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Calcutta? Bombay? 

  These pictures were recently taken,  just a few blocks north of the White House in Northwest Washington D.C.  This is an upscale residential neighborhood of homes costing seven figures and Condo's selling for well  into the six figures.  The next time someone suggests restricting a 32 inch satellite dish, just show them these pictures.  I am not sure why there are so many phone wires, everyone I know in D.C. uses a cell phone and has cable.

by Tom Taylor, Publisher June 2009

 

 

 It is 2009, the United States has a new President, the world is in big financial trouble, and financial markets in major trouble in most parts of the world, Gold has become not only important, but absolutely critical to the economic future of Russia.  With Gold this important, readers can appreciate Mike Kohls insights into Russia's Gold mines.  

 Mike Kohl, Our World Traveling Satellite Engineer and Technician, Makes Another Trip to Siberia To Upgrade a "Cable System" for a Mining Company. Tom Taylor 6/08

  

   Mike Kohl, known internationally for his skill at receiving satellite programming in places where they literally say it can't be done, recently returned from Siberia where he upgraded a satellite system that he began installing last year.  All of the big satellite dishes had to be delivered over the frozen ground and lakes by ice road in the same manor as the now famous ice roads of northern Canada.  Note in the left picture the third black dish pointing toward the ground. The look angle is so low for the satellites that an offset dish pointing just above the horizon will actually appear to point into the ground.  

     The Gold mine is operated as a joint venture local  ownership, by a Canadian Company. Russia is expanding their mineral extraction activities.  We have learned the Russia is now the largest oil producing country in the world surpassing Saudi Arabia.  

      For further information on mike's recent trip to Siberia go to his web site http://www.global-cm.net/news&views.html  Mike is located in Southern Wisconsin and is available for satellite work in both locally and internationally.

Pictures by Mike Kohl

      Scroll down for story of Mike's trip last year to Siberia.

 

Old Movies, Hunting, Fishing, Sports, Movies, James Brown, You will find it all on AMG tv  and its free.    by Tom Taylor 8/07

   AMG TV has launched a new television service on Free To Air satellite tv.  The service is now playing along with over 100 additional stations on Galaxy 25 (a.k.a. Telstar 5) and is in free to air mode.  The service has a dual purpose,  to provide television service to families in their homes, also to provide programming to independent television stations, many of who have recently lost their programming due to the launch of the CW network.  Many independent television stations that were either UPN or WB affiliates find themselves without a network affiliation.  CBS, the owner of WB and UPN created a new network to replace UPN WB.  In some cases they even launched CW as an additional digital station on their own CBS affiliate leaving their former affiliates scrambling for programming.    Taylor Enterprises has been contacted by AMG to provide satellite systems to the public to receive their service.  Taylor Enterprises can be contacted at http://www.mpeg2fta.com.  For further information in AMG click on http://www.amgtv.tv. Be careful,  there are several companies with similar names so be sure to get the URL right.  AMG has only been on Galaxy 25 since August of 2007.  They also have a feed on Galaxy 26 C-band requiring a 8 foot or larger dish.  Unfortunately the C-Band feed uses 4:2:2 format which requires an expensive receiver of a computer with the appropriate software to receive the signal making,  The Galaxy 25  Ku transmission is the feed of choice for most viewers.  An under $200 system with a 30 inch dish and a receiver with easy meter, can be used and works fine.  For those who need a dish more resistant to loss of signal due to occasional rain fade, a 1.2 meter dish would be work better.

 

Future Fone, the rural Iowa service that used a law intended to support rural telephone to allow users to make "free" international long distance calls has been shut down. Scroll down for the story 7/08

 

John Gets a New Truck      by Tom Taylor  4/2007

It is not very often that this writer has a friend that buys a truck like the one on the left, yes, our friend John Wegener has purchased a big Ku uplink truck.  We have worked with John on several satellite presentations in the past and he is a true professional. The truck  is being upgraded to do digital, as well as analog uplinking .  The truck is based just south of Cincinnati.  Contact for hiring the truck for uplinks as well as downlinks is;  hq@satcen.com

Satellite Dealer Runs Installation in Frigid Siberia, a truely amazing story! (Tom Taylor 2/2007)

Story by Mike Kohl



Mike in Magadan, Russia		 December 26, 2006  by Mike Kohl

I'm baaaack!!   17 days on an exciting visit to Russia and especially Siberia.  What an enlightening trip, with so many things to talk about.  Why Siberia, In December?  Lots of explanation...

I was hired to do a survey for potential satellite reception at a new gold mining facility that is located in extreme NE Siberia, between Magadan, Russia, and Nome, Alaska.  A place called Kupol, which is a joint venture between a Canadian mining company and the Russian regional government of Chukotka, which is the easternmost jurisdiction in Siberia.  It was a real adventure setting up the project, and then there was the fun of actually getting there...

Paperwork had been approved back in September, giving me a special pass to allow my travel into the region, which is strictly regulated.  It expires in five days from this writing, and after literally almost three months of waiting due to freight, weather, logistics and other challenges, I had about 18 hours' notice to get onto a plane.  My base of operations was Magadan, a city of about 200,000, located in eastern Siberia, but inland on the Pacific coast, with a more temperate climate than I was about to experience.  Doing this in December adds some challenges (I have frostbite scars to prove it).  First you fly to Atlanta, and then a 12 hour flight to Moscow.  A few hours' layover that is half consumed with a driver taking me from the International airport north of the city, to the Domodedovo airport south of Moscow.  Once you are out of the car and into the second airport, you are on your own in a world that seems very strange at first.  This is the hub airport for most internal Russian airline flights to Moscow, and does not get that many English speaking visitors.  In fact, very few personnel, including those in ticketing and security, can speak English, and if it were not for my previous adventures in the Middle East over 15 years ago, I would have been in trouble very quickly.  It takes a lot of concentration, initiative, and a mix of diplomacy to function in this environment, where my only two words of Russian vocabulary were "da" and "nyet" (yes and no).
Once I got onto the airplane, I was quite shocked at the misconceptions that I had about travel on airlines within Russia.  There are often stories in the Western press about dangerous situations, poor maintenance, and bad food.  On the 8 hour flight between Moscow and Magadan, I was served a virtual feast, not once, but twice.  See the picture on the right, which does not include the meat entrees, dessert(s) or the many offers of liquid refreshment that was provided.  I thought that Lufthansa's business class 15 years ago was at the top of things, but all airlines around the world could learn a lot from whoever is doing the catering for Interavia airlines.  The weather in Moscow was incredibly warm for December, at 47° F.  Flying for 8 hours and adding 7 time zones to the 9 I had already crossed getting to Moscow, the weather took its inevitable turn for something normal...like about -5° F and cold winds once I got to Magadan.  That would feel warm before I returned westward.

Amazingly good airline food, served on Russia's INTERAVIA
   


New Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Magadan, Russia		 With only five hours' transit time in Atlanta, and about the same on the ground in Moscow, and without considering 17 hours of time change, it still took me 38 hours of actual time to reach the company apartment in Magadan.  I got to stay there overnight, and catch a chartered airplane to Keperveem, an airport above the 69° latitude, which is situated about 45 minutes away from Bilibino, where we had to spend the night.  Russia has strict regulations in remote airports about takeoffs and landings having to occur during daylight hours.  The sun is below the horizon there in December, so the daylight that you get is actually twilight, and the sun never clears the horizon (unless you are in the air on an airplane, which is quite an experience).  Should there be delays due to weather or mechanical problems, it is common to spend an overnight and then catch a chartered helicopter for a 1-1/2 hour flight to the mine site at Kupol, which is southeast of the previously mentioned city.  We did catch a helicopter ride the next day, and I kick myself for not having the camera handy at the airstrip.  The weather did not repeat itself while I was there...to produce such a beautiful sunrise (which actually never happened, but the reds and oranges were spectacular).  Oh, forgot to mention...Keperveem's temperature was no warmer than 35 below F, and we had to march about 1/3 mile to the helicopter from the airport building.  Once at Kupol, with one exception, temperatures averaged at 40 below for the entire visit. 
My first task was to find a suitable location in which to install satellite antennas, that would clear the horizon.  Russian programming would come from 140 East satellite Express AM3, with an elevation of 11.5°.  PanAmSat satellites from 166 and 169 East were the local "due south" satellites, with an elevation of about 14 degrees.  My prime quest was AMC-8, at 139 West, for some signals from Alaska.  This is the highest elevation satellite from North America, at a whopping 5-1/2 degrees.  Challenges started appearing from everywhere at this point.

There were no other visible satellite antennas from the main building, so the only trusted reference I could get for a ballpark direction was a visit to the U.S. Naval Observatory's website and calculate the azimuth of the sun at different times of the day, even though it was below the hill to the south of us.  Look for the glow in the sky at local noon, and call that 180.  Rough in your directions from there using a satellite dish on a temporary mount.  The fun begins.

Test Antennas at the Kupol Site         Does it look warm??
   



I had originally requested that two 12-foot mesh C-band antennas be made available for testing.  Russian-made ones would be OK, I thought.  A lot of detective work revealed that while antennas were bought from a Russian supplier (who was next to impossible to reach on the phone), they were made in mainland China for a Taiwanese company.  Yes, there was one twelve foot model, and a 1.8 meter (6 foot) solid multipanel type.  The 1.8 meter was shipped without ANY hardware, and some poor soul at the camp spent at least a couple of hours hand-fabricating U-bolts from some threaded rod, using a hammer to form them around a three inch OD mast pipe that had been welded onto a large flat plate of steel.  It was nighttime, the temperature was no better than -40° and the wind was quite brisk.  The next morning involved scrounging around the camp for anything that looked like a fastener that might work.   I put the antenna together indoors, inside a gymnasium that was not in use, and dragged it outside.  The first satellite found was at 177 West, using a spectrum analyzer and an antenna roughed in for about 14 degrees elevation.  I needed to get down to about five degrees to pick up AMC-8, and preferably lower to see what else might be there from other North American domestic satellites.  The mast was too short and the (very flimsy) antenna was into the snow, despite digging out a bit.  Solution was to raise this 200 pound contraption (weight was mostly the heavy flat plate base) with three cable spools.  It was enough to confirm that there were a number of signals to be found on the trusty AVCOM spectrum analyzer.  I got my directions straight, and was then able to safely give instructions for workmen to weld steel pipes on the edges of shipping containers (see picture above).  During the initial welding, it actually warmed to almost zero F for a few hours, and the wind died down, so those folks must have been praying to someone for that weather miracle.  Temperatures were back to normal by the evening, and three of us froze while hoisting the antenna onto a 3-inch OD mast.  I went out later in the evening to find the first actual satellite, and tune in pictures with an MPEG-2 free to air receiver.  In honor of the host country, and because of its powerhouse signal, I chose to find 140 East as my first satellite.  The hand formed U bolts were not a perfect fit, and my first bouts with frostbite happened while attempting to wrench the antenna tight enough so that it would not blow away.

For those uninitiated at working outdoors in -40° F temperatures, let me mention the inability to form wires after they have been outdoors for more than one minute.  If you pull out an extension cord to use outside, unroll it indoors first, because you will never successfully unravel a coiled cord once it has been outdoors past that first magic moment.  Ditto for coaxial cables, for which I installed outdoor connectors on one end, pulled to length as good as I could, and did the indoor fittings later in the comfort of the indoor location and spliced the result to an RG-11 feeder cable.  Every time you go indoors, your glasses fog up with 1/8 to 1/4 inch of frost, and it doesn't always clear quickly when returning outside.  Then there's thick ice coated mustaches.  At -40° temperatures, my endurance allowed up to about 15 minutes of outdoor exposure at the antenna at a time.  This time frame shrunk when it was necessary to remove a glove or two for even a minute or less to grab a piece of hardware or start the thread on a jumper cable for an F-connector.  At one point during my alignments, the wind came up while I was stuck on a ladder at least 15 feet in the air making critical adjustments with a wrench.  The crossbars on the ladder burned the cold right through my jeans, and I still have strips of missing skin to remember the ordeal.  Using an extra set of coveralls later did not help;  it only squeezed the legs of my jeans tighter and made the pain more intense.

Once I had signals on 140 East, it was time to find some Alaskan signals with a bigger dish.  The plan was use the 12-foot mesh antenna, but after assembling half of it and having the queasy feeling that without having the exact factory parts (quad legs for feedhorn and eight supporting legs between the back hub and the reflector were missing), the antenna would likely distort under its own weight and be permanently ruined...I gave up on the idea of using that dish.  There was no Home Depot nearby to get conduit suitable for throwing things together;  all on site was made of copper, and of the wrong diameter.  As luck would have it, a mesh antenna of approximately 2.5 meters in diameter was sitting unused on site, and ended up being used for other C-band testing and finally used for Alaskan reception.

My first U.S. signals were actually from AMC-7 at 137 West, which is actually stronger than the Alaskan beam AMC-8 signals at this location in eastern Siberia.  What I found was that the Jones Radio multiplex on the vertical side of AMC-8 (on a Lower 48 beam) was at a similar signal level, and had to be used to find the satellite.  Then I switched to horizontal and got the unpleasant surprise that the C-band spot beam for Alaska was at considerably reduced power.  The Juneau Mux, which has an 8100 symbol rate, can be received first...with some critical tweaking.  Anchorage ARCS and the Fairbanks PBS transmission were down considerably, at least 15-20 points in quality level.  On the test antenna that we were forced to use, this means that with an absolutely perfect alignment and no bad weather, Anchorage will work most of the time, but drops off quite easily with any wind or weather changes.  Our recommendation was to consider a 12-foot solid commercial antenna with a very sturdy mount, if Alaskan reception was to be considered.

Back to Magadan, I got to try a ten foot mesh antenna across the sky.  Though a little more than 500 miles to the southeast of our camp location, and still above the horizon at 1.2 degrees elevation, I was totally unable to locate any signals from AMC-8.  This is compounded by the lack of any other U.S. satellites next to it (all others are below the horizon), so it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Amazingly good signals in Magadan on PanAmSat 8, which would be the primary satellite to consider for any English language programming, unless one considers what might be found on the two ASIASAT satellites at 100.5 and 105.5 East.  (Neither is at a usable elevation from the Kupol Camp).
TV signals are elusive, and every location is different.  I expect to return in a few weeks to do some permanent installations.  This was a rare opportunity to analyze reception under adverse weather conditions in a remote area that is literally off the maps for accurate information (from Lyngsat and other sources).  Armed with field information, we now have a much better feel about what can be realistically accomplished in the region.

How's your Russian?  Please take a look at the Soviet-era poster that I snapped a picture of, from a friend's collection.  Comments are welcomed---if you can translate the poster, you'll get the joke.  If not, the picture almost gives it away.

Listen to Dean Spratt's show on WOKIE,(see below) and we'll talk more about international reception and techniques in the next few weeks.  (Thursday nights).  An updated NEWS AND VIEWS will appear by early February, but we wanted to get this out as soon as I returned from the Siberian trip, and wish you all a belated Merry Christmas.

Written by Mike Kohl,   Reproduced from with permission of author

Mike can be reached at globalcm@mhtc.net and operates Global Communications in Plain, Wisconsin.

 

 

In Memory of a  Pioneer and True friend,   by Tom Taylor   1/2007

We have received news of the death or Dean Spratt.  Dean was a radio broadcaster on both commercial and satellite radio.  Even though Dean was blind from birth and never even saw an automobile, he broadcast traffic reports on several Minneapolis radio stations including WCCO.  Satellite TV hobbyists will remember him for his interesting shows on the W0KIE satellite network.  Deans Thursday night shows on satellite and the internet will be missed by many including this author.  Further information on Dean can be found on the W0KIE web site  http://www.w0kie.com
 



 

Al Jazeera launches English Language service and we are watching it! 

                          Tom Taylor  11/06

   Al Jazeera, the sometimes controversial, news service, or even dangerous service, if you listen to  Donald Rumsfield, has launched and English language service  television channel..   Al Jazeera  English  AJE is a news, sports, and features television service  broadcasting from the small island nation of Qatar. Although the service originates from Qatar, the content is crafted for English speaking audiences in the West.  Studios are  in Qatar, Washington, London, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Many of their reporters are American or English.  Many of you will recognize long time ABC newsman David Marash in the AJE Washington D.C. anchor chair.  Sir David Frost has also signed on.  Josh Rushing, the former Marine Corps captain who served as a military public affairs liaison at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Doha Qatar will serve as Al Jazeera's military analyst. Al Jazeera is financed by Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.  Al Jazeera, which has been very popular in the Middle East, and throughout the Muslim World is trying to become a world class news service like the BBC and CNN. Al Jazeera English does NOT carry the same content as their Arab language service.  It will be interesting to see how well Al Jazeera can present their English language service with the likes of David Marash, who is Jewish,  Sir David Frost, and Captain Rushing, yet simultaneously offer an Arab language service giving a voice to those that are fanatically anti Western.  Al Jazeera has been accused of providing a platform to Asama bin Laden to spread his terror.

   Stories that we saw reported  varied in content and were very well done.  The service is similar in presentation to BBC World Television Service available in just about every country in the world except the USA, perhaps due a restrictive arrangement with PBS.  A major difference between AJE and the US news networks is that Al Jazeera was  runs very few commercials. No ads for sub par loans running over and over and over again. The Shell ad describing their new gas to liquid fuel was interesting. Graphics, scenery, and presentation are excellent, often stunning.  One story we watched was a bit of a shocker.  Interpol has a list of 13 million passports that are stolen, or lost.  Switzerland is the only country in the World that checks passports against the Interpol list.   France will soon begin checking.  The reporter stated that even after 911 the rest of the world will make people entering their countries take their shoes off yet not check their passports against the Interpol list.  The next story was about Gaza and the difficulties of ambulance crews rescuing injured people from areas of conflict in time to save their lives.  They then covered a story about how tough it was for native people in Brazil as their land was being taken away.  These people have the highest suicide rate in the world.  Another story told of the dangers of skin bleaching cream and how it can get into the blood stream.  Then back to Washington where American reporters talked about the new Congress and Iraq.  Tony Chang reported from China about how people are illegally racing their cars on the streets.  China is adding new cars to their streets at an unbelievable rate.  Most of the reports we saw were American of English. Given the fact that Al Jazeera is an Arab based service, the reporting  seemed to be well balanced.  Al Jazeera has access to much of the Islamic world and much of the reporting is from a local perspective.  Presently they are reporting from Palestine as Israel is destroying homes with airplanes.  The reporter has said twice that Israel has warned people that they suspected that terrorists inhabited the homes and they  would be destroyed.  Further the action was in response to a rocket attack that killed an Israeli woman.  An effort is being made to present a balanced report.

   Al Jazerra is broadcast for free, along with over 150 other international channels,  on the  Intelsat Americas 5 satellite.  All the user needs is a fta satellite receiver and a 30 inch satellite dish. At present the service is free and is NOT available on cable or Dish Network or DirecTV.  For equipment you will have to go to a service like the folks at Satellite Unusual and buy a satellite system for less then $190.

    http://www.aljazeera.net/english  is the the site for further information  on the Al Jazeera network in English. 

 

Future Fone Service Inc. Offers Free International Calls  Nov. 2006

    Just pick up your phone, dial a phone number in Iowa,712-858-8883,  then  dial  011, the country code  then a phone number in any of over four dozen countries and talk for free.   Countries from Canada to China, http://www.futurephone.com  will connect you.   Sorry all you International students from India and Pakistan in our Universities, not on the list, yet.  The service also does not connect to many cell phones.  

    We have tried the service and it works!  What is the catch???  According to their web site, there is none.  Just call a phone number in Iowa. If the caller has free  domestic long distance or a cell phone with free calling hours the call is really free.

    What is their business plan?  They say to "build up the company's brand-name recognition" and later add revenue generating services.  Furure Fone Services is a recent startup company in California which states it  plans to offer the free service through 2010.  What next? Don't be surprised if they later add advertising or other revenue generating services.  Most users would be willing to listen to a short advertisement for a free international  phone call.      

Update, Future Fone gets shut off.  By locating in a rural area of Iowa, Future Fone was  able to use a little known law to extract payments from SBC ATT and other phone companies. It seems that there is a federal law that was intended to bring phone service to rural areas that could not normally support phone service by allowing these local phone companies to charge an interconnect fee from the originating phone companies.  This fee was never intended to allow callers to make "Free" international calls.  Basically most phone companies cut off calls to this number and if you call this number now you get the message "were sorry , your call can not be connected ...............    Tom Taylor  7/08

    

How the world of Photography has changed!   by Tom Taylor     Aug.  2006

  When this author was as college student, he spent a summer studying in Eastern Europe.  It was the height of the Cold War.  Yet travel in Eastern Europe was possible, just use the magic phrase "I am a Student"!   At that time travel included carrying one or more 35mm camera with dozens of rolls of film.  Would the film get lost, confiscated by the Yugoslavian, East German, or Russian Police?  The risks were great.  

  Today the world of photography has changed.  Gone are the large film cameras.  Gone is are the rolls of film that need to be processed and printed.  Today we have digital cameras.  They can be large, or so small that they would work well for a spy, however, most cameras are a size that easily fits into a pocket and have many features.   Digital camera's record their photos to a small card.  Cards can fill up and additional cards can be used.  Cameras that take video use a lot of  storage space. Cards can be downloaded to a laptop computer but laptops are often difficult if not impossible to carry around.   Cards can can also be lost, damaged ,or  inadvertently erased.  There is a solution to this problem; the Media Buddy from Foci!

Digital Foci, Inc. (http://www.digitalfoci.com) introduced today Media Buddy portable digital photo storage with hard drive and card reader that lets the user instantly and securely save digital photos on a hard drive wherever they go, so users can keep snapping away and not worry about running out of memory card space.  30GB to 80GB hard drive versions make it unlikely that the user will ever run out of storage space.  Pictures can also be recorded in both the Media Buddy and on memory cards for additional security.   Media Buddy frees up expensive memory card space allowing reuse of  memory card space to keep snapping photos. Insert the memory card from a digital camera into Media Buddy and download images into its built-in hard drive. The backlit text-based LCD screen lets users view file information and operation status, including copy progress and confirmation. Users can select to save a specific folder or file from ar card, or  can copy the entire contents of your memory card with the convenient one-touch Auto Copy button with no computer needed. A unique folder name is automatically created to indicate media card type and copy sequence per card type to keep you organized. Pictures can be downloaded to a computer and viewed, archived, printed, distributed, edited, or just saved for who knows what.  Whether it is a summer spent in Europe, numerous business trips, or just a family vacation, the Media Buddy seems to fill the bill for digital camera users on the run.

 

 

A Different Type of 2006 CES     By Rita Conlin  - 

As usual every Consumer Electronics Show outdoes the previous one in one way or another; this one followed suit by occupying more show floor space than any of the previous ones to date taking up the entire Las Vegas Convention Center and its’ front ‘parking’ lot. Also, most of the Alexis Park Suites Hotel, Sands Convention Center and Hilton Hotel.

This year it seems as though VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) was prevalent with companies as SKYPE (www.skype.com) and PhoneGnome (www.phonegnome.com) just to name a few, that we exhibiting software that enables users to make free calls to other users over the internet.  This technology is becoming more and more popular as landline and cellular phone service rates rise.  The drawback is that in order for a call to be free it has to be made over the internet to other users running the same software;  otherwise there is a charge to make a pc to landline/cellphone call.

In past years I have reported how cellular phones and the newly available technology in them were all the rage (“the more my cell phone can do for me the better”), however this time, although there have been some new features added to cellular phones and numerous companies have introduced new models of Bluetooth headsets like the Motorola HT820 which lets you answer phone calls and listen to your home music system (www.motorola.com) ,  I cannot say that I saw that ‘push’ for ‘this cell phone being better than that cell phone’.  Different and newer models that basically do the same thing as what is available now was what I observed at the different cellular phone manufacturers booths.

Software also seems to be back en vogue.  Most consumers rely on the selection available to them at the big consumer electronics stores for all their software needs; from accounting to ancestry tracing to website construction.  Many different software manufacturers at this years CES were there to get exposure for their software that “wasn’t available at the big consumer chains” yet according to them “Was better and less expensive than similar products available for sale there”.   Two programs that I was able to experience so far covered popular subjects AND were very easy to use (this is a requirement for me).  The first one is called Telling Stories (www.tellingstories.com) which is a Family Tree / Biography creation program that is amazingly simple to use and once your ‘history’ is created, you can burn it to DVD or download it to a video phone.  Another popular area of consumer interest is website creation,  SJ Namo (www.namo.com) has come out with a program called Namo WebEditor 2006.  In the past it was necessary to know all types of codes or languages to build a website a daunting task for the non-computer programmers among us.  With this website creation program it is basically simple as drag and drop.  Once finished with your website SJ Namo also includes 1 year of free domain name hosting.

Finally IP television seems to be turning into the new ‘must see tv’.  With FCC regulations and constraints becoming more and more unpopular and conventional television getting more and more overrun by commercials;  DJ’s, television personalities, storytellers, wine experts, knitting enthusiasts, etc. are finding their way to IP television where anyone with a broadband connection and either the right software or hardware can view programs produced by a local California Wine expert or listen to a Podcast of someone reading from Shakespeare , learn how to knit, watch a computer tech program produced by a worldwide expert on technology or of course, view adult programming.  So far, IP television has few if any government regulations and companies are scrambling to keep up with the demand of software and hardware.  Two companies of note are DAVE .TV (www.dave.tv) and ITVN (www.itvn.com).  DAVE .TV enables its users to download its media center software right from their website and similar to itunes, a user can pick and choose programs and movies to download, some are fee based and some are free.  ITVN  works through a set top box connected to a broadband connection, it is monthly fee based (currently from  $29.95) and it offers various type of programming like sports, adult programming, world news channels and music.  With IPTV becoming more and more popular look for more companies offering software and hardware for access to this ever increasing venue of programming.

 

 

ETA to hold Annual Convention in Vegas!  Everything from Fiber Optic to Biomedical Certification.

 Location for the Electronic Technician's Association Convention will be at Harrah's Las Vegas, February 13-16, 2006.  Cost is $299 covering 4 days of breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks, the Wednesday banquet and entrance to all free sessions!  Attendees will have the opportunity to meet representatives from Mitsubishi, Philips, Maytag, Whirlpool, Sharp, Haier, and others and to sit in on one of the over 80 sessions that have been planned.  Learn about Biomedical training in “Learn what it takes to be a Biomedical Technician” or sit in on an exciting and funny time with “How to Hear and be Heard”. Go to www.src06.org for session descriptions for this exciting event.  Need training in Fiber Optics, attend either Light Brigade’s or the Kenton Group week long classes.  Earn a certification from 3M with training from Kitco.

If you need to know more about VoIP then attend the session on Tuesday with Tom Cawley or need Customer Service Certification, then sit in on the CSS class being offered on Thursday with Richard Mikesell.  With all of these wonderful events to pick from you will not run out of things to do and see. 

For further information contact Arlene Tincher, CNST, ETA Convention Coordinator, 800-288-3824 arlene@eta-i.org.  

 

Alexis Park Resort,  The little visited part of the Consumer Electronics Show    Tom Taylor  January 2006

    Most attendees of the CES take a glance at the thick "Official Show Directory" and see exhibits at the Alexis Park http://www.alexispark.com .  Some even notice busses headed to the Alexis Park, but unless they are high end audio aficionados,  they probably do not venture to resort.  At first glance the Alexis Park may remind you of an older Florida motel, but, don't be fooled. There are 500 suites in this large rambling facility.  All suites are multi room, some of which are quite large.  Anyone who is quite satisfied listening to "HiFi" at the local CE may not be impressed, however, those  who enjoy listening to, and feeling true high end audio will be thrilled. Yes, TUBE AMPS DO SOUND BETTER.  Exhibitors showed their products in suites which were usually separated by empty suites so there was no unwanted sound was heard as attendees listened to amplifiers, speakers, and even such devices as actuators that transferred the sound to vibrations that could be felt in a chair.  Pictured below is the Alexis Park. The third picture is of the giant Van Gaylord.  It is billed as the "Worlds first liquid cooled amplifier" and "The worlds most powerful triode amplifier".  The amplifier puts out 200 watts plus 200 watts, and sells for $59,000 and comes in four pieces with a separate power supply.

Tom Camery contributed 

Don't Leave High Def Dollars on the Table  by Tom Taylor  12/05

    Its Christmas again, or do we have to call it "Winter Holiday".  Over 15 million high definition television sets will be in homes by the end of the year.  Retailers are doing a great job of selling HDTVs.  Unfortunately only slightly more then half the sets will be showing high def pictures. Both Dish Network and DirecTV are in the process of rolling out MPEG4 receivers which will make delivery of more HDTV programming possible. Some time in 2006 all new Dish and DirecTV receivers sold will be capable of delivering HD programming.  Cable too is ramping up their HDTV offerings.  Unfortunately too many customers, who just spent major money on HDTV receivers, elect not to receive the high definiton  programming.   For many customers there is an inexpensive way to receiver High Definition programming.  The answer may be a digital tuner.  We chose the DIGITALSTREAM HD 1150 tuner from Pro Brand International for evaluation.  Digital tuners are capable of receiving and decoding digital television signals from off air antennas.  Customers can view many network shows in high definition including most prime time shows and even the day time soaps. What many people do not realize is that there are even more digital standard def. stations on the air in many markets.  

     To find out just how much digital programming there was on television, we installed our DIGITALSTREAM HD 1150.  The 1150 has its own remote control and can be hooked to a tv or a monitor and audio system. A program guide is even included with this tuner whenever the stations send guide information.  It decodes Dolby auto and has both optical and RCA jack output for AC-3 audio. We pointed the dish toward Cincinnati, about 15 miles away.  The 1150 quickly found stations from both Cincinnati, and Dayton about 65 miles away. No snow in the pictures, they are digital.  All of the major network stations showed their daytime programming in High Def.  They all had at least one additional channel. The additional channels were digital but not high def.  They all had a weather channel showing local conditions with life meteorologists. Additionally there were channels showing local news sports and snow closings.  In terms of sheer numbers the PBS stations had the bulk of the channel offerings.  Kentucky Educational Television  had six channels although not all of them are are on the air at any given time.  KET makes use of their digital broadcasts to support primary and secondary education throughout the Commonwealth.  WCET, the nations first public television station, had three channels, and the list went on and on. For about $200 a customer can receive network HDTV plus they can get numerous additions standard def. digital channels.   No longer do customers have to install large off air antennas.  The Square Shooter antenna from Winegard does an excellent job of receiving digital channels.

     Dealers and Installers,  there is a lot of money that can be made after installing a HDTV.  If the TV does not have a digital tuner, sell  a tuner  like the Pro_Brand  Digital Stream HD1150  tuner.  The tuner will work any television although a high definition receiver is required for viewing programming in high definition.  Don't forget the off air antenna, the Square Shooter will do a good job in many markets. Information on local channel digital offerings and antennal requirements can be found at http://www.antennaweb.org .    For further information non the DIGITALSTREAM tuner point your browser to  http://www.eagleaspen.com and Winegard can be found at http://www.winegard.com 

Winegard Square Shooter makes big off air antennas unnecessary in many areas.

Free To Air, The World Standard in Satellite Television 

     By Tom Taylor and David Conlin 11/05 

    Satellite Television in the United States is dominated by two vendors, DirecTV,  and Dish Network.  Together they offer most all of the standard satellite / cable fare of television programming, plus local channels in their local markets.    Pay per view, movies,  news, and even sports, it is all there, for a price!  Also left in satellite are a  several hundred thousand  die hard big dish customers..  Unfortunately, due in large part to lack of bandwidth capacity, or cost of uplinking,  many of the small niche programmers can not be accommodated by the small dish DBS providers.   

      Enter Free to Air Satellite, or more specifically DVB satellite using 32 inch satellite dishes.  This service is very popular outside the United States, with parts of the world, especially the Middle East seeing explosive growth in installatuions.  This is the service that provides news all over the middle east with services from Al Jazeera to United States backed  Iraqi news . 

       Both Free to Air, FTA, and pay services are available in the United States.  There are literally dozens of religious groups putting their programming up on satellite. These groups include from the likes of the Adventists 3ABN,  MTI Muslim, EWTN Catholic, to the quirky late Doc Scott’s University Network.   There are also some major players providing hundreds of stations to viewers.  One major player is French Telecom’s Globecast World Television Network.  If you want programming from Albania, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Netherlands, and the list goes on and on, Globecast speaks their language.  Some of the programming is free and some requires a subscription and the use of a receiver that can take a smart card.  By some measures Globecast is one of the largest suppliers, if not the largest supplier of tv programming in the world.  On Intelsat America’s 5 satellite alone there are over 150 channels of television and radio programming available.         Sources of information on free to air satellite programming include http://www.mpeg2fta.com  and http://www.lyngsat.com . 

Pansat Introduces Two High End Free to Air Receivers.5000HC 

    Pansat offers al PVR Free To Air receiver,  The PanSat 5000HC offers many features not found on other receivers available in North America including two tuners and an internal hard drive that records programming.  The dual tuner allows the user to record one show while watching another or by using the PIP feature the viewer can watch or record two different shows at the same time.  There is only one set of outputs. The receiver comes with two remotes, one of which is a universal remote the will also control the television set. 

      An 80 GB hard drive is built into the receiver making it a PVR, that is, it records programming.  A user can set to record a predetermined program or it can be programmed to record a show that is presently being viewed.  Probably the feature that this writer used most when using the 5000HC was the receiver’s ability to spool programming.  That is the viewer can always stop and rewind the program using the hard drive.  Say the viewer is not paying attention and misses a score or phone number, just “rewind” the recorder and review the program.  The viewer can even pause the program and restart where he left off.  Since Free to Air broadcasters usually do not broadcast a programming menu like DirecTV or Dish, this Pansat is not menu driven, that is the user can not tell the receiver to record a program by name., Programming is done  by channel and time. 

    The 5000HC has all of the standard features that Pansat includes in their high end receivers.  These features include Smart Search which allows the receiver to find the stations using software.  A FTA receiver must find stations by finding the frequency, symbol rate and polarity.  Also included are two slots that allow the addition of a cam which allows use of a smart card for pay programming.  Such programming and cards  must be purchased from the programmer such as Globecast.  This receiver does not steal scrambled programming. 

Pansat 3500S a standalone FTA Receiver With Lots of Neat Features. 

  The Pansat 3500S is the latest in a long line of  standard set top boxes from Pansat.  Like the 5000HC, it comes with Smart Search,  great menus, lots of memory to store thousand of channels and lots of satellites, the ability to control a servo type feed as well as the standard voltage switched.   DiSEqC feed and even the Stab Usals driven motors can be controlled by this stb.  There is an AC-3 audio output to connect  to a AC-3 amplifier decoder via special optical cable. Features not found on other receivers include in addition to standard Video Audio and S Video out include Y/PB/Pr component video out.   The receiver has a slot built in to accept Conax conditional access cards, a system not widely used in the USA. 

   A Pansat user can record MP-3 songs using a computer or recorder on a SD memory card, like some digital cameras use,  and then use his Pansat to play them like a juke box.  We slid the SD card received with the receiver into the SD slot, Pressed “Menu” on the remote control, highlight  “SD memory” and press “OK” and   select the songs recorded line  and choose the song you wish to play.  SD cards can also be loaded with official factory software upgrades allowing dealers to clone receiver software such as satellite names and channels.   For further information on Pansat products go to their web site at http://www.pansatusa.com 

Trimax, T-100, A Simple Receiver with Jaws of SteelT-100 

   The Trimax stb is a satellite receiver that is intended more for the general user as it lacks some of the bells and whistles of the Pansats. No wow here, just a good very reliable receiver. The receiver puts out an excellent picture and great sound but lacks some of the features of other receivers.  It has ch 3 and 4 modulated output as well as standard audio video through RCA cables, but lacks S_Video out like many other receivers.  It scans bouquets preprogrammed into the receiver memory but does not have a blind or smart scan feature.  The price is right on this unit and the reliability if great.  This receiver is designed for customers that may want to watch say the international programming on Telstar 5 (IA-5) or religious programming on numerous satellites.  The T-100 is easy to program and tunes very fast. “Jaws of Steel”?  One of our sister firms was contracted to downlink a religious station feed coming off of the Naheul 1 satellite a bird serving Argentina with a couple of  Latin American beams, none of which is very powerful in the Cincinnati area.  A 1.2 meter offset Ku dish was used using Invacom electronics on the dish.  Several receivers were tried, many of them dropping the signal for an instant every few min.  The T-100 locked on to the signal  with “Jaws of Steel” holding without dropping.  For further information on the Trimax T100 go to  http://www.mpeg2fta.com .  Trimax may be a new name in set top boxes but has been long established as a motherboard manufacturer supplying numerous other manufacturers..  Trimax is imported by DMS International, http://www.dmsusa.com.

 

 

 

 

 

CEDIA says hello to a full house of exhibitors and attendees, and good bye to Indianapolis.  In excess of 500 exhibitors packed the RCA Dome and the Indianapolis Convention Center with additional training sessions and exhibits in at least four neighboring hotels.  The September show has outgrown Indianapolis,  next year Expo will move to Denver.  CEDIA is the Custom Design and Installation Association and can be reached at cedia.org on the web.  CEDIA is the trade organization for the high end home audio, video, and now shake rattle and roll industry
Images from CEDIA Expo 2005

Top Left; Inside the RCA dome where the Indianapolis Colts play.  The dome was only a small part of the show floor. Above; Boston Acoustics, a supplier of high end audio components for both home and automotive markets had had one of the more elaborate displays. Left; two unidentified attendees from the left coast "ride" the D-Box chairs as they watch and feel a car chase.  Above; a reporter remembers his younger days as he "rides" a Harley with sound and feel of the open road thanks to a sub woofer!

 

Shake Rattle and Roll;  It seems like every year exhibitors find more ways to bring realism into the theater.  

D-Box simulator set up a booth with a high definition video screen   showing a Cooper Mini literally flying through the streets of a European city being chased by police in both cars and motorcycles.  Viewers sat in large chairs that vibrated, rolled and banked for every turn giving  the viewer the sensation of being in the caring during the chase.  This reporter has ridden in a Cooper Mini, one of  the original ones, and can vouch for the sheer terror of riding one in the D-Box film..  The Quest X3ME able to replicate the front/back, left/right AND up/down motion.  D-Box is building a reputation as a company with products for the future.  Their chairs retail from $1600 to $6600 offering home theater dealers to sell into a high end market making a good profit.  For further information visit www.d-box.com

 

Richard Gray's Power Company  against incredible odds was once again in their regular spot at the end of the dome showing all of their ware. Mr. Gray's operation is in New Orleans and is presently under water. Gray, with the help of his supplier TMI (Transformer Manufacturers Inc.), was able to receive a new supply of product, print all new literature, move his office to MTI's facility in Chicago, and make it to the show is a mater of a few days, an incredible feat.  Richard Gray's power company markets parallel power delivery devices that clean up power and protect high end electronic devices.  Anyone using one of those $50,000 Panasonic DLP projection HDTV's that we saw demonstrated, or some of the high end audio equipment should consider the use of  a protective device like his.  With power delivery being patched back together along the Gulf, plus a hurricane heading toward North Carolina, and don't forget the worker that cut a wire and hooked it back up to the wrong wire and killed the power in much of Las Angeles on 9/13 protection is a must.  Contact is richardgrayspowercompany.com .

 

Bad Dog, great product.  Normally I don't get excited about drill bits, but, I know that I can go to the home store and buy a bit for nearly ten bucks and in a matter of a few days have it start to fail.  Compared to the bits that I am used to buying the Bad Dog drill bits are truly amazing.  Imagine a bit that can be heated up in wood by by twisting the bit side ways and then drill several clean holes through a large metal file, not one of the ones you get for a few dollars, but an American made name brand file.  Hard steel, masonry, tile, and the list goes on and on. Nothing stops this drill bit.  Its guarantee is simple, if anything ever happens to this bit it will be replaced, free.  Guarantee is against everything except loss. The bit uses a Carboloid tip made in Europe and placed in a bit in Asia.  Bad Dog Tools are located in Bristol, Rhode Island and can be found on the web at www.baddogtools.com

 

by Tom Taylor and Tom Camery . David and Rita Conlin contributed  9/05

 

 

London, a sign of things to come.  Increase security will offer  both challenges and opportunities to the professional.  

by Tom Taylor  8/2005

  I spent some time in London in 2004.  I was amazed at the high level of security, closed circuit cameras seemed to be everywhere.  While the United States seemed to be more interested in installing cameras at intersections to issue tickets to motorists who might run a red light, the Brits were addressing a more daunting task of fighting terrorism.  We snapped pictures of two of the cameras.  As terrorism seems to be increasing world wide, opportunities for those in the field of security should see increased opportunities.  Note the camera on the right has spikes on top of it to protect against terrorists of the feathered variety.

 

 

Satellite Expo 2005 Launches in Memphis  

 

  by  Tom Taylor with Tom Camery, David Conlin and Rita Conlin. 7/1/05

   Better then a thousand satellite professionals gathered at the Agricenter in Memphis on June 23-25.  The show gave dealers and many smaller as well as major vendors an opportunity  to show their wares, meet each other, as well as attend training sessions.  It has been many years since the early days of the Satellite Broadcast and Communications Association offered truly dealer and small vendor oriented shows.  In the past there were shows sponsored by the Satellite Dealers Association, and the Satellite Dealers Coalition, but these shows disappeared  after the arrival of  DirecTV and Dish.

  The total number of attendees at Expo 2005 was 1568 not including exhibitors and press. That was the final count of people wearing attendee badges that passed through registration.  104 exhibitors arrived, most of whom had nemerous badges for their own people, friends, and we are told even a few little dish spies. Exhibitors and attendees arrived from almost every state, as well as Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, New Zealand, China, and Japan.   The promoters of the show did a great job.  It was great to see so many people from the dealer Internet boards plus several  industry veterans and founders such as Buddy Davis, and  Bob Cooper, who came all the way from New Zealand for the show.  As for the attendees, unlike some of the shows in Vegas, all of the attendees were there for the show, and were potential customers for the vendors.

  The shows reasonable admission cost for both dealers and attendees allowed many small vendors to buy booths and show their wares.  Free to Air satellite systems together with Internet from Satellite providers, as well as purveyors of all kinds of electronics  filled the 120 plus booths.  DMS International,  Probrand, Hughes Networks, Volunteer, SES, Sadoun, Wild Blue, Invacom of England,  Globecast,  and many others shared the 65,426 square foot show floor.  I know that several of the exhibiters did more business among themselves then with dealers.  Even Bo-Dickey was there. Many manufacturers and importers found distributors for their products.   We talked to many of the exhibitors and most of them seemed satisfied if not very happy with the  results of the show.  We were even told that Dish and Direct had representatives attending the show, some of whom used assumed identities.

  There were some excesses at the show.  Their was a large "Internet Cafe" set up sponsored by Satelliteguys.us and Dishretailer.com.  Attendees made use of the internet connections, which were  provided by Wild Blue's new Ka band two way satellite service but,  Scott and Claude,  the paid ladies that you provided to have your pictures taken with were a bit much.  Attendees seemed more interested in the type of hardware you plug into the wall!  Sam Bo-Dickey Conwell drew more attention then the "adult" video star that was hired for the show.

    Entertainment, parties, food, breakfast all provided to the attendees by sponsors including Globecast, Spaun, and Hughes to name  three.

     The show was a BIG success and will be back next year April 18 -22, 2006 at the brand new high tech Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. (www.gicc.com)

Sam Conwell founder of Bo-Dickey

 Did you ever try to put an F-Connector on a piece of coax and it just wouldn't go?  You grab the pliers and push and slip and hurt a finger? Cold weather makes the job even harder. How about the coax that  acts more like a sponge, the connecter seems to work its way back out.  After crimping,  the center connector winds up short and the insulation does not come to the end of the inner part of the connector.  Nick the insulation or aluminum shield and you can have problems.  With the new high  power satellite systems like Dish Pro Plus it is absolutely necessary that fittings get put on properly.  Good wire and proper installation are an absolute must. We use this product and it just plain works, period. Bo-Dickey opens up a path between the aluminum shield and the braid that allows the fitting to easily slide into place. Crimping then closes the path for a tight fit.  Sam Conwell is now making and selling his Bo-Dickey tool that makes proper installation of f connectors easy.  Go back to fix one bad fitting any you have paid for the tool several times over.  Several major satellite parts distributors are caring the tool.  Check out Bo-Dickey on the web.

Cheap Wire can be very expensive!

  Starband warned dealers at its Expo 2005 seminar NOT to use cheap wire and make bad connections.  Starband has had to replace cheap wire used by  installers of the Starband two way Internet products.  Customers call in and say their system will not work.  A change of wire with properly installed fittings will often fix the problems.  With a flood of cheap imported steel wire hitting the market, and dealers trying to save money any way that they can,  wire is becoming a major problem.  We have found that Eagle Aspen 39 B2  solid copper conductor, 60% braid UL listed wire from Pro Brand works very well, and, don't forget Bo-Dickey!

Starband, Fill the Campgrounds, brilliant Idea or last Gasp?

Starband, the struggling two way Internet provider via satellite, announced their new Mobile Mobility satellite via Internet product.  They say that they have special permission to offer this  product to owners of campers who move from campground to campground.  Their goal is to have dealers train owners to set up their own systems in a matter of 20 to 30 min..  So far their star salesman Jack has sold 180 systems with minimal problems.  Price for the system will be between $1600 and $1800 plus $54.99 a month.  Each time the customer sets up the system he must find the satellite with a Birddog meter, included, set the cross polarity,  call CVACS  and commission the new location.  If the customer fails to properly set the crosspol, Starband must shut down the customers system until the problem has been fixed as it can cause major problems for any uplinker using a the opposite polarity of the same transponder. If they fail to  catch the problem the FCC may shut Starband down according to a Starband spokesman.  I have known of installers spending hours if not days getting systems installed.  Is this an original idea? Can a camper install a system himself?  Scroll down to the bottom of this page and look at John DesRoister's setup.  Let's hope that Starband's campers can do as well a John, a licensed radio operator who has spent his life in the electronics field.      

HD, MPEG-4  Neotionbox seems to have it all.

 NEOTIONbox, an example of products to come.  Just before the show began DMS International received a sample of a new European satellite receiver, the Neotionbox. The receiver had two interesting features.  The first feature is a box that an external hard drive can be mounted in.  Buy a hard drive and install it in the external drive in the black box to the right of the receiver.  The receiver will format the hard drive and the receiver is now a High Def. PVR.  Second was the MPEG-4 label  on the front of the receiver.  We had no idea if the receiver actually had a MPEG-4 circuitry or if marketing got ahead of engineering. We will keep an eye open and see if it actually makes it to the American Market.  Neotion states on their web site that "NEOTION is the leading provider of solutions enabling consumer electronics manufacturers to integrate MPEG-4 technology into their products".

Welcome to dishpolefins.comFINS … These don’t need water to work!

By Rita & David Conlin                 6/29/05

There was so much to see and so many things to learn about at this year’s Satellite Expo that we’re just gathering our notes (and thoughts) about some of the products that caught our attention.

One of a satellite installers worst tasks is to show up to the jobsite and find that the satellite dish has to be installed on a pole in the ground. This type of installation usually adds time and exhaustion to your typical installation as it calls for digging a hole, mixing and pouring cement, setting the pole and then waiting for the cement to set enough to support the weight of the dish without tilting to one side.

An exhibitor/satellite installer at this years show has come up with a solution to this problem.  

This ingenious, simple device is called a Dish Pole Fin www.dishpolefins.com (approx. $10.00) .  It looks like a propeller with 3 metal ‘fins’ that are welded onto a steel ‘sleeve‘.

It works by sliding this Pole Fin onto the satellite mounting pole, about 2 feet from the bottom of the pole, securing it to the pole with screws and just pounding it into the ground using either a pole pounding device (available at most local hardware stores or the larger home improvement chains) or a large mallet, sledgehammer or other heavy pounding device, once set you will need a pipe cutter to even out the top of the pole you just pounded! (inexpensive at the hardware store).  Since the pole is straight and the fins are in a vertical position, you will encounter virtually no resistance and the pole is set and secure in a matter of minutes.  

The ‘Fins’ come in different sizes to fit the most common dish mounting hardware, however they can also be custom made.  One important thing to note is that installation time is also dependant on the ground composition; softer ground makes for a much easier installation.

We’re sorry this booth wasn’t located closer to the entrance of the expo but glad we wandered back to where the lone salesman/installer/inventor was located; a very nice guy with a great idea and the hope to make a big splash with his ‘Fins’.

 

 

The Future of Satellite Television; High Def. and a Little Chip

                      By Tom Taylor with Rita Conlin, David Conlin, and Tom Camery  May 2005

  April ended with three thousand Dish Network Dealers gathering at Opryland Hotel in Nashville for the annual Dish Network Team Summit gala.  High Definition was the main topic of the show.  New High Definition receivers were introduced.  Dish announced that they were about to carry 21 channels of  new HDTV programming to be provided by Voom. Starting May 1, ten Voom high def channels will be available at the 61.5 degree orbital location immediately .  Voom may be gone as a satellite platform,  however it definitely survives as a content provider.  They will supply high definition content to Dish Network and certain selected cable companies.  This time it seems as if Voom has  finally found a business plan that just might work. Word has it that top Dish and Voom executives worked long hours right up to the summit to hammer out a deal.  Just one problem,  Bandwidth!  Dish Network is basically maxed out.  They don't have room for all of the locals they should be carrying on their DBS birds with one dish.  Dish Network, as well as DirecTV, are both scrambling to gain the capacity for more channels, especially local high definition channels.  Dish Network announced that they will offer high definition channels from 50 local cities perhaps as soon as 2006. DirecTV has made similar announcements.  Adding larger dishes and using Ku and Ka band capacity will help, however, something else must happen to make that possible, and that something is MPEG4.  MPEG4 will double the number of high def channels that can be offered in the same bandwidth. DirecTV announced in January at CES that they had received their first pre production MPEG-4 chips.  At present there are no MPEG-4  satellite receivers in customers hands.  Contrary to  rumor, Voom receivers were are MPEG -4. Even the new high definition receivers that Dish has just introduced are NOT MPEG-4.  Dish and DirecTV will have to trade out their high def. receivers for  MPEG-4, something Dish say they will when MPEG-4 becomes available.  This seems like a good deal for the customers, buy a high def receiver now and get a new receiver in the future.  Perhaps as soon as early next year we were told that Dish will offer only three receivers, the 411 replacing the 311, the dual tuner 422 replacing the 322/ 522 dual tuner receivers, and the 962 which will be able to record high definition.  Eventually all of Dish Networks new receivers will be capable of receiving HDTV. Added value a.k.a added revenue is definitely the core of the business plan for the satellite television program providers.

  When will MPEG-4 be released in receivers available to the public?  We are told by the end of the year. Right now these receivers are in the final preproduction phase.  Dish had a feed in MPEG-4 up and running at their Nashville "trade show".  The picture looked fine, as good as any picture could be expected to look on a LCD screen monitor in a show hall with super powerful lights flooding the area.  What made this receiver work?  It was a Broadcom 7411 chip that handled the MPEG-4, and a Broadcom  BCM 7038 that handled many of the other advanced features of the receiver.

picture copyrighted by author and not to be reproduced.  See Broadcom's website for further details.

 

The S.B.C.A., a very sad note.  by Tom Taylor and Tom Camery  5/05

         For some 20 years the satellite television industry  was represented  by a trade organization.  With never enough money or support, the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association went up against such lobbying titans as the broadcasters (NAB), and the cable industry organizations.  The SBCA put on two trades shows every year, typically in Nashville, and Las Vegas.  The exhibits were huge with both inside exhibits and a outside,  the outside dish farm alone covering at least a couple of acres.  Support for the association came from  hardware providers as well as programmers.  The SBCA seemed to always be able to find some cash cow to fund their operations.  Programmers would always step up to the plate with funds,  and even General Instruments would fund the SBCA to spearhead their anti-piracy efforts.  Retailers would attend their events and work tirelessly to make the organization better.  Rik Hawkins is just one of the retailers that worked many hours with often little more than a few thanks from their fellow retailers. The authors of this article have sat around with other industry veterans telling stories about the SBCA.  NO MORE.   Gone are the SBCA's key employees from the past. Gone are the trade shows. Gone are the classes from past years at Team Summit.   The SBCA says on their web site that they will  "Shift Focus Toward Education and Certification" yet they were a no show when 3000 retailers gathered at the recent Dish Network Team Summit in April.  They did have a booth in a very dark corner of the show draped  in black on three sides with a small sign saying SBCA.  The booth was so eerie that it made one look for a coffin.

        Will satellite television have a trade organization in Washington to balance cable and the broadcasters?  Will the satellite industry, now mainly DirecTV, and Dish Network allow the SBCA to die?  We will see.

        There will be a satellite trade show open to all satellite professionals this summer in Memphis.  For details go to www.satelliteexpo2005.com .

         There is one organization that is doing very well in the satellite and electronics industry training and certification business.  It is the Electronics Technicians Association  International and their sister organization the Satellite Dealers Association.  Their certification is accredited by an outside industry association.  They even work with colleges to offer not only certification but college degrees.  The electronics industry as well government,  and the military accept, and promote their training.  Their founders are still active in the day to day operations or the organization. Dick Glass is a major force in the industry.  Need a certified person in everything from electronics  service to fiber optic installation?  The ETA has someone  that can do the job.   Check their web page at http;//www.eta-sda.org .  This is the way education, testing, and certification should be done!

                                                                                                                  ETA supports SkillsUSA Telecommunications Cabling

    Connecticut inventor develops product to save tavern owners businesses. by Tom Taylor 5/05

       Anyone who has ever run a tavern, restaurant, or entertainment place that serves alcoholic beverages knows that underage patrons are a major problem for both the establishment as well as  state liquor enforcement officials.   Underage  patrons can come  into establishments with fake or borrowed  identification and if they are served the establishment can face fines or even loss of license.  If the police find an underage patron drinking and the underage patron denies that he used fake identification it is his word against the establishment.  Gary Diamond to the rescue.   Gary Diamond, an inventor and veteran of the consumer electronics industry, has developed and is now selling a device that takes a picture of the patron together with their identification document..  The establishment now has proof.  Judges and the police like pictures.   It is unlikely that anyone with a fake i.d.  would even attempt to enter the establishment.   No need for a big flash of light, Video Eyewitness works in low light.  This product has additional benefits.  Worried about someone using a stolen credit card or even the patron that orders $100 worth of woman's undergarments and denies it?  You get the picture!  We know of taverns that put on shows women's undergarment shows and take orders from the patrons? Those patrons often don't remember what they purchase, but,  there is a picture.  This product has all kinds of possibilities. This product can be used any place where security is important.   For further information go to http://www.videoeyewitness.com .                        

     

 

  

                       

XACT-ly what music was looking for     

by Rita Conlin, contributing writer                                         March 2005

The XRT1 Stream jockey by Xact

Anyone that’s ever had the opportunity to attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January will tell you it’s a virtual gadget and information Mecca .  You’re hard pressed not to walk out of there each day in awe of all the new cellular phones, televisions, dvd players, dvd recorders, computers, personal digital assistants, printers, satellite systems, security devices, refrigerators, automobile accessories, digital cameras etc. (you get the picture) that the consumer electronics industry has to offer for this coming year … talk about information overload!   <>

I normally find myself so overwhelmed with so many new gadgets that I inevitably end up committing to memory only those very few that stood out as something I would use in my daily life.

As is the trend nowadays, I’ve committed myself to going totally wireless, I love my cell phone (with wireless Bluetooth headset, of course), my laptop (soon to be wi-fi), my TV (satellite … no cable, of course) and my Satellite radio.  The smaller the ‘wireless’ I can go, the better.   As far as my TV, cell phone and laptop, I think I’ve gone as small as I can go for now (do you think?) but as a long time subscriber to satellite radio service there was always something ‘big’ bugging me. 

First the facts.  The particular satellite radio service I subscribe to is Sirius Satellite Radio and the receiver and equipment I own has worked fine and fit great in my home and car dock however it was big and bulky.  It took up a lot of prime real estate on my small and already overcrowded desk.  Over time it eventually staked a claim to one corner and I learned to work around it.  My car was another story.

I have a small four seater with a manual stick shift transmission (more space consumption) with very little free space to put anything other than an air freshener.   Worst of all, since my satellite receiver was so heavy and my car dashboard so small there was no real practical way to install it other than use this ‘heavy duty’ double sided sticky substance it came with and press it up against a spot on my dashboard with which of course, promptly came unglued with the weight sending my poor receiver to my floorboard every time I made a right or left hand turn.

Eventually I ended up, surprisingly like a few others I know, with the receiver just sitting on my passenger seat with all the ugly wires left dangling until I got tired of seeing it and then just wound up leaving the receiver at home and not bothering with it.

Here’s where CES and the people at Xact Communication (www.getxact.com) came to my rescue!

They introduced me to this small receiver called an Xact Stream Jockey.  It’s about the size of an older version ipod, lightweight, very portable (I could easily carry inside my small purse) and it’s a Sirius satellite receiver!

Fortunately I was allowed to take this unit for a ‘test drive’ which I have to say, has left me impressed.

The cradle base is approximately 3” in diameter with the actual docking unit attached to it by way of a ball and socket that enables you to swivel the receiver to the most comfortable and practical position for your particular installation.  The receiver snaps into the dock and holds very securely (no falling out when I make a turn) and the antenna and power connections in the back are easy to get to.  Best of all, this small cradle sits comfortably in a spot on my center console where I can see the display and easily reach the buttons!

My desk was very pleased when I introduced it to the Xact receiver the same base used in my car could be used on my desk so we already know it’s small. 

The Stream  jockey comes packaged with everything you need for a home and car installation; two antennas, 2 power cords, audio cables for use with your home stereo, remote control and batteries and of course, quick start guide and instruction manual.

If you own any brand of satellite radio receiver you will find that the operation of the Stream Jockey is similar.  Navigation through the menus is simple and intuitive.  A couple of nice features that this receiver has different from others I’ve tested is the ease in setting of the audio level.  Also in other units the FM transmitter frequency selection was very limited, not so with this receiver.  In large metropolitan areas I have found that sometimes there are FM radio stations that transmit on either the same or very similar frequencies than the limited available ones in other receivers.  Having a larger selection of frequencies to choose from assures me that I will be able to adjust my settings to avoid any interference.  Note, if your receiver is ‘hard wired’ directly through your car’s stereo then this interference problem is not an issue, the interference only becomes apparent when using the simple installation method powering the receiver through your cars’ cigarette plug and using the wireless FM transmitter setting.

For all those in the same situation as I found myself or, if you are just wanting to purchase a small practical Satellite Radio system the Xact Stream Jockey should fit just right. 

If there’s anything that I would add or change about this unit it would probably be to suggest they include two docks instead of just one, plugging and unplugging the wires from my home and car setup each time was a bit of a drag.

As I have experienced in the past, there’s always something I walk away from CES saying …. ‘I’ve gotta have that!’  This time it looks like it’s going to be the Stream Jockey

David Conlin contributed to this article

We have returned from the January 2005 Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Yes  it Snowed in Las Vegas!  With 140,000 attendees and 1.5 million square feet of show space, the show was huge, cold, and wet.    by  Tom Taylor with Tom Camery  

 

   Satellite Television Moves on Up:  The folks at DirecTV, Dish, and Voom, plan to increase value for their customers as well as revenue for themselves by increasing their High Definition offerings.  To make this possible all three platforms will need to replace their receivers with MPEG-4 models.   Presently receivers use a MPEG-2 signal to deliver their content.  MPEG-4 will allow for increased compression, that is more channels,  to be sent in the same signal bandwidth.  Providers at Dish and DirecTV were talking about new receivers by he end year. DirecTV was even talking about the middle of the year.   Engineers told us that there is a lot of work to be done before the new receivers are released.  It seems that the first batch of chips that enable MPEG-4 have been released to the receiver engineers.   The amount of High Definition content continues to increase.  Look for new high def channels including  the Outdoor Channel  launching this coming fall.

   Dish Network announces Video On Demand:  Dish Network announced that they will be taking on cable with a new method of delivering Video On Demand programming.   Dish will introduce a new receiver called the Dishplayer DVR 625.  This receiver will be similar to the present 522.  It will have two tuners and two outputs, that is, it will be two satellite receivers in one box using one hard drive.  All of the features of the 522 will be retained plus a new larger hard drive will allow Dish to download and store on the hard drive 100 hours of premium VOD programming content.  Customers may  "buy" a  movie or other show that has been stored on the hard drive.  All movies bought by the customer will erase within 24 hours in order to keep Hollywood happy. Customers will only pay for the VOD content thry watch.  Movies may not be recopied to the hard drive.  Customers can make a non digital copy of the movie to a VCR.   Dish announced that the will offer on line betting on horse racing from the TVG channel, where allowed, and ITV shopping from Sharper Image. A new 942 High Definition two tuner  receiver that will allow for recording of High Definition content.  This will be like two receivers in one box allowing recording of HD content on one receiver and standard definition recording on the other

   DirecTV announced a new service where their new receivers will be able to show multiple channels on one screen similar to the service offered by  Dish during  the Olympics and elections.  Viewers will see their picture  broken into six screens.  They could highlight each screen separately hearing the audio from the selected screen.  They plan to offer four services including "Newsmix",  "Sportsmix", "Kidsmix" and "DirecTV Active".   Only the latest DirecTV receivers will have this multichannel  ability.   DirecTV also plans their own line of PVRs. A DirecTV spokesman said they planned to continue their relation with TIVO but would not elaborate.   The takeover of DirecTV by Newscorp was very evident.  DirecTV plans to build three  production studios produce  high definition and other  content.  This will give DirecTV the ability to produce High Definition content to rival Voom.  Update;  After an extremely upbeat show it has now been announced that Voom is calling it quits.  While George Bush was taking the oath for his second term the Dolans were busy selling off the physical assts of Voom, including the Rainbow 1 satellite, some facilities in South Dakota and, if the FCC will the transponders that it owns at 61.5 degrees west.

   Voom or not to Voom:  Voom had their booth  at the show and were sounding very optimistic.  Their reps sounded  very optimistic in spite of the fact that it is no secret that they are for sale.  They plan new channels and a conversion to MPEG-4.  On closer inspection we found that the Voom booth was being manned, at least in part, by hired reps from a public relations firm.  We learned from executives from rival satellite firms, that the industry does not put much value in Voom's 29,000 subscribers, hardware, or even transponders.  The main value would lie in the channels owned by Rainbow.  IT is not entirely clear if Voom's owners would be willing to sell Rainbow with Voom. Update;  After an extremely upbeat presentation at the CES,  it has now been announced that Voom is calling it quits.  While George Bush was taking the oath for his second term the Dolans were busy selling off the physical assts of Voom, including the Rainbow 1 satellite, some facilities in South Dakota and, if the FCC will allow, the transponders that it owns at 61.5 degrees west.  The sale price is reportedly $200 million which is probably about the value of the satellite.  

  Sandisk, the maker of memory chips like the ones used in digital camera's, had a highly promoted news conference.   There they gave attendees a glimpse into the future of memory.  They said that we can expect to see entire college text books on a single chip.  This will be a huge development for the publishing industry.  It was not disclosed how such text books might be protected from being copied.  With many text books approaching the $100  this might be a major problem.  On the other hand, this will open up an opportunity for many new authors to publish.  Printing costs have been prohibitive for many authors, a problem that  memory chips may solve.   

 Samsung,  worlds largest! Samsung showed their 102 inch "Largest TV in the world", plasma that is. It was the size of four standard 50 inch TV sets.  No information on the amount of power it consumed.  Picture was some sort of moving flower and fish arrangement.  Unfortunately, most of the TV displays that I saw used these prerecorded video loops that could have made even my 1954 DuMont look good.  I did see a few sets showing an NFL game but no where was I  able to compare  Plasma, DLP, and LCD monitors side by side. At least the satellite providers were honest using satellite  feeds.  It seems like everyone is trying to get into the LCD or Plasma monitor business.  Dish Network introduced their new line of  LCD monitors, and Apex,  whose president is being detained in China under house arrest showed LCD monitors exclusively at the show.  I am told that Dish's monitors are made with a partner in Japan,  and Apex, having worn out their welcome in China, has sourced their monitor to a manufacturer in Taiwan.

  Gibson Guitar, Pure Americana!  Once again Gibson set up their large portable building right in the middle of the show.  Gibson was one of the few manufacturer at the show that makes their products in the USA.  Gibson showed and even raffled of their famous guitars. Gibson also makes the Baldwin piano in their plant in Arkansas.  We saw guitars made for everyone from Elvis to Chet Atkins.  We even saw Les Paul's own personal guitar,  it must have been his because he was playing it.  We saw Nick Sterling, a young teenager who is taking the industry by storm.  Like his music or not, you WILL be hearing a lot of him in the future.  To top off the evening show, Ike Turner, with his singer Audrey Madison gave a show that was pure American soul.   Pictured below are  Les, Nick, and Ike.  Other shows  we saw included Rod Stewart presented by Monster Wire, the concert was excellent!

 

Who let these guys in?  Blinder Laserjammer could get their customers into a whole lot of trouble.

     

  TV Dealers Dilemma;  by Tom Taylor  2/05

 Making a go selling television is at best hard for most dealers. One major discount department store  sells the Advent HDTV 27 inch TV for $359. "Normal price is $449 but it is often on sale for $359 or $377. We have receiver reports of this TV selling for as little as $299 after rebate at one of the big CE stores.  The set is a 3X4 set, 1080i, Progressive scan, digital comb filter. The picture we saw was poor due to the one channel sttore feed. No HD signal to watch. We have received reports that the Hi Def picture is quite good.  It did have a tuner for off air channels but does not have an  atsc digital tuner. Often a customer will buy based on price, and after going through a couple of cartons of smokes the screen will be so covered with tar that picture quality will be destroyed. Hi def is hi def to many customers. Quality HDTV for many Hi Def customers means the prices are high and they are deaf to sales pitches. 

Back in my teaching days I used to talk about Gresham's Law, which stated that bad money drives out good money that is paper will drive out gold. Will this apply to HDTV? For many it will!
           

   How can a dealer survive in a Television market with slim margins on one hand and now $359 HDTV sets on the other.  It is no secret that many retailers have survived by selling service agreements and accessories. Monster Cable and others have kept the doors open at more than a few dealerships. For an extended article of this subject go to our sister site.

 

CEDIA, More Then A Trade Show

  September 9 - 11, 2004  by Tom Taylor  with Rita Conlin, David Conlin, and Tom Camery contributing

   Every September  CEDIA has a trade show / training extravaganza, usually in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This was our first year covering this show and we were very surprised at the size and quality of the show.  Indianapolis is not Las Vegas nor even Nashville.  Don't get me wrong, Indy is a great city, I have been there many times,  but people do not go to trades shows there to have fun, although you can have a great time there.  People go to CEDIA to learn and to see.  In a word the show is USEFUL.  CEDIA is held at the RCA Dome and Indianapolis Convention Center.  The RCA  Dome is where the Colts play football.  The area, usually covered by the football field and sidelines, was completely covered by merchants showing their wares.  The football field was only a small portion of show floor, perhaps a fifth.  The show consumed 232,000 square feet of exhibition space. 

Then there were the seminar and training rooms, press conference rooms and more.  In other words this was a large show,  not as big as the CES, but large.    CEDIA reports that their show is growing,  reporting 21,000 in attendance by the second day.  CEDIA  provided attendees with 300 hours of seminars.

   What makes CEDIA different from other trade shows is that it caters to showcasing high end  electronics and training technicians to install and service the equipment.  CEDIA and its exhibitors cater to the home theater industry.  With home theaters, and premium audio and video viewing areas easily commanding five figures, having the right hardware and competent technicians is very important  to the industry.  Profits are very good for equipment suppliers, and quality installers can often demand wages commensurate  with their abilities.  Even the direct to home satellite people, who normally give away their equipment,  were  there showing their premium  equipment lines with digital hard drive recording and multi tuners.

A Few New, Innovative, and Useful products we saw at the show;

   DeCorp's Flat wire;   DeCorp America introduced several new types of wire that you literally stick to the wall.  If an installer needs to run wire where wire can not be run behind a wall or run out of sight, DeCorp's flatwire may be the answer.  The preferred way to install the wire would be to stick it to the wall, put drywall tape and finish with drywall paste and paint.  Wire for audio, video, and data cables are will be available by mid 2005.  Wire will be either shielded and unshielded.  One version of the wire will work as RG-6.  The wire sample I have consists of strip of clear plastic 2 1/8 inches wide with two 7/8 inch strips of copper foil inside.   Thickness is about that of two pieces of typewriter paper.  The wire is so attractive that it could be left exposed and made part of the room decor.

Contact Decorp at  http://www.decorp.com

  Vantage Point;  Vantage Point makes and markets devices for hanging televisions on the walls.  They make the standard tray that is available at many retail CE stores.  They also have a line of innovative devices for hanging flat screen displays on walls.  These are devices that installers need for mounting all kinds of video displays, whether it be a television set in a bed room to a plasma display in a commercial application

Information   http://www.vanptc.com

  Good Tools are important to the professional installer.  Ever tried to cut a piece of coax with a cheap pair of  "dikes"?  You may wind up doing more crushing of the coax then cutting.  You will get a fast even cut with a pair of Klein cutters. Klein  publishes a monthly newsletter giving all kinds of tip to the tradesman.  Check http://www.kleintradesmanclub.com

  Specialty tools are important to installers.  Wires must be run in the most challenging of places.  Need to fish a wire?  Check with the folks of B.E.C.  at http://www.fiberfish.com or the rack folks at http://www.RACK-A-TIERS.com , and Labor Saving Devices at http://www.lsdinc.com.  Installers can find lots of really helpful specialty tools and ideas on these sites. 

  Style is everything at Bang and Olufsen.  B and O is a maker and seller of high end and very stylish electronics through their own stores or stores operated under the Bang  and Olufsen name.  They have even developed a marketing strategy of opening company stores in major markets with these stores opening additional stores in partnership with select high end custom installation companies that  have the right to sell Band and Olufsen products within a given location.  Over 70% of B and O's sales in the U.S. come from large custom installation products  B and O is a Danish firm with stores world wide. Their stores are even in Harrods, and Selfridges in London.  B and O used CEDIA  to showcase their new BeoVision  42 inch  plasma screen.  The Beo 4 sets itself apart from other plasmas  as it is built around modularity with  improved picture technologies and viewing comfort.   The one they had running at the news conference looked very good, even when viewed off to one side.  If a picture can define a company, the telephone below certainly defined Bang and Olufsen.  Design, Design, and Design.  Take a look at Bang and Olufsen's web site, go to their catalog and run your cursor over it,  it is an amazing exhibition of simplicity and elegance.  For further information see Rita Conlin's story below.

http://www.bang-olufsen.com 

   Controlling home theaters can be a major challenge to designers.  With monitors and equipment all over the facility, control can be a undertaking.  We say everything from large wall panels with touch controls to computer control.  Whole house monitoring and control is becoming a major undertaking.    It is even possible to control many of the functions of a house via the Internet.  Not to be left behind, even remote control manufacturers have new and innovative devices.  Universal Remote Control labels  their devices as "Entertainment Made Simple" Below is the "Home Theater Master" from Universal Remote.

 Information; http://www.universalremote.com

 

Tech Tip,  to check an i.r. remote control point it at a digital camera or  picture phone!  Look for the white flash from a working remote!

 

It will 'Rock your walls'                            by    Rita Conlin
My first attendance at the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo 2004 in Indianapolis definitely did not disappoint.

The number and layout of the exhibitors both in the convention center as well as the RCA dome were enough to take a least two whole days to visit and even then, you would need an extra day to go back and visit those that warranted a second look.  Perhaps that is why the Expo ran for four days?

Many of the big exhibitors were present with the usual large flashy booths (the word 'booth' conjures up visions of  a cubicle type area.  I've always thought Expo organizers should come up with a better description; perhaps 'display' or 'mobile showroom'?) such as LG, TERK and SONY just to mention a few.

There were many new innovative products and components that amplify, distribute and display media to your home theatre system.  None more eye catching and intriguing to me than one.

SolidDrive from Induction Dynamics www.inductiondynamics.com  had a small booth in the RCA dome that packed a large punch.  As you strolled past their booth your eye was first drawn to a Jennifer Lopez video that seemed to be projected on a clear glass wall, as you stepped up to the glass wall to touch it and figure out how they did that an even more astounding effect was revealed - the glass walls were gently vibrating and you realized that the sound from the video was coming right out of them!    Luckily my jaw dropping caught the eye of the Induction Dynamics representative that took me to one side and explained how the technology worked before I caused myself any brain damage trying to figure this out.

The SolidDrive system consists of two small round steel discs, about the diameter of an aerosol can (the room freshener type) and about 3 to 4 inches high (this is going strictly by memory, exact specifications can be obtained directly from Induction Dynamics).  These two small discs attach to a wall of glass, drywall, granite, wood, laminate and composites where they expand and contract magnetically up to 20,000 times per second which converts an audio signal into a vibration that is transferred evenly onto that entire surface, in effect rocking your walls with sound without a sign of a speaker in sight.  Real cool stuff.   And by the way, the Jennifer Lopez video on the glass wall was done by projecting the image on a thin sheet of semi-transparent film taped to the glass.

Kudos to Bang and Olufsen (www.bang-olufsen.com) for coming up with yet another crop of consumer electronics that are not only at the high end of the performance scale but also the ultimate in eye candy.  Their BeoLab 5 sound system boasts 2500 watts delivered through a trilevel 'tower' of speakers.  The BeoVision 4 is their 42" plasma monitor and my favorite was the BeoCom 2 cordless phone, it's a two line cordless phone that supports up to eight handsets.  It's constructed out of hydro formed aluminum and available in four colors; the best way to describe it would be a banana.  My description cannot begin to do it justice, you just have to see it for yourself BeoCom 2.

Home theatre and lifestyle technology is advancing at such a rate that a visit to CEDIA is a requirement just to come up to speed.  Oh, and next year I'll have to allot more than a mere 2 days.
SolidDrive™Transforms walls, windows, tables and nearly any solid surface into a speaker

 

Food a problem? As our staff writer noted, the food sold by the folks that run the RCA Dome is a bit bland so we had to stop at Jungle Jims and get some hot sauce.  Yes, that is a full size fire truck with racks of hot sauce on all sides  Jungle Jims is a incredible food store located just north of Cincinnati, on Rt. 4 in Fairfield, Ohio.  It has been featured on the food channel.  The food sold there is amazing, it is from all over the world and and much of it is fresh.  Everything from soda pop from Brazil,  to special vegetables from the far east can be found here.  Dave Conlin of  the Electronic Retailer dotcom staff can be seen below choosing some sort of Thermonuclear  tongue burner

http://www.junglejims.com    (Picture taken with Sprint Sanyo picture phone)

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

On The Road with Internet   by Tom Taylor KE4SMG with Tom Camery   KC8AHF June 2004

    While visiting the Dayton Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio, we  came across Richard DesRoisers W1KGZ and his wife Linda N1TRV two avid amateur radio operators.  Typical of amateur radio operators "hams"  they devised a way to have Internet all the time at reasonable cost.   A few years ago Dick and Linda gave up their home in New Hampshire and became full time residents of a crew cab pickup truck with a slide in camper.  They spend  summers  in New Hampshire and  winters in south Texas.  Since they spend a lot of times in National Parks and rural areas without wifi or even cell phones,  they chose to keep in touch with the world via Internet.  To do this they purchased a DirecWay two way satellite system.  Dick, shown below beside his system,  mounted the dish on a surveyors heavy duty tripod.  He  uses a laptop computer to access the  Internet with a meter device in line to aim the dish.  The meter is a special tool available from DirecWay.   Dick says the system works very well, and since most of his stops are for at least several days, the effort of setting up the device is well worth while.  

     As for the art work,  it is an artists rendition of the Northern Lights in Alaska.  An artist in Progresso, Mexico did the art work using nothing but spray cans of paint, a torch, and plastic bags  Snowbirds flock to Progresso and other border towns for everything from art work to excellent dental work and of course prescription drugs at very reasonable prices.  Word word of reliable businesses in Mexico travels fast around the campgrounds along the border. 

 

 

Products that we saw and liked.   by Tom Taylor 3/8/04

     It has been a couple of months since we returned from the Consumer Electronics Show, and as with most shows, we return with a number of samples of products to review.  Many of them are not from the firms that spend millions of dollars on the show but rather small firms that hope to introduce their product to a few retail outlets in hope of sales,  Some of these products are actually useful and unique.  When trying to clean the lens on one of our digital cameras, you know, the kind with a door that covers the lens and never comes fully opened we remember a cleaner that we acquired from Bill Baird of Lenspen.   Our problem was that we could not get into the lens to give it a good cleaning due to the door.  The solution was to pull out a Lenspen and open the top end to expose a thick soft brush that we were able to clean all of the loose material  hidden around the lens.  Next we opened other end exposing a small triangular  felt like pad.  We were told that the pad was impregnated with a carbon like material which helped to clean the lens which it did very well.  We were also able to use a larger pen to clean the viewing screen on the back of the camera.  No more risking scratching lenses or leaving tissue dust, the pens did the job.  Contact; http://www.lenspen.com

 Sirius Satellite Radio announces deal with Dish Network and Radio Shack. 2/12/04  Tom Taylor

   The rumors reported below came true.  On February 12th in a joint news conference, Sirius, Dish Network, and Radio Shack announced new agreements.  Sirius will gain Radio Shack Stores, as well as thousands  of Dish Network satellite dealers to market their satellite radio products. Dish Network will also make available Sirius Satellite radio content to their Dish Network customers to supplement the music channels already available. Full details were not announced. Dish Network has badly needed additional audio channel channels as many people complained about too much weird music and religious content.  Dish did not need another music  channel featuring music from the islands.  Hopefully talk radio and sports will be added.   Dish Dealers should by on board by mid year.  Radio Shack announced that they will sell Dish Network and Sirius as their exclusive satellite delivered services.

Update from CES    2/12/04  ---  and   9/05

    It seems that the folks from the CES as well as the Nevada congressional delegation are still upset about the conditions at Las Vegas McCarin International Airport.  The upwards to five hour wait to get through security on Sunday as the show ended was just plain unacceptable. Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Jon Porter (R-NV) used the  House Aviation Subcommittee hearing on the security of travel to voice their concerns about the problems with security at the end of the CES show.  This publication has learned that additional screening equipment will be installed by next years event and with the new Monorail connection the airport to the Strip things should go smoother.  In all fairness, with a large portion the the 180,000 attendees, exhibitors, and others who worked hard to put on the show, this publication thinks that the Airport and the T.S.A.  did a remarkable job checking each passenger and their luggage and getting them to the gates in 5 hours.  

    We understand that improvements will be in place for CES  2005.  Also look for t new monorail system to be open.

Selected Stories from past editions of ElectronicRetailer.com

 

For more information visit our sister news service at http://www.electronicsinventions.com

For information on hundreds of satellite channels that few know about visit http://www.mpeg2fta.com

 

For questions or comments contact the publisher at  publisher@electrronicretailer.com

 

 

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Electronicretailer is published by Taylor  Enterprises.  Publication began in April 2002.  Electronicretailer dotcom is in no way associated with any previous publication or similar domain name.  All copyrighted name are property of their respective owners.

Thomas A. Taylor  Publisher

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