Two Way Radio Directory - Blog

I want to report on my satisfaction with trading by cell phone.

I have been using a laptop with a cellular card, but recently purchased a Motorola V505 camera phone from SunCom, the company that took over the AT&T Wireless service in this area as a result of the Cingular/ATTWS merger.

This phone has an excellent micro-web browser. I get good quality charts free from Charles Schwab. I can see intraday (delayed 20 min.) and various longer time period charts.

I had no problem setting up the ability to log into my Scottrade account.

Placing buy and sell orders using the phone is just as easy as when I am at my desktop computer.

I have set up alerts at Scottrade and when the alert is tripped, I get a beep and a message on the phone.

While I am online, if I receive a call, I can switch to the phone call, and then return to my web page after ending the call.

I enjoy being able to trade while sitting in a boring meeting or waiting for an oil change.

I am now back to active trading. (More on that later)

Back in the 1970’s there was a Pot of Money called Calea Funds. Many Police radio systems were upgraded, new mutual aid repeaters were installed, consoles upgraded, etc. The issue seemed to be “get the money, before someone else does”, not “is this the best use of these funds”?

As the Biblical writer said, “There is nothing new under the sun”.

Today, there are new pots of money. They are labeled “Homeland Security Grants”, “911 Access Fees”, and other government money pots. The idea is to pour money into a hole and if we are lucky some portion of it may actually be used for something useful.

Much of these funds is expended with more of an eye toward “getting our share so the guy in the next county doesn’t get it all”, rather than for well planned needed equipment.

When the current wave of money pots are empty we will have a nation strewn with a myriad assortment of vehicular repeaters, “ineroperability solutions”, and other devices that will in many cases rarely, if ever, be used. Often this will be because of the inability for the intended users to remember how to use them in a time of crisis.

However, this may give some needed cash flow to a few manufacturers, and maybe it is just a small government subsidy to the industry.

While many existing Public Safety radio systems are in need of upgrading, these funds often avoid those needs and install rarely to be used “interoperability solutions.”

In a few years, this billions of dollars of equipment will find its place on the palets at public auctions and perhaps the amateur radio operators will find applications for it.

Today I got a call from a manager at SunCom, he said he would connect me
with someone who could tell me how to use email with their phones.

The person who called me was Dwayne Blankenship who used to work with me
when I was Sales Manager at Cellular One here in Raleigh in the late 80’s!
It was great hearing from him.

The woman he put me in touch with did tell me the secret.

SunCom calls their email service MultiMedia Messaging Service, MMS.

Using that feature I can send, receive, and reply to emails!

Despite claiming “Truth In Wireless”, and “We Get It” it appears SunCom is
in fact misleading customers when switching them from AT&T to SunCom.

I just made the switch and two days later I realize I have lost all ability
to receive, reply to, and send emails from my phone, all of which I could do
with my AT&T PCS phone.

I used this feature frequently in my work, and now I am technically
crippleld when I expected to be advancing in my communications abilities.

Of course I feel I must get this important news out to others before they
make the same mistake.

Join the discussion in the SunCom Yahoo Group

Public Safety does not consider the price of scanners, nor should they. They
also don’t consider the use of scanners, nor should they. If they need
privacy, encryption is available.

The spectrum benefits of digital, will take some time to accomplish. The FCC
refarming of VHF and UHF and the recent narrowband deadline dates will get
us started in that direction.

P25 is an example of a path toward standardization. Watch for those not on
the path to fall away over the next few years. Federal Government funding is
esssential and obtaining it will require more standardization.

Digital systems will allow for using much of the existing off the shelf
standarized network hardware to build networks instead of proprietary boxes.
Radio traffic, VoIP phone traffic, and data applications will all share the
same network instead of seperate ones.

High speed data is not required to make a license plate inquiry or receive a
small ID photo. Look at Nextel for an example of what can be done with data
in 25 khz channels. Forget analog FM, it is soon to be a thing of the past.

When shortwave broadcasters are testing digital, you know the handwriting is
on the wall.

It is outrageous for cities to install free wireless systems that
take customers away from commercial providers who have invested in providing
wireless and wired services in that same city.

Tax funds should not be used for such things. I see no difference between
that, and the city deciding to open drugstores and sell drugs at tax
subsidized prices to compete against retail drug stores in their community.

This sort of thinking might be ok in the old Soviet Union, but not in free
enterprise USA.

I am campaigning against a free wireless proposal in our city now.

Today we are introducing a new feature to this web site. It is our online store catalog.

Our store will feature items chosen for our visitors. Initially, the focus is on a great collection of books from Althos Publishing. This publishing house creates books that are an easy read. They distill the information you need to stay abreast of new technology into a well written text with excellent diagrams.

I collaborated with them on the Wireless Dictionary. During that project I became aware of their dynamic interest in this technology and Publisher Lawrence Harte’s intense desire to teach it to others.

Unlike some texts that will put you to sleep, these books are interesting and informative. Take a look while you are here.