He’s changed his mind. Not sure for how long but we are sure happy to see him stay for Amateur radio and for GMRS! Riley Hollingsworth rocks! (Click read more to read the latest.
(PopWireless: SouthGate ARC. Click read more!)
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is reportedly “very interested” in a world where people share their WiFi connections in return for free access to other wireless hotspots in their communities, and recently met with the founder of upstart provider FON, whose business aims might just dovetail with the iPhone maker.
(PopWireless: Get the scoop at Appleinsider.com. Click read more.)
“Google-powered phones will come already configured with a bundle of the most popular Google services, such Google search, Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail. But that would just be the beginning…”
(PopWireless: Techconsumer.com has the details. Click read more.)
Due to California Wildfires AT&T has stated it will be offering Free T-Mobile Hot Spot Wi-Fi services to San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange and Ventura counties. There will be about 600 locations to get AT&T hot spot wi-fi at no charge.
The offering began on October 27th, 2007 and will last a few weeks.
Wireless technology company faces substantial drop in cell phone sales for third quarter.
(PopWireless: Why do you suppose? Click read more. CNN.com has the news.)
The tech giants’ mobile software efforts could give developers the long-awaited upper hand over cellular carriers—and even Symbian and Microsoft.
The SMC WSKP100 Skype Wi-Fi phone extends the convenience of wireless connection and the voice quality of Skype into one portable device. The WSKP100 is intended to help users make Skype calls at home, workplace and campus without the hassle of turning on computers.
GPS-based tracking devices don’t just help you figure out where you are and where you’re going, they might also help you avoid a speeding ticket.
The Eye-Fi. It’s an SD memory card that adds Wi-Fi to any camera. Plus the free Eye-Fi service supports automatic uploads to 20 different web photo sites (like Flickr) as well as a computer on your home network.
(PopWireless: Way cool kids! See the article at Gizmodo.com. Click read more.)
BEAVERTON, Ore.
— VTech is now shipping its first Bluetooth-enabled 5.8GHz digital spread spectrum cordless phone system, the company said earlier this month.
(PopWireless: This is cool! Be sure to click through at the “read more” link below to learn more about using Blue Tooth with your home telephone. )
In a win for consumers, the FCC chairman has declared that Verizon will have to obey the open access requirements.
Rock.
read more | digg story
The American Radio Relay League took the FCC to court over its lax rules concerning BPL interference to HF communications. The panel of 3 judges hasn’t ruled yet, nor has it given any indication of what the ruling might be. It is important to note that Amateur Radio Operators are NOT against BPL. There ARE systems that don’t cause interference.
(PopWireless: Article on the ARRL’s case against BPL with the FCC from News.com. Click read more below to read the entire article at News.com)
It takes a second to realize that what you see on Dashwire.com’s cool gray interface is content from your mobile phone. That’s probably because you’re not used to reading it so easily.
There on Dashwire’s spacious Internet dashboard are your photos and videos, contacts, bookmarks,
(PopWireless: Thank you news.com and Digg.com for this interesting news. Click read more below to read the original article.)
Canadian Military Signs Contract to Evaluate Suitability for Northern Surveillance.
(PopWireless: COMM DEV wants to receive AIS data by satellite and make the data available on earth eliminating the need for thousands of shore based dedicated receivers. This is interesting because AIS monitoring by ship spotters is a new and exciting hobby that got its start when AIS was created in 2004. PopularWireless maintains an AIS receiver on the Chesapeake Bay at Plum Point, MD to assist in the identification of ships using GMRS radio frequencies in US waters – FSI identification. The PopularWireless AIS receiver data is output to a publicly available Google Map.)
read more | digg story
In the interest of full disclosure I want readers to know that I am employed as a full-time manager of RadioShack dealership store. A dealership is a privately owned RadioShack e.g. not a company owned store. With that in mind this is my review of the Accurian HD Tabletop radio RadioShack model 120-1686. I am writing the review because my sincere interest in HD radio and of course everything wireless.
Since I turned the first Accurian HD radio on in the store last year I wanted one. The sound for the size is quite impressive. The price was perfect when compared with classic AM radios like the CC Radio Plus sold by CCrane.com as well as the more expensive HD radios. (I also am the proud owner of a CCRadio!
) The Accurian HD tabletop fills a medium size room with plenty of very pleasant sound. When the radio is on a shelf as apposed to being in the middle of the room it has a bit more bass or boom.
What really intrigued me was the hybrid-digital IBOC radio or HD radio capability. The store I manage is south of Washington D.C. by about 30 miles. We are considered outside of the major radio markets both Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Most of our local stations are owned by the same small company and only one in Southern Maryland – WPRS 104.1 in Hughesville that broadcasts in HD. We do however receive a number of very good HD FM broadcast stations and these stations are starting to drive consumer interest – including mine – to purchase the HD radio.
Radio stations WAMU and WJZW piqued my interest because both FM stations have HD only broadcasts on their second HD channel that I enjoy hearing. WAMU at American University has WAMU-2 that broadcasts blue grass around the clock. WJZW-2 has a progressive or new-wave easy listening channel they call 24 by 7 Sunday brunch music. I thought now is the time to try HD radio.
I am a realist. I understand radio theory, wave propagation, digital radio modes and radio antennas. Going into this purchase it was a given that because of where I lived, being so far away from HD content, that outdoor antennas would be a requirement. Because of the distance to HD radio stations even an outdoor antenna was not a guarantee I would receive the content I wanted.
This is really what sets terrestrial HD radio apart from satellite radio like XM or Sirius Radio. Satellite gives you what you want where you want it in more places. HD radio service is limited by by the physics of terrestrial radio wave propagation and can actually disappoint. Satellite while not disappointing in this regard has a $13 a month subscription fee. I was an XM radio subscriber for five years and loved everything but the bill. I also didn’t use it enough to make the bill worth paying. My subscription was ended when I realized I had not turned the satellite radio at home on in over six months.
My home is twelve-miles south east of the store and east of my home the terrain rises to a few hundred feet making reception from the north west on FM radio difficult. The house is some 50 or more miles from most of the HD radio stations. Washington D.C. is to the northwest and Baltimore is farther to the north. See the map.
So I took the Accurian home and hooked it to a Winegard HD 6010 omni-directional antenna temporarily mounted to a five foot pole on the back porch. I hope that results are better if I can get the antenna a little higher.
I can receive just one FM HD radio station:
I hear a strong analog signal from WAMU but no digital signal. WJMZ is all fuzzy. Bummer.
Using the supplied AM antenna did not give me a single HD signal. Connecting a good ground with an 80 foot long wire antenna gave me:
During the evening when the sky wave phenomena is apparent in the AM band I heard the following HD AM stations with unreliable on-off HD signals:
The radio gives me great audio on standard analog AM and FM stations. I was able to listen to Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM on WGY with an excellent analog signal most of the morning. Sunday afternoon I enjoyed WMAL AM in HD.
I am going to keep my fingers crossed that radio stations in and around Southern Maryland will develop HD programming like WAMU and WJZW have. Radio stations now have to create the market for HD radios. Retailers have been offering the radios for over a year now. HD radio will not succeed unless creative radio station owners and operators get to work and build content.
This is not a purchase I regret. I’m hoping that when I get the antenna up another twenty feet WAMU -2 will come in. Even if it doesn’t AM radio still has talk-radio content I enjoy listening to and all my analog favorites are available in the Accurian’s presets. Overall I am satisfied. Folks on the fringes of FM and AM reception may or may not receive HD. Folks in an urban environment will have lots of HD choices. HD stations can offer multiple channels of content. In the Washington D.C. area WAMU offers two HD program options in addition to their primary broadcast.
HD is an improvement for casual listening. FM sounds even better. HD AM sounds better than it did as analog but it does have a nasally compressed digital quality to it. Interesting to hear stereo on an AM signal. Talk programs have a clearer sound quality which is a plus for me. In a subsequent article I’ll write more about the buttons and operation of the radio itself.
The WordPress blog software at this site was upgraded today to 2.3.1. Please contact us if you notice any strangeness.
The PopularWireless.com AIS Google Map introduction page was updated with some useful information on tropospheric ducting.
We encourage readers to leave a kind word for Riley regarding his planned retirement from the FCC. See article on the subject below. Thanks to Matthew for starting the thread. (Thanks to the ARRL web site.)
Originally submitted at Radio Shack
Step up to a new level of photography with this 7.0MP, 10x optical zoom SLR-styled digital camera.
Great camera. Unsatisfactory cam strap!
By Pop from Huntingtown, MD on 10/26/2007
Pros: Easy to Keep Clean, Easy Setup, Bright LCD, Short Lag Time
Cons: Weak Construction, Lousy camera strap
Best Uses: Travel
Describe Yourself: 40 year camera owner
Will not hold up well. Flimsy construction. Does not survive a three foot fall. I love the camera, however after one week it was sent to Fuji for service to the tune of $110. The camera strap failed. It pulled loose on its own while I wore it around my neck. You wear a camera strap with the camera to keep it from falling! The strap worked loose and the camera dropped to the ground cracking the plastic case above the view finder. My subsequent testing of the strap on a table top proved the strap does not work. Attached as described in the manual you can gently pull the strap free of the camera. The LCD view screen was instantly destroyed in the fall. The strap holder fastener furnished with the camera is NOT the one pictured in the owners manual! The furnished strap CANNOT and WILL NOT work! Fuji was unimpressed. Use care! Take extra precaution with the strap furnished by Fuji because IT WILL FAIL and your $229 camera will suddenly cost you $329. I have finally tied a knot in the strap while I hunt the accessory shops for something decent. Very disappointed in the physical construction. A camera like this should not be this flimsy.
It was easy to contact Fuji to arrange the repair. The facility was in New Jersey. The operators spoke English, and obviously had some customer service training. I packed my camera as instructed with a typed statement of how the camera was damaged. An email address was provided. In just two days I received an email giving me a site to check the status of the repair. When I did I discovered the fee to repair it and authorized the work and provided a credit card number.
The strap problem with this camera is a major foo-pah, a catastrophic failure in product quality associated with a basic function a consumer assumes will always work.
(legalese)
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