Monthly Archives: February 2012

Ham Radio Two-Way Contact with Radio Station: C5LT on 7.155 Mhz on 40 Meter Band. SSB (LSB).

http://www.qrz.com/db/C5LT

C5LT – KOLOLI, THE GAMBIA – QRZ.COM image
Bearing

88.7° E (from KA4UDX)
 
Distance

4206.9 mi (6770.3 km)

C5LT-Google-Earth

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

http://www.qrz.com/db/AO1POL

20 Meters, 14.325.40 Mhz, radio contact with Aviles, Spain
Bearing

55.8° NE (from KA4UDX)
 
Distance

4385.6 mi (7058.0 km)

AO1POL QRZ.COM image – Antartic Activity Week – Spain

AO1POL-Google-Earth-1

AO1POL-Google-Earth-2

AO1POL-Google-Earth-3

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

20 Meters, 14.247 Mhz – contact with Iceland – Radio Station http://www.qrz.com/db/TF8GX TF8GX in a good DX Pileup …

TF8GX QRZ.COM image (QSL card example)

TF8GX Google Earth Image #1

TF8GX Google Earth Image #2

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

“Marine Telecom (Communications)” you can search for this exactly in search engines like google.com. It’s a open group about all things related to electronic communications on marine vessels. If you are a member on LinkedIn you can join the group. You can post discussions if you are not a member – but they will be moderated my ME. If a post is appropriate I will allow it.

Please join us!

—

Alan Spicer

Marine Telecom

+1 954 683 3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

We see ourselves as link between the yacht and all services the yacht might require, like shipyards, agencies, suppliers, technicians etc. and we work completely independent on the side of the yacht.  If you are new to the Mediterranean we will organize absolutely everything you might require for a minimal fee.

We specialize in the TECHNICAL CONSULTING & COMPLETE ASSISTANCE for yachts which travel the Mediterranean Sea and will organize absolutely everything, from the sourcing of spare parts to repairs of any kind, the organization for maintenance and complete refits, but we are not a substitute for a Yacht Management company. We will also help with voyage planning and through our vast network of trusted yacht agencies, provisioning companies and spare part suppliers we are able to make your cruises in the Mediterranean Sea as trouble free as possible.

We provide a single contact point to obtain expert advice and customized assistance for all yachting requirements in the Mediterranean Sea. The overall running cost of a yacht can be significantly reduced due to our established relations with suppliers, technicians, repair shops, shipyards and the centralized purchasing of spare parts and equipment. Our network partners are sure to speak the language of the country your yacht is cruising in and will have the local knowledge and contacts to solve the various problems that arise.

Please visit www.blueseayachts.com for detailed information.

—

BlueSeaYachts.com will also be the newest member of our Blog Roll here on Blog.MarineTelecom.net – having actually met Captain Heinz W. Krodel onboard a yacht (of which he was the Master / Captain) I personally vouch for him as a good and professional person – and highly recommend his services.

http://www.qrz.com/db/lu5ft - contact on 10 meters 28.390 Mhz.

We just had sunset here in S. Florida … The Grey Line is interesting … this contact is Transequatorial as well and around 4265.0 mi. If you take the azimuth (direction or bearing) and distance and swing that over across the United States it would reach way west into the Pacific Ocean and almost to Hawaii. So CORREA (SF) Argentina is a pretty good contact. Similarly going east this distance would get us into Africa or well on the way to entering the Mediterranean Sea areas.

Also just worked KE6TT in Highland, California on 17 Meters – 18.136 Mhz … near San Bernardino.

Notice the line between daylight and darkness runs through South Florida and also through the contacts location in Argentina

And the conact is Transequatorial because it passes over the equator

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/business/media/fcc-bars-airwave-use-for-broadband-plan.html
By EDWARD WYATT
 
Published: February 14, 2012

WASHINGTON — A proposed wireless broadband network that would provide voice and Internet service using airwaves once reserved for satellite-telephone transmissions should be shelved because it interferes with GPS technology, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.

The F.C.C. statement revokes the conditional approval for the network given last year. It comes after an opinion by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which said that “there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time” with GPS devices. The telecommunications and information agency oversees telecommunications policy at the Commerce Department.

The news appears to squash the near-term hopes for the network pushed by LightSquared, a Virginia company that is majority-owned by Philip Falcone, a New York hedge fund manager.

(more at the link above …)

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=lightsquared+l+band+inmarsat&pbx=1&oq=lightsquared+l+band+inmarsat&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=2406l15311l0l15452l34l21l4l9l9l1l272l3029l0.18.3l34l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=b30422be46fe4a44&biw=1536&bih=746

* That’s a google.com search for “lightsquared+L+Band+Inmarsat”

http://www.inmarsat.com/About/Investors/Press_releases/00037058.aspx?language=&textonly=False

28-01-2011 – Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT.L), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today announced that it has received notice from LightSquared triggering Phase 2 of the Cooperation Agreement between Inmarsat and LightSquared.

Under Phase 2 of the Cooperation Agreement Inmarsat will support a spectrum plan that increases the total capacity available through the LightSquared network. In return Inmarsat will immediately begin to receive payments of US$115m per annum, payable quarterly in advance. Phase 2 of the Cooperation Agreement has an initial minimum commitment period of 5 years. In connection with the notice announced today, Inmarsat has received a first partial quarterly payment of US$20.1m.

Perry Melton, Inmarsat’s Chief Operating Officer said, “In preparation for the notice received today, Inmarsat has already initiated programmes to ensure our customers are protected from interference risks and has conducted analysis of the issues over an extended period. Inmarsat is confident that the effects on customers will be minimal and, where needed, will be dealt with responsibly.”

The notice for Phase 2 follows the notice given in August 2010 for Phase 1. Under Phase 1 Inmarsat and LightSquared agreed to a plan to enable the re-banding and efficient reuse of L-band radio spectrum covering North America. Phase 1, which is currently being implemented, is designed to increase the contiguous spectrum available to support the deployment of 4G ancillary terrestrial component (“ATC”) services and to protect the continued deployment and growth of MSS activities in North America.

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/110620-inmarsat-stake-lightsquared-outcome.html

Mon, 20 June, 2011
 
Inmarsat has $1B at Stake in LightSquared Outcome

PARIS — Mobile satellite services operator Inmarsat has more than $1 billion riding on the success of LightSquared’s satellite-terrestrial wireless broadband network and in the past has dismissed concerns about LightSquared’s interference with GPS signals.

But as the GPS community — industry and government, including the U.S. Department of Defense — has pushed the issue to higher visibility on Washington’s political agenda, London-based Inmarsat has been more muted in its defense of LightSquared.

In recent weeks, as it has become clear that Reston, Va.-based LightSquared may need to throttle back its use of L-band spectrum or even seek to replace it with S-band spectrum, Inmarsat has been more circumspect.

Inmarsat spokesman Christopher McLaughlin on June 16 said the company is following LightSquared’s travails closely but only as a spectator, not a participant. Inmarsat had backed LightSquared in the latter company’s regulatory dealings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

To provide the high-speed links that it needs for its 4G LTE mobile broadband network, LightSquared is paying Inmarsat to rearrange Inmarsat’s use of L-band spectrum, leaving LightSquared with two unbroken chunks of L-band frequency.

http://connectedplanetonline.com/3g4g/news/lightsquared-inmarsat-spectrum-081810/

Aug 18, 2010 5:09 PM,

LightSquared swapping spectrum with Inmarsat

By Kevin Fitchard

“The wholesale 4G operator trying to “de-frag” its satellite spectrum, optimizing it for LTE deployment.”

New 4G operator LightSquared is swapping out spectrum with fellow satellite operator Inmarsat in an effort to align its frequency holdings with its long-term evolution deployment plans.

Though LightSquared has received FCC permission to use its 59 MHz of L-band satellite spectrum for terrestrial mobile broadband services, the interlaced L-band licenses are hardly optimized for a wideband 4G deployment. LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access technology, which through the use of sub-channels can spread a single LTE carrier over virtually any amount of spectrum. The more contiguous spectrum an operator packs into that channel, the more capacity it can offer over a single wireless carrier, while still effectively using the same infrastructure. For instance, Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) is testing LTE in a configuration that uses a 20 MHz downlink and a 20 MHz uplink channel, which could allow it to support speeds as high as 70 Mb/s.
…

“We and Inmarsat are the big dogs in the L-band,” Caplan said. “When we were awarded our spectrum, though, it was interlaced to reflect our status as satellite providers.” To use an old IT computing term, LightSquared’s spectrum “need to be de-fragged,” Caplan said.

* emphasis added … “to reflect our status as SATELLITE PROVIDERS” …

http://betanews.com/2012/02/14/curtains-for-lightsquared-ntia-says-gps-interference-is-unfixable/

Curtains for LightSquared? NTIA says GPS interference is unfixable

By Tim Conneally
Published 6 hours ago

LightSquared, the aspiring 4G wireless network built in the “L band” of spectrum has been under fire from the GPS industry for the last year over the interference the experimental network was shown to create for GPS receivers.
 
Due to the L-band’s close proximity to frequencies used in satellite communications, about half of the frequencies LightSquared planned to use in its network were shown to cause interference on some GPS receivers.
 
Today, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which declared the interference to be unavoidable.

“Based on NTIA’s independent evaluation of the testing and analysis performed over the last several months, we conclude that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time,” the letter said.
 
“NTIA, the federal agency that coordinates spectrum uses for the military and other federal government entities, has now concluded that there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time,” the FCC replied in a statement on Tuesday evening. “Consequently, the Commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared. The International Bureau of the Commission is proposing to (1) vacate the Conditional Waiver Order, and (2) suspend indefinitely LightSquared’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component authority to an extent consistent with the NTIA letter.”
 
Lightsquared issued its own response to the letter, saying that it was committed to finding a resolution, no matter what the NTIA has found.
 
“LightSquared profoundly disagrees with both the NTIA’s and the PNT’s recommendations, which disregard more than a decade of regulatory orders, and in doing so, jeopardize private enterprise, jobs and investment in America’s future. NTIA relies on interference standards that have never been used in this context, and were forced by the GPS community in order to reach the conclusions presented today. This, together with a severely flawed testing process that relied on obsolete and niche devices, shows that the FCC should take the NTIA’s recommendation with a generous helping of salt. Despite LightSquared’s success in finding technical solutions and the acknowledgement by a senior government official that GPS receivers are specifically designed to rely on spectrum licensed to LightSquared, it is extremely disappointing that this recommendation was made today.”

* “profoundly…”, “extremely…”. Uh huh.

* So, just where is this L Band and where are the GPS frequencies????

http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/glossary.html

L Band
 The radio frequencies that extend from 390 MHz to 1550 MHz. The GPS carrier frequencies are in the L band (1227.6 MHz and 1575.42 MHz).

* Read the following for yourself … static.arstechnica.com/lightsquarednewplan.pdf -

… the overall conclusion is that transmissions in the 10 MHz band at the top of LightSquared’s downlink frequencies — the band nearest to the GPS frequencies— will adversely affect the performance of a significant number of legacy GPS receivers.1

The reason for this is not because LightSquared would be improperly transmitting in the GPS band. Rather it is because legacy GPS receivers do not adequately reject transmissions from base stations operating in the adjacent frequency band because the GPS receivers have been deliberately or, sometimes, inadvertently, designed or manufactured with the assumption that there would (more below …)

1 This 10 MHz band, referred to as the upper 10 MHz or upper channel in this document, refers specifically to the 1545.2-1555.2 MHz channel in the L-Band authorized for operation by LightSquared.

be no adjacent-band terrestrial transmissions — ignoring regulations first adopted in 2003 that permit such transmissions. While the GPS device manufacturers have offered many justifications for this assumption — justifications that are not supported by the plain facts of the FCC record or, for that matter, by the FCC — it is inescapable that it is their disregard for the Commission’s policies regarding the immunity of receivers to transmissions in nearby frequency bands that is the source of the technical problem. 2

2 See n.5, infra.

5 Flexibility for Delivery of Communications by Mobile Satellite Service Providers in the 2GHz Band, the L-Band, and the 1.6/2.4 GHz Band, Memorandum Opinion and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration, IB Docket No. 01-185, FCC 05-30, at 21, ¶ 56 (rel. Feb. 25, 2005) (“2005 ATC Reconsideration Order”) (“Generally, we do not regulate the susceptibility of receivers to interference from transmissions on nearby frequencies. Rather, we rely on the marketplace — manufacturers and service providers — to decide how much susceptibility to interference will be acceptable to consumers. In addition, we generally do not limit one party’s ability to use the spectrum based on another party’s choice regarding receiver susceptibility.”).

* This one also related … www.nmea.org/Assets/lightsquared625pm%20input%20doc.pdf

* Comments by Alan Spicer – We have all been touched by, and most of us have used, radio communications of one sort or the other. Wether you have used CB Radio, Amateur Radio, or Commercial / Military Radio – and even more so today with WiFi and Cellular (including your 2G’s, 3G’s, and 4G’s) most everybody has operation a radio set of some sort whether they realize it or not. Television even further qualifies this statement. We have all no doubt witnessed incidents of “radio interference” mostly unintentional but sometimes intentional – even malicous.

Radio receivers are both old and new technology … radio has been around for quite a long time. I don’t think I can remember a time in my lifetime when there was not some form of radio (and later television by radio waves.) Radio receivers have to deal with detecting very weak signals … and have to be somewhat broadband in their frequency range in order to be “tuneable” so that we can choose what signal, what station we want to receive. So the front end has to have a certain “bandwidth” or range of frequencies that it will accept … There is first filtering that removes everything else that’s not in that desired bandwidth … and then comes tuning and amplification, and mixer stages of the receiver. The mixer “mixes” a locally generated signal in order to shift the frequency of the signal down to a lower one (called IF or Intermediate Frequency) that is easier to process with the electronics we have availabled. Its amplified again and detected (turned into Audio, or other things in the television or digital realms) and sent to the OUTPUT.

It is the problem of this “bandwidth” of the receiver front end, that Lightsquared and others are talking about when they say that GPS receivers are too “wide” or to large in “bandwidth” of receive, thus facilitating the Lightsquared problem of causing interference to GPS receiver devices.

* MS-DOS prompts “Abort, Retry, Fail?” after being commanded to list a directory with no diskette in the drive. In computing, Abort, Retry, Fail? So the questions is also posed to Lightsquared … Do you Abort? Retry? or Fail? It sure looks like a RETRY so far. But there also seemed to be ABORT sequences enacted to acquire S band frequencies that FAILED which is why some of the other links that I found were also interesting.

Hindsight is 20/20 they say … but I have to ask: Didn’t Lightsquared know that there would be this GPS interference problem? Before they spent a lot of money with Inmarsat for the L band frequencies? Didn’t they do like a Wind Tunnel Test (a Faraday Radio Cage Test) on their transmitters on their frequencies against one of the most common consumer, government, business, and military DEVICES in existence today???? What were they thinking?

* “One thing I know about fishing is somehow it doesn’t work out so good for THE BAIT”. I heard that in a movie somewhere. I think “the people”, “the could be workers and could be maybe making money companies”, “the economy” … are the bait. Harbinger Hedge Fund

Define “Harbinger” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harbinger - Could be someone(s) that go ahead … a heralding? or a warning? Could also be a Host or a Shelter … a Tax Shelter? Hey I’m just reading this stuff … Sign Post Ahead … Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

Harbinger is a Hedge Fund …  trying to Hedge Their Bets. I wonder how true is all this promise of THE PEOPLE gaining so much tons of money in benefits and jobs and business gaining so much tons of money in all of this. Or is Lightsquared trying to become the next Microsoft, Apple Computer, or AT&T of the Broadband world? A “Wholesale Broadband LTE 4G Provider” puts them in the middle of ALL OF 4G in the USA. That’s pretty damn big. I’m not a lawyer nor a finance professional … but does that put them ahead of Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint as  the biggest “Carrier” of all Carriers?

Are they saying anywhere how much they stand to gain in all of this? How big will they become?

Diehard 2 Quote: Holly McClane: Listen, buster, you endangered my children. And you didn’t do it for anything as noble as The People. The only time you even see The People is when you look down to see what it is you’re stepping on.
 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-15/falcone-s-harbinger-seeking-to-sell-stake-in-ferrous-resources.html

Bloomberg

Falcone’s Harbinger Seeking to Sell Stake in Ferrous Resources
February 15, 2012, 6:18 AM EST

By Tiffany Kary and Jesse Riseborough
 

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) — Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, the New York-based hedge fund run by billionaire Phil Falcone, is seeking to sell shares in Brazilian iron-ore producer Ferrous Resources Ltd. to raise cash for loan repayments.

Harbinger Capital Master Fund’s 19.5 percent holding in Ferrous will be “marketed to investors immediately,” according to loan documents seen by Bloomberg News. The proceeds will be used to repay a $190 million loan Harbinger got Jan. 30 from Jefferies Group Inc., according to the documents. It didn’t specify whether Harbinger, owner of 26 percent of Ferrous, would seek to sell its remaining stake.

Falcone, whose hedge fund tumbled by almost half last year because of a troubled wireless venture, is paying 15 percent interest on the loan, according to two people with knowledge of the terms. Ferrous has been looking for a strategic partner to help finance its Brazilian projects since at least 2009, having shelved plans in June 2010 for a $400 million initial public offering in London because of volatile equity markets.

The fund values Ferrous at $3.13 a share, or $486 million for the 19.5 percent held by the Harbinger Capital Master Fund, the documents that describe the loan show.

Harbinger’s interest rate is almost triple what the riskiest corporate borrowers pay, the people said last week. Mike Sitrick, a spokesman for Harbinger, declined to comment.

* Do we have any video?




Trouble for Phil Falcone




Falcone to Congress on Hedge Funds




Austin Calls Out Light Squared (Fox Clip) … Is someones wheels getting greased?




Hail Mary from Lightsquared ????




Protecting The Future Of GPS




(Better understanding of the interference issues to GPS) LightSquared Network Interfering with Military GPS




Obama is invested in Lightsquared … was there government lieing asked for?




Movie Clip: The Aviator – Howard Hughes Senate Hearings
“I’m afraid you don’t know how the aviation industry works, senator, wining and dining Airforce dignitaries is common in our business, because we all want the big contracts … all the major aircraft companies do it now. … If you pass a law that says noone can entertain Airforce officers well hell I’d be happy to abide by it.”

* Also from The Aviator … One Airline can do it better … (?) Maybe we need more than one airline, with more frequencies not near GPS, to fly this National 4G Broadband thing. Maybe Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and others can do it just fine on their own?

* Lightsquared is here to save the World, well the United States World anyway …

http://www.lightsquared.com/press-room/press-releases/lightsquared-response-to-fcc-public-notice/

 * Can we, umm, have a second and third opinion (or more) on the Saving the U.S. World statement?

“So, you’re here to save the world? … What do you say to something like that?” (The Matrix) What do we say to something like that????

 * The GPS manufacturers are riding on a huge taxpayer subsidized system … Uh huh. And … What are you riding on? Did you invent satellites, did you invent LTE? Did you create the market for 3G, 4G? Where are you going to get your customers from? Oh … they were already there. The Cellular companies are already there. You are going to have to have some BIG customers … probably start with those already trying to deploy their own 4G LTE. What if they weren’t there? What if there weren’t any “Shoulders of Giants” to stand on? 

* The impending broadband crisis … Really? Just how impending is that? Did any body go hungry? Lose their job? Rural areas need broadband … Yah… So how far away is the nearest broadband signal. Does “Sky Net” (The Terminator) really need to be built to cover the rural areas? It seems to me like someone ought to be able to find the nearest BIG PIPE Internet and pipe it in there on the local level. Is a massive LTE wholesale land based system really needed for that? If they can’t even get Internet in their farm houses do they really need it on their Cell Phones or Tablet Computers? And if it could be brought into their farm houses then it seems like it would be trivial for Wireless ISP’s to get it to a tower and broadcast it over 5 Ghz or such bands.

http://www.lightsquared.com/uncategorized/gps-too-big-to-fail/

Is the spectrum crisis a myth?

http://gigaom.com/broadband/is-the-spectrum-crisis-a-myth/

and … The Perils of Chicken Little -

http://displaydaily.com/2011/12/05/the-perils-of-chicken-little/

This makes some good points as well … are all of the people (rural or not) that the FCC and Lightsquared (and all) really going to get on “the program”? Some of the could care less, some of them have no budget for it … Cable companies calculate the “homes passed” thing in how many subscribers they get in an area. This article mentions that as well. Just how many people, how many homes passed, that you say are In Peril really care about all of this?




And here’s the pitch … WirelessForAmerica.org (for Lightsquared?)

* Download #5 PDF doc at the bottom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Khalismatic

- See page 9, number 2 -

2. Adopting Fair Use Policies

Unlike voice services, wireless data usage is marked by a small percentage of users generating
disproportionate amounts of traffic. AT&T estimates that 3% of their smartphone users generate
nearly 40% of total smartphone data traffic.56 Much of the extreme data use involves video and
streaming audio, which are both data intensive.

* Also most cellular users, aside from the remaining AT&T iPhone “Unlimited” customers, are limited to 5 Gb a month. Some, like myself recently getting an iPhone, are on a 2 Gb per month plan. So their usage cannot grow. A lot of people probably do like I do and severely limit their 3G (or 4G) cellular data usage. Running most of the time on WiFi which feeds off of Landline based High Speed Internet. It’s quite possible to hop between home and office, and coffee shops, etc. where you can get on WiFi. WiFi is generally free or very cheap compared to cellular data.

It might be that we are being sold a bill of goods, in order to turn us into Data Pigs … to feed the Mother Ship. We need more … we need more … Nahhh. No we don’t. There’s only a crisis if you whip us into a frenzy of a crisis. Most mobile phone and tablet users can download content AT HOME and carry it with them if they MUST have Entertainment on the road. There will be business needs for mobile data usage … but I believe the majority of the hyped crisis is depending on the masses to consume stuff they don’t need, or could download and carry with them, to consume bandwidth that they don’t need to consume.

I think the cell companies are doing just fine.

Cougar was doing fine … Uh uh …

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

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

communications @ marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426