10. December 2009 by admin.

Marine - Yachts - Make sure you have a look at:

http://blog.marinetelecom.net/?s=Lightspeed

If you’re looking for a WiFi System to share those WiFi Hotspot Systems that you see in many marinas, yards, and anchorages … we’ve got an App for that. We’ve got a nice Router Box Appliance for that. Make sure you have a look at the above link and also http://www.wifiyacht.net or give me a call.

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom with Bryan Fugett of International Marine Electronics - Presents the Lightspeed - Marine WiFi Bridge/Router System. It can be “jacked in” to your existing onboard network and used as a cost-saving alternative or option among your other Marine Internet Systems onboard. It’s very good at logging onto most Public WiFi Internet Systems (and even private ones with a WEP or WPA code) and routing and sharing that Internet Connectivity onboard to your entire vessel. An existing network can be used, or a new network can be made to support both wired and wireless computers.

That’s what we do

Thanks for looking! Happy Holidays!

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954 683 3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

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10. December 2009 by admin.

The following follow-up or comment was just received on my recent article or articles on Windows 7 where related to marine vessels.

(My reply: Absolutely I’ll look into setting you up with a user account to be able to comment here on my blog. I’ve worked with your company before when working onboard motor yachts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida - and it has always been a pleasure working with your techs and staff on the telephone. And thanks a whole lot for writing me via email.)

 Hi Alan,

First, can I obtain access to your login to leave comments on your blog?

Second, I enjoyed your article on the marine world upgrading to Window 7 and how in the past it was a very large concern due to compatibility with Hardware on the vessel and running the special software to support those hardware devices. Just wanted to add that we see the same with our installation of equipment on vessel but have noticed an improvement with two satellite owners. With the new generation of the Inmarsat and Iridium terminals (FleetBroadBand and Iridium Open Port) the hardware manufactures are going IP based with web interfaces so no longer does the user have to load a piece of software on the computer to use the equipment. As the hardware is IP based, the operating system does not seem to matter. I also have to support our customer and are already getting calls mostly from the pleasure vessels as to “Can I connect to the internet with my new PC using Windows 7 ?”. As you did, I too have multiple PC’s in the LAB running Win 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7 just for the purpose of verifying they work with the new terminals. I have been pleasantly surprised that the new terminals have no problems with these operating systems. Vessels also report that the Windows 7 PC’s seem to be able to quickly adapt to the other peripherals on the vessel such as printers and routers. The larger vessel such as the fishing fleets are very slow to go from something working like XP to the unknown like Vista or Windows 7.

Looking forward to your next articles.

Best regards, Grady

Grady Jeffreys

Technical Specialist

Mackay Communications

3691 Trust Drive

Raleigh, NC 27616

919-850-3041

Visit us online at www.MackaySatellite.com

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net
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10. December 2009 by admin.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Regarding Ericsson Cellular 3G Mobile Broadband Routers (e.g. Marine Cellular Internet):

Orders will officially be closed from  the 23th of December to the 1st of January.

* So really if anyone wants to get an Ericsson W35 this year … you need to have your order in by Tuesday the 15th (next Tuesday) any much past that and you might not get it until after the 1st of January 2010. Next Friday would definately be your drop dead date. No order by then and it will be over a week to get one.

—

Alan Spicer

http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/

+1 954 683 3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

9. December 2009 by admin.

I’ve had the chance to install Windows 7 several times now, and deal with multiple computers with it. I’m not the worlds expert on it that’s for sure, but..

Windows 7 is proving to be a contender in making installs / adding hardware a lot easier.

I did a 32-bit install dual boot with Windows Vista (Home Premium flavors) …

- found 99% of my hardware and made it JUST WORK.

I installed on another newer PC for a customer, then went on location, and this nice “Driver Software Installation” thing pops up … and offers to get all the drivers for Printer, USB-Serial dongles, and I don’t remember what else. About 6 things.

I just upgraded a Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. I had a few snags mainly because Windows 7 upgrade didn’t like existing games that came with an HP PC, and didn’t like the ATI Catalyst software. It also didn’t like the IDE Controller (virtual hardware) that Daemon Tools Light had installed in 64-bit Vista. So I removed what the install/upgrade didn’t like and went ahead with the installation.

On reboot it fixed the ATI software anyway, all on it’s own. Found my Logitech Camera and softwared that all up for me.

I just plugged in and powered up my Canon MP190 scanner - printer hardware - and the “Driver Software Installation” popped up and did that one for me as well.

Sweet!!!!!!!

Too bad there’s quite a bit of legacy stuff out there, in particular in the marine / yachting indusry, that insists on remaining Only Windows XP. Now marine electronics and computer guys are usually cautious on recommending Windows Upgrades anyway, for years they wouldn’t even come off of Windows 2000 and go to XP. They still have boats remaining on XP (now that most have finally taken that plunge.) But getting them onto Windows 7 may take awhile longer. SOME software is finally claiming Vista Compatability or at least on some level. Some are crying that Microsoft is Evil (as usual), some saying Stay on XP, go to Apple Mac, go to Ubuntu Linux. Now I’m all for adventure and I (sort of) like Mac’s and I’ve been a Unix and Linux guy for many many years, but come on … Isn’t it kind of like going with the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in 2012, to give up now and call Windows XP the end of Microsoft Windows? Come on now, the world is changing, hardware is evolving (geeze come on Mac is now running on Intel PC hardware - give me a break) and although there were some issues with Windows Vista - it was a stepping stone for Microsoft on the way to Windows 7. They just might have come quite a bit closer with it. So before you throw in the towel - and go with the Conspiracy Theories, you might just want to give this Puppy a try.

Ummm Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers … here’s my list:

BB+ Dongle (my infrared remote control from HP)

FreeAGent external hard drive

Hammer Morespace external hard drive

QuickCam Pro for Notebooks (yah someone gave it to me)

Sony TV

SCSI CDRom Device

USB Multimedia Cordless Kit

USB2.0-CRW

Canon MP190 series Printer

* Not bad for a report. And Windows 7 found all of this stuff and installed software / drivers for it. Might not be all of the software from the manufacturer. But enough to sure as heck get going in a quite workable fashion.

—

Alan Spicer

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

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6. December 2009 by admin.

This just in … at channel 7 news (I’m kidding)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/183780/microsoft_yahoo_finalize_search_deal.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

Microsoft and Yahoo have finalized the terms of a broad search and advertising agreement intended to help them compete more effectively with Google.

The companies announced the agreement, which Microsoft’s Bing search engine would power Yahoo’s search results, and Yahoo would provide premium search-advertising services for both companies, in July.

They had hoped to finalize the deal in late October but needed more time to work out the details.

In a statement on Friday, the companies said they hope that the transaction will close in early 2010 and that they welcome the broad support the deal has gotten from key players in the advertising industry.

“Microsoft and Yahoo believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation,” the partners said.

In October, four ad executives and the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice in support of the agreement. The DOJ is still reviewing the deal for possible antitrust concerns.

The agreement was nearly a year-and-a-half in the making, during which time Yahoo rejected acquisition offers from Microsoft. The stated goal of the arrangement is to offer stronger search competition to Google, which has about 70 percent market share. Combined, Microsoft and Yahoo make up most of the rest.

(credit PC World for this breaking story)

* Commentary … So what does this mean to the guy on the street? Or the guy on a boat? (I work a lot for marine) - Both Google and Yahoo have been well accepted by lots of people, there will be some concern over Microsoft gaining any kind of control over search engines besides their own BING, which is relatively new as well. Nothing’s wrong with new as far as I can tell, except for the resistance factor of end-users often wanting to delay from deploying anything new until it has been proven or tested to be reasonably satisfactory for general use. This is even more important for Sail and Motor Yacht customers as they have to sail or motor away from much of the amenities that we all take for grant it. But this particular change will be less involving or less important to the yachting community because it doesn’t really change anything about the way the do business or use the Internet in general. It doesn’t break any laptops or computers nor does it break the all important Navigation PC.

It changes only market share dynamics in the search engine and advertising industry. Which may or may not affect us all.

You still get to make your choice and use what you like. Hopefully they don’t find a way to take that way from us (?)

I personally like google.com for my search at present. I do like Yahoo for certain things like Yahoo Groups and Yahoo Chat - which a lot of friend and affiliates use. So I’m not going to play one Giant against the other. I do have certain mindset which like to have things “compartmentalized” … in other words I’d rather have 5 or 10 gadgets that do 1 or a few things good, than 1 gadget that does 100+ things poorly. That might be an old Unix axiom but I don’t care. I like the idea. I like my cell phone to make GOOD phone calls, if it takes good pictures as well, then that’s a worthwhile add-on gadget, but as far as Internet web surfing I don’t need my cell phone to do all of that.

I think your search engine, that you use, every day, will still be a person decision. And you know what’s going to mess them all up? What we use a combination of all of the good ones and see what the hell happens. I do that now.

Mostly I think this is about them trying to corner market share, and trying to make more big bucks for big corporations. But that sheite isn’t putting any more money into my small business at all. So I wish them luck, all of them, Google, MicroSquish, and Yahooooooo hooooooo!

 —

Alan Spicer

http://www.marinetelecom.net et al.

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4. December 2009 by admin.

*I’m* an APP for that…

I’ve been working on a newer PC for a yacht. I’ve also been working on educating myself up-to-date with Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) - and I already have had Vista for quite some time. And I also now have Vista 64-bit. 64-bit operating systems are starting to already appear on new PC’s in stores. Some people may be getting them and not even realizing they just got a 64-bit computer instead of a 32-bit one. 64-bit is, as Howard Hughes said (in the movie “Aviator”), The way of the future… The way of the future… Ask google.com why 64-bit is better. Check out: http://www.gadgetted.com/?p=2394 as well.

So why do you care? Well I wanted this particular yacht to have the capability to run the new Windows 7 because it’s very nice. In install tests on newer hardware that baby is finding 97% or better of the hardware out-of-the-box. Which means I’m installing it and I have to do very little - if any - chasing down of hardware driver software. I’m also finding that it runs a lot of things, that you wouldn’t think it would run.

But I’m on a yacht, you say… I’ve got to run certain stuff that will only run on Windows XP. Well, like I said … I’m an APP for that. That’s the whole point of this article. NOW I would NOT recommend that you do this with your Navigation PC. But for other entertainment and backup Nobeltec PC (or laptop) and such this is definately a viable option.

What’s that? Yes, you can run “dual boot” which means you get a choice of Windows XP or Windows 7 and boot time. One of them is the default and after the clock of around 30 seconds runs out, that one will boot anyway. On the PC I’m doing for a yacht I switched the default so that Windows XP normally boots by default. But there is that nice little choice of being able to boot into Windows 7 as well. Newer software, and even some older software will knock right into Windows 7 and run just fine.

So if anyone needs this kind of service… this kind of magic… on a yacht - then give me a call. I can also get very good pricing on Windows XP Pro, Vista, and Windows 7. I know not too many people are going to be fighting to get Windows Vista. But you really ought to have a look at the new Windows 7!!!!

Thanks!

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

Posted in General Computer onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

2. December 2009 by admin.

The following article I originally published to my mailing list and blog in 2008. I’ve heard several more stories of Cellular Carrier enforcement (usually very friendly but firm) against interference caused by Cellular Repeater devices on Yachts. Today I got another call from one of my customers in Miami, Florida. This time AT&T visited them - and asked them to shut off a Digital Antenna DA4KSBR (DA4000 SBR) Cellular Repeater device. It was causing interference to the cellular network/tower in the area. So in the interest of informing the public and my customers I am again publishing (re-publishing) this article here on my blog. What seems to happen is that the Cellular Repeaters inside antenna “receives” the outside antenna causing the system to go into a “Feedback” loop - which causes spurious radio frequency transmissions (”interference”) causing big problems for the same cellular carrier or different cellular carriers in the area. Here’s the article:

ASMT Bulletin: Big Trouble in “Little Amplifiers” - Cellular Amplifiers/Repeaters

11:05:40, Categories: AST Happenings, 587 words   

Digital Antenna Cellular Repeater causes interference to Alltel Cellular Network

ASMT Bulletin… I received the following information from Captain John on Trinity Motor Yacht - Serendipity II. I’ve already heard reports (AT&T Wireless Engineer here locally) that Digital Antenna amplifiers, and particularly the DA4000SBR type of “repeaters” can cause problems to cellular providers towers. I had never received an actual report from a yacht customer of having any problems (other than non-working units that get replaced) with the gear. Well now I’m a believer. Now I have a real life report of a problem happening. And it was with a DA4000SBR that had been replaced already so it’s fairly new. For those of you running Digital Antenna DA4000SBR “repeaters” you might want to consider taking it out. If you cannot, then at least check it periodically. Maybe add it to your daily checks or “watchstander list of checks” to check and see if the unit has a green light. If it (”occassionally and briefly blinks “Red”".) Unplug it right away. When you plug it back in watch it even more closely after that. If it continues to be found to occassionally and briefly blink “Red”… you’ve got a problem!!!!

We are all responsible for radio signals that we emit from our equipment. We need to be good R.F. (Radio Frequency) neighbors to others on the airwaves and especially to radio carriers such as cellular service providers. We should do whatever we can to make sure that our gear is not causing harmful interference. I am going to stop recommending Digital Antenna DA4000SBR for this purpose. If I get reports on any other Digital Antenna gear I may stop recommending their amplifiers altogether. I’ve been told that it is already a very grey area to even be authorized to run such amplifiers and that such use may go away any day now. I’ve been told that newer cellular tower systems already employ power control capabilities that monitor and adjust automatically the cellular tower power, and the power from customer cellular equipment. Amplifiers, going forward, may not even be as necessary as *some people* think they are. A good antenna and cable system may be all that’s needed to have a good Cellular Internet and Telephone System.

[Begin Quote]

I wanted to touch base with you to let you know about the Digital Antenna PowerMax I “was” using with the Ericsson Cell Phone/Data Alltel Network came knocking on my hull yesterday saying an interferance was coming from our boat to their Channel 294 A-Band and blocking cell phone calls. She showed me on this really cool frequency tracking device and the spike in the frequency. As soon as I shut the power off to the PowerMax the problem disappeared. She told me these particular units made by Digital Antenna have caused problems in the past.
Before unplugging the unit we both noticed the usually green power light would occassionally and briefly blink “Red”. So the unit must have been on the blink again. Remember in November [2007] you found the unit not working at all and I had it repair.
I am removing it from the boat for good and attaching the antenna directly to the Ericsson. So there will be no worries about this in the future. But I thought you might want to know about this product and that I am not an isolated incident.
Regards,

–
John & Crew
M/Y SERENDIPITY II

[End Quote]

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

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