Dear
Friends and Industry Colleagues,
So much
has happened in the last week that I am only going to be able to hit
the high points in this newsletter. It has been a very busy week. I
hope you don't find too many typos in this issue since I have really
had to rush to get it finished today.
I
attended the Paging Technical Committee (PTC) meeting in Tampa,
Florida. Although this is the first of their meetings that I have attended,
I have been a member of one of the sub-committees for a couple of years.
When the PCIA (Personal Communications Industry Association)
lost interest in paging, the PTC found a new and valuable association
with the good
people at the AAPC (American Association of Paging Carriers).
The PTC is made up of members who represent several of the paging carriers
as well as
many of the suppliers of wireless equipment and services.
|
| This
is my weekly newsletter about Wireless Data and Radio
Paging. You are receiving this message because you have either
communicated with me in the past about a wireless topic, or your
address was included in another e-mail that I received on the same
subject. This is not a SPAM. If you have received this message
in error, or you are not interested in these topics, please click
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They
meet periodically to discuss important technical issues that affect the
whole industry, such as specifications and standards. It was wonderful
to see many old friends and to make several new ones. It was very comforting
to see first-hand, that the technical helm of our paging industry here
in the USA, is in good hands. For example I already knew that Stephen
Oshinsky,
the
president of the PTC was well respected by his peers for his expertise
as an engineer, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he is
really a nice person as well. By the way, I want to go on record as supporting
him for re-election as president of the group.
This wasn't
a very large group of people, but still I didn't have near enough time
to spend talking to all the ones I wanted to meet and get
to know better. The first day consisted of meetings and discussions in
the sub-committees. These covered all kinds of technical
issues
and they
were handled very democratically so that no one company has too much
influence on the way new products get designed and manufactured.
The next
day was a meeting of the whole PTC group in which the committees
presented their reports. It was heartwarming to see former competitors
cooperating at this level. I think most of the paging companies have
finally figured
out that their real competitors are not other paging companies.
On Thursday
(yesterday at this writing) the directors of the AAPC met for their
board meeting. It was an honor to be invited to this meeting but an even
greater one when Ted McNaught, their president, asked me to speak to
the board. I told them that I heard one member of the PTC (not a vendor)
say that he was afraid the PTC was like the band playing on the deck of
the Titanic while it sank. I also said that I wasn't ready to give up yet.
Since I have never been very bashful about expressing my options, as
anyone
who
knows
me will verify,
I explained my feelings about Microsoft entering the paging business, and
how I believe that Microsoft is validating the vast potential
of the wireless data market and that this could be just the thing to
save the day for us. Unfortunately, their choice of FM subcarrier channels
to
deliver
their
data was, in
my opinion, a very poor choice. I am grateful for having had this opportunity
to speak to them.
So, if anyone
can get an appointment to speak to Microsoft on behalf of the paging
industry, I volunteer to
go along and do my part. If your
paging company is not yet a member of the AAPC, I urge you to join
and get active in helping us revitalize the paging industry. Now is the
time for action. The same behavior of the past is not going to produce
different results.
|
| PAGING TECHNICAL COIMMITTEE MEETING IN TAMPA |
 |
This
is a typical working-meeting of the PTC. Here Gagan Puranik of
SkyTel, brings the group up to date
on the fine points of the FLEXsuite family of protocols.
You
can't see it in this photo, but most of these engineers have laptop
computers in front of them, and several of them have little
antennas sticking up in the air indicating that they are connected
by wireless to the Internet and are instantly available to their home
offices.
You
may wonder if these were just long and boring presentations? I
didn't see a single person fall asleep. Most of us found the presentations
to be fascinating. |
Barry Kanne
TGA Technologies, Inc.
|
Barry
Kanne, President of TGA Technologies addresses the group at the PTC
meeting. Barry has been involved in paging for many years and has
earned our respect and admiration for his continued efforts to supply
the industry with innovative new products.
Barry
was showing his new SPARKGAP™ (ReFLEX controller)
product.
I told him that it was the most impressive new product that I
have
ever seen. I even joked with him and said that I didn't see how
all the connectors on the back of a one-rack-unit piece of equipment
could possibly be connected to something inside. So, he asked his
engineers to open the unit so I could see what was inside, and
this really
is the most awe-inspiring
piece of leading-edge-electronic design and industrial packaging
that I have seen. It is truly a thing of beauty! A few years ago,
all the functionality of this device would have required a whole
rack full
of equipment.
It reminded me of the new Macintosh server. I
will tell you more about it in future issues.
|
 |
We
all enjoyed some lively discussions about paging and wireless data
technology. These are the people who make it happen. For example
Vic Jensen and Doug Ayerst from Motorola briefed the group about
several FLEX and ReFLEX issues. If Doug Ayerst seemed to know a
lot about the ReFLEX code—he should—he wrote it!
James
Dabbs of TGA Technologies (on the far left) is the author of the
exciting new RXP networking protocol
that will make it possible to connect dissimilar ReFLEX systems
together and to implement the "Oasis" or "Campus" concept
that so many are waiting for. He has done a terrific job with this
valuable
protocol. This is one of the most important advances in wireless
technology since ReFLEX was first introduced. |
|
| AMTEL WIRELESS |
 |
AMTEL
WIRELESS
brought a nice table-top display of their wireless
solutions using ReFLEX to the PTC meeting in Tampa.
I am sure it must have been interesting to
the very engineers who designed and implemented ReFLEX.
There are many possibilities here and they fall neatly
into four categories of application and product: |
| Data
Communications |
Level 1 |
A
basic
ReFLEX transceiver, sending and receiving serial RS-232 ASCII
data. |
| Telemetry
(Alarm and Control) |
Level 2 |
An
enhanced
ReFLEX transceiver, monitoring alarms from a remote site, and
sending commands to the remote site. |
| Asset
or Fleet Tracking |
Level 3 |
An
enhanced
ReFLEX transceiver, with the addition of a GPS module for the
reporting of accurate locations to enable tracking. |
| Field
Force Automation |
Level 4 |
An
enhanced
ReFLEX transceiver, with the addition of a GPS module and a handheld
computer terminal for full automation of field service activities
all the way from the customer's location back to the service
company's back office. |
| More
ideas on how these applications might help companies reduce operational
costs and increase efficiency
will follow in future newsletters. Please let me know if you have
any ideas about this as well. AMTEL can generally turn a specification
into a prototype in two to four weeks. If you have an interesting
application in mind, give me a call so we can discuss it. |
|
| MORE
ON WHY I DON'T LIKE SUBCARRIER PAGING |
My
comments on subcarrier paging in the last two newsletters have generated
quite a bit of discussion. I was able to talk to some other colleagues
who have
had extensive experience with subcarrier paging technology, and took
notes so I could share with you the solid technical reasons
as to why this technology is a poor choice for delivering wireless
data.
Here
are some more bullets (pun intended):
- the actual
power of the subcarrier is a small fraction of the FM broadcast
transmitter's total output power
- a radio
antenna in a pager should be a 1/4 wavelength long to be really effective
- 1/4
wavelength at 100 MHz is about 28 inches
- 1/4
wavelength at 930 MHz is about 3 inches
- which
one would you like to try to squeeze into a wristwatch?
- since
an FM subcarrier receiver must scan the whole FM broadcast band from
88 to 108 MHz to find the transmitter with the right subcarrier,
it is necessary to tune the antenna to maintain acceptable sensitivity
across this wide range
- tuning
the antenna is difficult for one that is internal to the device,
and very difficult for devices where it must be installed externally
- overmodulation
of the main channel of the FM broadcast transmitter will produce
severe interference (splatter) in the subcarrier channel—this
is a very common occurrence
- the
bandwidth of data transmitted in this channel is limited
the
subcarrier channel does not use FM pre-emphasisFM pre-emphasis
during modulation, and then de-emphasis during the de-modulation
process has always been used to overcome frequency response
problems in FM
radio modulation- use of the subcarrier channel in major market areas is very expensive
- in fixed
telemetry applications, the location of the device is important—finding
a good spot is much more difficult at 100 MHz
(Corrections
were made on 01/26/03 with strikethrough.)
I could
go on and on, but I think by now you can see that the facts support
my claims that an FM subcarrier is a poor choice for delivering wireless
data. Technical details aside, the most compelling evidence is the
total failure of businesses all over the world that have used this
technology. |
| THE GAME |
| As
planned, I attended the hockey game on Wednesday evening in Tampa.
It was between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal
Canadiens. A very exciting game that ended tied 2 to 2 after a five minute
overtime. That puts the Tampa Bay "Bolts" into a four-way tie
with Pittsburgh, the New York Islanders, and Montreal for the final two
playoff spots
this year. I really enjoyed the game. It was my first live hockey match.
|
| BUY
AND SELL |
| WANT TO BUY |
WANT
TO SELL |
URGENT
HELP STILL NEEDED
I still need
to license a good FLEX decoding program written in “C” or
get some consulting help from someone who
can show another accomplished programmer some tricks and shortcuts
to help get it done more quickly. If you know someone who can do
this, please contact Brad Dye for a referral. |
VYTEK
WIRELESS
I am now a manufacturer representative (MR) for Vytek Wireless
Products. (Formerly Sonik.) Please look at what they have
to offer to the Paging
and Wireless Messaging industry.
I
would be happy to give you a price quotation on any of their
products. |
PURC
BASE STATION
I need the remote control portion of a PURC base station.
I would like to buy or borrow this part of the Motorola
paging transmitter for some testing and experimentation. Please call
me if you have one. |
NOKIA
GSM PHONES
I am able
to offer up to 20,000 units (per month) brand-new Nokia GSM phones
(model #3390) to anyone from
outside of the USA. These phones are all ESN unlocked. All phones
must be exported, and are in original-new boxes and have never
been used. Price is very low and depends on quantity—heavy
discounts are possible. Let's make a deal. |
| Legacy
Technology Solutions LLC—paging infrastructure
repair with warranty. Please ask for Virgil Jarrard, President,
and tell him Brad sent you. Toll-free voice: 1-877-436-8044
or voice: 972-436-8044, fax: 972-436-8944. They are located
in the Dallas suburbs, and they sometimes have good deals on reconditioned
paging equipment as well. Check with them for current product
availability. You can send Virgil an e-mail by clicking on
the Legacy name
above. |
|
If
you have any wireless equipment that you would like to buy or
sell, please let me know. Everything that is offered for sale
in this newsletter is on the honor system. There is no charge
for the listing, but if a sale is made, I ask the seller to send
me a 10% commission, much the same as the voluntary payments
that are requested on the Internet for shareware.
|
|
click
here