Hi all,
This is a reminder the KK deadline is next week. So you still have sometime
to prepare contributions for the February edition of Key-Klix.
Thanks,
Bill, KG6HXX.
To: All recipients
From: Bill Talanian
Subject: Tower
SB County Search & Rescue is looking for a motorized 20 ft (nested)
self supporting tubular crank-up tower.
Call:
Nelson Trichler
B: 963-5822
The condition of this 13.8 VDC power supply is probably not working, and I don't
have time to check it out. $10.00
If interested, give me a call at 687-8881.
A warmer-than-anticipated day made for a good turnout and excellent
radio-orienteering at Lake Los Carneros, just west of Santa Barbara, on January
6,
2007. It was good to see some newcomers trying the sport for the first time,
with
lots of expert help.
Since the full ARDF course was relatively short, there were only two beginner
transmitters --- just enough to give some practice to the first-timers and
warm-up for the others.
To nobody's surprise, the best time on the full course was turned in by Jay
Hennigan WB6RDV, who has medaled at the USA ARDF Championships and finished
16th on two meters in the World Championships last September. Jay made a trip
around the lake to bag four of the five foxes in 37:20. Unfortunately, due to a
command error (oops!), the fox #5 had been accidentally silenced when he got
close to it. So Jay headed for the finish and then decided to go out again to
find it when it was restored. He was given a fresh start coincident with #1
going on, as all others were. He got #5 and returned in 4:57, which means that
he found it and was back at the finish before it cycled off!
Results of the two-meter five-fox ARDF course:
Name and call Foxes Time
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 5 0:42:17 total for two runs
Scott Moore KF6IKO 5 1:00:01
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 5 1:07:16
Terry Newman AE6JR 5 1:14:40
Steve Ostrander K6OST 4 2:03:28
with Tyler and Diane
Alex Das KI6FDO 3 2:02:14
with Darryl Widman KF6DI
Tony Cirineo KD6DUV 3 2:15:38
Travis Wood AE6GA ? ?
with Garrick
One 80-meter fox was available and four participants found it, with these
elapsed times:
Scott Moore KF6IKO 0:13:45
Jay Hennigan WB6RDV 0:15:28
Bill Smathers KG6HXX 0:16:33
Terry Newman AE6JR 0:44:52
Thanks to Marvin Johnston KE6HTS for organizing this event and updating the
map. Also thanks to April Moell WA6OPS for performing her usual fox-wrangling,
timing, PR and medical duties.
Photos are at www.homingin.com
The next event will be announced soon.
Joe Moell K0OV
8 January 2007
To: Interested parties
From: Bill Talanian
Subject: Wireless Internet, An analysis
The downtown site at La Vigia Hill is receiving interest by a company
that is proposing to install a Wireless Internet at this location.
The location has been surveyed by a consulting and engineering firm.
The Wireless Internet is competitive to what is provided by Cox Cable
and present DSL systems. The present configuration of their system
will consist of 22 selected locations in Santa Barbara with the
back-haul going to the cellular site near the county dump behind the
Sheriff's Station.
The company proposing this system is called Clearwire. The founder is
Craig McCaw (Wendy's ex) who originally was successful with creating
Cellular One. Cellular One was the original cellular company at La
Vigia Hill. It is now called Cingular after McCaw sold his interest to AT&T.
Clearwire proposes to use the present Cingular Tower for their
antennas. Their equipment as I understand it is one footprint and 3
ft in height.
The Club's effort in recent months has expanded our use of the
unlicensed 2.4 GHz band for point-to-point linking and access to the
Internet on the local DSL line. SBARC presently operates in the 2.4
GHz band to/from Diablo and QTH of N6TVE. Our future plan is to route
the Diablo WebCam stream to UCSB. In addition, several other
experimental proposals are on tap to use this spectrum for yet to be
specified ARES use.
Clearwire wireless technology uses OFDM transmission protocol,
featuring a design standard that includes secure wireless data
transmission. Wi-Fi operates on unlicensed 2.4GHz frequencies, making
it vulnerable to scanning and packet interception. Clearwire operates
at licensed 2.5GHz frequencies.
Technically I'm not so sure if SBARC's use of the 2.4 GHz spectrum
will be totally free of local interference once Clearwire cranks up
on 2.5 GHz. We all know what happens when stations in the near field
soak up the ether bandwidth. As usual our relationship with the
telecom industry has always been excellent and cooperative. Typically
the hilltop rationale is, last man in must ensure that mutual
problems are not being generated. We hope not!
Our local experience at La Vigia with DSL Internet access tells us
that bandwidth limitations are hampering our present operations.
Contact was made with Cox Cable to see if they could run a cable line
to our equipment shed. Cox responded with a cost proposal and
discount structure for a 501 group such as SBARC. The installation
cost was fair but not exactly cheap. SBARC is still exploring this option.
Of course one could always say that SBARC should install a Wireless
Internet box and access the Internet via Clearwire. For sure there
would be no excuse for not making it to their wireless system.
Clearwire is still a proposal and it will be a year or more before
anything happens due to permitting and local site agreements. The Cox
Cable alternative is ready and available.
If you run Clearwire on your browser you will get an idea of
Clearwire and their movement in this direction. Here is a CNN clip.
Bill Talanian
Clearwire founder Craig McCaw shakes up the telecom industry again.
<http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/15/technology/disruptors_clearwire.biz2//magaz…>
Business 2.0 Magazine
By <mailto:ESchonfeld@business2.com>Erick Schonfeld and Jeanette
Borzo, Business 2.0
September 21 2006: 10:47 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- The Disruptor: Clearwire
The Innovation: National Wi-Max broadband wireless service
Clearwire
Headquarters: Kirkland, Wash.
Co-CEOs: Craig McCaw, Benjamin Wolff
Founded: 2003
Employees: approx. 1,000
Key stat: 99,500 worldwide subscribers
CNN and Business 2.0 look at ways to improve technology in terms of
engine and fuel efficiency. (September 20)
Play video
The Disrupted: Telecom and cable companies
It's almost a given these days that Clearwire, the Wi-Max wireless
network founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, will shake up the
wireless broadband sector. "If anyone is going to do it, it's going
to be Clearwire," says Joe Laszlo, a senior broadband analyst at
JupiterResearch in New York. "They've got the best technology, great
financing, and a lock on nationwide spectrum." The only real question
seems to be how deep into the telecom establishment the shock waves
from McCaw's latest bit of disruption will penetrate.
Clearwire's initial goal is to create a nationwide broadband wireless
network based on Wi-Max, a more powerful relative of Wi-Fi
technology. Because Wi-Max infrastructure is much cheaper to build
and maintain than traditional networks, some analysts think Clearwire
will be able to seriously undercut the broadband prices of
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=CMCSA>Comcast
(<http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=CMCSA>Charts),
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=VZ>Verizon
(<http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=VZ>Charts), and
their ilk. But the threat posed by McCaw's strategy could be much
greater than just price pressure. Clearwire's approach could put in
jeopardy the billions of dollars that telecoms and cable operators
are pouring into upgrading their existing broadband networks. And in
theory at least, Clearwire could eventually offer the cutting-edge
services that telecoms and cable companies are angling for --
Web-based TV, movies on phones, VOIP calls, and the like. Clearwire
is already offering VOIP phone service to 13 markets, and some expect
the startup to partner with mobile-phone, IPTV, or satellite-TV
companies to further expand its range of services. (Full disclosure:
AOL, owned by the parent company of Business 2.0, is a reseller of
Clearwire Wi-Max service.) "Filling a need that others aren't
addressing has always been a focus of the McCaw companies," says
McCaw's co-chief executive officer, Ben Wolff. "We are creating a
brand-new category."
Certainly, the press-shy McCaw knows a thing or two about shaping
disruptive networks. He began building the country's first national
cellular network in the early 1980s, eventually selling it to AT&T
for $11.5 billion. With Clearwire, McCaw has moved on to Wi-Max.
Wi-Max has big technical advantages over other fast pipes,
particularly Wi-Fi. Unlike Wi-Fi, it operates on a licensed spectrum,
making the service far more reliable. The range of Wi-Fi signals is
measured in hundreds of feet; Wi-Max's range is measured in miles.
Clearwire already offers basic Wi-Max broadband service in Brussels,
Dublin, and 27 U.S. metropolitan markets covering more than 200
cities and towns. Its network had 100,000 subscribers at the end of
March. (The company won't say how many new subscribers it has added
since then or disclose financial details.) Clearwire also has made
the installation process, often a painful hassle for Wi-Fi users,
consumer-friendly with Wi-Max. A customer plugs a paperback-size
modem into a power source and into a computer (via Ethernet) and the
network is good to go. "It's a very simple process for a consumer to
get up and running," says Jupiter's Laszlo.
Clearwire has challengers, notably
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=S>Sprint
(<http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=S>Charts), which
expects to spend as much as $3 billion in the next two years building
a rival Wi-Max network and currently owns more spectrum than
Clearwire. But Clearwire has powerful backers: In July,
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=INTC>Intel
(<http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=INTC>Charts) and
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=MOT>Motorola
(<http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=MOT>Charts) pumped
$900 million into the company, a measure of their faith in McCaw's
approach -- and of their hunger to sell chips and other gear that
make Wi-Max work if it becomes a mainstream service. Perhaps most
important, Clearwire has McCaw. "Disruptive," says Rich Begert, CEO
of Wireless Services and a former McCaw executive, "is the best way
to describe Craig."
**************************
Hi everyone,
Someone asked me a question about going out as a team.
Since this is a training or practice event, it is fine (and even encouraged) to
go out as a team. If you have kids or grandkids, this would be a great
opportunity to do something together.
There will be five transmitters to find, and you or your team will be provided
with a detailed orienteering map of the area. Depending on how many transmitters
you want to find, the course will range from about 1/2 mile to a little over 2
miles.
Reservations are not needed, and the details are on the HomingIn website at
http://www.homingin.com. We have a tradition in place where we go out to
Sizzler's after the event is over and transmitters picked up (about 4:00PM) and
everyone is welcome.
Marvin
Lake Los Carneros Park in Goleta, CA will be the site of southern
California's next international-style on-foot foxhunt on Saturday,
January 6, 2007. The event is free and ideal for both beginners and
experienced radio-orienteers. Full-color orienteering maps will be
available. Course-setter is Marvin Johnston KE6HTS.
The main 5-fox two-meter hunt on 146.565 MHz begins at 10:30 AM.
Hunters may start any time until 12:30 PM. Courses close at 2 PM.
Meet at the Stow House Parking Lot just off of Los Carneros Road.
>From US 101 about 8 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, take the Los
Carneros Road exit, head north about 1/4 mile and turn right into the
parking lot. There should be plenty of free parking. Look for the
orange-and-white orienteering flag. A map to get you to the site is
at www.homingin.com
73,
Joe Moell K0OV
