and boosters). The rules also seemed to weaken, especially after WWWK(FM) Granite City, Illinois won the right in 1982 to assume the KWK-FM calls after its St. Louis AM simulcast partner. Back in the 1950s, when WTAD(AM) Quincy, Illinois put a TV station on the air, it was licensed to Hannibal, Missouri, and thus went under the calls KHQA-TV. Those are still the calls of channel 7, whose studio and transmitter are now on the Illinois side of the river. The best explanation of the K/W split, and the most throughly-researched, is Thomas H. White's "United States Callsign Policies", at . I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. > Bonomi's list included: >> WOI (AM, FM, and TV ... ), Ames, Iowa > WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a > commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ > Marshalltown DMA; it's still licensed to Ames, but it claims "Des > Moines" in its publicity. ISU does not operate a TV station (most > public television stations in Iowa are operated by Iowa Public > Television, a state agency independent of the state universities). >> WWL Waterloo, Iowa. Intrestingly, KWWL is in the same town. > WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. >> WSUI Iowa City, Iowa Also the home of KSUI. *SAME* owner, >> even. :) > WSUI(AM) and KSUI(FM) are licensed to the University of Iowa > (formerly, State University of Iowa; hence, "SUI"). UI does not > operate a TV station (same reason ISU doesn't). For clarification, U of I *never* owned a TV station (other than for experimental purposes) while ISU *did* own WOI-TV, originally putting it on the air on channel 4 in 1950 and then moving it post-freeze to channel 5 in 1953. ISU sold WOI sometime in the 1980s, ostensibly because it no longer fit the "extension" mission of a land-grant institution. > WIL St. Louis, Missouri > FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. >> WRTH St. Louis, Missouri > The FCC has no record of this callsign. Well, it's there, on 1430 kHz. Do a search for all the stations on 1430 in Missouri and you should get back records for three stations, including WRTH. I left WIL intact in the quoted portion above because WRTH and WIL are, in fact, related. Years ago when I was stuck in Kansas City, I put together some pages regarding the histories of some pioneer stations. I haven't been maintaining them too closely the past couple of years but I have kept them accessible at . Pertinent to this discussion are the histories of: WDAF (KCSP), WHB, KCKN (descendant of WLBF), WIBW, WREN, WOQ (defunct), WOS (defunct), KWK (possessor of multiple K and W calls), and WIL. Frank Absher's stlradio.com has more history and a much richer trove of treasurers than I ever managed to put together. Frank also writes a monthly column on radio history for the St. Louis Journalism Review. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) > at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] Yes. WIL-FM is still in St. Louis. It switched to the parent AM station's country format in 1973, and its success eventually eclipsed the AM station's (much as what happened to the west with KCKN-AM/FM, FM now KFKF, in Kansas City). In part, that was because the St. Louis metropolitan area grew to the west, into areas where WIL(AM)'s directional signal was rather weak. Mark Roberts|"Entire media networks, such as Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, Oakland, Cal| prop up Bush in a way that would make their fellow propagandists NO HTML MAIL| in North Korea and Cuba proud." -- Markos Moulitsas, Guardian Unlimited, 2004-10-12 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:53:30 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' television station callsigns In response to a post by Robert Bonomi , I wrote: > The FCC has no record of this [WRTH St. Louis, Missouri] callsign. Oops, my mistake. WRTH(AM), St. Louis MO, is licensed to Bonneville Broadcasting of Salt Lake City. FCC database record: . In response to a post by R. T. Wurth ), I wrote: > WIL-FM is licensed to St. Louis, and the transmitter is located in > Missouri. FCC record (scroll down below WILL-FM) at: > Whereupon PAT asked: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' > (two /L/) at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC > on AM band.) PAT] Yes. WIL-FM, St. Louis MO, is also licensed to Bonneville Broadcasting of Salt Lake City. FCC database record: . But there is no WIL(AM) -- what used to be WIL(AM) is now the aforementioned WRTH(AM). The "-FM" suffix normally indicates an FM station co-licensed with an AM station; however, if an AM station changes its callsign, a co-licensed FM station retains the "-FM" suffix. WILL(AM), Urbana IL, is licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. FCC database record: . WILL-FM, Urbana IL, is also licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. FCC database record: . Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 02:06:16 UTC Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Neal McLain wrote: > WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a > commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ > Marshalltown DMA [...]. ISU does not operate a TV station However, ISU *did* operate a TV station, namely WOI-TV. It was sold to a private owner within the last couple of decades. > WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. Formerly owned by Loyola University. >> WOW Omaha, Nebraska > AM only; sister TV is WOWT. AM is now KOMJ. >> WRR Dallas, Texas > FM only (PAT: classical music, streamed online!) Started out on the AM facility that's now KTCK, if I remember correctly. >> WBAP Ft. Worth, Texas > AM only. Amon Carter's TV station was channel 5, now NBC-owned KXAS. The radio stations are owned by Disney/ABC. >> WNAX Yankton, South Dakota > AM only. WNAX's sister FM has been WNAX-FM several times in the past (as recently as 2001 when I was there). >> and, some hair-splitting (Metro area crosses the river, >> transmitter_could_ be on the Illinois side of the Missippi): >> WIL St. Louis, Missouri > FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. >> WRTH St. Louis, Missouri > The FCC has no record of this callsign. I had no trouble finding it in the FCC database. In any case, WRTH *is* the station that was WIL. St. Louis also has the unusual case of KWK, Granite City, Ill. >> WACO Waco, Texas. > FM only. Formerly on AM (as with all of these examples outside of Minnesota and Louisiana). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) > at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] Yes and no. There is no longer a "WIL" in St. Louis; that station is now WRTH. There is still a "WIL-FM", but according to the FCC's rules as written, there can never be a "WIL" again. However, the Commission accepted a frankly ridiculous argument from the owners of KKHJ (930 Los Angeles) to get its old callsign (KHJ) back. (KHJ's historic FM sister is most recently KRTH, ironically enough.) Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@lcs.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those of| search for greater freedom. MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: 21 Oct 2004 20:31:07 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California Neal McLain writes: >> WOC Davenport, Iowa > AM only; sister FM is WLLR(FM); sister TV is KWQC(TV). The TV station was once WOC-TV. WOC is alleged to represent "World of Chiropractic" and was originally owned by Palmer College of Chiropratic. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:06:26 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to in message news:telecom23.505.2@telecom-digest.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, no matter how many teeth you > saw in the mouth of some particular horse, there can always be > exceptions. For example, how many toes does a cat have on its paws? > Some people would say 'five', which is normally the correct > answer. But some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The > vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex' and my first cat 'Nicholas' > (the one who was so warm and loving, not the later Nicholas who was > always hateful with humans) was that way. Nicholas had six toes on > each of his two front paws, five toes on each of his back paws. I > guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years or so. PAT] Polydactyl cats are particularly common (not just if you count them by their toes) around Boston and Halifax; must have been some good mousers in the first lot of ships to come over. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: With Nicholas it appeared to anyone who saw him that he had his 'shoes on the wrong feet'. If I held him on my lap and crossed his legs, then it appeared normal. Nicholas was *too* domesticated, *too* mild mannered. He would have not known what to do with a mouse if he had seen one, he was so well fed. Now one of my present two cats, the older one, a DLH (Domestic Long Hair) is very friendly and peaceful, but *she* knows what to do. Although she is also well fed she chases after the birds and insects in my back yard, but only rarely kills the birds if she gets hungry. Only once have I found any evidence of it: I found *half* of a sparrow in the back yard the other day and I feel certain she did it. I think she waited until it was at the bubbly fountain back there they drink from and bathe in, then she pounced. I don't mind if she gets the mice which come around now and then, and the insects (both flying or crawling) are for her, but she loves to play with them, bat them around, etc, but is never hungry enough to eat them. But she learned her lesson last summer from a wasp she tried to bat around which stung her. When I heard her squall then come limping back with her paw swollen I rushed her over to the animal hospital. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:36:02 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >From: J Kelly >Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:55:50 -0500 >Organization: http://newsguy.com >Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com > Where my brother lives if the power goes out across town, or even in a > town 30 miles away (where the headend is), his cable tv and internet > die. Hard to believe that Mediacom has no UPS's or generators for the > headend or any of the line amps. I think they bought some cable co's > that were pretty messed up though. In time I suppose they will clean > them up. There isn't much you can do if the utility dies. However, you can keep your house running indefinitely using something called an "inverter". This converts DC into "modified sine wave" AC. If you connect an inverter to the battery of your car with the engine running, you can power your computer, telephones, or other small utilities until you run out of gas -- which would probably take several days idling if you start with a full tank. An inverter is rated by peak and sustained power. One that will provide about 1200 Watts sustained will be rated for about 2400 Watts peak. You can probably find one for under $140 on the internet. This is enough power to start and run your refrigerator or, possibly, the fan on your furnace. Maybe even your well pump. The power is clean enough to run your computer, phones, or other electronics. If you have more than one car, then you can have more than one inverter. The alternator on a car can produce about 400 to 600 Watts, but the battery can supply the rest of the load. Thus, you can run your refrigerator, even though it draws about 900 Watts, because it does not run continuously -- your alternator recharges your battery. ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:10:11 -0700 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) wrote: > haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) wrote: >> I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. ... What >> was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? Surely brings to mind the big noisy rotating "card flip-over" mechanical displays that used to display arriving and departing flights in major airports -- maybe still do in some cases. ------------------------------ From: Jeff Spidle Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:49:20 -0500 Pat, a 10 Amp fuse should be sufficient. 10 Amps * 12 Volts = 120 Watts. If you only have 88 watts of lights it leaves you with some headroom for small surges and inrush current when you turn on the lights. 10A fuses are common and inexpensive. Jeff, KC9EII wrote in message news:telecom23.504.14@ telecom-digest.org: > In TELECOM Digest V23 #500, TELECOM Digest Editor > wrote (in part): >> I have two transformers: One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 >> Volts at 3 Amps. >> The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and >> it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. ... Are these two power >> supplies interchangeable...? > The Radio Shack power supply is DC [direct current] at 13.8 V (the > output of a "12-volt" automotive charging system). > > The Intermatic Malibu light power pack is simply an AC transformer > with a timer on the primary (line voltage) side. I think the "1 Amp" > rating you saw was the line side draw (120 VAC 1 A). >> How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > For DC, it's pretty simple for simple loads on a linear power supply, > which is almost certainly what the RS unit is: watts = volts x > amps. > AC calculations are trickier -- that's likely why Intermatic gives > their power consumption figures in watts (the 88-T is rated at 88 > watts). > For a rough calculation, though, you start with 120 VAC at 1 amp (120 > volt-= amps) supplying a 10:1 power transformer (120:12 volts) with a > typical transformer power factor of about 0.75 (0.733 in this case): > 120 V x 1 A = 120 VA x 0.7333 PF 88 watts (output) > When you calculate how many Malibu lights the 88-T will handle, power > factor is practically 1.0, since lamp filaments are almost pure > resistive load. > I'm not going to further flaunt how long it's been since I've done any > real AC calculations ... > Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer > Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355 > 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789 > P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My problem is *something* caused a > short on the line which caused the Malibu 88-T to get fried. That > something was probably the all-day drizzle/rain we had the other day > in the one spot where the cord strung to the various lights was not > properly protected. I will endeavor to find/correct that problem, but, > wouldn't it be good to put an external fuse in the line to prevent > that from happening in the future? I am thinking of one of the little > glass fuses and fuse holders you can wire in series with the line. > I *assume* (correct me as needed) such a fuse in the line would stop > any short from reaching the Intermatic power supply. I would rather, > next time, blow one of the little five in a box for two dollars fuses > rather than be in bed asleep when the short develops (if in fact I > get it cured) and the Intermatic silently fries away all night until > I wake up, or worse, have my backyard shed burn down (unlikely, I > know). What are your thoughts? What *size* fuse should I use of the > little glass ones that fit in a holder from RS? Not to small to not > allow the little lights to work correctly, but not too big so it won't > do a prompt job of stopping any shorts. Ideas? PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is what someone else said to me tonight on the phone. A 10 Amp fuse, wired in series on the output side of the line should protect future Intermatic transformers in the event of a short. It should hold up for the light string but pop quickly in the event of a short. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:13:19 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" EFFector Vol. 17, No. 39 October 21, 2004 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 310th Issue of EFFector: * Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" * California Poll Workers Told to Withhold Information from Voters * Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case * EFF to Trusted Computing Group: Preserve Meaningful Control for Computer Owners * EFF Seeks Dynamic, Motivated Membership Coordinator * MiniLinks (15): Indymedia Protests Seizure of Servers * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/17/39.php ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:13:28 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 11.20 ======================================================================= E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================= Volume 11.20 October 21, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.20.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== [1] FBI Backs Down in EPIC Lawsuit for Release of Secure Flight Info [2] Award Winners Question Science Funding for Mass Surveillance [3] Ethics Committee Reprimands Congressman For Misleading Agency [4] Federal Agency Approves RFID Implant for Health Care Use [5] Foreign Government Seizes Indymedia Servers in UK [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: The Identity Theft Protection Guide [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.20.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks Date: 21 Oct 2004 21:16:47 -0700 It is often said that the old Bell System was a strict monopoly on telephone service. That wasn't 100% true. Many large organizations had their own internal telephone systems that were not Bell supplied -- those companies chose to lease/buy their systems from someone else rather than Bell. AFAIK, those systems were internal only and could not connect to the outside Bell network, but their internal network could be quite large. In an old Bell Telephone employees magazine, they had an article about that. They had a picture of a businessman with two phones on his desk and the story described how that arrangement was costing the Bell System lost business. They wanted employees upon seeing that to encourage the customer to go 100% Bell. I wonder what the actual cost differentials were between self- ownership and self-maintenance (which included capitalization) vs. leasing from Bell. I also wonder how much effort and thought Bell gave to that competition -- did they ever consider lowering their rates or selling equipment for such large installations? In small offices, there was competition between privately purchased intercoms between boss and staff vs. key systems with intercom lines. In old movies the Boss always had an intercom box on his desk in which he buzzed in staff, but I've never seen that. Most big key systems I've seen had dial intercoms or push button signal buzzers. I presume large organizations had their own because it was cheaper to own and maintain their system than lease it from Bell, and having outside connectivity wasn't important. Indeed, sometimes companies did NOT want outside connections for internal phones to avoid employees wasting time on the phone on personal calls. In such facilities, offices that had contact with the public would have double phones, but most locations would have only an internal phone. Private networks were easy to spot since, esp in later years, the private phone would be an AE 40 with a numeric-only dial with the silvery bands compared to a Bell 500 set. The installations I'm aware of tended to phase out in the 1980s because the equipment/wiring got old and tougher to maintain. I suspect Bell Centrex rates for multiple locations became more attractive at the same time. I also know some large installations, such as large hospitals, that were 100% Bell. At least one Bell employee (sometimes more) was assigned to the property full time to handle repairs and changes. Despite the advantage of outside connectivity, some phones were restricted and not allowed outside connections. Indeed, it was quite common on many Bell PBX systems to restrict stations to making internal calls only, and receiving calls were screened by the operator based on company policy. Pay phones were liberally provided for employees to make their personal calls. (I remember office buildings having a few pay phones on every floor plus a big bank in the lobby, factories had pay phone near restrooms; that's no more). Some large network examples: City transportation company: A large dial system connecting all subway-el stations, offices, shops, and key street locations. City govt: A large dial system connecting police and fire stations and streetside call boxes and other affiliates (ie hospitals). For example, a hospital emerg room had a city PAX phone. Schools: Internally connecting classrooms with the school offices. Large factory plants: connecting various shops and offices. Railroads: These were very large networks, connecting stations, headquarters, shops, offices and wayside stations. These was particularly important since otherwise toll charges would be incurred. Railroads had their own signal depts, so they could easily maintain a phone system. Wayside phones were often local battery (crank), and many remained in service through the 1980s. Railroads also had internal Teletype networks. Additional observations/comments welcome. [public replies, please] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I was growing up, the Standard Oil Company refinery in Whiting, Indiana had an independent network like that, called 'Stanotel'. Stanotel went everywhere in the USA that Standard Oil went and the thing I thought was odd was that although it was fully automatic (a PAX type thing, using the Automatic Electric type phones you mentioned), when one dialed a '9' to get an outside line in Whiting, because Whiting was still a manual exchange (it would not be dialable as 219-659 for several more years), after you dialed '9' for an outside line, you then had to sit there and wait for the Whiting operator and pass her the number you wanted to call. Then after Whiting cut to dial, as 219-659 soon thereafter Stanotel was changed over to Illinois Bell centrex as 219-484, while retaining all the features of the old Stanotel network. PAT] ------------------------------ From: marcel_riley@yahoo.com (Marcel Riley) Subject: Partners Wanted Date: 21 Oct 2004 21:29:35 -0700 I am exploring starting a business to offer services to companies to install/repair/etc. their business Nortel systems. I am looking for partners who knows how to service Norstar and MEridian PBXs. Also, I would like to ask people who are engaged in this type of work to offer their perspective: Pros, cons, etc. Let me know if you are interested. Marcel Riley ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #506 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Oct 22 18:08:53 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9MM8qE15292; Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:08:53 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:08:53 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410222208.i9MM8qE15292@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #507 TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:09:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 507 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Boston's Big Rebound Makes a Winner of Fox, Too (Monty Solomon) Statewide Medical Records Planned (Monty Solomon) San Francisco Sets Goal of Free Citywide WiFi (Lisa Minter) 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned (Danny Burstein) What Happened to Channel 1? (Andrea) Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? (Jim Haynes) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Bit Twister) Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth (Tony Pelliccio) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone Company (T. Pelliccio) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work!) (T. Pelliccio) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! Nice Place to Work!) (John Covert) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Televison Call Signs (Linc Madison) Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed (Tony Pelliccio) Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (Jim Haynes) Re: Illinois Death Row is Empty Today (Carl Moore) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:24:59 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Boston's Big Rebound Makes a Winner of Fox, Too By RICHARD SANDOMIR It was the game that wasn't supposed to be televised because it wasn't supposed to happen. But you have to think that Fox was pleased and astonished that the Boston Red Sox had done the impossible in postseason: they had forced a seventh game after losing the first three of the American League Championship Series to the Yankees. Then the Red Sox took it one step further last night, beating the Yankees, 10-3. For Fox, it's too bad that Yankees-Red Sox league championship series aren't best-of-nine affairs. A ninth game might approach Super Bowl ratings levels. Game 6 produced a 15.6 Nielsen rating, or 25.1 million viewers, which made it the highest-rated nondecisive league championship series game in 13 years, Fox said, in spin that would gladden a break dancer. Even more fortunate for Fox is the type of television rabidity in the Boston market: 70 percent of those tuned to televisions in the center of Red Sox Nation were watching Game 6 (compared with 44 percent among New Yorkers). The last time the Red Sox were in the World Series -- 18 years ago against the Mets -- they generated a 28.6 rating, the best performance since 1981. Fox might now produce a new reality show: "My Big Fat Obnoxious Idiots." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/sports/baseball/21tv.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:34:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Statewide Medical Records Planned Blue Cross to give $50m to boost electronic project By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts plans to spend about $50 million to electronically link doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in three Massachusetts communities, allowing them to share and access patients' medical records. Blue Cross and more than 25 other insurers, hospitals, doctors and medical industry groups have formed a nonprofit organization with the goal of building a statewide electronic medical record system. Blue Cross, which has earned record profits in recent years, said it will donate $50 million to test the project next year in three cities or towns. Doctors who study medical errors and quality of care believe electronic medical records will substantially improve healthcare. Done right, they allow doctors spread out in various offices and hospitals to call up a patient's complete medical history, allergies, test results and prescriptions -- even though many different physicians have treated and tested the patient. These systems also can send doctors alerts to follow up on negative test results with further testing and warn them when they prescribe a drug to which a patient is allergic. Right now, most doctors keep patients' records on paper in filing cabinets. Many don't have access to records when their patients received treatment from another doctor. Even hospitals and doctors groups that have sophisticated electronic medical records can look up only their own records but generally can't see their patients' test results and treatment from other hospitals and doctors. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/10/21/statewide_medical_records_planned/ ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: San Francisco Sets Goal of Free Citywide WiFi Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 10:40:45 EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom set a goal on Thursday of providing free wireless Internet activity in his city that sees itself as a vanguard of the Internet revolution. "We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service," he said in his annual state of the city address. "These technologies will connect our residents to the skills and the jobs of the new economy." "No San Franciscan should be without a computer and a broadband connection." He said the city had already made free WiFi service available at Union Square, a central shopping and tourist hub, and would add access to several other sections of the city including Civic Center around City Hall. The stadium where the San Francisco Giants baseball team plays also offers WiFi, a wireless technology that allows a computer with a special modem to connect to the Internet. Other cities have started setting up large areas of WiFi coverage, including San Jose in Silicon Valley and parts of Long Beach, California. Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 02:59:28 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "The widow of a hero NYPD Emergency Service detective killed on 9/11 created a Web site as a loving tribute to her husband -- only to have it snapped up by a heartless Internet company that forced her to fork over $800 to buy it back, The Post has learned. "Kathy Vigiano's gut-wrenching ordeal began in January when she discovered that her husband Joseph's memorial Web site -- which she filled with personal photos and an emotional letter from one of their sons -- had been replaced by ads for penile-enlargement tools, sexual-performance drugs and Viagra... http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/30859.htm _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The very same people did that to our internet-history.org site as well. If you type in http://internet-history.org you get the very same preposterous ads. And of course, the guy wants to sell that one also. I **thought** there were laws against that sort of cybersquatting, but I guess that only pertains for large commercial web sites. Any damn fool would know that 'internet history' was discussed there on the site which was the property of the Internet Historical Society, which is *my* name, and it was a running site for three or four years. Yet, that moron simply walked away with it, got the org registrar to give it to him I guess. I had asked John Levine to take it away from the person and give it back to me. John won't do it. I thought he was one of the registrars for .org ... so I know how this poor lady feels now as well. But I can tell you *I* am not going to pay his blackmail ransom demand. If I had any money I would just sue the damn registrar who took it from me and gave it to him (I understand he is in some country in Europe. The lady should not have paid anything either, just immediatly filed suit against the registrar she had used when she first set up the site and done it that way. Of course, I have no money to pay any lawyers to help me, so that leaves me and internet-history.org high and dry. Maybe some attorney doing pro-bono work will be able to get our site back. If people would quit paying good money to these charlatans who steal the names that netizens use for their web sites, then they would go out of business. PAT] ------------------------------ From: andrea8090@gmail.com (Andrea) Subject: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: 22 Oct 2004 09:47:13 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone know the real reason American TVs don't utilize channel 1? I've read many conflicting theories. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have always heard that Channel 1 was occupying frequencies used in the VHF-low area (30-50 mc band) and that *originally* (1940's) some of that spectrum was going to be taken away from the users of VHF-low band radio and given to television, but many people protested it, so rather than re-align the television channels to move Channel 1 a bit further up, the FCC simply abandoned it for television use. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:32:15 EDT Subject: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? In a message dated 21 Oct 2004 11:36:19 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) writes: > In 1970 AT&T descriptions, long distance routing had a triangle > design. That is, most calls were sent to a toll center for subsequent > routing. However, local exchanges had their own links to some nearby > exchanges. For example, New York City to Newark NJ is "long distance" > since it crosses states and LATA boundaries, but is physically so > close calls be carried over plain copper interoffice trunks. Are such > close LD calls still sent that way? It would seem strange to bounce > 10 mile call off of a satellite. It is not inherently true that a call that crosses state boundaries and LATA boundaries is long distance. (And a call of 10 miles even then was usually carried on a carrier system, as copper for thousands of trunks was prohibitively expensive.) Many local exchanges and calling areas cross state lines and LATA boundaries. A notable example is the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. metropolitan exchange. Other well known ones include Texarkana, Ark.-Tex. (that's the post office name, too ... the post office sits astride the state line); Fort Smith, Ark. (a lot of it is in Oklahoma); Texhoma, Okla.-Tex. (the elementary school is in one state, the high school in the other); and one with which Pat is no doubt well familiar, Coffeyville, Kan.-South Coffeyville, Okla. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance Today? Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:45:31 GMT A related question: Western Union built a transcontinental microwave network, but I guess they never succeeded in capturing any TV business. So they had more bandwidth than needed for the telegraph business. Perhaps they couldn't get the TV business because their microwave system didn't go to enough places. Had they been so inclined, I guess they could have done what MCI did and use their microwave capacity to compete with AT&T for private line service on the heavily traveled routes. MCI had to go through protracted legal battles to get AT&T to connect their customers to their offices. Perhaps W.U. didn't have the stomach or funds to take on that kind of fight. Or perhaps W.U. sided with AT&T, they both being members of the "club" of common carriers and intending to keep MCI or anyone else from joining the club. Comments, anyone? jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: Bit Twister Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Organization: home user Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:04:20 GMT On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:49:20 -0500, Jeff Spidle wrote: > Pat, a 10 Amp fuse should be sufficient. 10 Amps * 12 Volts = 120 > Watts. If you only have 88 watts of lights it leaves you with some > headroom for small surges and inrush current when you turn on the > lights. 10A fuses are common and inexpensive. And getting a slow blow fuse will help that pesky startup surge. ------------------------------ From: kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth Date: 22 Oct 2004 07:58:33 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com jtaylor wrote in message news:: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to in message > news:telecom23.505.2@telecom-digest.org: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, no matter how many teeth you >> saw in the mouth of some particular horse, there can always be >> exceptions. For example, how many toes does a cat have on its paws? >> Some people would say 'five', which is normally the correct >> answer. But some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The >> vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex' and my first cat 'Nicholas' >> (the one who was so warm and loving, not the later Nicholas who was >> always hateful with humans) was that way. Nicholas had six toes on >> each of his two front paws, five toes on each of his back paws. I >> guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years or so. PAT] > Polydactyl cats are particularly common (not just if you count them by > their toes) around Boston and Halifax; must have been some good > mousers in the first lot of ships to come over. Throughout New England actually. I've got a very heavy polydactyl who knows he should pounce on a mouse but then plays around until he kills it and then doesn't know what to do with it. In his case he weighs in at close to 30 lbs. so it is a little bit hard to pounce when you are that large. Thing is, he's a big cat. There is also a strong link between the Maine Coon and polydactylism, and anyone who knows cats knows that Maine Coons are HUGE cats. As to mousing ability, the champion at my home is a 6.5lb dsh female. She likes to catch them, gut them and then hide them so she can trot them out later. ------------------------------ From: kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: 22 Oct 2004 08:00:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Marcus Didius Falco wrote in message news:: >> From: J Kelly >> Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:55:50 -0500 >> Organization: http://newsguy.com >> Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com >> Where my brother lives if the power goes out across town, or even in a >> town 30 miles away (where the headend is), his cable tv and internet >> die. Hard to believe that Mediacom has no UPS's or generators for the >> headend or any of the line amps. I think they bought some cable co's >> that were pretty messed up though. In time I suppose they will clean >> them up. > There isn't much you can do if the utility dies. However, you can keep > your house running indefinitely using something called an "inverter". > This converts DC into "modified sine wave" AC. If you connect an > inverter to the battery of your car with the engine running, you can > power your computer, telephones, or other small utilities until you > run out of gas -- which would probably take several days idling if you > start with a full tank. > An inverter is rated by peak and sustained power. One that will > provide about 1200 Watts sustained will be rated for about 2400 Watts > peak. You can probably find one for under $140 on the internet. This > is enough power to start and run your refrigerator or, possibly, the > fan on your furnace. Maybe even your well pump. > The power is clean enough to run your computer, phones, or other > electronics. > If you have more than one car, then you can have more than one > inverter. The alternator on a car can produce about 400 to 600 Watts, > but the battery can supply the rest of the load. Thus, you can run > your refrigerator, even though it draws about 900 Watts, because it > does not run continuously -- your alternator recharges your battery. Some inverters are better than others. If the wave is too square many pieces of electronic gear will complain. So stay away from cheap inverters. A UPS and a generator are the best way to go. ------------------------------ From: kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Date: 22 Oct 2004 08:48:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote in message news:: >> doable, if a bit of a long day. It strikes me that one of our biggest >> voluntary economic disadvantages is our failure to maintain and >> improve a strong rail infrastructure. > I'm sure you can find the full story on-line without much trouble. > The short version is that the U.S.'s lack of a strong rail > infrastructure is, in fact, by design. Detroit auto manufacturers and > the truck-driver unions combined to dismantle the rail network that > existed in this country and to pour money into building motorways > instead of railways. The result is that we have great highways in the > U.S. and not nearly as much rail as we used to (and terrible train > service on what's left). Don't forget the oil industry. Imagine what would happen to demand had we a good rail infrastructure. Right now we're paying a heavy price for those great highways. Rhode Island has some of the worst roads, bridges and highways in the country and Masschusetts isn't far behind. What amazes me is that we still buy into the arguments put forth by auto manufacturers, oil companies etc. A recent study indicated that Rhode Island needs to widen I-95 in the southern part of the state and all of I-295. At the same time, there are plans to build sidings for rail stations in Warwick, RI in the immediate future, and then Wickford and Westerley in the longer term. It would make much more sense to drop commuter rail in. The MBTA has actually committed to running their commuter lines as far as Warwick. That would make TF Green airport an intermodal airport as the train station is < 1500 feet from the main entrance. The point of my statement is that widening the highways in those areas won't help. If they're going to wide anything they should do it in the metro ring where traffic always backs up. The other point is that we should make use of commuter rail, yes it's more expensive up front but over the long term it might put off having to expand highways. If we were to tax gasoline to the point where it would be adequate to maintain the roads we'd have riots on our hands. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:28:22 -0400 (EDT) From: John R. Covert Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Mark Crispin wrote: > Prior to [the fall of the wall], the U-Bahn was run by West Berlin > authorities and the S-Bahn by East Berlin authorities. Actually, the S-Bahn was run by East German authorities, specifically by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, which ran the long-distance trains in East Germany. The Deutsche Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn have now merged to form the Deutsche Bahn, which now runs the Berlin S-Bahn. Up until the wall was built, the U-Bahn was a single network in both the east and the west. After the wall was built, the four U-Bahn lines which crossed between East and West were modified. Two of them were split and did not cross the wall, one of them (U8) passed through six locked and patrolled stations (including the major station at Alexanderplatz) without stopping, and one of them (U6) passed through four of five stations without stopping, and made a stop in a hermetically sealed portion of the Friedrichstr station, where it was possible to transfer to three S-Bahn lines serving the west. > The S-Bahn was entirely streetcars in West Berlin, and generally avoided. Not one bit of the S-Bahn in Berlin is or was ever streetcars. All of it operated directly on rails of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (now Deutsche Bahn) completely within the right-of-way and through the same stations as the long-distance trains (although the long distance trains would not stop at all of the stations). By the mid-80s, the avoidance of what was left of the West Berlin portion of the S-Bahn had pretty much ended, with the incorporation of the S-Bahn into the same fare system as the rest of the West Berlin transit system. (I've visited Berlin on over a dozen separate occasions between 1965 and 2001 and am VERY familiar with the transit systems there and their history.) > In Munich, the S-Bahn is a high-speed line from the suburbs into > downtown, but only one or two stops in town No, the S-Bahn stops at all of the following in-town stations: Westkreuz, Pasing, Laim, Donnersbergerbruecke, Hackerbruecke, Hauptbahnhof, Karlsplatz (Stachus), Marienplatz, Isartor, Rosenheimer Platz, Ostbahnhof, Leuchtenbergring, Untersbergstr, Giesing, Heimeranplatz, Harras, and several other stations. In Munich, the Deutsche Bundesbahn intercity rail system did not provide quite the coverage of the inner city that is the case in Berlin and Hamburg, and the S-Bahn was not fully developed until a major east-west tunnel under the center of the city was built to connect Hauptbahnhof (a terminus like GCT rather than a through station like Penn) with Ostbahnhof. A similar tunnel was built in Frankfurt to extend the S-Bahn from Hauptbahnhof under the city center. > there definitely were streetcars in the Vienna ring which were > part of the S-Bahn system Vienna does have streetcars, but they have nothing to do with the S-Bahn other than the fact that since 1984 there has been a fare union among the commuter rail, bus, streetcar, and U-Bahn systems. As in Germany, the S-Bahn is operated by the national long-distance rail system (the OeBB). There is a picture of some of the Vienna S-Bahn trains at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baureihe_4020 -- and you can see that they are operating as full-size rail cars out of big train stations. /john ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:55:43 -0700 From: Linc Madison Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed I grew up in Dallas, Texas, with WRR-FM and WRR-AM (now KAAM-AM), WBAP-AM and WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV), WFAA-AM and WFAA-TV, and, down in San Antonio, WOAI-AM and -TV. I then moved near Philadelphia and watched KYW-TV. What I find rather more interesting are situations where stations sharing the same callsign are in completely different metropolitan areas. For example, KCBS-TV is in Los Angeles, but KCBS-AM is in San Francisco. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com All U.S. and California anti-spam laws apply, incl. CA BPC 17538.45(c) This text constitutes actual notice as required in BPC 17538.45(f)(3). DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ From: kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed Date: 22 Oct 2004 09:07:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote in message news:: > In the continuing tradition of government that try to offload taxes > onto third parties (that way they're not "raising taxes", you see ...) > California has a very real problem with medical costs. The hospitals > and other medical providers provide services, but don't take in > anywhere near as much money as they claim to be expending. > Hospital and medical finances are such a huge mess they put Enron to > shame. Normally this isn't a telecom issue but ... > The telco point: The usual folk have pushed forward a fee on telco > services to cover the shortfall. Quoting from a VOA clip: > "A voter initiative that Doctor Higgins calls a "Band-Aid" could > provide a short-term fix, and he supports the measure. Appearing > on the November 2nd ballot as Proposition 67, it would raise 500 > million dollars a year by adding a three-percent surcharge to the > cost for telephone calls made in California. > To which the curmodgeons retort: > > "It's the wrong solution for a real problem. This is a phone tax. > This is a tax on a service that has absolutely nothing to do with > emergency medical care whatsoever. It does have some relation. People use the telephone to call the emergency services which then deliver them to the hospital. But I think too many other taxes have been loaded onto phone bills in recent years. In essence it is nickle and diming us to death. Now my medical system rant. There are several reasons why medical services have gotten so expensive and they have to do with supply and demand. Many more people seek medical attention now than they did years ago, but infrastructure improves glacially and so cannot keep up. The other part of my rant is insurance and billing companies. They just add two more layers of fees to medical services, one cut for the insurer and another for the billing company. Dismantle that mess and we might see costs come down. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:59:21 GMT Blurring the picture even further, there were big companies that had their own telephone systems, but using lines leased from Bell and connecting with the Bell public system. When I worked for G.E. circa 1967 there was such a system -- I don't remember now what the name of it was -- where we could dial a certain prefix and then dial most other G.E. locations without going through the public switched network. Big companies also had their own teletypewriter networks, usually with lines, equipment and maintenance furnished by Bell or W.U. on a lease basis. The airlines had these, and in addition the ability to exchange messages with other airlines. That was a big thing in the days of regulated air transportation when a trip from here to there often required flying on two or more airlines. I remember too that big department stores had their own internal telephone systems with equipment from independent telephone suppliers. Only a few employees were considered to need phones for both the internal and external phone networks. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:08:18 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Illinois Death Row is Empty Today This remark by you was in Jan. 2003: > Police around Chicago area are today gunning for the governor, to say > the least. They hate him. Police do not like DNA testing either, > except when the results go the way they want. And occasionally I hear of remarks "just the truth/facts" (remember "just the facts" from the fictitious Sgt. Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb in the "Dragnet" TV series?). Sigh. (I have watched many forensics programs.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a new governor in Illinois in the past year. And where did I read it the other day, the Boston Globe perhaps? ... it seems some state passed a new law allowing prisoners to petition to get a DNA test which could possibly prove their innocence, but the prosecutor had to okay the test before the prisoners could receive it or benefit from it. Since prosecutors are usually just rubber stamps for police, you know the likelyhood of a prosecutor agreeing to such a test is very slight unless it was a case where the heat was on so badly. In Chicago, police get in trouble now and then, (arson, drug sales and use, assault, rape, etc) but the *only time* anything is ever done about it is when the case becomes *so* public and the public gets *so* stirred up about it and the newspapers get so up in arms about it, that the prosecutor has to act. So it does not surprise me that they play games with DNA testing if they can. I don't know anything about reading/interpreting those tests, do you? A recent case (Wes Leatherock knows about it as do most folks in Oklahoma) had a forensics technician (Joyce someone) confess to deliberatly screwing up the results of various scientific tests performed as part of police investigations. Any number of guys went to prison, what the hell, one or two may have been executed. Joyce said the police told her how they wanted the tests to turn out, and who was she, she whimpered, to not follow orders from the brave, courageous police officers who told her what to do. She was just following orders. I don't know what ever became of her. The Tulsa World Newspaper raised so much hell about it they had to sacrifice her, I know that much. Wes, how did that ever turn out? I know a lot of the guys in prison who had been victimized by her 'tests' wanted to be retested or set free. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #507 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Oct 23 00:05:48 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9N45mH18563; Sat, 23 Oct 2004 00:05:48 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 00:05:48 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410230405.i9N45mH18563@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #508 TELECOM Digest Sat, 23 Oct 2004 00:06:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 508 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (Wesrock@aol) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Phil Stripling) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Michael Muderick) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? (John Levine) Home Phones Face Uncertain Future (Lisa Minter) Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned (Gene S. Berkowitz) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:58:09 EDT Subject: Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks In a message dated 21 Oct 2004 21:16:47 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) writes: > It is often said that the old Bell System was a strict monopoly on > telephone service. That wasn't 100% true. Many large organizations > had their own internal telephone systems that were not Bell supplied -- > those companies chose to lease/buy their systems from someone else > rather than Bell. AFAIK, those systems were internal only and could > not connect to the outside Bell network, but their internal network > could be quite large. One company with plants on the Gulf Coast figured it could save a great deal of money by a private PBX, but chose to use Bell service because of the Bell System's ability to restore service after a hurricane. These adjacent plants were served by a 5-digit PBX and the company maintained its own radar installations from the Sabine River to Brownsville. This radar network was more extensive than the Weather Bureau's at the time and the telco often consulted with the company as to what it's radar showed when a hurricane was in the offing. > In an old Bell Telephone employees magazine, they had an article about > that. They had a picture of a businessman with two phones on his desk > and the story described how that arrangement was costing the Bell > System lost business. They wanted employees upon seeing that to > encourage the customer to go 100% Bell. > I wonder what the actual cost differentials were between self- > ownership and self-maintenance (which included capitalization) > vs. leasing from Bell. I also wonder how much effort and thought Bell > gave to that competition -- did they ever consider lowering their > rates or selling equipment for such large installations? The Bell companies were heavily regulated and required to serve all comers at uniform rates. There were anti-trust restrictions on the sale of Western Electric equipment to other than telephone companies/ > Private networks were easy to spot since, esp in later years, the > private phone would be an AE 40 with a numeric-only dial with the > silvery bands compared to a Bell 500 set. This was not universally true, in fact may not have been common at all in later years, since independent manufactures, including A.E., made phones similar or identical to W.E. phone. What you describe was true, however, in many older Montgomery Ward retail stores, complete with two telephones at counters, one the A.E. set you describe, the other a Bell phone, not necessarily a 500 set. Newer stores had all Bell phones without the duplication. > Railroads: These were very large networks, connecting stations, > headquarters, shops, offices and wayside stations. These was > particularly important since otherwise toll charges would be incurred. > Railroads had their own signal depts, so they could easily maintain a > phone system. Wayside phones were often local battery (crank), and > many remained in service through the 1980s. Railroads also had > internal Teletype networks. Railroads and pipeline companies were "right-of-way" companies and could interconnect with Bell pretty much without restriction, including such cases as using their own lines to extend to what otherwise would have been FCO locations. Their PBXs usually had incoming and outgoing Bell trunks that could dial and be dialed and connected with the internal communications system, even for intercity communications. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Phil Stripling Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: 22 Oct 2004 16:11:30 -0700 Organization: Legal Assistance on the Web andrea8090@gmail.com (Andrea) writes: > Does anyone know the real reason American TVs don't utilize channel 1? > I've read many conflicting theories. See: http://members.aol.com/jeff560/tvch1.html http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971031/skinnyon.html http://anarc.org/wtfda/channel1.htm http://www.tech-notes.tv/History&Trivia/Channel%20One/Channel_1.htm Google is your friend. :-> Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@ http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily. ------------------------------ From: Michael Muderick Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:32:46 -0400 Channel 1 did appear on some early tv's. I have an RCA TK-630 Eyewitness television that has Channel 1. I think it was given back to government. mm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:44:11 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) wrote about Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company on 22 Oct 2004 08:00:17 -0700 > Marcus Didius Falco wrote in message > news:: >>> From: J Kelly >>> Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >>> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:55:50 -0500 >>> Organization: http://newsguy.com >>> Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com >>> Where my brother lives if the power goes out across town, or even in a >>> town 30 miles away (where the headend is), his cable tv and internet >>> die. Hard to believe that Mediacom has no UPS's or generators for the >>> headend or any of the line amps. I think they bought some cable co's >>> that were pretty messed up though. In time I suppose they will clean >>> them up. >> There isn't much you can do if the utility dies. However, you can keep >> your house running indefinitely using something called an "inverter". >> This converts DC into "modified sine wave" AC. If you connect an >> inverter to the battery of your car with the engine running, you can >> power your computer, telephones, or other small utilities until you >> run out of gas -- which would probably take several days idling if you >> start with a full tank. >> An inverter is rated by peak and sustained power. One that will >> provide about 1200 Watts sustained will be rated for about 2400 Watts >> peak. You can probably find one for under $140 on the internet. This >> is enough power to start and run your refrigerator or, possibly, the >> fan on your furnace. Maybe even your well pump. >> The power is clean enough to run your computer, phones, or other >> electronics. >> If you have more than one car, then you can have more than one >> inverter. The alternator on a car can produce about 400 to 600 Watts, >> but the battery can supply the rest of the load. Thus, you can run >> your refrigerator, even though it draws about 900 Watts, because it >> does not run continuously -- your alternator recharges your battery. > Some inverters are better than others. If the wave is too square many > pieces of electronic gear will complain. > So stay away from cheap inverters. A UPS and a generator are the best > way to go. An inverter costs $100 to $150 and sits in a drawer until you need it. A generator costs $1000 to $5000 and requires regular maintenance if it's going to start when needed. Even if you have to try several inverters to get one that will work your critical equipment (much of which will NOT be electronic -- the real urgent stuff for most people are the refrigerator in summer and the furnace in winter), you're way ahead of the game financially. This is especially true if you expect long blackouts only a few times per decade. (For most people a blackout of a few hours is not a problem.) A UPS is always a good idea. However, most of them have only enough reserve capacity to allow an orderly shutdown (that is, about a half hour or less, and don't try to run your laser printer). ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 21:59:51 EDT Subject: Re: K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns In a message dated Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:55:43 -0700, Linc Madison writes: > I grew up in Dallas, Texas, with WRR-FM and WRR-AM (now KAAM-AM), > WBAP-AM and WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV), WFAA-AM and WFAA-TV, and, down in > San Antonio, WOAI-AM and -TV. Remember when stations had locally produced children's shows? My son watched the "Waste Basket Animal Players" on WBAP-TV (note the initial letters of the program's name). Then we moved to Austin, where there was one TV station -- KTBC-TV, I believe it was, licensed to The L.B.J. Company. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: 23 Oct 2004 02:17:59 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> For example, New York City to Newark NJ is "long distance" >> since it crosses states and LATA boundaries, but is physically so >> close calls be carried over plain copper interoffice trunks. Are such >> close LD calls still sent that way? It would seem strange to bounce >> 10 mile call off of a satellite. > It is not inherently true that a call that crosses state > boundaries and LATA boundaries is long distance. That's true. LATA boundaries only matter for calls that were already long distance. Local calling areas cross state and LATA boundaries all over the country, and in a few areas (as often noted here in the past) even international boundaries. With respect to the specific case of calls between New York and Newark, that's always been a toll call, but NY Tel and NJ Bell got a special waiver at the time of the Bell breakup that let them continue to carry toll traffic between NYC and the adjacent part of NJ. Once equal access came in, callers could use 10NYT or 10NJB to select them as the carrier for those calls. There was a similar waiver between Philadelphia and nearby southern NJ, slightly more confusing since Phila to Camden was a local call, but Phila to slightly more distant towns like Cherry Hill was toll. Now that all of the Bells have long distance authority, the waivers are irrelevant. I don't think anyone used satellite for much domestic traffic other than SBS which didn't last very long. Satellites are great for broadcast but lousy for point to point unless one of the points is the top of a mountain or otherwise inaccessible. NY to NJ was doubtless carrier and now fiber, most likely run through some of the rail tunnels underneath the Hudson. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:35:00 +0000 Nokia in the UK seems to feel landline phones will be gone entirely in the next few years, at least in many countries, replaced by cellular phones. Check out this link: The fixed line phone in the home could soon disappear, a study by mobile firm Nokia shows. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3762844.stm > ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 22:49:11 -0400 In article , dannyb@panix.com says: > "The widow of a hero NYPD Emergency Service detective killed on 9/11 > created a Web site as a loving tribute to her husband -- only to have > it snapped up by a heartless Internet company that forced her to fork > over $800 to buy it back, The Post has learned. > "Kathy Vigiano's gut-wrenching ordeal began in January when she > discovered that her husband Joseph's memorial Web site -- which she > filled with personal photos and an emotional letter from one of their > sons -- had been replaced by ads for penile-enlargement tools, > sexual-performance drugs and Viagra... > http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/30859.htm > _____________________________________________________ > Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key > dannyb@panix.com > [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The very same people did that to our > internet-history.org site as well. If you type in > http://internet-history.org you get the very same preposterous ads. > And of course, the guy wants to sell that one also. I **thought** > there were laws against that sort of cybersquatting, but I guess > that only pertains for large commercial web sites. Any damn fool > would know that 'internet history' was discussed there on the site > which was the property of the Internet Historical Society, which is > *my* name, and it was a running site for three or four years. Yet, > that moron simply walked away with it, got the org registrar to give > it to him I guess. > I had asked John Levine to take it away from the person and give it > back to me. John won't do it. I thought he was one of the registrars > for .org ... so I know how this poor lady feels now as well. But I can > tell you *I* am not going to pay his blackmail ransom demand. If I had > any money I would just sue the damn registrar who took it from me and > gave it to him (I understand he is in some country in Europe. The lady > should not have paid anything either, just immediatly filed suit > against the registrar she had used when she first set up the site and > done it that way. Of course, I have no money to pay any lawyers to > help me, so that leaves me and internet-history.org high and dry. Maybe > some attorney doing pro-bono work will be able to get our site back. > If people would quit paying good money to these charlatans who steal > the names that netizens use for their web sites, then they would go > out of business. PAT] What am I missing here? Where is it actually stated that "buying" a domain name grants you rights to it in perpetuity? It's very obvious from the agreements made with the registrars that you are _renting_ the domain. ICANN insists that no domain can be registered for more than ten years at a time; that certainly seems to preclude automatically owning the right to a domain for life. Of course, by simply renewing it before the term expires, the rights remain with you. On the day your "lease" expires, if you haven't renewed, that name returns to the pool, or is possibly auctioned off by the registrar. How is this any different from a telephone number? If you stop paying the bill, the telco shuts off service, and eventually gives (sells) the number to someone else. Should I sue Verizon to get the phone number of my childhood home? Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you are overlooking is that the lady did not come close to having her domain name for ten years. She had it at best for two or three years, it was an active domain name then it up and disappeared when the registrar chose to give it or sell it to the penis enlargement man. What you are overlooking is that very few netizens care much either way about what ICANN says or thinks should be done. ICANN *only* represents big business interests anyway, not the small, average person with a web site. If you don't think that is the case, then since Microsoft has had their domain name 'microsoft.com' well over ten years, petition the registrars or ICANN to force Microsoft to give it up and give others a chance at it. Or maybe now that Yahoo has had their domain names for that same length of time, they can be forced out. Oh, and you don't hear ICANN complaining that the joker who registered 'whitehouse.com' most likely did it knowing full well that people looking for information on the White House will unwittingly type '.com' instead of '.gov' ICANN represents big business only, **not** people like Mrs. Viagino. The government wants business to control the net; they use ICANN as their tool. What you are overlooking regards phone numbers is that if a phone number is listed in a directory and is in active service for no matter how many years, as your childhood phone number might well have been if your parents or yourself had chosen to continue living there and were still referring to that number as your own then one day Verizon chooses to disconnect it or route it to someone else without so much as a single notice to you then you *would* have a very actionable suit against Verizon. Finally, what you are overlooking is that if the registrar had any care about people's sensibilities, even if Mrs. Viagino *had* misunderstood the terms of registration (I do not think she was even told it had to be renewed, etc) then the registrar might have told the lady something like 'this is a final notice, the site is being removed from you; gather up your files, pictures, etc and find some other place to park them.' Then maybe after two or three weeks shut it down. Or was the penis-enlargement man in such a rush he could not spare a week or two for a man killed in the line of duty, leaving a wife and family behind? Oh, I know it would not matter to ICANN, but you would think there might have been some courtesy given. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #508 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Oct 23 23:18:00 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9O3I0F28639; Sat, 23 Oct 2004 23:18:00 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 23:18:00 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410240318.i9O3I0F28639@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #509 TELECOM Digest Sat, 23 Oct 2004 23:18:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 509 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Verizon Betting on A Bundle (Marcus Didius Falco) Dialogic D/41ESC - Nuance - Answering (Sven Westenberg) Book Of Interest:"Transmission Systems for Communications" (NoSpamForMe) Free Speech and Corporations (Lisa Hancock) IP Telephony (Ducz Beatrix) Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future (Rick Merrill) Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future (AES/newspost) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company (AES) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company (SELLCOM) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:03:44 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Verizon Betting on A Bundle http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53151-2004Oct21.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53151-2004Oct21?language=3Dprinter Firm to Spend Billions on Fiber Optics By Yuki Noguchi Washington Post Staff Writer Verizon Communications Inc., the nation's largest telephone company, announced yesterday it is digging up streets and stringing wire in six states, including Washington's Maryland and Virginia suburbs, to build a new fiber-optic network that will deliver high-speed Internet service and cable-style television to homes and businesses. It is part of a $2.8 billion gamble for the giant provider of local phone service, which is trying to compete head-to-head against cable companies. Verizon says it can offer Internet speeds up to 10 times as fast as most residential services and that it will introduce a package of television programming next year. In the Washington area, Verizon said it plans to start offering the new Internet service in late November in Falls Church, parts of Arlington, Herndon and Leesburg. It said it will start selling the new network in parts of Montgomery County early next year, when the service will be available to about 200,000 businesses and households in the region. The company is also laying new fiber in parts of Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania, but a spokesman said it hasn't made plans to enter the District because it is still working on network technology that will allow it to lay fiber-optic cable in urban areas. Nationally, 1 million homes and businesses will be able to buy Internet service on the new network by the end of the year and 3 million by the end of next year, the company said. To accomplish this, Verizon must rebuild a century-old network of copper lines that run into almost every home in the area. It's a costly investment that some analysts said could prove foolhardy if it can't win customers quickly. "We've looked at it really closely, and we don't see how it adds up," said Scott C. Cleland, chief executive of Precursor Group, a research firm in Washington. The company will sink billions of dollars into streets in and around residential neighborhoods, but it's unclear whether customers will be waiting to sign up for the service, he said. Prices for phone and high-speed Internet service keep falling, whittling away at the profit potential. And Verizon's plan to offer television service faces entrenched competition, Cleland said. "Can we honestly believe they're going to be better video providers than cable and [satellite] providers?" But regional phone companies like New York-based Verizon are in a heated battle against the cable industry. Each company is fighting tooth and nail to entice customers to buy bundled services from one provider -- phone, television, and Internet, for instance. Such a package currently costs about $120 monthly. The phone and cable industries have made forays into each other's businesses in recent years. Cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc. have spent $85 billion since 1996 to upgrade their networks to carry Internet traffic and phone service. Phone giants, including Verizon and SBC Communications Inc., partnered with EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network and DirecTV Group Inc. to offer satellite television bundled with their services. Verizon described its fiber-to-the-home project as the dawn of better Internet connections and competitive television choices. "This is one of the most significant turning points in telecom," said Paul Lacouture, president of Verizon Network Services Group. "This will pave the way for long-awaited convergence between voice, video and Internet." For now, the new network will carry telephone and high-speed Internet, for between $35 and $45 a month, depending on the speed. Verizon said it is negotiating with companies including Viacom Inc. so it can start selling video programming, high-definition television, and video-on-demand service starting next year. The service will be "competitive" with cable, officials said, but they declined to discuss how much it would cost. Cox, which has 260,000 customers in the region, is ahead of Verizon in offering advanced technology, said Alex Horwitz, a Cox spokesman. It completed a $500 million regional upgrade, allowing it to offer high-speed Internet, telephone service and high-definition television, he said. "We believe we are already ahead of the game." "It's a tough market to break into because we already are an extremely competitive market," said Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents the cable companies. Many Washington area residents already have four options, including Comcast, Cox, Starpower Communications LLC and two satellite-TV providers, he said. Analysts question Verizon's ability to earn back its investment in the new network. "I think it's going to be difficult for them to make their money back," said Timothy Horan, an analyst for CIBC World Markets Corp., because they will have to beat cable's prices. "I haven't seen a model that makes it work." To deploy the service, Verizon must string hair-thin glass fibers. About 60 percent of the fiber can be strung along telephone poles, but the remainder requires digging up streets to bury it. The task is such a huge undertaking that the company said it will hire 3,000 to 5,000 new employees nationally by the end of next year. Verizon currently employs more than 207,000 people. Sales of high-speed Internet in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Dallas, and Tampa, where Verizon started offering service earlier this year, are "better than expected," said Robert Ingalls, president of Verizon's Retail Markets Division, but he declined to release details. 2004 The Washington Post Company *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Washington Post. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Sven Westenberg Subject: Dialogic D/41ESC - Nuance - Answering Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 09:23:24 +0200 Organization: RZ-Online Hallo, I have an Intel Dialogic D/41ESC board (analog, ISA) in a Win2000SP4 machine. I installed System Release 5.1.1 and Feature Pack 1. All Tests with the test- an sample-programs are successful. I use the board with Nuance 8.5. The test-programm act.exe tells me, that the incoming call is recognized and answered, but on the phone i cannot hear, that the call was answered. The ring tone is still there. Find the whole log beneath. I think, the cables and the PBX settings should be OK. The problem should be somewhere in the Nunace configuration. Unfortunately, i neither know, where to start searching nor to change the right parameter. Any hints appeciated! Thanks in advance. Sven act.exe log: VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.589,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,APMGR: AudioProviderManager::get,20,Creating a new Mgr. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.629,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::AudioProvide rManager,42,[CH-]:[DEV-]: Built Mar 25 2004 20:44:15. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,50, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumDigitalLines = 0 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,50, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumAnalogLines = 4 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,52, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumVoiceResources = 4 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,60, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumDigitalVoiceResources = 0 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,58, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumAnalogVoiceResources = 4 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,50, APCFG: AudioConfig::BusEncoding = Mulaw INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,45, APCFG: AudioConfig::BusType = SCSA INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,51, APCFG: AudioConfig::NetworkType = Analog INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,43, APCFG: AudioConfig::DeviceFamily = DM3 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,57, APCFG: AudioConfig::FirstAnalogBoard = dxxxB1 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,64, APCFG: AudioConfig::FirstAnalogResourceBoard = dxxxB1 INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioConfig::AudioConfig,63, APCFG: AudioConfig::NumPlaybackSamplesNeeded = 16384 VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,2 5,[CH001]:[DEV-]: Entered. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: max_lines = 4. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: telephony = 1. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 5,[CH001]:[DEV-]: device = "3". INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 2,[CH001]:[DEV-]: lines = . INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: line_number = 3. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: DIDNumber = 0. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: dynamic = 0. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: dynamic_vr = 0. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: global_call = 0. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 3,[CH001]:[DEV-]: isdn = 0. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 9,[CH001]:[DEV-]: network = Analog. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 9,[CH001]:[DEV-]: Constructing device 3. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderDevice::AudioProvider Device,61,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Success loading Telephony Provider nuanceR4. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonyDialogic::Init,34,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: Network = analog. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonyDialogic::Init,41,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: trying to lock line-a-3. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,70,ResourceLoc kFile returned OK, lockfile=C:\WINNT\nuance_resource_locks VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,21,Reading the lockfile VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,88,lock:audio: _dialogic_line-a-3 PID=-1 (NO_PROCESS=-1), process no longer exists, lock it INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonyDialogic::Init,33,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: locked line-a-3. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.909,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::Init,47,[CH-]:[DEV003 ]: Initialized TelephonyProvider. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.939,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetOnHook,33,[CH-]:[D EV003]: Setting on-hook. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.939,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,Telephony::HookStateCallback,34,[C H-]:[DEV003]: Callback skipped. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.939,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetState,69,[CH-]:[DE V003]: CallState changed: BLOCKED --> INTER_CALL_DELAY. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderDevice::AudioProvider Device,73,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Initialization of Telephony Provider returned NUANCE_OK. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicCSP::SoundDialogicVR, 44,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Can share CSP resource? No. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicCSP::SoundDialogicVR, 54,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Allocate sound device at run-time? No ERROR,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicCSP::SoundDialogicVR, 69,[CH-]:[DEV003]: CSP not supported for this analog device [dxxxB1C3]. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::SoundDialogicVR,7 6,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Play channel will share telephony device, dxxxB1C3, id = 3. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,70,ResourceLoc kFile returned OK, lockfile=C:\WINNT\nuance_resource_locks VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.959,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,21,Reading the lockfile VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.969,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,ResourceLock::Apply,85,lock:audio: _dialogic_dsp-3 PID=-1 (NO_PROCESS=-1), process no longer exists, lock it INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.969,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::SoundDialogicVR,4 4,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Using play device dxxxB1C3. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.969,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::SoundDialogicVR,4 6,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Using record device dxxxB1C4. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.969,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::OpenPlayDevice,65 ,[CH-]:[DEV003]: dx_getxmitslot: on device dxxxB1C3, returned OK. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.969,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::OpenPlayDevice,41 ,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Playback on time slot 2. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.979,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::OpenPlayDevice,61 ,[CH-]:[DEV003]: dx_getsvmt: on device dxxxB1C3, returned OK. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.979,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::OpenPlayDevice,61 ,[CH-]:[DEV003]: dx_setsvmt: on device dxxxB1C3, returned OK. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderDevice::AudioProvider Device,78,[CH-]:[DEV003]: Success loading and initializing the Sound Provider nuanceVR. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,79,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: Not recording, state=RECORD_IDLE, change time slot connections VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,51,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: Current rx=-1 ec=-1, New rx=6 ec=2 D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,72,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: Changing timeslot connections of Record channel (dev=3) VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,45,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: dx_listen, channel=3, slot=6 D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,60,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: dx_listen: on device dxxxB1C4, returned OK. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,50,[CH-]:[ DEV003]: dx_listenecrex, channel=3, slot=2 WARN,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,112,[CH-]: [DEV003]: dx_listenecrex: on device dxxxB1C4, returned -1, err = 0x00000070, Invalid local timeslot type. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderManager::add_device,3 6,[CH001]:[DEV-]: Returned NUANCE_OK. STATUS,0,2004/10/23 08:53:54.989,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderInfoDialogic::Init,62 ,[CH001-ALN003]:[DEV-]: Initialization completed successfully. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:53:55.089,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetState,68,[CH001]:[ DEV003]: CallState changed: INTER_CALL_DELAY --> IDLE. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonyDialogic::EventExists,50, [CH001]:[DEV003]: sr_waitevt(0) returned an event INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::ProcessPhoneEvents,51 ,[CH001]:[DEV003]: sr-event: 1, 134, 0x0088FCE0, 4. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::ProcessEvent,51,[CH00 1]:[DEV003]: sr event 0x00000086 on device 1. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::ProcessEvent,33,[CH00 1]:[DEV003]: Caught a ring. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::ProcessEvent,41,[CH00 1]:[DEV003]: unable to get call id. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetState,65,[CH001]:[ DEV003]: CallState changed: IDLE --> INCOMING_CALL. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.603,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetOffHook,36,[CH001] :[DEV003]: Setting off-hook. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,Telephony::HookStateCallback,35,[C H001]:[DEV003]: Callback called. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::HookState,39,[CH0 01]:[DEV003]: record/play DISABLED VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::Listen,91,[CH001] :[DEV003]: Time slot connections unchanged, rx_slot=6, ec_slot=2. No need to redo. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::HookState,42,[CH0 01]:[DEV003]: state now CALL_OFFHOOK. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,Telephony::IncomingCallCallback,35 ,[CH001]:[DEV003]: Callback called. VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonyDialogic::EventExists,50, [CH001]:[DEV003]: sr_waitevt(0) returned an event INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::ProcessPhoneEvents,51 ,[CH001]:[DEV003]: sr-event: 2, 134, 0x0088FCE0, 4. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::ProcessAudioEvent s,51,[CH001]:[DEV003]: sr-event: 2, 134, 0x0088fce0, 4. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::ProcessPlayEvent, 29,[CH001]:[DEV003]: CST event. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:04.653,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::ProcessPlayEvent, 47,[CH001]:[DEV003]: Ring detected event ignored. LOG,INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:09.110,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::AnswerCall,27,[CH001] :[DEV003]: Entered. LOG,INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:09.110,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,Telephony::HookStateCallback,35,[C H001]:[DEV003]: Callback called. LOG,VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:09.110,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::HookState,38,[CH0 01]:[DEV003]: record/play ENABLED LOG,INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:09.110,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetState,77,[CH001]:[ DEV003]: CallState changed: INCOMING_CALL --> CALL_IN_PROGRESS. LOG,VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderInfoDialogic::Hangup, 60,[CH001-ALN003]:[DEV-]: call no longer active at this point. LOG,VD_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,AudioProviderInfoDialogic::Hangup, 36,[CH001-ALN003]:[DEV-]: Hanging up . LOG,WARN,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::HangUp,44,[CH001]:[DE V003]: Invalid side specified: . D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::~SoundDialogicVR, 59,[CH-]:[DEV003]: dx_close: on device dxxxB1C4, returned OK. D_INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,SoundDialogicVR::~SoundDialogicVR, 59,[CH-]:[DEV003]: dx_close: on device dxxxB1C3, returned OK. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::HangUp,26,[CH-]:[DEV0 03]: Entering. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetOnHook,33,[CH-]:[D EV003]: Setting on-hook. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.447,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,Telephony::HookStateCallback,34,[C H-]:[DEV003]: Callback skipped. INFO,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.487,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,TelephonySR::SetState,78,[CH-]:[DE V003]: CallState changed: CALL_IN_PROGRESS --> INTER_CALL_DELAY. STATUS,0,2004/10/23 08:54:14.487,HOST1,ACT,464,AUDIO.DIALOGIC,APMGR: AudioProviderManager::get,20,DELETED THE MANAGER ------------------------------ From: NoSpamForMe Subject: Book of Interest: "Transmission Systems for Communications" Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:56:55 GMT http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=378&item=2496871334&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Free Speech and Corporations Date: 22 Oct 2004 20:47:01 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lisa Minter wrote > On Monday, Sinclair fired the head of its Washington bureau for having > the temerity to criticize the airing of one-sided propaganda (ironic, > considering Sinclair is claiming a First Amendment right to air the > film). Jon Lieberman had correctly pointed out that running the film > brought the network's credibility into question ... As another poster correctly pointed out, it is Sinclair's network and he is free to do as he wants (he controls the majority stock) regarding showing the film. The same poster was also correct in saying Sinclair has the right to fire anyone he wants. "Free speech" protects us from the government, but not our bosses. The right of free speech is very important. But it is not unlimited. Nor does the exercise of free speech provide a license to violate other laws, such as trespassing, harassment, riot, etc. Sometimes protesters who violate such laws are shocked when they are actually prosecuted for the crime they have committed rather than just let go later, and feel their "free speech" rights are thus being violated. It's not their free speech, it's their criminal behavior that's being prosecuted. Protesters forget that other people have rights, too, and their cause does not trumpet over the interests of other people, no matter how important they think it is. Free speech is not mob rule, nor compelling someone else to pay or provide your platform to speak from. Another poster stated corporations exist for the good of the public. I don't know where that came from. (Perhaps the existence of a corporation allows business to be conducted which is good for the public since buyers and sellers are brought together). But private corporations exist for the stockholders. A smart corporation will strive for good employee, customer, and public relations since they usually lead to better business operations. However, corporations are under no obligation to "be nice" (beyond what is required by law). Frankly, it bothered me that some people asserted it was somehow "wrong" for Sinclair to show his propaganda, just as some asserted it was somehow "wrong" for Mirimax to decline to distribute Moore's propaganda; that these corporations had some sort of public obligation to do otherwise. ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: Ducz Beatrix Subject: IP Telephony Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 06:38:03 +0200 Organization: Korum Hungary Kft. Dear Mr. Townson! Your website was offered to me by some friends at ECN (electrical-contractor.net) when I started to ask for some help about IP telephony. Could you please help me how could I contact a company that has international server chain and rents it for use? I'm not looking for VoIP companies, only the system that they use. I know some andI asked them to allow us to use the server network, but they didn't allow, and since there are more networks like this, maybe you know one. Thank you for your kind help, your site is very interesting! :) Ducz Beatrix ------------------------------ From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:41:46 GMT Lisa Minter wrote: > Nokia in the UK seems to feel landline phones will be gone entirely > in the next few years, at least in many countries, replaced by > cellular phones. Check out this link: > The fixed line phone in the home could soon disappear, a study by > mobile firm Nokia shows. > < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3762844.stm > As unbelievable as it seems to us today, land lines in the USA ten (10) years from now (2004) will probably down 60% yet total phones will have increased by 30%. How? Cell phones obviously, but also VoIP is poised to expand very rapidly. Why? Widespread availability of broad band and virtually NO REGULATION (as compared to land line phones) ==> Half the Cost of today's "land line phones" for home and business. - RM "I fought the lawn, and the lawn won." ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 08:20:48 -0700 In article , Lisa Minter wrote: > Nokia in the UK seems to feel landline phones will be gone entirely > in the next few years, at least in many countries, replaced by > cellular phones. Check out this link: > < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3762844.stm > > The fixed line phone in the home could soon disappear, a study by > mobile firm Nokia shows. Even if this happens -- and it doesn't seem to be an unreasonable prediction -- the portion of the existing landline infrastructure running from local telco offices into homes and commercial buildings would continue to exist for a long time, and would only slowly decay even if no longer regularly maintained. Continuing to maintain this infrastructure at a low level, while also adding comparable minimum-level hardwired infrastructure into new construction (perhaps as a minor side effort while adding cable, or basic electrical service, or fiber, or whatever) could also be comparatively inexpensive, even in quite low density areas. I put up a long post earlier expressing some thoughts and ideas about how a minimal hardwired infrastructure of this sort, with no residual connections to longline networks or services, could be re-purposed to provide useful services and purposes other than telco -- e.g., emergency services of multiple types. I'll refrain from repeating these ideas here; but it still seems to me that thinking about creative ways of using these potentially disappearing fixed lines could be a useful as well as interesting exercise. ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 09:03:00 -0700 In article , Marcus Didius Falco wrote: >>> There isn't much you can do if the utility dies. However, you can keep >>> your house running indefinitely using something called an "inverter". My wife some time back came up with an idea so ingenious -- in my spousal opinion, anyway -- that I can't refrain from passing it on. Honda makes gasoline-powered emergency generators. Honda also makes gasoline-powered power lawnmowers. You can see where this is going: Large numbers of us suburbanites own, maintain, and regularly use our power lawnmowers. So, why have to also purchase, store, maintain, and periodically test a gasoline-powered generator for very infrequent emergency use, including possibly never? Why not have instead a Honda lawnmover designed so a small auxiliary Honda-supplied generator can be bolted on top (or on the bottom) of it? If any of you want to follow up on this commercially, send me a note, and I'll give you the address for the royalties to my wife. ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 16:57:06 GMT Marcus Didius Falco posted on that vast internet thingie: > A UPS is always a good idea. However, most of them have only enough > reserve capacity to allow an orderly shutdown (that is, about a half > hour or less, and don't try to run your laser printer). We have a generator here but I also have a Minuteman MCP2000E "True Online" UPS system for our main computers. I also have it connected to a bank of batteries that can keep us up and going for about 7 hours. It is also very well behaved when running on generator power. I could add more batteries to get more time but they are not cheap. I have the Minuteman plugged into a BrickWall surge protector to protect it. Steve at SELLCOM www.surgeprotect.com http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Ramsplitter firewood splitters If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V23 #509 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Oct 24 01:03:16 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9O53GR29843; Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:03:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:03:16 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410240503.i9O53GR29843@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #510 TELECOM Digest Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:03:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 510 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Qwest to Pay $250 Million in Fraud Probe (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Steve Sobol) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Robert Bonomi) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Dave Close) Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? (Neal McLain) Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (jdj) Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (Julian Thomas) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Robert Bonomi) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Herb Stein) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Fred Atkinson, WB4AEJ) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (DevilsPGD) Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth (Fritz Whittington) Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed (Gene S. Berkowitz) AT&T Reports $7 Billion Loss (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse (Gene S. Berkowitz) Last Laugh! Re: Boston's Big Rebound Makes a Winner of Fox (HorneTD) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:22:50 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Qwest to Pay $250 Million in Fraud Probe http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53148-2004Oct21.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53148-2004Oct21?language=3Dprinter By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Qwest Communications International Inc. yesterday agreed to pay $250 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company fraudulently booked $3.8 billion in revenue over nearly three years, repeatedly turning to accounting tricks that employees compared to a heroin "addiction." Qwest employees carried out an extensive fraud, under orders from senior managers who made "outrageously optimistic" assertions that the Denver company would post double-digit profit gains at a time when demand sharply lagged, regulators alleged. The SEC is continuing to investigate the role of individuals in the scheme. In one common tactic, employees reported revenue from one-time sales of fiber-optic capacity as recurring revenue, referring to such transactions as "one hit wonders." They also swapped assets with other companies but treated Qwest's side of the swaps as if they were sales, producing immediate revenue, the SEC said. Qwest also allegedly understated $231 million in expenses from June 1999 to March 2002. Employees employed the strategies so often that some began to refer to them as Qwest's "heroin," the SEC said. The nation's fourth-largest long-distance telephone service provider did not admit or deny wrongdoing as part of the settlement. "Qwest senior management created a corrupt corporate culture in which meeting Wall Street expectations was paramount," said Randall J. Fons, director of the SEC's Denver regional office. "Senior management projected unrealistic revenue growth and would not tolerate missing the numbers." Qwest's current chief executive, Richard C. Notebaert, said in a prepared statement: "We are pleased to conclude this matter, which will now allow us to focus even more of our effort to provide exceptional value and service to customers." Qwest, whose stock price plunged from a high of $55 to less than $2 a share after the fraud surfaced in August 2002, said it would cover the settlement in two separate payments. It will send the agency $125 million soon, and the rest by December 2005. The money eventually will be given to Qwest shareholders, regulators said. Qwest stock closed yesterday at $3.44 a share, up 12 cents. The company also agreed to hire a compliance official to ensure that managers never again stretch or ignore accounting rules to meet earnings targets and trigger executive bonuses, as was also alleged by the SEC. Regulators said that Qwest misled investors about its business partnerships and improper relationships with suppliers, who were sometimes pressured by unidentified Qwest officials to award them shares in the supplier before initial public offerings during the Internet boom. Qwest also failed to disclose to shareholders a $7.6 million aircraft sale between the company and the Anschutz Co., owned by Philip F. Anschutz, Qwest's founder and co-chairman of its board of directors. The May 2001 deal brought tax benefits and savings to Qwest, regulators said. "Disinterested" Qwest board members approved the transaction, according to the SEC order. The order did not question the propriety of the transaction itself, only that it was not disclosed as it should have been in the company's annual report or its proxy statement. SEC enforcement chief Stephen M. Cutler said yesterday in a prepared statement that the investigation of individuals at Qwest who participated in the fraud is "active and ongoing." Federal prosecutors in Denver said they are continuing to investigate the company and former executives. Former Qwest chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, who is referred to by title in yesterday's SEC complaint, recently received notice that the agency planned to file related civil charges against him. Nacchio joined the company in January 1997 and departed under pressure in June 2002. "Mr. Nacchio never did anything improper or illegal -- nor instructed anyone else to do anything improper or illegal -- during his tenure as the CEO of Qwest," William Anderson, a spokesman for Nacchio, said in a prepared statement yesterday. Anderson added that many of the activities mentioned in the SEC order were reviewed and approved by lawyers, accountants and Qwest's board. The SEC and Justice Department prosecutors already have sued several former Qwest managers. Two have pleaded guilty to criminal offenses; two others were acquitted after a seven-week trial this year. Copyright 2004 The Washington Post Company *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Washington Post. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 13:07:05 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Linc Madison wrote: > I grew up in Dallas, Texas, with WRR-FM and WRR-AM (now KAAM-AM), > WBAP-AM and WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV), WFAA-AM and WFAA-TV, and, down in > San Antonio, WOAI-AM and -TV. I then moved near Philadelphia and > watched KYW-TV. > What I find rather more interesting are situations where stations > sharing the same callsign are in completely different metropolitan > areas. For example, KCBS-TV is in Los Angeles, but KCBS-AM is in San > Francisco. WONE-AM Dayton, Ohio WONE-FM Akron, Ohio This one is pretty easily explained, though. Both were owned by Summit Broadcasting at one time (Not sure where they were located but I assume it's near Akron, since Akron's in Summit County) AM was sold to Clear Channel. The FM ended up in the hands of another local broadcaster, Rubber City Radio. Both still use the same calls. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. ------------------------------ Organization: Robert Bonomi Consulting Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:18:22 +0000 In article , Neal McLain wrote: > Anthony Bellanga wrote: >> Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. > In my experience (mostly in cable TV), the Mississippi-River rule can be > more accurately stated as follows: > "K" = west of the Mississippi River plus the entire state of > Minnesota. _that_ "rule" adds at least half-a-dozen 'out-of-place' 'W' stations to the list. Including places such as Duluth, MN. :) >"W" = east of the Mississippi River plus Louisiana parishes > located in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans DMAs. [[.. munch ..]] > Bonomi's list included: >> WOI (AM, FM, and TV ... ), Ames, Iowa > WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a > commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ > Marshalltown DMA; it's still licensed to Ames, but it claims "Des > Moines" in its publicity. ISU does not operate a TV station (most > public television stations in Iowa are operated by Iowa Public > Television, a state agency independent of the state universities). Your knowledge of history is woefully lacking. WOI TV _was_ owned and operated by Iowa State University (known as "Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts" until 1959), *was*an*ABC-affiliate*station*, until relatively recently. (i.e. 10 years ago -- ISU sold the station to ABC's parent company in March 1994; it was perceived as a 'valuable asset' that could be sold, at a time when the Regents, and the State as a whole, were in dire financial straits. People in education were _extremely_ opposed to the sale idea, and went to court over it; the issue eventually ended up before the _U.S._ Supreme Court.) See: for some of the station history, and the contention surrounding the selling of the station. WOI-TV was in operation _long_ before 'Iowa Public Television' came into existence. In point of fact, WOI-TV was the _first_ TV station in the state broadcasting on a regular schedule. They became an ABC affiliate fairly early. Yes, a public-university-owned =commercial= broadcast station is _unusual_. As a network affiliate of a commercial network (the *only* kind of 'network' TV in those days :), it was _very_ unusual, possibly even =unique=. >> WWL Waterloo, Iowa. Intrestingly, KWWL is in the same town. > WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. Looks like memory has played me false on this one. Further checking shows it has always belonged to Loyola University, in New Orleans. (I'm going to have to do some more digging on this -- I'm _sure_ that WWL was in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo metro area in the 50's-70's. "I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain" applies :) The university-owned and operated TV station in New Orleans was a CBS network affiliate, as of 1959. So, WOI-TV was not the only university-owned network TV affiliate -- but I don't know of any other that was owned/operated by a _public_ institution. >> WSUI Iowa City, Iowa Also the home of KSUI. *SAME* owner, >> even. :) > WSUI(AM) and KSUI(FM) are licensed to the University of Iowa > (formerly, State University of Iowa; hence, "SUI"). UI does not > operate a TV station (same reason ISU doesn't). Bzzzzt! Thank you for playing. See above. Iowa State owned and operated a commercial (_not_ 'public' television) station for more than 40 years. Among other things it provided 'hands on' training, in a "real, working station environment" for students in the television programs (both in journalism and engineering) at Iowa State. The University of Iowa, on the other hand, never had a program in television, and thus never found a 'need' for their own television station. :) >> WOW Omaha, Nebraska > AM only; sister TV is WOWT. Again, knowledge of history is lacking. see: WOW _did_ operate AM and FM stations, for years, WOWT is a call-sign change, from the original WOW-TV. >> WMT Cedar Rapids, Iowa > WMT(AM) and WMT-FM only; sister TV is KGAN(TV), formerly WMT-TV. A call-sign change for the TV station. >> WOC Davenport, Iowa > AM only; sister FM is WLLR(FM); sister TV is KWQC(TV). >> WRR Dallas, Texas > FM only (PAT: classical music, streamed online!) I believe there was an AM station with that call-sign, originally. Has since undergone a name-change. [[.. munch ..]] >> and, some hair-splitting (Metro area crosses the river, >> transmitter_could_ be on the Illinois side of the Missippi): >> WIL St. Louis, Missouri > FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. >> WRTH St. Louis, Missouri > The FCC has no record of this callsign. *THAT* is a surprise! Considering ... My cribsheet says "1430 AM, St. Louis". And, according to : WRTH1430 Business Office (314) 983 -6000 11647 Olive Boulevard Saint Louis, MO 63141 >> WLTE Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota > FM only. Transmitter is located in Minnesota, on the east side of the > Mississippi River. That's still on the "K" side of the line according to > the version of the rule I stated above. If you're going to put all of MN in the 'K' district, there are at least another half-a-dozen 'W' call-signs worthy of being listed. As far east as Duluth. >> WMCN St. Paul, Minnesota > FM only. Transmitter is located in Minnesota, on the east side of the > Mississippi River. >> WBJI Blackduck, Minnesota > FM only. Blackduck is in Beltrami County (page 72-B2 in DeLorme). >> WIRN Buhl, Minnesota > FM only; Minnesota Public Radio affiliate. Buhl is in St. Louis County, > near Hibbing (page 75-D6 in DeLorme). >> WACO Waco, Texas. > FM only. > WEW(AM) is licensed to St. Louis, but the transmitter is located in > Washington Park, Illinois. FCC record at: > . > WIL-FM is licensed to St. Louis, and the transmitter is located in > Missouri. FCC record (scroll down below WILL-FM) at: > > Neal McLain > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) > at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] Yes. WIL (one 'L') has been in St. Louis for a *long* time; W-ILL (two 'L') is a comparative newcomer. And, as Ogden Nash says, I've never heard of a three-'L' spelling. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When you discuss WLTE or other 'W' stations in Minnesota, maybe the reason for the 'W' there is because the Mississipi River only begins part way into Minnesota; a bit south of St. Paul (or actually Bay City, WI) where the water is just a small stream and becomes known as the 'Mississippi River'. Most of Minnesota has nothing to do with the river. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: 22 Oct 2004 20:10:32 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California Linc Madison writes: > What I find rather more interesting are situations where stations > sharing the same callsign are in completely different metropolitan > areas. For example, KCBS-TV is in Los Angeles, but KCBS-AM is in San > Francisco. That's because, until fairly recently, KCBS-TV was KNXT. The network evidently decided branding was more important than history. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 20:28:48 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? Lisa Hancock wrote: > With satellites and competing companies that own their > own fibre networks, does AT&T still carry broadcast > transmissions today? If not, when did the transition > start? Anthony Bellanga responded: > Also in the later 1970s, emerging national-in-scope Cable-TV > services such as HBO, CSPAN, CBN, CNN, etc. chose to distribute via > satellite directly to local cable franchise operation centers rather > than use Bell System facilities. I also don't know if Bell had > enough landline VIDEO capacity using the technology of the time for > all of the new emerging cable services, on a NATIONAL basis. The "new emerging cable services" didn't emerge until satellite distribution made them economically feasible. Before satellites came along, cable television systems relied almost exclusively on broadcast stations for their programming. Given enough money, the cable industry could have built a microwave network with sufficient capacity to distribute non-broadcast cable-only programming nationally. But the industry never considered it: the cost would have been astronomical. By the early 70s, the industry had been around for 25 years, and there were far more cable headends (by some two orders of magnitude) than broadcast stations in the country. A ground-based microwave network for cable TV would have had to reach many more end-points than the network AT&T was operating for the broadcast networks. Headends in remote places like mountaintops or barrier islands might never have been reached. The first nationally-distributed satellite-delivered non-broadcast programming service was Time Inc's HBO, launched in December 1975 on Satcom 3R. Prior to its satellite launch, Time had been using non-AT&T microwave to distribute HBO to its own cable systems in the northeast. Time wanted to extend HBO's coverage nationwide, and satellite was the only economically-feasible way to do it. Once HBO broke the ice, other non-broadcast services soon followed. By 1979, programming was available from Turner Communications Group (WTCG, now TBS Superstation), Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Southern Satellite Systems (Satellite Programming Network, or SPN), USA Network, C-SPAN (sharing transponder time with USA), ESPN, and Nickelodeon. A year later, Turner launched CNN, the first in a string of non-broadcast services that now includes Cartoon Network, CNNSI, CNNFN, Headline News, TCM, and TNT. Of course, not all of these new services survived. CBN became ABC Family; SPN morphed into CNBC. Others flashed across the horizon and disappeared: Reuters "Newsview"; TEC (The Entertainment Channel); HTN (Home Theater Network); MSN (Modern Satellite Network); Cinemerica. But the basic financial model worked: operating a non-broadcast satellite-delivered programming service proved to be a viable business. These services now make up the bulk of the programming offered by cable television systems on their basic and extended-basic tiers. Lisa continued: > With satellites, is there a problem with transmission lag > time? Anthony continued: > Radio/TV network broadcasting is different [from telephone > conversations] in that a program usually originates from one > point (or maybe a small number of locations) and is sent to > "everyone" across the country... Programming production studios sometimes have a trio of video monitors sitting side-by-side: - The first displays the program signal directly from the studio. - The second displays the downlink from the programmer's own uplink, after a delay of about 0.24 seconds (one round trip to/from a geostationary satellite). - The third displays the downlink from the DirecTV or Dish Network, after a delay of about 0.48 seconds (two round trips). It's fascinating to watch the same image signal jump from monitor to monitor. But a home viewer would never be aware of it. But two-way phone conversations make the round-trip delay obvious. I often notice this on CNN when the studio anchor asks a question of a field reporter who is using a videophone. After the anchor finishes the question, we watch the reporter just standing there (trying not to look too stupid) for a half second before answering. Neal McLain [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've noticed the television set in my parlor runs about two seconds later than the televison set in my bedroom. That is to say, the bedroom set displays an image and audio, then the same audio/video appears a couple seconds later on the other set. I wondered about that, then I remembered that the television in the parlor is fed from the cable through the DVR; the television in the bedroom is cable through converter box straight to the television. It must be because the DVR first puts the signal onto the hard drive (which is where it gets to to feed the television set. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jdj Subject: Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 22:39:45 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:58:09 -0400, Wesroc wrote: > In a message dated 21 Oct 2004 21:16:47 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com > (Lisa Hancock) writes: >> Railroads: These were very large networks, connecting stations, >> headquarters, shops, offices and wayside stations. These was >> particularly important since otherwise toll charges would be incurred. >> Railroads had their own signal depts, so they could easily maintain a >> phone system. Wayside phones were often local battery (crank), and >> many remained in service through the 1980s. Railroads also had >> internal Teletype networks. > Railroads and pipeline companies were "right-of-way" companies and > could interconnect with Bell pretty much without restriction, > including such cases as using their own lines to extend to what > otherwise would have been FCO locations. Their PBXs usually had > incoming and outgoing Bell trunks that could dial and be dialed and > connected with the internal communications system, even for intercity > communications. Southern Pacific's SPRINT and Microwave Communications, Inc. (later MCI) were pretty well known. Most of what I heard on the SPRR telephone channels were patches to/from moving trains but occasionally there were strange signals including dtmf prior to an actual phone call. The call progress signals were often very different from Bell stuff. ------------------------------ From: Julian Thomas Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:37:01 -0400 Subject: Re: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (as usual, please obscure my email - thanks). In <1098564678.198.7892.m12@yahoogroups.com>, on 10/23/04 at 08:51 PM, telecom-news@yahoogroups.com typed: > Blurring the picture even further, there were big companies that had > their own telephone systems, but using lines leased from Bell and > connecting with the Bell public system. When I worked for G.E. circa > 1967 there was such a system -- I don't remember now what the name of it > was -- where we could dial a certain prefix and then dial most other G.E. > locations without going through the public switched network. In 1962, IBM had a moderately extensive tie line system, with special access codes between different sites even within Poughkeepsie, and to many other nearby locations (such as Endicott). ISTR many of these codes began with '1'. Later this was recreated as a 'dial 8 [from most locations; one location stubbornly used 8 for local access and something else, 7? for tie line access]' and then a 7 digit number within the IBM internal network. I believe that later some of the traffic was moved to the PSTN, and later yet, the dial 8 system was replaced by smarter PBX/CENTREX systems that would route an external 1+10 digit number optimally including on a tie line if it still existed. Julian Thomas: jt at jt-mj dot net http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org If you want it done right, forget Microsoft. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Organization: Robert Bonomi Consulting From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:38:06 +0000 In article , Andrea wrote: > Does anyone know the real reason American TVs don't utilize channel 1? > I've read many conflicting theories. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have always heard that Channel 1 was > occupying frequencies used in the VHF-low area (30-50 mc band) and > that *originally* (1940's) some of that spectrum was going to be taken > away from the users of VHF-low band radio and given to television, but > many people protested it, so rather than re-align the television > channels to move Channel 1 a bit further up, the FCC simply abandoned > it for television use. PAT] _Which_ 'channel 1' ?? In point of fact, there were several different channel 1 allocations at various times in history. See: for a good description of that all went on. ------------------------------ From: Herb Stein Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 19:47:11 -0500 6 meter amateur 50-54 mhz. Andrea wrote in message news:telecom23.507.5@telecom-digest.org: > Does anyone know the real reason American TVs don't utilize channel 1? > I've read many conflicting theories. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have always heard that Channel 1 was > occupying frequencies used in the VHF-low area (30-50 mc band) and > that *originally* (1940's) some of that spectrum was going to be taken > away from the users of VHF-low band radio and given to television, but > many people protested it, so rather than re-align the television > channels to move Channel 1 a bit further up, the FCC simply abandoned > it for television use. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson, WB4AEJ Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 23:58:41 -0400 As I recall, most of Channel 1 was reallocated to the amateur radio service (six meters) as six meters is fifty to fifty-four Mhz. Can someone tell me if I am wrong? Fred, WB4AEJ http://www.wb4aej.com/hamdomain ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 22:06:43 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Michael Muderick wrote: > Channel 1 did appear on some early tv's. I have an RCA TK-630 > Eyewitness television that has Channel 1. I think it was given back > to government. mm Interestingly enough, channel 1 is making somewhat of a comeback since in a digital environment any channel can be used without regards to what frequency the channel uses. Shaw cable is (or was, I don't have my TV connected to my DCT right now) using channel 1 as a digital channel for themselves. Analog cable still starts at 2 though. Next on FOX, all new REALITY SHOW promises to be a hit: "STOP A BULLET WITH YOUR HEAD" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 19:46:47 -0500 From: Fritz Whittington Subject: Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth On or about 2004-10-22 09:58, Tony Pelliccio whipped out a trusty #2 pencil and scribbled: > jtaylor wrote in message > news:: >> TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to in message >> news:telecom23.505.2@telecom-digest.org: >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, no matter how many teeth you >>> saw in the mouth of some particular horse, there can always be >>> exceptions. For example, how many toes does a cat have on its paws? >>> Some people would say 'five', which is normally the correct >>> answer. But some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The >>> vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex' and my first cat 'Nicholas' >>> (the one who was so warm and loving, not the later Nicholas who was >>> always hateful with humans) was that way. Nicholas had six toes on >>> each of his two front paws, five toes on each of his back paws. I >>> guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years or so. PAT] >> Polydactyl cats are particularly common (not just if you count them by >> their toes) around Boston and Halifax; must have been some good >> mousers in the first lot of ships to come over. > Throughout New England actually. I've got a very heavy polydactyl who > knows he should pounce on a mouse but then plays around until he kills > it and then doesn't know what to do with it. > In his case he weighs in at close to 30 lbs. so it is a little bit hard > to pounce when you are that large. Thing is, he's a big cat. Let me guess. You call him "Garfield", right? Well, you should! Fritz Whittington It is better to live in a free society, and risk death by a terrorist attack, than to live in a "safe" police state. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 23:21:43 -0400 In article , kd1s@yahoo.com says: > Danny Burstein wrote in message > news:: >> In the continuing tradition of government that try to offload taxes >> onto third parties (that way they're not "raising taxes", you see ...) >> California has a very real problem with medical costs. The hospitals >> and other medical providers provide services, but don't take in >> anywhere near as much money as they claim to be expending. >> Hospital and medical finances are such a huge mess they put Enron to >> shame. Normally this isn't a telecom issue but ... >> The telco point: The usual folk have pushed forward a fee on telco >> services to cover the shortfall. Quoting from a VOA clip: >> "A voter initiative that Doctor Higgins calls a "Band-Aid" could >> provide a short-term fix, and he supports the measure. Appearing >> on the November 2nd ballot as Proposition 67, it would raise 500 >> million dollars a year by adding a three-percent surcharge to the >> cost for telephone calls made in California. >> To which the curmodgeons retort: >> "It's the wrong solution for a real problem. This is a phone tax. >> This is a tax on a service that has absolutely nothing to do with >> emergency medical care whatsoever. > It does have some relation. People use the telephone to call the > emergency services which then deliver them to the hospital. > But I think too many other taxes have been loaded onto phone bills in > recent years. In essence it is nickle and diming us to death. > Now my medical system rant. There are several reasons why medical > services have gotten so expensive and they have to do with supply and > demand. Many more people seek medical attention now than they did > years ago, but infrastructure improves glacially and so cannot keep > up. No, that's not it. It has nothing to do with the number of people; more paying customers would mean more money. It has much more to do with the services now delivered (and expected): 30 years ago, if you had congestive heart failure, you died of it. Today, it is routine that a heart bypass operation be performed, at an average cost of $23,000, or a a minimum, an angioplasty, at around $5,000. 50 years ago, severely premature infants died. Today, many, if not most, survive after months of hospital care at an average cost of about $30,000. 40 years ago, if you were injured, the x-ray was the only diagnostic procedure besides "tell me where it hurts". Today, tennis elbow is diagnosed in an MRI, which costs around $2 million to buy, and is considered as essential in a modern U.S. hospital as bedpans. --Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I had my two heart attacks back in the middle 1990's, I lived in the Chicago area and thought the bills from Northshore Medical Center were pretty awful. There were angioplasties each time and other treatment as well. But when I got here to Kansas and had a brain aneurysm (which is more or less a stroke but not entirely), when I got out of Stormont-Vail Medical Center in Topeka and the associated Kansas Rehabiitation Hospital (yes, the nearest brain surgeon was a 125 mile ambulance ride going down I-70) I got a bill for *three hundred thousand dollars*. Ever had a hospital or doctor bill with a bottom line of $300,000.00 ? Not bad, I guess for someone who is comotose for over two months and in emergency rehabilitation for another month after that. Add about another $35,000 for a year's stay in a nursing home. How can anyone afford to get sick these days? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:04:09 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: AT&T Reports $7 Billion Loss http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53075-2004Oct21.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53075-2004Oct21?language=3Dprinter Retreat From Traditional Phone Service Causes Drop By Bruce Meyerson NEW YORK, Oct. 21 -- AT&T Corp. reported a third-quarter loss of $7.12 billion Thursday because of huge charges resulting from the company's retreat from traditional telephone services, which included at least 7,500 more job cuts and a write-down in the value of the company's long-distance network. The loss amounted to $8.95 per share for the period ended Sept. 30. The results, which topped more pessimistic analyst forecasts, reflect write-down and severance costs of $12.47 billion, as well as a resulting $4.38 billion tax benefit and after-tax savings of $331 million on depreciation thanks to the write-down. In the corresponding quarter last year, AT&T earned $418 million, or 53 cents a share. Third-quarter revenue totaled $7.6 billion, down 11.7 percent from $8.65 billion a year earlier, but the decline was less than many analysts had projected. Shares of AT&T rose 22 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $15.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. Business services revenue fell 10.4 percent, to $5.65 billion, as voice and data services suffered from ongoing price battles and competition from cell phones. Consumer revenue fell 15.2 percent, to $1.98 billion, driven by a sharp drop-off in new customers following AT&T's decision to stop marketing local and long-distance service. Long-distance price wars and the loss of business to wireless and Internet-based calling also reduced revenue. AT&T, still the nation's largest long-distance company with 26 million customers, said two weeks ago that it would reduce the book value of its assets by about $11.4 billion now that its network is expected to generate far less revenue from consumer voice traffic. The decision to cut spending on customer acquisitions followed a federal court decision that will make it more expensive for AT&T to sell local service by leasing residential lines from the four regional phone companies -- which at the same time are luring away AT&T's long-distance customers. When it announced the write-down, AT&T also said it was expanding this year's job cuts to more than 20 percent of the workforce, or at least 12,500 jobs. The company had previously projected a downsizing of 8 percent of the workforce, or about 4,900 positions. More than 9,000 of the affected employees have either already left the company or been notified they were being laid off. To cover severance benefits and other costs related to those cuts, AT&T said it would record a charge of about $1 billion with the third-quarter results. Copyright 2004 The Washington Post Company *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Washington Post. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Poor AT&T ... how long do you think it will be until we report here that they went bankrupt completely, or maybe are totally gone, like Western Union? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 23:00:42 -0400 In article , tom.horsley@att.net says: >> On Monday, Sinclair fired the head of its Washington bureau for having >> the temerity to criticize the airing of one-sided propaganda (ironic, >> considering Sinclair is claiming a First Amendment right to air the >> film). > I don't like Sinclair, but I'm afraid I can't find any irony here. > Sinclair owns the stations -- he can put anything he wants on and hire > or fire anyone he wants to. There is nothing in the First Amendment > that guarantees there will be no consequences for speaking up -- it > just guarantees the gummint can't do anything to stop you. Well, the Smiths, who control the majority of the stock (Sinclair was the founder's middle name) may own the stations (and that is questionable also; they have "operating agreements" with other stations in markets where they already own one, in order to avoid the (eroding) limits on media ownership); however they DO NOT OWN the spectrum allocations they broadcast in. That is supposedly held in trust for its true owners, the American Public, and broadcasters are granted a LICENSE to use the airwaves that belong to US, in order to serve the public interest. The U.S. Government has auctioned portions of the spectrum for use by mobile phone and PCS services; they have yet to hold such an auction for the TV spectrum. --Gene ------------------------------ From: HorneTD Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Boston's Big Rebound Makes a Winner of Fox, Too Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 02:31:06 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Monty Solomon wrote: > By RICHARD SANDOMIR > It was the game that wasn't supposed to be televised because it wasn't > supposed to happen. But you have to think that Fox was pleased and > astonished that the Boston Red Sox had done the impossible in > postseason: they had forced a seventh game after losing the first > three of the American League Championship Series to the Yankees. > Then the Red Sox took it one step further last night, beating the > Yankees, 10-3. > For Fox, it's too bad that Yankees-Red Sox league championship series > aren't best-of-nine affairs. A ninth game might approach Super Bowl > ratings levels. > Game 6 produced a 15.6 Nielsen rating, or 25.1 million viewers, which > made it the highest-rated nondecisive league championship series game > in 13 years, Fox said, in spin that would gladden a break dancer. > Even more fortunate for Fox is the type of television rabidity in the > Boston market: 70 percent of those tuned to televisions in the center > of Red Sox Nation were watching Game 6 (compared with 44 percent among > New Yorkers). > The last time the Red Sox were in the World Series -- 18 years ago > against the Mets -- they generated a 28.6 rating, the best performance > since 1981. Fox might now produce a new reality show: "My Big Fat > Obnoxious Idiots." > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/sports/baseball/21tv.html What do you call twenty seven men watching the World Series on television? Answer: The New York Yankees. Tom H ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #510 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Oct 24 04:46:50 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9O8knS02723; Sun, 24 Oct 2004 04:46:50 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 04:46:50 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410240846.i9O8knS02723@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #511 TELECOM Digest Sun, 24 Oct 2004 04:46:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 511 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned (Rick Merrill) Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned (John Levine) Cybersquatter Update (TELECOM Digest Editor) Making Geurilla War for Cybersquatters (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? (Neal McLain) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 01:25:24 -0400 In article , first.last@comcast.net says: > In article , dannyb@panix.com > says: >> "The widow of a hero NYPD Emergency Service detective killed on 9/11 >> created a Web site as a loving tribute to her husband -- only to have >> it snapped up by a heartless Internet company that forced her to fork >> over $800 to buy it back, The Post has learned. >> "Kathy Vigiano's gut-wrenching ordeal began in January when she >> discovered that her husband Joseph's memorial Web site -- which she >> filled with personal photos and an emotional letter from one of their >> sons -- had been replaced by ads for penile-enlargement tools, >> sexual-performance drugs and Viagra... >> http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/30859.htm >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The very same people did that to our >> internet-history.org site as well. If you type in >> http://internet-history.org you get the very same preposterous ads. >> And of course, the guy wants to sell that one also. I **thought** >> there were laws against that sort of cybersquatting, but I guess >> that only pertains for large commercial web sites. Any damn fool >> would know that 'internet history' was discussed there on the site >> which was the property of the Internet Historical Society, which is >> *my* name, and it was a running site for three or four years. Yet, >> that moron simply walked away with it, got the org registrar to give >> it to him I guess. >> I had asked John Levine to take it away from the person and give it >> back to me. John won't do it. I thought he was one of the registrars >> for .org ... so I know how this poor lady feels now as well. But I can >> tell you *I* am not going to pay his blackmail ransom demand. If I had >> any money I would just sue the damn registrar who took it from me and >> gave it to him (I understand he is in some country in Europe. The lady >> should not have paid anything either, just immediatly filed suit >> against the registrar she had used when she first set up the site and >> done it that way. Of course, I have no money to pay any lawyers to >> help me, so that leaves me and internet-history.org high and dry. Maybe >> some attorney doing pro-bono work will be able to get our site back. >> If people would quit paying good money to these charlatans who steal >> the names that netizens use for their web sites, then they would go >> out of business. PAT] > What am I missing here? Where is it actually stated that > "buying" a domain name grants you rights to it in perpetuity? > It's very obvious from the agreements made with the registrars > that you are _renting_ the domain. ICANN insists that no > domain can be registered for more than ten years at a time; that > certainly seems to preclude automatically owning the right to a domain > for life. Of course, by simply renewing it before the term expires, > the rights remain with you. > On the day your "lease" expires, if you haven't renewed, that name > returns to the pool, or is possibly auctioned off by the registrar. > How is this any different from a telephone number? If you stop paying > the bill, the telco shuts off service, and eventually gives (sells) the > number to someone else. Should I sue Verizon to get the phone number > of my childhood home? > Gene > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you are overlooking is that the > lady did not come close to having her domain name for ten years. She > had it at best for two or three years, it was an active domain name > then it up and disappeared when the registrar chose to give it or > sell it to the penis enlargement man. NO. According to the NY Post Article: "They immediately realized they inadvertently allowed the registration for their site ' www.vigiano.com' to elapse [sic] and that each believed the other had renewed it." It wasn't taken, stolen, hijacked, or dematerialized. IT EXPIRED. > What you are overlooking is that very few netizens care much either > way about what ICANN says or thinks should be done. Fine. Then let them actually READ the registration agreements they agree to, and be bound by the terms of that contract. > ICANN *only* represents big business interests anyway, not the > small, average person with a web site. If you don't think that is > the case, then since Microsoft has had their domain name > 'microsoft.com' well over ten years, petition the registrars or > ICANN to force Microsoft to give it up and give others a chance at > it. > Or maybe now that Yahoo has had their domain names for that same > length of time, they can be forced out. No, you completely misunderstand. As recommended, Microsoft, Yahoo, or YOU can register a domain for ten years. If, within 9 years and 364 days you RENEW the domain, it's yours for another ten years. If, instead, at 9 years + 365 days, you decide to go skiing instead of renewing your registration, it returns to the free pool, where ANYONE, including the original registrar, can have a shot at it. The exception being where a name is a recognized trademark, such as "Microsoft" or "IBM". > Oh, and you don't hear ICANN complaining that the joker who > registered 'whitehouse.com' most likely did it knowing full well > that people looking for information on the White House will > unwittingly type '.com' instead of '.gov' ICANN represents big > business only, **not** people like Mrs. Viagino. The government > wants business to control the net; they use ICANN as their tool. > What you are overlooking regards phone numbers is that if a phone > number is listed in a directory and is in active service for no matter > how many years, as your childhood phone number might well have been if > your parents or yourself had chosen to continue living there and were > still referring to that number as your own then one day Verizon > chooses to disconnect it or route it to someone else without so much > as a single notice to you then you *would* have a very actionable > suit against Verizon. And if I "choose" not to pay the bill, Verizon has the right to disconnect my service, unless I dispute the bill. As we are moving into a new paradigm where phones are mobile, and the number has no relation whatsoever to a physical location (other than next to my ear), it's an even more specious argument to claim it as "yours" if you fail to pay for it. > Finally, what you are overlooking is that if the registrar had any > care about people's sensibilities, even if Mrs. Viagino *had* > misunderstood the terms of registration (I do not think she was even > told it had to be renewed, etc) then the registrar might have told > the lady something like 'this is a final notice, the site is being > removed from you; gather up your files, pictures, etc and find some > other place to park them.' There is a very clear distinction that must be made between a domain, which is simply a NAME in a lookup table, and a HOST, where the actual files are stored. You can be pretty sure that the files were still on the hosting server, and could be accessed via the IP address originally assigned, unless that bill wasn't paid either. If people are confused about the difference between a Registrar, who offers domain registration, and a Host, who rents file server space, then maybe they should do a little more research before proffering their credit card number. > Then maybe after two or three weeks shut > it down. Or was the penis-enlargement man in such a rush he could not > spare a week or two for a man killed in the line of duty, leaving a > wife and family behind? Oh, I know it would not matter to ICANN, but > you would think there might have been some courtesy given. PAT] The Post article does not mention the time elapsed from when the registration expired to when the speculator bought it. The real irony in all this: Domain Name: VIGIANO.COM Created on: 25-Jan-04 Expires on: 25-Jan-06 ... they only renewed it for two more years... --Gene ------------------------------ From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:34:58 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you are overlooking is that the > lady did not come close to having her domain name for ten years. She > had it at best for two or three years, it was an active domain name > then it up and disappeared when the registrar chose to give it or > sell it to the penis enlargement man. There is NO evidence that it was an "active domain" name: in-use yes, but apparently not having a paid-up registration. The real problem is that ICAN does not have any 'grace period' that keeps a name that has expired. It could have been the fault of the domain registration service that failed to get the registration paid/registered in time. It is this zero tolerance policy that is taken advantage of by domain squatters/robbers. - RM ------------------------------ Date: 23 Oct 2004 13:01:28 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: 11-Sept Police Widow Gets Domain-Cyberburned Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I had asked John Levine to take it away from the person and give it > back to me. John won't do it. I thought he was one of the registrars > for .org ... You thought wrong. Unless you have a clear case of trademark infringement, which you don't, the only way to get a domain from someone else is to buy it from them. Yes, this is a pain, but it also means that someone else who purports to be the Internet Pioneers can't take your internet-pioneers.org domain away from you. R's, John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If I had no case of trademark infringment on the Internet Historical Society and internet-history then what makes internet-pioneers any better? Both -history and -pioneers pointed to the same site at xuxa.iecc.com where the files are stored. The cybersquatter purpoted to be the internet historian and got that; why couldn't he purport to be the internet pioneer? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 22:17:55 EDT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Cybersquatter Update By doing 'whois -h whois.publicinterestregistry.net internet-history.org' I found some interesting details on the cybersquatter who ripped off the name being used as a repository for Internet History Society and put his penis enlargement ads there instead: Domain ID:D104959718-LROR Domain Name:INTERNET-HISTORY.ORG Created On:03-Oct-2004 22:43:28 UTC Expiration Date:03-Oct-2005 22:43:28 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:OnlineNIC Inc. (R64-LROR) Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED Registrant ID:ONLC-1349494-4 Registrant Name:Admin Registrant Organization:BEALO GROUP S.A. Registrant Street1:BP 138 Registrant Street2:BP 138 Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Geneve Registrant State/Province: Registrant Postal Code:1218 Registrant Country:CH Registrant Phone:+41.227347210 Registrant Phone Ext.:1111 Registrant FAX:+41.227347210 Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:www@promotechnology.com Admin ID:ONLC-1349494-1 Admin Name:Admin Admin Organization:BEALO GROUP S.A. Admin Street1:BP 138 Admin Street2:BP 138 Admin Street3: Admin City:Geneve Admin State/Province:- Admin Postal Code:1218 Admin Country:CH Admin Phone:+41.227347210 Admin Phone Ext.:1111 Admin FAX:+41.227347210 Admin FAX Ext.: Admin Email:www@promotechnology.com Tech ID:ONLC-1349494-2 Tech Name:Admin Tech Organization:BEALO GROUP S.A. Tech Street1:BP 138 Tech Street2:BP 138 Tech Street3: Tech City:Geneve Tech State/Province:- Tech Postal Code:1218 Tech Country:CH Tech Phone:+41.227347210 Tech Phone Ext.:1111 Tech FAX:+41.227347210 Tech FAX Ext.: Tech Email:www@promotechnology.com Name Server:NS1.FWHDNS.COM Name Server:NS2.FWHDNS.COM Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: Name Server: I am attempting to find an attorney who will handle a probono case for the Internet Historical Society who will attempt to retrieve the name back. Obviously it is hard to sue someone in Switzerland when you are in the USA, but maybe Bealo Group S.A. has a representative or agent here in the USA. If anyone wants to followup on this, please do with a phone call to Geneva, Switzerland to +41.227347.210 Ext 1111 and ask them why they cybersquat on legitimate web sites. Or if you prefer to write to them, send a letter to Bealo Group, S.A. Post Office Box 138, Geneva 1218 Switzerland. Mark your letter to the attention of the person in charge of cybersquatting and penis enlargement ads. Maybe they will answer email sent to them at http://www.promotechnology.com but I sort of doubt it. By looking at their website http://www.promotechnology.com I see it is just a porn outfit anyway. Maybe *they* have a USA representative. I can tell you this much: Bealo Group S.A. and promotechnolgy need to get a good suing, which I may just give them. But that *is* expensive and perhaps futile. Perhaps there are other ways to accomplish the same thing, using geurilla (or do you say 'gorilla' warfare. Read on in the next message to see what I mean. PAT ------------------------------ Date: 23 Oct 2004 22:18:01 -0400 From: Patrick Townson Subject: Geurilla Warfare and Cybersquatters Thank God there are some registrars who do not submit to the tyranny of outfits like ICANN. One for example is UNONIC where you get the 'us.tf' and 'net.tf' names. Go to http://www.unonic.com and register all you want at no charge. They are all set to re-direct to wherever you want. Someone pointed out to me in private email: > "I wouldn't make any long term plans about a us.tf domain. All the > two-letter domains are assigned to countries and country-like hunks of > territory, like .ca for Canada and .jp for Japan and .to for Tonga. > The.tf domain is assigned to "French Southern Territories" which are a > bunch of uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean. A while ago the > French government contracted with the English company Adamsnames to > run it as a vanity domain, but now I see at www.adamsnames.tf that the > French want it back, and I expect that sooner or later the us.tf > registration, which was made in 1999 by some guy in Greece, will > expire and since he is nowhere near those islands, they won't let him > renew it. See http://www.taaf.fr/ to find out where .tf really is." I noted that in fact "French Southern Territories" is in the Indian Ocean but getting down in the direction of Antarctica as www.taaf.fr explains. Those people don't give a hoot about what ICANN wants or does not want. None of the 'two letter domains', i.e. .ca or .jp care either way. ICANN claims to own it all, but no one pays any attention. I continued in the private email correspondence asking, > I wonder what the good people at ICANN would do if someone went to > us.tf and took out web sites like Microsoft,Coca Cola, General > Motors, White House, etc, then pointed them all to the most > scurrilous sex web sites there are. He replied: > "That would be fun. Most likely it would get Mr. us.tf > shut down since he and the .tf registrar are in Europe so the big mean > companies all have local lawyers there." I asked: > And why do the registrars have to go along with whatever ICANN has > to say? And why do you feel .com or .org is safe for the long term > but ca jp and those are not? He responded: > "Actual registrations in .ca and .jp are fine so long as you meet the > rules (actual presence in Canada and Japan, in those two cases). But > when you use phoo.us.tf, you're actually using a subdomain of us.tf > and it appears that the random registrations like us.tf are allowed. > "ICANN claims that they are in charge of all the domains, but the > two-letter domains have so far been ignoring them. The three and more > letter domains (ever hear of .coop or .museum or my fave .aero?) are > all in bed with ICANN." ----------------------- Yes, I have heard of those also. But let us now consider and contem- plate a perfectly dreadful, perfectly evil scenario: it is so dreadful and awful and evil and even illegal in some jurisdictions, that I certainly cannot recommend it. It goes like this: first, make a list of your 'favorite' large companies; Microsoft, SBC, AT&T and McDonalds come to mind. Next, you go to UNONIC (United Names Organization) at http://www.unonic.com . It is an automated process where you are asked to sign up for a domain name. You get a drop down menu of all the available sub-domains available, such as '.us'. '.net', etcetera, all of which end in the domain '.tf' You sign up your favorite large companies one by one. You are then asked to identify the administrator of the domain. Now this must be your own name and address, and an email address. **DO NOT** REPEAT **NOT** put down something fictious like 'Bealo Group SA' with an address in Switzerland or an email address such as @www.promotechnology.com. Use your own name/email. Pick an easy to remember password, because when you sign up other companies with their own 'web sites' also, if you use the same name of administrator and same email address, you will be told 'already have that one; provide the password and this new one will take control of your domain group. ' Naturally, for additional companies you sign up, you will want to use your correct name on them as well. Don't get in the habit of just putting down 'Bealo Group SA' and some address in Switzerland. Now as you sign up each of your favorite companies you will be asked where to redirect calls to that URL. Re-direct the calls to wherever they should go; some nice web site which reflect the proper spirit. Don't just redirect to some crude, rude, or lewd or pornographic website. Remember, it is a fully automated process; no one is going to be spying or checking up on you. And be sure to cloak the true URL you send callers to. By 'cloaking' it, your new title goes on the page, and your alias URL name appears on the caller's browser window. Basically what happens is a new window opens where you take zero 'frames' and the picture which was there gets a hundred percent of the 'frames' when you 'cloak' it or hide the re-direction. So now you have a 'web site' all set up in the form brandname.us.tf or companyname.net.tf ... and callers to that URL go to the nice web site they should be at. Ah, but the best fun is yet to come. Now your new web site has to be promoted; customers need to know where to find you. For this, you spam *massively*. Every domain in the world you can think of. Every name you can think of; maybe use a brute force dictionary appoach. But try hard to skip past those spam filters: A nice, clean unassuming short letter such as Subject: Our change of email address brandname.com now receives its email at brandname.us.tf or companyname.com now receives email at companyname.net.tf. Check out our improved, easy to use web site at www.brandname.us.tf **Make certain** this change of email address letter *at the very least* gets to the key executives at brandname or companyname. Even if you prefer not to spam the whole world, at least get it to those important officials in that company or agency, such as their lawyer, their president, their VP, etc. You know they are going to want to check out their 'new email address' or 'new web home' which is why the cloaking is very important. I mean, you are much too modest to have them wind up looking at a page on _your computer_ if that is where the pages are at you wanted them to see. Maybe you could use a throwaway account. Now someone at brandname is going to want to meet you personally, to discuss what you have done, and some one or more lawyers or investigators will want to counsel you about your work and this is where _accurate_ information regards the name of the administrator in the files of unonic.com is so important. They are not going to go chasing off to some uninhabited island in the southern Indian Ocean around Antarctica when they could do 'whois' and find out the details as they prepare their lawsuits against that person. If you had filled in the registration purporting to be Bealo Group SA that would be wrong. Bealo Group is known to be cybersquatters and hosts of numerous sex sites, so when brandname or companyname lawyers get to that point and see Bealo Group as the contacts, it is going to be a bit awkward to say the least for Bealo Group to explain it all. *YES* we are cybersquatters, *YES* we do operate sex sites as per http://promotechnology.com, and *YES* we try to trick guys into measuring their penises and buying our worthless pills and potions for which we have no medical license to sell or treat anyone, but *NO* we did not confiscate the brand names Microsoft, or Coke, or McDonalds or SBC and try to trick the public into coming to those redirected sites which have our name as the administrators. So now I trust you can understand why it is so important, so critical when going to a fully automated, no questions asked, no fees charged registrar like http://unonic.com to only select brandnames over which you have control and to make sure you enter the name of the site administrator correctly and to make sure you do the redirection correctly. Do not put down Bealo Group in Geneva,CH at the phone number +41.227347.210, because you might cause them to get sued by angry brandnames and companynames. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 22:51:19 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance -- Today? Lisa Hancock wrote: > With satellites and competing companies that own their > own fibre networks, does AT&T still carry broadcast > transmissions today? If not, when did the transition > start? Anthony Bellanga responded: > Also in the later 1970s, emerging national-in-scope > Cable-TV services such as HBO, CSPAN, CBN, CNN, etc. > chose to distribute via satellite directly to local > cable franchise operation centers rather than use Bell > System facilities. I also don't know if Bell had enough > landline VIDEO capacity using the technology of the > time for all of the new emerging cable services, on > a NATIONAL basis. The "new emerging cable services" didn't emerge until satellite distribution made them economically feasible. Before satellites came along, cable television systems relied almost exclusively on broadcast stations for their programming. Given enough money, the cable industry could have built a microwave network with sufficient capacity to distribute non-broadcast cable-only programming nationally. But the industry never considered it: the cost would have been astronomical. By the early 70s, the industry had been around for 25 years, and there were far more cable headends than broadcast stations in the country. A ground-based microwave network for cable TV would have had to reach many more end-points than the network AT&T was operating for the broadcast networks. Headends in remote places like mountaintops or barrier islands might never have been reached. The first nationally-distributed satellite-delivered non-broadcast programming service was Time Inc's HBO, launched in December 1975 on Satcom 3R. Prior to its satellite launch, Time had been using non-AT&T microwave to distribute HBO to its own cable systems in the northeast. Time wanted to extend HBO's coverage nationwide, and satellite was the only economically-feasible way to do it. Once HBO broke the ice, other non-broadcast services soon followed. By 1979, programming was available from Turner Communications Group (WTCG, now TBS Superstation), Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Southern Satellite Systems (Satellite Programming Network, or SPN), USA Network, C-SPAN (sharing transponder time with USA), ESPN, and Nickelodeon. A year later, Turner launched CNN, the first in a string of non-broadcast services that now includes Cartoon Network, CNNSI, CNNFN, Headline News, TCM, and TNT. Of course, not all of these new services survived. CBN became ABC Family; SPN morphed into CNBC. Others flashed across the horizon and disappeared: Reuters "Newsview"; FNN (Financial News Network); TEC (The Entertainment Channel); HTN (Home Theater Network); MSN (Modern Satellite Network); Cinemerica. But the basic financial model worked: operating a non-broadcast satellite-delivered programming service proved to be a viable business. These services now make up the bulk of the programming offered by cable television systems on their basic and extended-basic tiers. Lisa continued: > With satellites, is there a problem with transmission > lag time? Anthony continued: > Radio/TV network broadcasting is different [from > telephone conversations] in that a program usually > originates from one point (or maybe a small number of > locations) and is sent to "everyone" across the > country... Programming production studios sometimes have a trio of video monitors sitting side-by-side: - The first displays the program signal directly from the studio. - The second displays the downlink from the programmer's own uplink, after a delay of about 0.24 seconds (one round trip to/from a geostationary satellite). - The third displays the downlink from the DirecTV or Dish Network, after a delay of about 0.48 seconds (two round trips). It's fascinating to watch the same image signal jump from monitor to monitor. But a home viewer would never be aware of it. But two-way phone conversations make the round-trip delay obvious. I often notice this on CNN when the studio anchor asks a question of a field reporter who is using a videophone. After the anchor finishes the question, we watch the reporter just standing there (trying not to look stupid) for a half second before answering. Neal McLain ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #511 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Oct 24 17:28:39 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9OLSdX08381; Sun, 24 Oct 2004 17:28:39 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 17:28:39 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410242128.i9OLSdX08381@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #512 TELECOM Digest Sun, 24 Oct 2004 17:29:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 512 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Identities Stolen in Seconds (Monty Solomon) I Love Bees Game a Surprise Hit (Monty Solomon) City-Wide Wi-Fi Link Considered for Newton, MA (Monty Solomon) FTC Gets Court Order Against Spammer Wallace, et al (Danny Burstein) Verizon Hooked on Cable (Scott) SLIC Tutorial (behzad) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telco (Gary Novosielski) Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse (Linc Madison) Re: Free Speech and Corporations (John Smith) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Wesrock@aol.com) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 03:51:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Identities Stolen in Seconds By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN PAUSING in the foyer of a comfortable suburban home two days before Halloween in 2002, Kevin Barrows, a special agent with the F.B.I., could not bring himself to open the front door. He and a team of agents had just spent several hours searching every room in the house, in New Rochelle, N.Y., but they were leaving empty-handed. Months of investigating had led Mr. Barrows to believe that someone was orchestrating a huge fraud from the house, yet he had not found a single scrap of evidence. Still, something bothered him about the furniture in one of the bedrooms. It seemed oddly oversized. So he headed back upstairs for a second look, and his attention focused on an expansive canopy over the bed. When he pushed at the draping, he found that it was weighed down with files. They contained reams of confidential financial information about hundreds of individuals whose identities had been pilfered in an intricate scheme that illicitly netted more than $50 million. Two years later, the New Rochelle home has emerged as a linchpin in what federal law enforcement authorities describe as the biggest case of identity theft ever uncovered in the United States. The scheme was essentially masterminded by just two people: Linus Baptiste, who lived in the house and had contacts with a sprawling ring of Nigerian street criminals, and Philip A. Cummings, his former brother-in-law, who worked as a help-desk clerk at a Long Island software company. At least 30,000 people nationwide were victimized, according to law enforcement authorities and court documents. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/business/yourmoney/24theft.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 03:00:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: I Love Bees Game a Surprise Hit By Daniel Terdiman Following Wednesday's third presidential debate, an out-of-place poster with a large cartoon image of a grinning bee appeared on the wall of a room packed with spinmeisters brandishing Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards signs. Most people who saw it on CNN that night probably didn't even notice it, but fans of a game called I Love Bees knew it was a shout out to them from a team of the game's players at Arizona State University, the site of that evening's debate. I Love Bees is the latest and perhaps most ambitious of the growing genre known as alternate-reality games. In it, widely dispersed players coordinate to find and answer thousands of ringing pay phones all across the United States and provide correct answers to recorded questions. When all the answers have been supplied, the latest episode in an internet-based War of the Worlds -esque radio serial is unlocked and made available to its rabid fans. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65365,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:59:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Citywide Wi-Fi Link Considered / Internet Virtually Everywhere NEWTON Citywide wi-fi link considered Internet access would be virtually everywhere By Matt Viser, Globe Correspondent | October 24, 2004 Several Newton officials are looking into blanketing the city's 18.5 square miles with wireless Internet transmitters, which would make the city one of several places in the nation -- and the only one in Massachusetts -- to offer the service on such a wide scale. The plan, which an aldermanic committee began discussing last week, would involve mounting routers on telephone poles throughout the city. Anyone within 100 yards of one of the routers would be able to access the Internet using a password. The city would charge about $10 per month to use the service, which could begin to be available in as soon as six months. Installing the routers throughout the city would cost between $370,000 and $740,000, according to initial estimates. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/10/24/citywide_wi_fi_link_considered/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here in Independence, authorities have considered the same thing, but the scale is quite different. Our town is only two miles long by two miles wide approximatly, with between 8000-9000 residents, but I do not think it has ever gotten beyond the talking stage as of yet. Independence High School and the college have both pushed for it, but no one wants to supply the money needed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: FTC Gets Court Order Against Spammer Wallace, et al Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 06:36:10 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "CONCORD, N.H. - A federal judge has ordered a man known as the "Spam King" to disable so-called spyware programs that infiltrate people's computers, track their Internet use and flood them with pop-up advertising. "U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against Stanford Wallace and his companies, SmartBot.net Inc. of Richboro, Pa., and Seismic Entertainment Productions Inc. of Rochester. SmartBot's principal place of business is Barrington. rest at: http://www.portervillerecorder.com/articles/2004/10/23/ap/hitech/d85tku5g0.prt danny " yes, the court order was thursday. dunno why it didn't show up in the news until now " burstein _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Scott Subject: Verizon Hooked on Cable Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 09:46:15 -0400 Newsday Company plans to use fiber-optic lines to better compete with Cablevision in offering TV and Net services BY HARRY BERKOWITZ STAFF WRITER In a new competitive threat to Cablevision's cable-television and Internet services, Verizon Communications yesterday announced it will string fiber-optic connections directly to homes and businesses in parts of Nassau, Westchester and Rockland counties. The connections will replace copper-wire links and allow Verizon to offer cable TV and faster Internet access. The company said it expects to start marketing cable services next year, including high-definition TV and video-on-demand, and is already negotiating with Viacom and other programmers for content. "I expect that next year we'll not only be in the video business, but we will be a significant competitor to those that provide cable TV services today," said Paul Lacouture, president of the Verizon network services group. Verizon added parts of six states, including New York, to the previously announced three where it had said it is rolling out the connections. The company said it will hook up these areas, totaling 3 million homes and businesses, by the end of 2005 and more in following years. "In suburban New York City, Verizon vs. Cablevision is likely to be a major battleground, testing whether Verizon is able to put together a cable-like video package that is competitively and economically viable," Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said. Cablevision Systems Corp. has 3 million cable customers in the New York City metro area, including the three counties that Verizon is targeting. "We compete vigorously and successfully with the phone company today and expect to in the future," said Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella. Regional telephone companies have tried to add video services in the past but largely gave up in the face of heavy expenses and difficulties attracting customers. This time, the new technology that makes video possible is needed anyway to improve phone and Internet service, Lacouture said. Verizon is spending $800 million on the overhaul this year alone. It is targeting affluent suburban areas, where overhead lines, rather than more expensive underground ones, will be replaced and where customers are more likely to bite. Verizon did not say how much it would charge for video service. It will charge $34.95 or more per month for Internet access that will reach download speeds of up to 5 megabits per second, more than triple the old speeds it has offered, and $44.95 or more per month for speeds reaching 15 megabits per second. In a year, it will have the capability to offer speeds of up to 100 megabits. Cablevision charges $44.95 for its Optimum Online service, which has 1.2 million customers and speeds up to 10 megabits per second. Cablevision also has started competing with Verizon by offering Internet-based phone service called Optimum Voice, which had signed up 115,000 customers as of June 30. ------------------------------ From: bsheikho@yahoo.com (behzad) Subject: SLIC Tutorial Wanted Date: 24 Oct 2004 11:42:36 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello all, I'll appreciate if anybody address me a tutorial about SLIC "subcriber line interface circuit". I need to know about important spec and architecture. Thanks, B.SH ------------------------------ From: Gary Novosielski Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 15:38:17 GMT AES/newspost wrote: > Why not have instead a Honda lawnmover designed so a small auxiliary > Honda-supplied generator can be bolted on top (or on the bottom) of it? Well, the idea isn't brand new, but that shouldn't be surprising. Back in the seventies, or maybe even sixties, the Toro company came out with a line of yard equipment centered around a one-cylinder four-cycle gasoline engine attached to a handle, with a v-belt pulley on the side, and a mounting plate on the bottom that could be clamped into any of several different bases. The handle had controls for the throttle and a "clutch" that spread the pulley apart, allowing the v-belt to slip. I know there was at least one variety of lawnmower base, a snowblower base, and I think some sort of cultivator device as well. I'm not sure if they ever had a generator, but it would have been a simple matter. It was never a big hit, probably because like so many jacks-of-all-trades, it was the master of none. By today's standards, it was also a pretty unsafe design. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Yet Another Telco Tax Proposed Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 03:10:35 -0400 In article , first.last@comcast.net says: > In article , kd1s@yahoo.com says: >> Danny Burstein wrote in message >> news:: >>> In the continuing tradition of government that try to offload taxes >>> onto third parties (that way they're not "raising taxes", you see ...) >>> California has a very real problem with medical costs. The hospitals >>> and other medical providers provide services, but don't take in >>> anywhere near as much money as they claim to be expending. >>> Hospital and medical finances are such a huge mess they put Enron to >>> shame. Normally this isn't a telecom issue but ... >>> The telco point: The usual folk have pushed forward a fee on telco >>> services to cover the shortfall. Quoting from a VOA clip: >>> "A voter initiative that Doctor Higgins calls a "Band-Aid" could >>> provide a short-term fix, and he supports the measure. Appearing >>> on the November 2nd ballot as Proposition 67, it would raise 500 >>> million dollars a year by adding a three-percent surcharge to the >>> cost for telephone calls made in California. >>> To which the curmodgeons retort: >>> "It's the wrong solution for a real problem. This is a phone tax. >>> This is a tax on a service that has absolutely nothing to do with >>> emergency medical care whatsoever. >> It does have some relation. People use the telephone to call the >> emergency services which then deliver them to the hospital. >> But I think too many other taxes have been loaded onto phone bills in >> recent years. In essence it is nickle and diming us to death. >> Now my medical system rant. There are several reasons why medical >> services have gotten so expensive and they have to do with supply and >> demand. Many more people seek medical attention now than they did >> years ago, but infrastructure improves glacially and so cannot keep >> up. > No, that's not it. It has nothing to do with the number of people; more > paying customers would mean more money. > It has much more to do with the services now delivered (and expected): > 30 years ago, if you had congestive heart failure, you died of it. > Today, it is routine that a heart bypass operation be performed, at an > average cost of $23,000, or a a minimum, an angioplasty, at around > $5,000. > 50 years ago, severely premature infants died. Today, many, if not > most, survive after months of hospital care at an average cost of > about $30,000. > 40 years ago, if you were injured, the x-ray was the only diagnostic > procedure besides "tell me where it hurts". Today, tennis elbow is > diagnosed in an MRI, which costs around $2 million to buy, and is > considered as essential in a modern U.S. hospital as bedpans. > --Gene > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I had my two heart attacks back > in the middle 1990's, I lived in the Chicago area and thought the > bills from Northshore Medical Center were pretty awful. There were > angioplasties each time and other treatment as well. But when I got > here to Kansas and had a brain aneurysm (which is more or less a > stroke but not entirely), when I got out of Stormont-Vail Medical > Center in Topeka and the associated Kansas Rehabiitation Hospital > (yes, the nearest brain surgeon was a 125 mile ambulance ride going > down I-70) I got a bill for *three hundred thousand dollars*. Ever > had a hospital or doctor bill with a bottom line of $300,000.00 ? > Not bad, I guess for someone who is comotose for over two months and > in emergency rehabilitation for another month after that. Add about > another $35,000 for a year's stay in a nursing home. How can anyone > afford to get sick these days? PAT] Money well spent, I'd say. How much were you out of pocket? --Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In total, about five thousand dollars. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 23:30:00 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Gene S. Berkowitz wrote: > Well, the Smiths, who control the majority of the stock may own the > stations (and that is questionable also; they have "operating > agreements" with other stations ... to avoid the (eroding) limits on > media ownership); Furthermore, owning majority control of the corporation that owns the stations is a very different thing from owning the stations outright. The stations are owned by a publicly traded corporation. That brings into play the "fiduciary duty" of the management to refrain from conduct that diminishes the value of the stock, even if management owns the majority of the stock. > however they DO NOT OWN the spectrum allocations they broadcast in. Very true. However, the "public interest" part of the license is being watered down about as quickly as the limits on ownership. The bottom line is that the stockholders who object to the actions taken by the Smiths have a strong legal case against them. They placed their own personal political beliefs ahead of their fiduciary duty to their stockholders. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com All U.S. and California anti-spam laws apply, incl. CA BPC 17538.45(c) This text constitutes actual notice as required in BPC 17538.45(f)(3). DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ From: John Smith Subject: Re: Free Speech and Corporations Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:48:50 GMT Lisa Hancock wrote: > As another poster correctly pointed out, it is Sinclair's network and > he is free to do as he wants (he controls the majority stock) > regarding showing the film. ... > The right of free speech is very important. But it is not unlimited. And Sinclair should be taught that fact. > Free speech is not mob rule, nor compelling someone else to pay or > provide your platform to speak from. You're quite right, but you're arguing against yourself. By allowing Sinclair to use the public "airwaves" without restriction (which are not his, but are in fact public property, a finite resource licensed to him by the people for use in the public good) I am being compelled to provide him a platform to speak from. Who do I see about that? > Another poster stated corporations exist for the good of the public. > I don't know where that came from. It's clear you don't. I chalk it up to a private education. So let's enlighten you. Where that came from was the fact that corporations exist by state charter, and these charters are issued under the proviso that the corporation shall operate in the public good, in exchange for liability protection. If corporations accept this protection, they must abide by the terms of the offer. They are no longer "free". If it's freedom they want, they can do it on their own without this, the oldest form of state welfare. You can be excused for not knowing, of course, because it is so rare for a state, on learning that a corporation has not lived up to its charter, to do anything about it. In fact though, a state could revoke the charter of a corporation for cause -- an act that has been referred to as the "corporate death penalty" -- if it found that the corporation was acting against the public good. Now you know. Lisa Hancock further wrote: > Frankly, it bothered me that some people asserted it was somehow > "wrong" for Sinclair to show his propaganda.... Oh, and P.S.: People can "assert: things, but they can also do a lot more than that. Sinclair has since announced that it will not be airing the show, and will instead present a different one-hour news show entitled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure, and the Media" which will include some clips from "Stolen Honor" but not the entire film. The company denies that grassroots protests, including those of stockholders and advertisers, which have caused it financial damage running into nine figures since their original announcement, had anything to do with the change. In fact they are now claiming that they never had any intention of airing the whole of "Stolen Honor" from the git-go. Yeah, right. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 10:02:27 EDT Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns In a message dated Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:18:22 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) writes: >> WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. > Looks like memory has played me false on this one. Further checking > shows it has always belonged to Loyola University, in New Orleans. > (I'm going to have to do some more digging on this -- I'm _sure_ that > WWL was in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo metro area in the 50's-70's. "I > may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain" applies :) The university-owned > and operated TV station in New Orleans was a CBS network affiliate, as > of 1959. So, WOI-TV was not the only university-owned network TV > affiliate -- but I don't know of any other that was owned/operated by > a _public_ institution. In the late 1930s and 1940s, when I was growing up as a DX fan, WWL (AM, of course) came booming in at night as loud as a local station with the ID "WWL, Loyola University of the South, New Orleans." It was definitely a commercial station owned by a university. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #512 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Oct 25 17:15:56 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9PLFtN19142; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:15:56 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:15:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410252115.i9PLFtN19142@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #513 TELECOM Digest Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:15:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 513 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #454, October 25, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) CLIP and Call Forwarding (Bart) Testing MMS (ruchit garg) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Mark Roberts) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Neal McLain) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (J. Kelly) Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future (Mark Roberts) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (Mark Roberts) Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers (Monty Solomon) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:25:51 -0400 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #454, October 25, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 454: October 25, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Rogers Matches Bell $5 LD Offer ** Bell Wins Olympics Sponsorship ** Rogers Offers BlackBerry 7290 ** Utility Telcos to Merge ** C-Com Boosts Satellite Internet Speeds ** Mitec Consolidates R&D ** Qwest Pays $250 Million Fraud Penalty ** Telecom Management Awards Announced ** Telus Wants No-Contract Centrex ** FCI Adds 8-Mbps Internet ** Judge Orders Infolink CEO to Resign ** Bell Appoints New Head of Operations ** Primus Manager Joins Vonage ** New Minacs Call Centre in Pickering ** CANARIE Holds Applications Workshop ** Profits Grow at Cogeco, Shaw ** A User Voice in Telecom Policy ============================================================ ROGERS MATCHES BELL $5 LD OFFER: Rogers Communications has become a long distance reseller, offering 100 minutes of North American LD for 5 cents a minute, and the next 900 minutes for free. This effectively matches Bell Canada's recently announced $5 for 1,000 minutes plan. (See Telecom Update #438) ** Rogers $5 LD is available only to customers who sign two- year contracts on a "Better Choice Bundle" for two of Internet, premium cable, or postpaid wireless service. BELL WINS OLYMPICS SPONSORSHIP: Bell Canada has been named the premier sponsor of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games and of the Canadian Olympic Team for Olympic events through 2012. Bell's bid included $60 million in telecom infrastructure and $90 million in cash, beating out a Telus proposal that included $50 million in cash. ** Telus said it was disappointed but noted that it would be contributing to the Olympic team effort through ongoing amateur sports sponsorships. ROGERS OFFERS BLACKBERRY 7290: Rogers Wireless and Research In Motion have launched the BlackBerry 7290 in Canada. The device includes a quad-band phone, Bluetooth support, a brighter colour screen, and increased memory, as well as the standard BlackBerry e-mail features. Price: $599.99, less a $150 mail-in rebate. ** Rogers also says it will begin selling RIM's consumer- focused 7100 model in Canada "in the coming weeks." Pricing has not been announced. ** Last week RIM publicly demonstrated a BlackBerry that incorporates Wi-Fi connectivity, scheduled for release in 2005. UTILITY TELCOS TO MERGE: FibreWired, the telecom division of Hamilton Hydro, and Fibre Tech Telecom, a joint venture of three Waterloo region utilities, are merging. Their combined networks include more than 1,100 km of fibre. C-COM BOOSTS SATELLITE INTERNET SPEEDS: Ottawa based C-Com Satellite Systems says its new satellite-based mobile Internet services, developed in conjunction with RAMTelecom, will be able to deliver upload speeds of up to 1.15 Mbps and download speeds of up to 60 Mbps. MITEC CONSOLIDATES R&D: Wireless component maker Mitec Telecom is closing R&D centres in New Jersey and the UK, moving the work to Montreal and China. Overall R&D employment is unchanged. QWEST PAYS $250 MILLION FRAUD PENALTY: U.S. telco Qwest Communications has agreed to pay a US$250 million penalty to settle a complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it engaged in accounting fraud involving more than $4 billion in misstated revenue and expenses. TELECOM MANAGEMENT AWARDS ANNOUNCED: Last week's Telemanagement Live conference featured the Management & Industry Commitment awards, in recognition of "great end-user achievements demonstrated through outstanding technology deployments and enhanced management practices." The 2004 winners are: ** Cost Recovery Project of the Year: Glen Ryan, Johnson Insurance ** Most Innovative Project of the Year: Oleg Khaev, De Beers Canada ** IP Project of the Year: Dave Dobbin, Telecom Ottawa ** Wireless Project of the Year: Chris Taylor, Metro Toronto Convention Centre ** Telecom Manager of the Year: Rick Adams, City of Coquitlam TELUS WANTS NO-CONTRACT CENTREX: If a tariff notice filed by Telus last week is approved, Provincial Centrex Service in Alberta will be available on a non-contract basis for all customers, not just those with 99 or fewer lines. ** Telus also wants to introduce Automatic Contract Renewal for Provincial Centrex Service customers in Alberta and B.C. www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2004/t42/tn539.doc FCI ADDS 8-Mbps INTERNET: FCI Broadband has begun offering 8 Mbps Internet access service to its residential customers in the Greater Toronto Area. A bundle including that and local telephone service is $54/month. JUDGE ORDERS INFOLINK CEO TO RESIGN: An Ontario court has ordered the CEO of Infolink Technologies to resign, following allegations that he misused $250,000 in company funds for personal benefit. Cesar Correia, who owns about one-third of Infolink's shares, denies the charges, but has agreed to repay $100,000. ** Infolink recently won a controversial CRTC ruling that allows it to send advertising to consumers' voicemail boxes without ringing their phones. (See Telecom Update #452) BELL APPOINTS NEW HEAD OF OPERATIONS: Bell Canada has named EVP Patrick Pichette as President, Operations, replacing David Southwell, who is retiring. PRIMUS MANAGER JOINS VONAGE: Joe Parent, who until recently was with Primus Telecommunications Canada, has joined Vonage Canada as Vice-President, Marketing & Business Development. NEW MINACS CALL CENTRE IN PICKERING: Call centre outsourcer Minacs Worldwide has leased a 54,000 square foot building in Pickering, Ontario, to expand its services to "a Canadian telecommunications client." The company says it will install 400 workstations in the building and hire 200 new employees over the next three months. CANARIE HOLDS APPLICATIONS WORKSHOP: CANARIE is holding a free workshop in Toronto November 4-5 to demonstrate new network applications developed in federally funded programs. For information on "Showing Results, Sharing Knowledge," go to www.canarie.ca/conferences/fall_series/index.html. PROFITS GROW AT COGECO, SHAW: During the quarter ended August 31: ** Cogeco Cable's net income was $6.5 million, three times higher than in the same period a year ago. Sales were $133 million, a 5.2% increase. Cogeco lost 2,493 basic service customers and gained 5,190 Internet customers during the quarter. ** Shaw Communications had net income of $28.9 million, compared to $4.4 million a year earlier. Service revenue grew 5.9% to $532 million. Basic cable subscribers increased by 5,830, and Internet customers by 23,488. A USER VOICE IN TELECOM POLICY: This month's Telemanagement features an exclusive interview with Ian Russell, chair of the Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications Pricing, explaining how and why business customers are again playing an important role in CRTC proceedings and government telecom policy. ** Also in this issue: John Riddell on Open Source alternatives for IP-PBXs and IP-Centrex; how to get corporate wireless bills under control; and Lis Angus's comprehensive report on the issues in the VoIP regulation debate. ** For a one-year subscription, including unlimited access to Telemanagement's extensive online content, visit www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.html or phone 800- 263-4415 ext 500. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ From: bart_deboeck@hotmail.com (Bart) Subject: CLIP and Call Forwarding Date: 25 Oct 2004 07:18:02 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Given the following setup : Party A calls Party B, and Party B forwards this call to Party C. Is it possible for party C to see the CLIP of party A and party B ? According to my operator, C should see the CLIP of party A. I wonder whether party C can also see the CLIP of party B. If it is not possible to pass the CLIP information during forwarding, does there exist any other setup which allows party C to see the CLIP of party A and B ? Thanks, Bart ------------------------------ From: ruchitgarg@yahoo.com (ruchit garg) Subject: Testing MMS Date: 25 Oct 2004 06:50:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I want send a MMS and SMS from my PC to my cell phone. Is there any free/evalutaion APIs available to test run the applications? Ruchit ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 04:06:02 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters Robert Bonomi had written: > Yes, a public-university-owned =commercial= broadcast station is > _unusual_. As a network affiliate of a commercial network (the *only* > kind of 'network' TV in those days :), it was _very_ unusual, possibly > even =unique=. It's not unique. KOMU-TV was and is still owned by the University of Missouri, and is the NBC affiliate for Columbia and Jefferson City. From 1953 until 1956, it was the only station in the area and carried all three networks. From 1956 until 1971, it was also the secondary ABC affiliate for the market. Its newsroom is staffed by School of Journalism instructors and students, who report and produce the station's newscasts. It had a jam-packed schedule, with the late afternoon "downtime" from the network being filled with ABC programming. Likewise, the "Tonight Show" was joined in progress at 11 pm for many, many years in order to fit an ABC program in at 10:30 pm. It also had the dubious distinction of being the last NBC affiliate to go full-color, in 1973. (Network programs and films were in color from the early 1960s but KOMU's studio cameras were monochrome until 1973.) The station originally proposed a 50% commercial and 50% noncommercial schedule to the FCC. The FCC said, "either one or the other". The University felt it could not financially support a non-commercial station and chose the commercial option. > Looks like memory has played me false on this one. Further checking > shows it has always belonged to Loyola University, in New Orleans. > (I'm going to have to do some more digging on this -- I'm _sure_ that > WWL was in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo metro area in the 50's-70's. "I > may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain" applies :) It was always KWWL. There was a big fight between KXEL and a local entrepreneur over the channel 7 allocation. The entrepreneur won. Jeff Stein's history of Iowa broadcasting has the complete play-by-play. Mark Roberts | "You'll know gas prices are hurting when you see headlines Oakland, Cal.| about plunging sales of sport utility vehicles." NO HTML MAIL | -- Floyd Norris, New York Times, October 23, 2004 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:36:25 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Robert Bonomi wrote (in his list of K/W exceptions): > WRTH St. Louis, Missouri I wrote: > The FCC has no record of this callsign. Robert responded: > *THAT* is a surprise! Considering ... > My cribsheet says "1430 AM, St. Louis". I was surprised too when I discovered my own stupid mistake (see TD V23:506). Robert continued: > _that_ "rule" adds at least half-a-dozen 'out-of-place' > 'W' stations to the list. Including places such as > Duluth, MN. :) > If you're going to put all of MN in the 'K' district, > there are at least another half-a-dozen 'W' call-signs > worthy of being listed. As far east as Duluth. My original list of television stations (as published in TD V23:505) identifies nine such exceptions, including three in (or near) Duluth. If there are more than these nine, please let me know their callsigns and I'll add them to the list. W61AF Grand Marais MN W62DB Minneapolis MN WBWX-CA Minneapolis MN WCCO-TV WCCO-DT Minneapolis MN WCMN-LP Saint Cloud MN WDIO-TV WDIO-DT Duluth MN WDSE WDSE-DT Duluth MN WFTC WFTC-DT Minneapolis MN WIRT WIRT-DT Hibbing MN In any case, I'm sure you'll agree that there would be far more exceptions if the river itself were the dividing line. Furthermore, if the river were the line, where would we put Bemidji -- east or west? Pat wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When you discuss WLTE or other > 'W' stations in Minnesota, maybe the reason for the 'W' there > is because the Mississippi River only begins part way into > Minnesota; a bit south of St. Paul (or actually Bay City, WI) > where the water is just a small stream and becomes known as the > 'Mississippi River'. Most of Minnesota has nothing to do with > the river. PAT] As a named river, the Mississippi River originates at Lake Itasca in Clearwater County, Minnesota. From there, it flows north, past Bemidji, makes a u-turn, then heads south. It becomes the Minnesota-Wisconsin state line near Hastings. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:56:58 -0500 On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:18:22 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > WOI-TV was in operation _long_ before 'Iowa Public Television' came > into existence. In point of fact, WOI-TV was the _first_ TV station > in the state broadcasting on a regular schedule. WOI was in fact on way before Iowa Public Television. IPTV began in 1969 when the State Educational Radio and Television Facility Board purchased KDPS-TV (Des Moines Public Schools) Channel 11 in Des Moines and changed the callsign to KDIN-TV. The network was known as Iowa Educational Broadcasting Network (IEBN). Seven other stations followed over the next 8 years, and one more was added in 2003 when they acquired channel 36 in Davenport. In 1976 the name was changed to Iowa Public Broadcasting Network, and was changed to Iowa Public Television in 1982. >>> WMT Cedar Rapids, Iowa >> WMT(AM) and WMT-FM only; sister TV is KGAN(TV), formerly WMT-TV. Yes, at one time sister stations, WMT AM is now owned by Clear Channel, and Sinclair Broadcast Group owns KGAN-TV. I'm not sure if they really consider themselves sisters anmore, I believe WMT AM uses KWWL-TV's weather guys on the air. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When you discuss WLTE or other 'W' > stations in Minnesota, maybe the reason for the 'W' there is because > the Mississipi River only begins part way into Minnesota; a bit south > of St. Paul (or actually Bay City, WI) where the water is just a small > stream and becomes known as the 'Mississippi River'. Most of Minnesota > has nothing to do with the river. PAT] Wrong. The Mississippi starts near Bemidji, Minnesota at Itasca State Park. I once stood in the headwaters where it begins as a small stream. See: http://www.visitbemidji.com/itasca_state_park.html ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 02:39:05 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters Rick Merrill had written: > Lisa Minter wrote: >> Nokia in the UK seems to feel landline phones will be gone entirely >> in the next few years, at least in many countries, replaced by >> cellular phones. Check out this link: >> The fixed line phone in the home could soon disappear, a study by >> mobile firm Nokia shows. >> < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3762844.stm > > As unbelievable as it seems to us today, land lines in the USA ten (10) > years from now (2004) will probably down 60% yet total phones will have > increased by 30%. How? Cell phones obviously, but also VoIP is poised to > expand very rapidly. Why? Widespread availability of broad band and > virtually NO REGULATION (as compared to land line phones) ==> Half the > Cost of today's "land line phones" for home and business. - RM Not just VOIP, though it certainly is poised to become a player. (Five cents a minute to Europe on Vonage is hard to beat, even with Vonage's sometimes-inflexible policies. But I now see that Packet8 offers *two* cents a minute to some countries in Europe!) Anyhow, the PSTN still offers two things that aren't true for cell phones: ubiquity and reliability. While cell phones may *seem* to be nearly ubiquitous, there are a *lot* of areas with poor coverage. Where I live in Oakland, California, only two carriers manage to put in a signal -- and those only sporadically. And that's not the only spot in the Bay Area with poor cellphone coverage. Likewise, VOIP relies upon "somebody else" to provide data transport. If that "somebody else" is a two-way cable connection, you'll lose it during power outages. While Comcast is pretty good about rolling a truck to our area whenever our power goes out which, thanks to the poor maintenance practices of PG&E is distressingly common during winter storms, you still can't do anything without power to the cable modem. Similar considerations apply to DSL, though a UPS might keep you going for a little longer. All of these considerations mean that we are keeping our two landlines. We have them on measured-rate service and have no custom-calling features, but in a pinch, we're sure they'll be there -- something that can't be said for cell phones or VOIP. Mark Roberts | "You'll know gas prices are hurting when you see headlines Oakland, Cal.| about plunging sales of sport utility vehicles." NO HTML MAIL | -- Floyd Norris, New York Times, October 23, 2004 ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 03:54:33 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters AES/newspost had written: > Surely brings to mind the big noisy rotating "card flip-over" > mechanical displays that used to display arriving and departing > flights in major airports -- maybe still do in some cases. They are still in use at railway-station platforms on the Dutch national railways. I don't believe these were "Solari boards" which functioned on a similar principle and were often used on TV game shows to keep score. Mark Roberts | "You'll know gas prices are hurting when you see headlines Oakland, Cal.| about plunging sales of sport utility vehicles." NO HTML MAIL | -- Floyd Norris, New York Times, October 23, 2004 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 15:49:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers By Hiawatha Bray If you have wireless Internet access at home, your next-door neighbor could have it as well, without paying for it. He can just use yours. No problem if he's just shopping on Amazon.com or e-mailing Grandma. But what if he's sending spam messages or downloading kiddie porn? It happens, and that should surprise nobody. WiFi wireless networking systems can provide Internet service up to 300 feet away, with signals that can punch through brick walls. So anybody within range can get a taste of your bandwidth, and use it for any purpose, noble or malignant. It's up to them. Actually it's up to you. With a little effort, you can seal off your WiFi router from unwelcome guests. If you leave it unprotected, it could become a hangout for a variety of digital sleazebags. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/10/25/take_the_trouble_to_block_wifi_poachers/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have some comments and questions about this: On my Wi-fi card (Netgear MA-521, 32-bit cardbus) I was lucky for a while to get twenty feet away, in other words, my computer area and into the next room. But I could barely get outside my house, and certainly not into my parlor or my bedroom. A cheap piece of cardboard and tinfoil (serving as a reflector to push the signal around helped with that.) Now I can get my parlor/bedroom areas, my back porch/back yard and *most* of my front yard. I have noticed that when I get out to the sidewalk on the street in front of my house, when my signal is still there but mostly unuseable, on the 'site survey' tab on the MA-521 diagnostics, I see listed not only my base unit, but also the base unit of the guy directly across the street from me. I can move my mouse onto either of these locations (mine or his), click for connection and connect with either one. I assume this is how 'hackers' (i.e. spammers, kiddie-porn downloaders) work, am I correct? When I have clicked on his base-station (and like mine, he gets maybe a couple hundred feet, out into the street and onto the sidewalk on *my side* then his gives out also) I get a message on my screen saying 'to connect with this channel please enter the proper encryption.' I use 128-bit encryption, which I guess is what he uses also. Right or wrong? I have no idea what *he* uses for encryption and I surely have not told anyone what I use. I am not going to sit out on the sidewalk in front of my house, which the one place I can contact his station and try to hack out his encryption password, etc. I would not have the patience for it. But unlike him, I guess, I also told my base station 'do not broadcast your own name'. Tell me if I am correct: when I get to the one point on the sidewalk where I can pick him up, my 'site survey' not only lists me, but also lists him. I assume -- tell me if right or wrong -- if some other person with a WiFi card (other than *myself*) came to the same spot they would see his station -- 2WIRE895 -- waiting for someone to provide the proper encryption, but they would NOT see me. Right or wrong? I see myself listed, because it is me, but having it set to 'not broadcast your own name' keeps others from seeing me. Right or wrong? Now what else should I do, or can I do within reason, to stay protected? The house next door to me, across the alley to the west is vacant. But let's say tomorrow it got rented to 'hackers', spammers and kiddie- pornography downloaders; yes, unlikely, but still ... unlike the house across the street where distance separates us, the house across the alley from me *is* within radio range; a warm, comfortable, off-the-street, out of your car hiding place. Is there anything I can do other than 'do not broadcast your name' and 128-bit encryption for protection? Or is it a needless worry? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #513 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Oct 26 14:24:46 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9QIOkO28800; Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:24:46 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:24:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410261824.i9QIOkO28800@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #514 TELECOM Digest Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:25:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 514 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cracking the Wireless Security Code (Monty Solomon) Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers (Gary Breuckman) Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers (Clarence Dold) Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers (jtaylor) Re: Citywide Wi-Fi Link Considered/Internet Everywhere (Tony Pelliccio) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Robert Bonomi) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Neal McLain) Baseball Broadcast Station? (jtaylor) The State of VoIP (Lisa Minter) More About Poly D. Creatures (Paul A Lee) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 01:08:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cracking the Wireless Security Code By Joel Snyder and Rodney Thayer Is it possible to deploy a secure wireless LAN with technology available today? That question preys on the minds of IT executives who are tempted to deploy enterprise WLANs, but are hesitant because of security concerns. So we assembled 23 wireless products from 17 vendors and ran them through a battery of tests aimed at getting the answer. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is very weak in many products, and we don't recommend using it other than in very specialized cases. WEP's successor, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) has flaws but provides solid security when combined with 802.1X authentication and deployed carefully. Ultimately, 802.11i, the standard that replaces WEP and WPA, will provide all the tools needed to protect WLANs. To their credit, vendors are aggressively shipping products at all prices that support enterprise-class security features. Two-thirds of the products tested support 802.1X, and vendors are moving rapidly to comply with 802.11i standards. http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/1004wirelessmain.html ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 21:54:58 -0400 In article , monty@roscom.com says: > By Hiawatha Bray > If you have wireless Internet access at home, your next-door neighbor > could have it as well, without paying for it. He can just use yours. > No problem if he's just shopping on Amazon.com or e-mailing Grandma. > But what if he's sending spam messages or downloading kiddie porn? > It happens, and that should surprise nobody. WiFi wireless networking > systems can provide Internet service up to 300 feet away, with signals > that can punch through brick walls. So anybody within range can get a > taste of your bandwidth, and use it for any purpose, noble or > malignant. It's up to them. > Actually it's up to you. With a little effort, you can seal off your > WiFi router from unwelcome guests. If you leave it unprotected, it > could become a hangout for a variety of digital sleazebags. > http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/10/25/take_the_trouble_to_block_wifi_poachers/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have some comments and questions > about this: On my Wi-fi card (Netgear MA-521, 32-bit cardbus) I was > lucky for a while to get twenty feet away, in other words, my > computer area and into the next room. But I could barely get outside > my house, and certainly not into my parlor or my bedroom. A cheap > piece of cardboard and tinfoil (serving as a reflector to push the > signal around helped with that.) Now I can get my parlor/bedroom > areas, my back porch/back yard and *most* of my front yard. I have > noticed that when I get out to the sidewalk on the street in front > of my house, when my signal is still there but mostly unuseable, on > the 'site survey' tab on the MA-521 diagnostics, I see listed not > only my base unit, but also the base unit of the guy directly across > the street from me. I can move my mouse onto either of these locations > (mine or his), click for connection and connect with either one. > I assume this is how 'hackers' (i.e. spammers, kiddie-porn downloaders) > work, am I correct? When I have clicked on his base-station (and like > mine, he gets maybe a couple hundred feet, out into the street and > onto the sidewalk on *my side* then his gives out also) I get a > message on my screen saying 'to connect with this channel please enter > the proper encryption.' I use 128-bit encryption, which I guess is > what he uses also. Right or wrong? I have no idea what *he* uses for > encryption and I surely have not told anyone what I use. I am not > going to sit out on the sidewalk in front of my house, which the one > place I can contact his station and try to hack out his encryption > password, etc. I would not have the patience for it. But unlike him, > I guess, I also told my base station 'do not broadcast your own name'. > Tell me if I am correct: when I get to the one point on the sidewalk > where I can pick him up, my 'site survey' not only lists me, but also > lists him. I assume -- tell me if right or wrong -- if some other > person with a WiFi card (other than *myself*) came to the same spot > they would see his station -- 2WIRE895 -- waiting for someone to > provide the proper encryption, but they would NOT see me. Right or > wrong? I see myself listed, because it is me, but having it set to > 'not broadcast your own name' keeps others from seeing me. Right or wrong? > Now what else should I do, or can I do within reason, to stay protected? > The house next door to me, across the alley to the west is vacant. But > let's say tomorrow it got rented to 'hackers', spammers and kiddie- > pornography downloaders; yes, unlikely, but still ... unlike the house > across the street where distance separates us, the house across the alley > from me *is* within radio range; a warm, comfortable, off-the-street, > out of your car hiding place. Is there anything I can do other > than 'do not broadcast your name' and 128-bit encryption for protection? > Or is it a needless worry? PAT] Yes. If supported by your wireless access point or router, enable MAC authentication. Then, connections will only be accepted from wireless adapters (such as your Netgear card) that you specify to the router by their MAC address, which is printed directly on the card, usually near the FCC label. Of course, the MAC address can be spoofed, so this one isn't perfect either. You can disable DHCP, and use a static address. Why let your router hand out addresses to anything that asks? The SSID (2WIRE895) may not be regularly broadcast, but it can still be found in sniffed packets. By disabling SSID broadcast, you are hiding from casual users, but a more determined individual may be lured by the presence of the signal; finding no SSID, he migt just start sniffing, wondering what you're hiding. Encryption (either 40- or 128-bit) is simply used to prevent eavesdropping. The appropriate key is required (26 hex digits for a 128-bit key). Unfortunately, the WEP encryption used with 802.11b (11 mb/s) wireless has a flaw that permits the key to be derived simply be collecting enough packets (passive receive). If the usage is low, this might takes weeks. If the traffic is high enough, like at a corporation or university, it might take less than an hour. I change keys every few weeks. --Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I found that my NetGear does allow for what it calls 'access control' which means for it to answer only to *my card*, *my MAC address*, so I turned that on also. I think however, there is a limit to the return on my investment in making things secure. Reason is, if anyone was parking in the alley next to my house, I would hear them soon, and in my usual snoopy way (like all my neighbors) peer out the window to see who was there. Sometimes I go most of a day without having *any car at all* drive down Poplar Street, let alone drive in our alley way and sit there for a period of time. If anyone moved in the vacant house next door to the west, I would find out about it same day, just as I did when the folks moved in on the other side of the street and down one house to the east. And I am *not* interested in improving my signal to the point I could walk even four or five blocks away and pick it up. Blame that perhaps on my brain aneurysm, but I get so tired of walking around the area, so far, particularly carrying a laptop; I really don't see anyone around the immediate (four or five block area) who would appear to me to even know what computers are about, let alone have a radio- transmission from one. I think WiFi is only practical if you have a laptop anyway, is that correct? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Gary Breuckman Subject: Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:26:04 -0500 Organization: Puma's Lair - catbox.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > if some other person with a WiFi card (other than *myself*) came > to the same spot they would see his station -- 2WIRE895 -- waiting > for someone to provide the proper encryption, but they would NOT see > me. Right or wrong? I see myself listed, because it is me, but > having it set to 'not broadcast your own name' keeps others from > seeing me. Right or wrong? That's right, but if you have encryption turned on it really doesn't matter. Not broadcasting your SYSID can allow you to hide without using encryption, some places use that so they can tell folks they WANT to use the network the SYSID, but not others. Using encryption is the way to go. You might want to pick a different channel, if someone is nearby on the same channel. That might improve your range. Gary Breuckman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So if I use 128-bit encryption and no SYSID then I get twice as good a chance as not, don't I, and using 'access control' so base only responds to *my* MAC address. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@XReXXTakeX.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 22:54:14 UTC Organization: a2i network TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Monty Solomon: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have some comments and questions > about this: On my Wi-fi card (Netgear MA-521, 32-bit cardbus) I was > lucky for a while to get twenty feet away, in other words, my > computer area and into the next room. But I could barely get outside > my house, and certainly not into my parlor or my bedroom. A cheap > piece of cardboard and tinfoil (serving as a reflector to push the > signal around helped with that.) Now I can get my parlor/bedroom I don't think that is atypical. "punch" "brick wall" and "802.11" don't belong in the same sentence. Is the tinfoil an EZ-10 from http://www.freeantennas.com ? > I assume this is how 'hackers' (i.e. spammers, kiddie-porn downloaders) > work, am I correct? When I have clicked on his base-station (and like The hacker or poacher would probably have a program called Netstumbler running, a gps connected to a laptop for automatically marking locations of signals, and a better antenna than the one you have. > message on my screen saying 'to connect with this channel please > enter the proper encryption.' I use 128-bit encryption, which I > guess is WEP comes in 64 and 128 bit varieties. For typical residential use, you have done the right thing, and so has your neighbor. > place I can contact his station and try to hack out his encryption Other than guesswork, there are software packages that can crack the WEP code, but they require a hefty amount of data to flow across the link, using, in part, a known portion of the encoded packet that keeps repeating to help crack the rest. You probably don't send that much data in a short enough period of time to keep anyone parked out in front long enough to crack your WEP code. There are too many unsecured residences, and valuable businesses, to bother cracking yours. > password, etc. I would not have the patience for it. But unlike him, > I guess, I also told my base station 'do not broadcast your own > name'. That has almost no effect in your case ... It would prevent some scanners from finding you, but if they found him and sat there, they would find you soon enough. Pretty much all blocking your SSID does is make it harder for you to connect using Windows XP, which really likes to see the SSID. > Now what else should I do, or can I do within reason, to stay protected? For a residence, I think you've done all you need to do. You might cahnge your WEP code every once in a while. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, it is an EZ-10 from freeantennas.com and it may be my imagination, but I *think* it is making things better, and things do seem to be better, *I think*, so I guess that is what counts. And, I just recently turned on 'access control', a condition in the Net Gear where the base only responds to my MAC address. If someone wants to park in my driveway (off the alley) or park in front of my house -- and hope in both cases I did not see them and wonder about them -- or rent the vacant house next door and move in without my seeing them or any computers and then discover my unannounced signal and work out the encryption then (based on that information) figure out a way to forge my MAC address and then proceed to 'borrow' my resources, then God Bless them. They are a better man than I -- which wouldn't be very hard, considering my partial paralysis, my inability to put things together in my head for more than a few seconds at a time, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Take the Trouble to Block WiFi Poachers Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 22:10:49 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Monty Solomon by writing in news:telecom23.513.9@telecom-digest.org: > Now what else should I do, or can I do within reason, to stay protected? > The house next door to me, across the alley to the west is vacant. But > let's say tomorrow it got rented to 'hackers', spammers and kiddie- > pornography downloaders; yes, unlikely, but still ... unlike the house > across the street where distance separates us, the house across the alley > from me *is* within radio range; a warm, comfortable, off-the-street, > out of your car hiding place. Is there anything I can do other > than 'do not broadcast your name' and 128-bit encryption for protection? > Or is it a needless worry? PAT] If your access point came with a firewall then set it up so that it'll only allow access from the card you use in your laptop. You will need the number assigned to the card called a MAC or "physical address". Although this can also be spoofed, it takes a much smarter variety of intruder to sucessfully do this to you, and like burglary, you don't need to be able to keep the burglars out, you just need to make it easier for them to go burgle someone else. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I just a couple days ago turned on 'access control', as the Net Gear refers to it. I do not know if 'access control' has anything to do with the firewall or not, or just what the base station is willing to accept/act on. Same difference, I guess. If the base station is not willing to ask the WAN for some files to start with, then the files won't be sent. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kd1s@yahoo.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Citywide Wi-Fi Link Considered / Internet Virtually Everywhere Date: 25 Oct 2004 14:46:50 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com This would be a sweet thing to have here in Providence. The city is only about 20 square miles and has plenty of places to put WiFi nodes. The interesting part of this is that as a condition of its franchise agreement in the state I believe Cox has agreed to wire all state and municipal agencies for the bubble. So could the municipal use their Cox IP feed to dole out to citizens for a small fee, or even for free? It would be interesting to see how this would pan out. Tony Monty Solomon wrote in message news:: > NEWTON > Citywide wi-fi link considered > Internet access would be virtually everywhere > By Matt Viser, Globe Correspondent | October 24, 2004 > Several Newton officials are looking into blanketing the city's 18.5 > square miles with wireless Internet transmitters, which would make the > city one of several places in the nation -- and the only one in > Massachusetts -- to offer the service on such a wide scale. > The plan, which an aldermanic committee began discussing last week, > would involve mounting routers on telephone poles throughout the > city. Anyone within 100 yards of one of the routers would be able to > access the Internet using a password. The city would charge about $10 > per month to use the service, which could begin to be available in as > soon as six months. > Installing the routers throughout the city would cost between $370,000 > and $740,000, according to initial estimates. > http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/10/24/citywide_wi_fi_link_considered/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here in Independence, authorities have > considered the same thing, but the scale is quite different. Our town > is only two miles long by two miles wide approximatly, with between > 8000-9000 residents, but I do not think it has ever gotten beyond the > talking stage as of yet. Independence High School and the college have > both pushed for it, but no one wants to supply the money needed. PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My next question on this thread pertaining to proposed 'city wide' WiFi setups is this: Suppose San Francisco, or Newton, MA or Independence, KS or any of the more enlightened communities installs such a thing. What then prevents 'hackers' or spammers or kiddie porn downloaders (to name just three species of no-goods) from doing their thing and charging it all to the city authorities who installed it to begin with. I would suppose there would have to be 'passcodes' based on the MAC addresses of the citizens would there not? The WiFi base would have to be told to only respond to the MAC addresses in its files and somehow keep track of who did what which brings up a lot of privacy concerns. Then you talk about people sniffing at things: there sure would be a lot of sniffing around for MAC addresses to spoof wouldn't there? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:05:45 EDT Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns In a message dated Mon, 25 Oct 2004 04:06:02 -0000, markrobt@comcast.net Mark Roberts) writes: > It's not unique. KOMU-TV was and is still owned by the University of > Missouri, and is the NBC affiliate for Columbia and Jefferson City. > From 1953 until 1956, it was the only station in the area and carried > all three networks. From 1956 until 1971, it was also the secondary > ABC affiliate for the market. > Its newsroom is staffed by School of Journalism instructors and > students, who report and produce the station's newscasts. > It had a jam-packed schedule, with the late afternoon "downtime" from > the network being filled with ABC programming. Likewise, the "Tonight > Show" was joined in progress at 11 pm for many, many years in order to > fit an ABC program in at 10:30 pm. > It also had the dubious distinction of being the last NBC affiliate The University of Missouri also publishes a commercial daily newspaper in competition with a locally-owned one, with not only its newsroom but its advertising department staffed by School of Journalism instructors and students. Certainly real world training for both news editors and reporters and also advertising salesmen and saleswomen. The privately-owned newspaper feels strongly it is unfair competition. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Organization: Robert Bonomi Consulting Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 06:10:20 +0000 In article , J Kelly wrote: > On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:18:22 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com > (Robert Bonomi) wrote: >> WOI-TV was in operation _long_ before 'Iowa Public Television' came >> into existence. In point of fact, WOI-TV was the _first_ TV station >> in the state broadcasting on a regular schedule. > WOI was in fact on way before Iowa Public Television. IPTV began in > 1969 when the State Educational Radio and Television Facility Board > purchased KDPS-TV (Des Moines Public Schools) Channel 11 in Des Moines > and changed the callsign to KDIN-TV. The network was known as Iowa > Educational Broadcasting Network (IEBN). Seven other stations > followed over the next 8 years, and one more was added in 2003 when > they acquired channel 36 in Davenport. In 1976 the name was changed > to Iowa Public Broadcasting Network, and was changed to Iowa Public > Television in 1982. The first expansion was the addition of Channel 12 (KIIN TV), in Iowa City. By circa 1975, there were KDIN, KIIN, and at least 7 UHF 'repeater' stations across the state. With a decent directional antenna, virtually every place in the state was within reception range of one of the transmitters. The 'repeater' stations were very high-tech (for their day), *automated*, systems. A high-gain channel-11 antenna pointed towards Des Moines, coupled to a carrier-operated-relay, that triggered the transmitter into operation. If KDIN was on the air, the repeater stations came up, and rebroadcast the signal; when KDIN shut down for the night, the repeaters turned themselves off, too. Well, *MOST* of the time. Late one night, in the fall of 1973 (74?), I was DX hunting with my little B&W, *rabbit-ears*only* TV, in my apartment on the outskirts of downtown Des Moines. Here is this *snowy* picture on channel 11 -- old gangster movie. Took quite a while for a call-sign to come by WQXI. Just for grins, I _called_ the station, to let them know they had a viewer "way out in Iowa". This got to be a _very_ strange phone converation. The station _chief_engineer_ was working the night shift that night, and actually answered the phone, =himself=. He got *real* upset, and asked me _exactly_ what I'm seeing, what kind of a monstrosity I'm using for an antenna, *exactly* where I am, etc., etc. The more detail I provided in answer to the questions, the _more_upset_ he was getting. Finally, we get through the panic, and he explains -- several weeks previously, 'skip' conditions had been 'just right', and their signal had been hitting Iowa with enough signal strength to *trigger* some of the IEBN repeaters. Most notably the one in northwest Iowa, from who's 'viewpoint', Atlanta was nearly in a straight line with Des Moines. This led to an incredible stack of paperwork, to mollify the FCC. Here was 'retransmission'/'rebroadcasting' of a commercial TV station, *without* the permission/consent of the originating station. Here was _commercial_ content on an 'educational TV' repeater channel. etc., etc., ad nauseum. Oh yeah, those remote 'repeater' stations were automated enough that they did _not_ have an 'engineer on duty' at the transmitter site. The 'local' engineer had remote monitoring gear at his house, or wherever. Note: this was *monitoring* capability, _only_. He did *not* have anything like a 'kill switch' for the transmitter -- could *not* shut it down, except from on-site brute-force controls, if the master station (or what the hardware *thought* was the master station :) was 'on the air'. As a result of _that_ 'design stupidity', the "problem" recurred _again_ the next night. And several following nights. Which made the paperwork swamp *MUCH* worse. Now it wasn't a _single_ 'inadvertent' error, but a repeated pattern of "illegal" behavior. He had just finished up (i.e., a day or two previously) _his_ stack of paper- work related to the problem, *believing*it*to*be*finally*resolved*, and was relaxing as things got back to normal -- and this phone call comes in from IOWA, where somebody is seeing his station, *AGAIN*(!!) In that light, the 'upset' was quite understandable -- and he _did_ relax considerably when it was established that I _was_ watching on channel *11* -- not on some repeater output frequency. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:47:38 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? DevilsPGD wrote: > Shaw cable is (or was, I don't have my TV connected to my DCT > right now) using channel 1 as a digital channel for themselves. > Analog cable still starts at 2 though. Some analog cable systems start (or used to start) at Cable Channel 1. Three analog frequency plans are approved by the FCC for use by the cable TV industry: IRC Incrementally-related carriers HRC Harmonically-related carriers STD Standard The IRC and HRC plans include Cable Channel 1. Details at . IRC and HRC are rarely used today; however, many so-called "cable ready" television sets still include some means to receive them: either an obscure little switch or an option in the setup menu. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Baseball Broadcast Station? Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:26:16 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service Yeah, it's probably not absolutely telecom related (they don't have the reporters on the 'phone to the station at hockey games anymore, either), but my neighbour has a good SW radio and wants to hear the Red Sox win. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I suggested 1080 Hartford, but are there any better options? (I also asked a few days ago on rec.radio.shortwave, alt.sports.baseball, and alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox; no response anywhere. With the s/n ratio and wide-range knowledge of this group I figger it's much more likely an answer will pop up.) ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 02:43:55 -0400 Subject: The State of VoIP http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2004/10/22/voip_1.html The State of VoIP by Andy Oram I often go out seeking fertile intersections of technological innovation, new businesses, and policy debates. This month, I found just such an intersection at the Fall 2004 Conference and Expo of the Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition. It bubbled over with a rich, interactive mix of implementers, vendors, service providers, customers, standards committee members, regulators, public interest representatives, and press. Organizer Jeff Pulver predicted over 5000 people -- twice the number who came last year -- to pass through the show. The presence of more than 200 vendors on the exhibit floor showed that a lot of people expect VoIP to generate a lot of money. More on that later. You may think you know Voice Over IP. It's the technology that lets you phone Cairo from San Francisco as casually as you send an email. And it lets you bypass those nasty charges that the FCC levies on behalf of rapacious local phone companies. But wait! The FCC and the local phone companies love VoIP! FCC chair Michael Powell came up to Boston for the Tuesday morning session of the VON conference, saying such things as, "You are bringing about a revolution, like the American revolution, bringing power to the people....We need to create a new constitution regulating VoIP that reflects that revolution. If we do, we will be rewarded as our forefathers were ... VOIP has ignited a fire under a stalled industry." And the day before, a spokesperson from Verizon gleefully called VoIP a disruptive technology (not a trait that one would expect to endear VoIP to an established incumbent) and touted it as a selling point for DSL. So what's going on? To get some perspective on what VoIP means to different people, we have to look at some of the technical challenges, then at its business prospects, and finally at regulatory issues. Full story at: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2004/10/22/voip_1.html ------------------------------ From: Paul A Lee Subject: More About Poly-D Creatures Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:34:31 -0400 Organization: Rite Aid Corporation In TELECOM Digest V23 #505, our esteemed Editor wrote (in part): > ...how many toes does a cat have on its paws? Some people > would say 'five', which is normally the correct answer. But > some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The > vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex'... > I guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years > or so. "Polydactyly" [polly DAK tih lee] is the name of the condition; animals affected by it are described as "polydactyl" or "polydactylous". It occurs in cats, humans, and other critters. One or two extra fingers or finger-like growths of cartilage beyond the "pinkie" finger is the more common form. An extra thumb is rarer, and an extra middle, index, or ring finger (usually a cartilaginous projection from a finger) is the rarest form. Polydactyl people and cats were thought to be witches in medieval Europe, and as such, were frequently put to death. Count Rugen, the villain in "The Princess Bride" who was played by Christopher Guest, was polydactyl. I have known at least three polydactyl people, all of whom had their polydactyl fingers surgically removed in infancy. The only one with extra toes kept them; his parents were told that removing them could make it more difficult to walk, because of the way the toes had formed. He wore something like a 'EEEE' shoe width. One of these acquaintances, a mild-mannered fellow I went to high school with, was later shot and killed during the last of his dozen or so bank robberies in the Denver area. He had been nicknamed "the gentleman robber" (as I recall) for his conduct during his crimes. Not gentlemanly enough to keep him from getting shot, it seems. (The examples above are not meant to imply any predilection toward antisocial behavior by polydactyl people.) Lots of good Google hits on "polydactyl" -- too many and too much variety to try to include here. Can't think of a telecom tie-in, I'm afraid. Call this "Friday trivia" ... Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789 P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Except today is Tuesday, not Friday, but that's okay. Little Nicholas (the first one who was always so loving and friendly to humans) was polydactyl as I mentioned before. But he *never* went outside, I think he was afraid of being outside. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #514 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Oct 26 20:00:38 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9R00cW02018; Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:00:38 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:00:38 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410270000.i9R00cW02018@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #515 TELECOM Digest Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:01:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 515 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Vonage(R) Launches Virtual Phone Numbers From London (Lisa Minter) InfiniCall Adds Brazil to Its Unlimited VoIP Calling Plan (Lisa Minter) Re: Infinicall Adds Brazil to Unlimited VOIP Calling (Angela Epstein) Verizon California Terminates ISDN, FX, Other Services (Jeff Sutter) DT003 Help Needed (Jabriol) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Baseball Broadcast Station? (dold@XReXXBaseb.usenet.us.com) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (J Kelly) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Mark Roberts) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Minter Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 12:28:30 -0400 Subject: Vonage(R) Launches Virtual Phone Numbers from London http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-26-2004/0002310515&STORY&EDATE= Vonage(R) Launches Virtual Phone Numbers from London Vonage Customers within the United States and Canada Can Now Have a London Number EDISON, N.J., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage, the leading provider of broadband phone service, today announced the availability of virtual numbers with London city codes. Vonage's current and future customers can now select London-based virtual numbers for $4.99 USD/$7.99 CAD per month. Virtual Phone Numbers are inexpensive secondary numbers that ring to the primary Vonage line. London-based virtual numbers make it less expensive for friends, relatives and business professionals residing and working in the United Kingdom's leading cultural and business sector to make calls to the U.S. and Canada. The people they are calling now have numbers local to their calling area. "For several months, Vonage's customers have been requesting the ability to have London telephone numbers to communicate with family members, friends and business associates," said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman & CEO of Vonage. "Vonage has responded quickly to our customers' demands that we make keeping in contact with friends and loved ones abroad easier and more convenient by offering a local number as a point of contact, no matter where you are in the world." Full story at: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-26-2004/0002310515&STORY&EDATE= ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:28:09 -0400 Subject: InfiniCall Adds Brazil to Its Unlimited VoIP Calling Plan Jack Decker notes: I think this is the first I've heard of this company -- they do not seem to have the sort of web portal that most consumer VoIP companies have nowadays, but this appears to be the lowest monthly rate I've seen yet for this kind of calling area. If they really deliver unlimited calling to all the mentioned countries for $15 per month that could be quite a bargain, but the very little information given on their web site doesn't really inspire me with confidence (How is their service utilized? Do they have local numbers for incoming calls, and if so, where? What sort of adapter do they use, if any? Their site is very short on information of that type!). Please use all normal caution in dealing with an unknown company, but if you do decide to try them, please post a review. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-25-2004/0002309136&STORY&EDATE= InfiniCall Adds Brazil to Its Unlimited VoIP Calling Plan LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- InfiniCall Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: INFL) is pleased to announce that it will add the country of Brazil to its unlimited calling plan for all InfiniCall VoIP subscribers, effective November 8, 2004. InfiniCall provides its customers with unlimited monthly calls within the continental United States, Canada, most of Europe, selected countries in Asia and two Latin America countries: Argentina and now Brazil for a flat monthly fee of just $15. InfiniCall Chairman, Gary Rasmussen commented that "with the addition of Brazil to the InfiniCall unlimited dialing plan, we now are able to offer coverage to six of South America's ten most populous cities." About InfiniCall Corporation InfiniCall is a rapidly emerging company in the fast growing VoIP industry. The company provides its customers with access to extremely low cost, long-distance calling via the Internet, using only a standard telephone handset or their personal computer. Contact: http://www.infinicall.net James Trodden (323) 653-6010 Web Site: http://www.infinicall.net ------------------------------ From: Angela Epstein Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 17:20:50 -0400 Subject: Re: InfiniCall Adds Brazil to Its Unlimited VoIP Calling Plan BroadVoice provides unlimited calls within USA and Canada as well as 22 countries for $19.95 a month. For $24.95 one can get 35 countries. Some of those countries are in Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. These prices include basic and advanced features for free (24). You can't beat that! Angela M-Epstein www.broadvoice.com VoIP number: 860 523 5476 cell number: 917 509 ------------------------------ From: lurkeroo@yahoo.com (Jeff Sutter) Subject: Verizon California Terminates ISDN, FX, Other Services Date: 26 Oct 2004 13:05:51 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com In my Verizon bill, there was a tiny insert, advising me that a number of services would be "grandfathered", including some I've never heard of, nor have the people at the Verizon (GTE) office. They include (abbreviated list -- several custom calling bundles omitted) Digital ISDN Single Line Service Verizon Dial Datalink Service Foreign Exchange Service - Primary Service Residence and "InContact". GTE always made it extremely difficult to obtain residential or business FX or ISDN services, and their billing of said services was often fraught with gross errors (some in the customer's favor). It is unfortunate that their obfuscation and pricing policies will now result in justifying the end of useful technologies. ------------------------------ From: jabriol1@excite.com (Jabriol) Subject: DT003 Questions Date: 26 Oct 2004 10:12:30 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com All, I have this data module, I suspect it works with my NEAX 2400. I am using a PA-4DTLA board in the system and can run a data module set up for RS232. However, when I set up the DT-003 data module (V.35) the line on the board becomes busy and it will not pass data. Is there any help you can offer? Thank in Advance. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: 26 Oct 2004 11:22:56 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) wrote > They are still in use at railway-station platforms on the Dutch > national railways. > I don't believe these were "Solari boards" which functioned on a > similar principle and were often used on TV game shows to keep score. "Solari" makes train station announcement boards that are in use in many U.S. train stations. Early models used flip over panels where one panel contained a city name, another panel type of service (ie LOCAL, EXPRESS), etc. Later models use tiny panels of single letters so that various messages could be spelled out without physically changing the board. Many of these boards are still in use. Newer boards use illuminated displays which dispense with moving parts. It was reported that in one station which got a new board, they had to add a clicking sound that the prior mechanical panel made so people would look up and check the board for changes. I have found some illuminated panels harder to read than the mechanical ones. Sometimes the letters are too thick and at a distance "bleed" together; and there is also insufficient sharpness or blackness of the background. I don't know if Solari makes the illumninated panels. It was kind of neat watching the displays change on the mechanical flipover panels. These boards are much bigger than TV screens are with larger letters and more information, but there is usually only one master panel per station, with connected TV monitors at other places in the station. There are also minature panels at track gates. One psgr railroad carrier inherited manual pull down metal signs. The gate usher would use a window pole and the sign was hinged. These were replaced by TV monitors which didn't show as much information and were inaccurate. There are other stations with badly working TV monitors. That annoys the heck out of me because TV monitor departure signage is very old technology and the implementers or operators are just plain incompetent. If they can't run their computers, go back to the hinged signs. ------------------------------ From: dold@XReXXBaseb.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Baseball Broadcast Station? Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:03:53 UTC Organization: a2i network jtaylor wrote: > Yeah, it's probably not absolutely telecom related (they don't have > the reporters on the 'phone to the station at hockey games anymore, > either), but my neighbour has a good SW radio and wants to hear the > Red Sox win. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I suggested 1080 > Hartford, but are there any better options? http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/affiliatebyshow?show=M BANGOR, ME WZON-AM 620 BANGOR ROCKLAND, ME WRKD-AM 1450 PORTLAND AUBURN http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/shortwave/ Armed Forces Radio Network. Keflavik, Iceland Upper Sideband 13,855 KHz and 7,590 KHz http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/sports/schedule.asp Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 16:46:56 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 06:10:20 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > n article , J Kelly > wrote: >> On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 01:18:22 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com >> (Robert Bonomi) wrote: >>> WOI-TV was in operation _long_ before 'Iowa Public Television' came >>> into existence. In point of fact, WOI-TV was the _first_ TV station >>> in the state broadcasting on a regular schedule. >> WOI was in fact on way before Iowa Public Television. IPTV began in >> 1969 when the State Educational Radio and Television Facility Board >> purchased KDPS-TV (Des Moines Public Schools) Channel 11 in Des Moines >> and changed the callsign to KDIN-TV. The network was known as Iowa >> Educational Broadcasting Network (IEBN). Seven other stations >> followed over the next 8 years, and one more was added in 2003 when >> they acquired channel 36 in Davenport. In 1976 the name was changed >> to Iowa Public Broadcasting Network, and was changed to Iowa Public >> Television in 1982. > The first expansion was the addition of Channel 12 (KIIN TV), in Iowa > City. > By circa 1975, there were KDIN, KIIN, and at least 7 UHF 'repeater' > stations across the state. With a decent directional antenna, > virtually every place in the state was within reception range of one > of the transmitters. > The 'repeater' stations were very high-tech (for their day), > *automated*, systems. A high-gain channel-11 antenna pointed towards > Des Moines, coupled to a carrier-operated-relay, that triggered the > transmitter into operation. If KDIN was on the air, the repeater > stations came up, and rebroadcast the signal; when KDIN shut down for > the night, the repeaters turned themselves off, too. > Well, *MOST* of the time. Late one night, in the fall of 1973 (74?), > I was DX hunting with my little B&W, *rabbit-ears*only* TV, in my > apartment on the outskirts of downtown Des Moines. Here is this > *snowy* picture on channel 11 -- old gangster movie. Took quite a > while for a call-sign to come by WQXI. Just for grins, I _called_ the > station, to let them know they had a viewer "way out in Iowa". This > got to be a _very_ strange phone converation. The station > _chief_engineer_ was working the night shift that night, and actually > answered the phone, =himself=. He got *real* upset, and asked me > _exactly_ what I'm seeing, what kind of a monstrosity I'm using for an > antenna, *exactly* where I am, etc., etc. The more detail I provided > in answer to the questions, the _more_upset_ he was getting. > Finally, we get through the panic, and he explains -- several weeks > previously, 'skip' conditions had been 'just right', and their signal > had been hitting Iowa with enough signal strength to *trigger* some of > the IEBN repeaters. Most notably the one in northwest Iowa, from > who's 'viewpoint', Atlanta was nearly in a straight line with Des > Moines. > This led to an incredible stack of paperwork, to mollify the FCC. > Here was 'retransmission'/'rebroadcasting' of a commercial TV station, > *without* the permission/consent of the originating station. Here was > _commercial_ content on an 'educational TV' repeater channel. etc., > etc., ad nauseum. Oh yeah, those remote 'repeater' stations were > automated enough that they did _not_ have an 'engineer on duty' at the > transmitter site. The 'local' engineer had remote monitoring gear at > his house, or wherever. Note: this was *monitoring* capability, > _only_. He did *not* have anything like a 'kill switch' for the > transmitter -- could *not* shut it down, except from on-site > brute-force controls, if the master station (or what the hardware > *thought* was the master station :) was 'on the air'. > As a result of _that_ 'design stupidity', the "problem" recurred > _again_ the next night. And several following nights. Which made the > paperwork swamp *MUCH* worse. Now it wasn't a _single_ 'inadvertent' > error, but a repeated pattern of "illegal" behavior. > He had just finished up (i.e., a day or two previously) _his_ stack of > paper- work related to the problem, > *believing*it*to*be*finally*resolved*, and was relaxing as things got > back to normal -- and this phone call comes in from IOWA, where > somebody is seeing his station, *AGAIN*(!!) In that light, the > 'upset' was quite understandable -- and he _did_ relax considerably > when it was established that I _was_ watching on channel *11* -- not > on some repeater output frequency. The "repeater sites" (and they were NOT repeaters but full tv transmitters) were in fact manned whenever they were on the air. An engineer turned them on and off at the start and end of the day. At no time was there ever any carrier operated relays that turned on the stations. They were turned on manually from the transmitter site itself by a station engineer. I've talked to engineers that have been working at IPTV since the KDPS days and nobody remembers anything about the above story. If there was a whole mess of FCC paperwork generated over it, someone there would remember it. ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:31:31 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters Wesrock@aol.com had written: > markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) writes: >> It's not unique. KOMU-TV was and is still owned by the University of >> Missouri, and is the NBC affiliate for Columbia and Jefferson City. >> From 1953 until 1956, it was the only station in the area and carried >> all three networks. From 1956 until 1971, it was also the secondary >> ABC affiliate for the market. >> Its newsroom is staffed by School of Journalism instructors and >> students, who report and produce the station's newscasts. > The University of Missouri also publishes a commercial daily newspaper > in competition with a locally-owned one, with not only its newsroom > but its advertising department staffed by School of Journalism > instructors and students. > Certainly real world training for both news editors and reporters and > also advertising salesmen and saleswomen. > The privately-owned newspaper feels strongly it is unfair competition. As last I recall, the Missourian's (J-school) circulation was about 25% of the privately-owned Tribune's, even though the Missourian is the morning paper and the Tribune the afternoon paper (plus Saturday and Sunday mornings). The family that owns the Tribune has quietly complained about the situation but does not seem to have suffered terribly. In fact, it benefits from being able to hire recent grads at newbie wage rates. All the sales staff for KOMU-TV are full-time employees of the station. Mark Roberts | "You'll know gas prices are hurting when you see headlines Oakland, Cal.| about plunging sales of sport utility vehicles." NO HTML MAIL | -- Floyd Norris, New York Times, October 23, 2004 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert have enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. 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