You are currently browsing the Alan Spicer Marine Telecom Blog weblog archives for February, 2009.
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- 13. May 2012: 4G LTE Troubles in Paradise for Apple iPad Worldwide Use (LTE = Let them eat (cake))
- 12. May 2012: Yacht Fire in Antibes old port ... info from Dockwalk.com Docktalk Forum
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- 5. May 2012: Amateur Radio Contact: TM95BA - ARRAS, France - 40 Meters Band - 4545.8 mi
- 3. May 2012: Amateur Radio Contact: EA6QY - Menorca, Balearic Islands (Spain) - 4801.8 mi
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Archive for February 2009
WiMax Florishes [sic: Flourishes] — but Globally, Not Locally, Intel Says
16. February 2009 by admin.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/159569/article.html?tk=nl_dnxnws
PC World >> Networking >> Wireless
WiMax Florishes [sic: Flourishes] — but Globally, Not Locally, Intel Says
Lincoln Spector, The Industry Standard
Feb 15, 2009 11:50 am
Intel is continuing its effort to build support around WiMax. However, there are signs that growth has stalled in the United States.
Last week, company executives discussed WiMax deployment in a teleconference with reporters, and tried to put a happy face on the long-range wireless technology. WiMax is happening, apparently just not here.
(more at the link)
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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Sirius XM Announces Possible Bankruptcy Filing if Refinancing Talks Fail
16. February 2009 by admin.
* I’ve seen a number of yachts get Sirius / XM Radio for entertainment - music purposes onboard. So here is news on Sirius XM Radio - and some other Satellite Communications related news bulletins from SatelliteToday.com. If the links don’t hold together just copy and paste them into your browser location line.
Satellite Today…
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] Sirius XM Radio may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection as early as Feb. 17 if talks to refinance $175 million in company bonds fall through, Sirius XM announced Feb…. read more.
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,dvji,tj,3h63,e4xb
Arianespace Launches SES and Eutelsat Satellites
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] Arianespace has successfully launched Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 10 and SES New Skies’ NSS-9 satellites, Arianespace announced Feb. 12. The mission also launched two microsatellites for the Spirale demonstration program. Liftoff… read more.
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,dxnq,2ofb,3h63,e4xb
SES Posts Steady Results
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] SES saw a slight increase in overall revenues, but a fall in net profits, according to its 2008 end-of-the-year financial results released Feb. 13. The operator reported group revenues of 1.63 billion euros ($2.09 billion), an increase of 1.2 percent… read more.
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,ap0h,c1hi,3h63,e4xb
Starling to Unveil New Emergency Vehicle Satellite Antenna
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] Starling Advanced Communications is introducing its StarCar antenna system for land vehicles, the company announced Feb. 13. The StarCar self-contained antenna system features RF and electronics housed directly on the antenna. Starling said that the… read more.
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,kprt,ikr8,3h63,e4xb
Viasat Sees Subscriber Numbers Fall
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] Viasat had 745,000 DTH subscribers in the Nordic region as of December - a fall of 10,000 subscribers in the last year, the company announced Feb. 13. … read more.
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,dxdc,g5rc,3h63,e4xb
DigitalGlobe Names New Senior Vice President of Sales
[Satellite Today 02-16-09] DigitalGlobe named Rafay Khan as its new senior vice president of international sales, the company announced Feb…. read more
http://mail.accessintelemail.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=9ij,14w54,fbf,i20u,jnpk,3h63,e4xb
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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The Sky is Falling! … The … Was it a Bird? A Plane? Falling Parts of Satellites?
16. February 2009 by admin.
* The news and blogs and such are a buzzing … about stuff that fell from the sky recently - Sunday morning around Houston, Texas (yes the “Houston, we’ve had a problem” Houston) which many thought was space debris from the recent Russian and U.S. Iridium satellites collission.
* But nothing has been confirmed. And other information points to it NOT being related to that satellite collision.
NASA told TIME on Sunday that the events seen and heard earlier in the day bore the hallmarks of a natural incident; debris from a satellite collision is generally too small to be seen. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1879709,00.html)
NOAA and the FAA chimed in to provide their own warnings.
The U.S. Strategic Command said there was no connection to reports of a “fireball” in the sky over Texas on Sunday and Tuesday’s collision of satellites from the U.S. and Russia.
“There is no correlation between the debris from that collision and those reports of re-entry,” said Maj. Regina Winchester, of STRATCOM. (Military denies link to ‘fireball’ reports, satellite collision: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6264797.html)
This image provided by the European Space Agency shows an artists impression of catalogued objects in low-Earth orbit viewed over the Equator.
* So… It just might be that NEWS, even false news, travels faster than a speeding space debris or meteorite! 
Being that the news has gotten to a lot more of us - a lot faster - than it would have in years past… people may just be jumping to conclusions because of the timing of events, one that they learned of from NEWS, and another that they were a witness to (or read of others being a witness too.)
* What it seems to me like ought to be done … is to come up with a Space Cleanup Program. And more responsibility in causing space debris in the first place. If someone could just invent a Hubble (ahem… Rubble) Space Vacuum Cleaner … well maybe that wouldn’t work in the vacuum of space?
* So now we’ve got Global Warming, The Economy, and Space Debris … that ought to keep us busy for awhile. Can’t we create some jobs out of that?
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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Microsoft Windows - Internet Connection Sharing (bug / fix?)
15. February 2009 by admin.
Sometimes on yachts I’ve used Windows ICS - Internet Connection Sharing to share and existing Fast Internet Connection (such as a WiFi Antenna or Cellular 3G Card) as it was an inexpensive way to share such Internet Connections onto an onboard network.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Connection_Sharing
for this discussion…
I stopped using that and recommending it a couple of years ago because I noticed a bug in Windows XP and Media Center Editions … the connection would stop sharing (e.g. computers onboard could no longer seem to go to web sites, although the sharing computer still could!) So we had the famous “wiggle” of taking the sharing back off, rebooting the computer, and turning the sharing back on. Anyway it’s not the best way to run a network on a yacht… so I had pretty much stopped using it.
In particular, my troubleshooting showed that the connection was actually still shared - but - DNS resolution was no longer being proxied by the Sharing Computer. (See DNS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System)
I never was able to get an answer from Microsoft or anyone as to how to resolve the problem. Interestingly it seems that recently such a bug has been attributed to Windows XP Service Pack 3. (I think it was occurring on Service Pack 2 as well!)
* The Wikipedia Article on Connection sharing has the following notation:
Windows XP SP3 Bug
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) introduces a bug in ICS that requires restarting the ICS Windows service after several events, including disconnecting the network cable from the ICS machine.
In Microsoft support article KB951446, the process of restarting the ICS service is explained, but there is no mention of a plan to fix this bug in the future[1].
In later Microsoft support article KB951830, more details and a hotfix (Update for Windows XP (KB951830)) are given.[2][3] This hotfix is not currently being distributed via Windows Update, and so it must be manually installed.
* And the Microsoft page:
has the following notation:
Brief Description
Install this update to resolve the issue in which a client cannot resolve DNS after the network adapter is connectoed/disconnected or disabled/enabled, on a system running Windows XP Service Pack 3.
* Hmmmmm? That sure sounds like my good old ICS bug. I wonder if that really fixes it?
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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Around 20 yachts in Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show - transmitting AIS Information
15. February 2009 by admin.
http://www.marinetelecom.net/yachts-miami/
Around 20 yachts in the Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show - are sending out AIS information as can be seen on http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
So you can see a few of the yacht names that are moored there at the show.
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom - Presidents Day Special
15. February 2009 by admin.
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom - Presidents Day Special
10% off Marine WiFi Hotspot Sharing System *
10% off Marine Cellular 3G Internet Sharing System *
* With the purchase of 1 year Consulting and Support Agreement. Maximum 24 hour Response Time - Telephone and Email C&S Agreement. Get complete support with designing, documenting, and installation support for the above systems - and consulting and support for your communications, computers, and onboard networking all year long.
Give the C&S Agreement as a gift. It’s the gift for yacht owners, captains, engineers, or crews that keeps on giving all year long.
* You’ll have questions and I’ll have answers - unlimited (within reason) help and support all year long. Describe a problem (e.g. with your onboard network / wireless) and I’ll solve it.
* Save on labor costs (as compared to hourly consulting - avg. $60 to $80 and hour) and get help whenever you need it.
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
Posted in Main | No Comments »
More data sharing urged to avoid satellite crashes
14. February 2009 by admin.
More data sharing urged to avoid satellite crashes
http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE51C73720090213
More data sharing urged to avoid satellite crashes
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tuesday’s collision of two satellites in space may not be the last unless big changes are made in the way government and commercial satellite operators share data, an expert on satellite orbits warned on Friday.
“Just because it took 50 years for it to happen doesn’t mean it’s going to be 50 years before the next one,” said retired U.S. Air Force Colonel T.S. Kelso, who was the first director of the Air Force Space Command Space Analysis Centre and is advising Iridium Satellite LLC, whose communications satellite was destroyed in the crash.
Kelso runs a website dedicated to tracking satellites and debris for the private Centre for Space Standards & Innovation and has developed a sophisticated computer program that provides regular information when satellites are going to be passing close by each other or space debris.
The model projected 151 other objects had been more likely to collide on Tuesday than the defunct Russian military satellite and the Iridium satellite, Kelso said. The closest approach was expected to be about 74 metres (243 feet) between another Russian satellite and debris from a second Russian satellite.
Iridium 33, the satellite that crashed, was due to pass within 527 metres (1,729 feet) of another object, even closer than the projected pass by the Russian satellite, Kelso said.
“The process is only as good as the data. If we don’t all share the best data we have, we’re going to have more collisions,” said Kelso, who added he had been urging the Air Force for years to adopt use of the computer-based system and disclose fully all its orbital data.
He said U.S. officials needed to work more closely with commercial and civilian satellite operators and share data to avert future collisions. “There’s absolutely no reason for anybody to be withholding data that could have been used to avoid collisions like the one on Tuesday.”
The U.S. Defence [sic] Department has said it did not predict the collision and Iridium has said it had no warning before the collision, which created two big clouds of debris, containing at least 500 to 600 identifiable pieces. Continued…
Some space experts question if the Air Force had better classified data in its possession than it makes public, as officials have sometimes suggested. If so, it may have simply not focussed on the Iridium satellite.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” said one expert who asked not to be identified. “I don’t know if you can talk about incompetence, but it’s pretty borderline.”
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday it was not possible for the U.S. military to track and predict the movements of all 18,000 objects in space all the time.
The Air Force and Defence Department historically have resisted disclosing what they consider classified data to satellite operators, but experts and several nongovernmental organizations have warned for years that failure to share data could eventually result in a collision.
Space has become increasingly crowded due to more nations launching satellites and growing numbers of dead satellites still in orbit but no longer controllable, including a new U.S. missile-warning satellite that failed in September.
Marine Corps General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former head of the command that runs U.S. military space operations, said on Thursday he would like to see more information-sharing on debris avoidance with Russia, China, France and other countries using space.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Peter Cooney)
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
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Marine / Yacht Professionals Link Up with me on LinkedIn
13. February 2009 by admin.
Marine and Yachting Professionals be sure to look me up on LinkedIn and Connect with me on there. I am also on Plaxo and other connection networks online - so feel free to ask if I’m on a particular one that you like - for keeping track of your important contacts.
Thanks,
—
Alan Spicer
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanspicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net/
http://www.wifiyacht.net/
+1 954-683-3426
Posted in Main | No Comments »
Specials for Yachts at Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show / Miami International Boat Show
13. February 2009 by admin.
Specials for Yachts at Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show / Miami International Boat Show
* I am just reading the new Special Triton - Triton Today Miami as I just got the email about it. No doubt a lot of yacht people like The Triton as well as it’s a very respected paper in the yachting community.
The news has it that people-traffic might be a little slow compared to past years at the show, but captains / etc. say they are looking for quality rather than quantity of prospective visitors that may very well be yacht buyers.
Also docking at the show, was, rather challenging (as to be expected I guess) docking big yachts in very tight quarters - really taxes the skills and nerve of the yacht captains driving the boats going into the show.
There’s more than one show, reports the Triton Newspaper - there’s the one the Megayachts are going to: The Yacht and Brokerage Show (set up between 41 Street and 51 Street alongside Collins Avenue in Miami Beach) and the Miami International Boat Show housed primarily in the Miami Beach Convention Center. So make sure you don’t get confused if you are meeting someone there.
* * * * Alan Spicer Marine Telecom is offerring Specials on Marine Internet Access Systems and related installation (or consulting / support to install it yourself) - including fixing up (or creating) onboard networking for wired computers along with wireless networking for laptops and such. Times are Tough and Budgets are so tight they squeak - I think? Consolidate your installation consulting and support costs to a flat rate with Alan Spicer Marine Telecom - Yearly Consulting and Support Agreements. I’ll cut the cost of WiFi Hotspot Sharing Systems and Cellular 3G Internet Sharing Systems - with a sign-up for one of these C&S Agreements. Call me for details on this.
I always include documentation, network design, and support for new systems with every C&S Agreement purchased. I have done many a sail and motor yacht via remote consulting for Internet and Onboard Networking Systems. Installation by us is also available for Time-and-Materials or by a Quote - if desired. C&S Agreements are Telephone and Email Consulting and Support for 1 Full Year + 1 Onboard Visit 1 Hour in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area - and they do not just cover gear you’ve purchased from ASMT - but virtually any Communications and Computer Consulting all year long (within reason of course.)
I think I am the Yacht Network Busters … a pun on the Ghost Busters … Do you have bugs in your Yacht Internet Access Systems? Do you have trouble with your Onboard Network? Call the Yacht Network Buster - Alan Spicer Marine Telecom. Have you had a captain or crew change? Do you need someone to come aboard and figure out what all the network and Internet gear tangle is? Call the Yacht Network Buster - Alan Spicer Marine Telecom. I can come onboard and untangle the wires and the wireless and document out what you have, what you need to fix, and what you need to replace … and give you simple operating instructions.
Thank You!
—
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
communications (at) marinetelecom.net
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Yachts/Marine/Internet: Reminder AT&T discounted rate plans for Laptop Cards (DataConnect Global), PDAs, Smartphones and iPhones
13. February 2009 by admin.
* Hello again -
Having a yacht in the Bahamas … I wanted to remind yacht users of the AT&T discounted rate plans for Laptop Cards (DataConnect Global), PDAs, Smartphones and iPhones for International usage.
You have to be careful so as to not run up a huge ($10K +) Internet Roaming Bill on Cellular 2G, 2.5G, and 3G Internet when roaming outside of the U.S. AT&T Customers can subscribe to discounted rate plans - that - TRUST ME - will come in a LOT less than if you roam on AT&T without it.
I talk about this on my Bahamas / Carribean Cellular Page:
http://www.marinetelecom.net/bahamas-cellular.html
* Here it is:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp
and …
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/dataconnect-global.jsp
—
Happy Roaming and Happy Saving Money!
—
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
communications (at) marinetelecom.net
Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »