31. July 2010 by admin.

July 30, 2010

House and Senate Pass Important Air Safety Legislation

The House and Senate voted in support of important air safety provisions that were combined with a 60-day extension of the full FAA Reauthorization Act.

Maury Lane of FedEx has issued the following statement:

 FedEx has long supported the important air safety legislation which Congress has now passed. We also support Congress’ effort to pass a broad reauthorization bill, without extraneous labor provisions, after the summer recess.

The Senate has already made it clear the UPS bailout cannot pass in the Senate and in March it voted 93-0 to approve the FAA bill without the anti-competitive UPS provision.

We call on Chairman Oberstar and UPS to abandon this misguided bailout effort and let this vital FAA legislation move to the president for his signature. 

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

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

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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24. July 2010 by admin.

Announcement from Marine Telecom (Communications)

Thank you to everyone that has joined Marine Telecom (Communications). Please tell your friends and colleagues, who are marine professionals, either vessel crew/officers, or support persons (shore support, electronics, marinas, shipyards) working in marine to please join us.

Please ask questions … please post discussions. Tell us the story of your shipboard communications. What would you change if you could? What do you like? What do you dislike? Any comments on how a particular service (e.g. satellite system) works?

This isn’t just about satellite though, anything that communicates to and from a marine vessel. VHF, SSB HF, WiFi, WiMax, Cellular, Voice over IP Telephony (in marine application), etc. We’re not trying to be a General Marine Electronics forum but even AIS signals are both SENT as well as RECEIVED.

If you have a product, for marine now (underlined)…, please offer it up!

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom • We’re definately going to discourage things that are off topic of the group. So if doesn’t meet the criteria of coming in over the airwaves (and on occassion via landlines connected to a marine vessel) then it will likely get challenged by the moderator(s). We’re not going to tolerate forum spam on here … like some other groups do. Having said that … if you do have a product or service that meets this criteria, then you are welcomed to post it.

—
Alan Spicer

DBA Alan Spicer Telcom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
Computer Services, Wired/Wireless Networking,
Cell/Sat/Landline Communications, General Consulting…
Marine, Business, Small Office and Home Office (SOHO)

* Cost Savings and Integration of Multiple Internet Technologies
on board Sail and Motor Yachts * Documentation, Operating
Instructions, and Support after the Sale *

* http://www.marinetelecom.net/
* http://www.internetforyachts.net/
* http://www.wifiyacht.net/
* 954-683-3426

Mobile Internet! Step up to the HSPA 3G Fast Internet!

Ericsson W35 released in the USA. This you’ve gotta SEE!!
Better looking presentation than W25 (you might not want to
hide this one in the Doghouse!) + High Speed Upload which
the W25 did not have.
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/

Livewire: Access Controller (Service Selector):
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Livewire_Service_Selector/

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24. July 2010 by admin.

Happy Birthday to me today … well for about 12 more minutes. And then it’s another day and somebody elses birthday.

—

Alan Spicer

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24. July 2010 by admin.

I just took another Google Earth shot of the Hurricane Hunter track and the Tropical Storm (Bonnie) now in the Gulf of Mexico in BP Oil Spill territory …

Here’s my latest screen shot of the Hurricane Hunter Plane flying in the Tropical Storm Bonnie area…

And here is my latest Tropical Storm Bonnie screen shot from Google Earth

The storm doesn’t look very organized at this point … just enough to be a P.I.T.A. and throw some thunderstorms. Probably enough to be troublesome for the BP Oil Spill Cleanup Operations.

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom

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

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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23. July 2010 by admin.

This is what the Hurricane Hunter plug-in shows me right now for the Hurricane Hunter mission on Tropical Storm Bonnie heading for the area of South Florida and the Florida Keys.

And later they fly back through the storm area … coming up on 0800 Z time.

And here is the weather (Tropical Storm Bonnie)  that  they are looking at. It looks like they flew pretty close to what I think the “eye” of the storm is. You can see the plane exiting the cloud cover from the Weather overlay built-in to Google Earth.

It looks like they’re not going home yet … From the data on the plot so far (see the colors of the flags) it looks like approaching 50 Mph wind speed in some areas. That doesn’t look good. But I’m not the official word.

* More of these screen shots of the tracking and the storm will be here shortly (12:30 Z)::

http://www.marinetelecom.net/TropicalStormBonnieHurricaneHunterTrack

— 

**** Happy Birthday to Alan Spicer - July 23rd **** 

Alan Spicer

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23. July 2010 by admin.

http://www.tropicalatlantic.com/satellite/#taoverlays

Weather related things to Plug In to Google Earth

But you really have to click and drill down to the things that you want. But if you do … a lot of data is available (*requires you to be Internet Connected, because it downloads) related to Storm weather and regular / Marine Data.

I originally found this while searching for SSB radio frequencies for Hurricane Hunter aircraft.

http://www.tropicalatlantic.com/recon/

—

Alan Spicer

Weather related things to Plug In to Google Earth

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23. July 2010 by admin.

WTNT33 KNHC 230242
TCPAT3
BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM BONNIE ADVISORY NUMBER   3
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL     AL032010
1100 PM EDT THU JUL 22 2010
 
…CENTER OF BONNIE APPROACHING THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS…NEW
TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS FOR SOUTHERN FLORIDA…
 
 
SUMMARY OF 1100 PM EDT…0300 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————–
LOCATION…23.4N 76.5W
ABOUT 125 MI…200 KM SSE OF NASSAU
ABOUT 285 MI…460 KM SE OF MIAMI FLORIDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…40 MPH…65 KM/HR
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NW OR 305 DEGREES AT 14 MPH…22 KM/HR
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…1007 MB…29.74 INCHES
 
 
WATCHES AND WARNINGS
——————–
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY…
 
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE EAST COAST OF
FLORIDA NORTH OF GOLDEN BEACH TO DEERFIELD BEACH.
 
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE WEST COAST OF
FLORIDA NORTH OF BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD.
 
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT…
 
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR…
* CENTRAL AND NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS
* FOR THE FLORIDA EAST COAST FROM DEERFIELD BEACH SOUTHWARD
INCLUDING THE ENTIRE FLORIDA KEYS AND FLORIDA BAY…AND ALONG THE
WEST COAST OF FLORIDA NORTHWARD TO ENGLEWOOD
 
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IN IN EFFECT FOR…
* THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA NORTH OF DEERFIELD BEACH TO JUPITER
INLET INCLUDING LAKE OKEECHOBEE
 
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 36 HOURS.
 
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA.
 
INTEREST ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF COAST SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS
OF BONNIE.  WATCHES MAY BE REQUIRED FOR PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN
GULF COAST ON FRIDAY.
 
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA IN THE UNITED
STATES…INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS…PLEASE
MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
FORECAST OFFICE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE
UNITED STATES…PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.
 
 
DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
——————————
AT 1100 PM EDT…0300 UTC…THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM BONNIE WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 23.4 NORTH…LONGITUDE 76.5 WEST. BONNIE IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH…22 KM/HR.  A TURN TOWARD
THE WEST-NORTHWEST AND A FASTER FORWARD SPEED ARE FORECAST ON
FRIDAY.  ON THE FORECAST TRACK…THE CENTER OF BONNIE IS EXPECTED
TO PASS NEAR OR OVER THE FLORIDA KEYS AND THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA
PENINSULA ON FRIDAY…AND MOVE INTO THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH…65 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  SLOW STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
 
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES…75 KM
MAINLY TO THE NORTHEAST OF THE CENTER.
 
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1007 MB…29.74 INCHES.
 
 
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
———————-
WIND…TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS WILL SPREAD OVER THE CENTRAL AND
NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL
BEGIN TO DETERIORATE ON THE FLORIDA COAST AND FLORIDA KEYS WITHIN
THE WARNING AREA EARLY FRIDAY MORNING.
 
RAINFALL…BONNIE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF
2 TO 4 INCHES OVER SOUTH FLORIDA…WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM
AMOUNTS OF 6 INCHES.  RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED
OVER THE CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST BAHAMAS…WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED
AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 7 INCHES.
 
STORM SURGE…STORM SURGE WILL RAISE WATER LEVELS BY AS MUCH AS 1 TO
2 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL OVER PORTIONS OF THE BAHAMAS…THE FLORIDA
KEYS…AND THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA.
 
 
NEXT ADVISORY
————-
NEXT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY…200 AM EDT.
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY…500 AM EDT.
 
$$
FORECASTER BEVEN
 
 
 

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23. July 2010 by admin.

MIT and St. Paul’s [prep school] were harder to “trick” than  the actual intel and security communities. Read…

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/201645/fake_femme_fatale_shows_social_network_risks.html?tk=nl_bdx_h_crawl

Hundreds of people in the information security, military and intelligence fields recently found themselves with egg on their faces after sharing personal information with a fictitious Navy cyberthreat analyst named “Robin Sage,” whose profile on prominent social networking sites was created by a security researcher to illustrate the risks of social networking.

(more at the link above…)

Alan Spicer comments: This illustrates that people that you meet online can very likely not be who or what they represent themselves to be. That goes for simple chat rooms, as well as online Social Networks like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and more. You wouldn’t want to give up your secrets (trade or otherwise) to just anybody - without checking them out a bit more thoroughly. Think of that movie Avatar … and what an Avatar is online. Everyone is just an avatar until proven otherwise. Everyone is not real, not really who they say they are, until it have been proven otherwise. There is no innocent until proven guilty in this stuff.

One social networking (People Search) site I just joined gives you points for listing web sites, but verifiable web sites. Web sites that you have access to upload a simple text file. Without that kind of access, and without you putting that text file, your web site is not “verified”.

Email, for that matter, may not be reliable proof of identity, on an initial contact. Of course someone could also attempt to “social engineer” you by voice telephone as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(security). So, in effect, this “social networking” test, was a “social engineering” test via social networks on the Internet.

Anyway, on the Military and Intelligence community side of this thing - it’s a bit scary. I imagine a few MEMOs will go out instructing persons not to use social networking. At least not for anything besides personal use.

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom

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

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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21. July 2010 by admin.

http://www.satellitetoday.com/via/features/34566.html

Security breeches in the satellite world occur far more frequently than one is led to believe. They are discussed in hushed whispers and don’t generate the sensational news coverage that happened when Captain Midnight overrode HBO’s cable programming from a teleport in Florida in 1986. Perhaps if they did, security would be a higher priority.
August 1, 2010 | Via Satellite | By Greg Berlocher
Regardless of whether data is transmitted via radio wave, fiber optic strand or copper cable, if the network the data rides on interconnects with the Internet, the data is at risk. For many years, satellite networks were isolated, private affairs enjoying security through obscurity, but that all changed with the advent of IP-based networking gear, VPN backhauls and broadband ISPs. Network security should be the top priority of every hardware manufacturer and satellite service provider, but unfortunately, many satellite networks are not subjected to the same rigor as terrestrial-based networks. In short, security is an afterthought.

(more at the article link above…)

Alan Spicers Comments: I saw the Captain Midnight event live on TV when it occurred.

I looked the guy up and he is still around. He really got lucky on the legal side with that one. I traded a few emails with him about this. http://www.macdougallelect.com/bio.html this is his Bio Page from his current web site.

What could worry some people is just how easily he did that back then, and wondering how easily such a thing could be done nowadays? Many technologies, such as satellite, can use Security by Obscurity, rather than any real security. Everything has inputs and outputs … uplinks and downlinks … transmit sides and receive sides. Often it’s just a matter of having the right equipment (either yours, borrowed, or as in the case of Captain Midnight - in the course of your employment somewhere) to be able to “hit” the input. Things have offsets - transmit and receive frequencies that are different. Often they are industry standard (e.g. 5 Mhz in UHF two way radio) but sometimes they are what they call an “Odd Split” and do not follow the industry standard. There are also other protections such as PL (CTCSS) Tone Encode and Decode and Digital versions of the same idea.

What I’m saying is that often “Systems” (Infrastructure as Homeland Security would call it) often work on a “Trusted” basis. They trust that noone else would have the equipment and would transmit *there* (wherever that would be) besides the authorized or “Trusted” station(s).

I don’t claim to know how Satellite TV uplink and downlink security is done these days, nor how broadband Internet Satellite does it either. But this article seems to be raising some kind of concern. So, … it was interesting!

So there you have it!

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom

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

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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21. July 2010 by admin.

AT&T to launch LTE with Ericsson - this isn’t a new video, but … to give Ericsson a fair shake here on my blog - Ericsson has been chosen for AT&T’s LTE launch which this video says could be as soon as next year?

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom

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

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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