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April 6, 2002
Tom:
I have completed a manuscript that discloses the true story about who invented the telephone. And, it was not Alexander Graham Bell. The manuscript is currently with a literary agent who has some interested publishers. I have literally thousands of pages of research and some here-to-for undisclosed information that shows a clear line of invention and documentation that though Alexander Graham Bell should only be given credit for having received a US patent for a device that became known as a telephone. My book will conclude that history books and encyclopedias should record that Antonio Meucci was the first to successfully and repeatedly transmit speech through an electrical wire, i.e., should be recorded as the inventor of the telephone. This manuscript also shows a definite connection between Antonio Meucci and Alexander Graham Bell and A. G. Bell's father-in-law. If you'll send my your mailing address I'll provide you with some published sources of information
Russell Pizer
Dear Rusell:
I wish you well with your manuscript. If a low standard of proof is observed then Meucci, Dolbear, Gray, or Reis may be credited with inventing the telephone. I will not agree to a low standard. It is true sometimes that the wrong people are credited for an invention. Morse, for example, did not invent the telegraph, Edison did not make the first incandescent light bulb, and Marconi did not originate radio. But all three are given credit, in the main., for inventing these things because they published their findings and brought practical systems first to the marketplace. Unlike the previous three, however, Bell's claim to being first to transmit intelligible speech is well documented.
Like Gray, Meucci claims Bell stole his ideas. This means Bell must have falsified every notebook and letter he wrote about his conclusions. Nothing in Bell's writing, character, or his life after 1876 suggest he did so, indeed, in the more than 600 lawsuits which involved him, no one else was credited for inventing the telephone.
It is not my mind alone that you must change, nor even that of the public, it is the mind of the world scientific community. They will demand a high standard of proof. Again, I wish you well with your writing. I think it not necessary to prove that Mecuci invented the telephone, I am sure his is an interesting life to write on, proven claim or not.
Best regards,
Tom Farley
April 8, 2002
On the Mobile Internet and Wireless Investing
Mark van der Hoek:
As for investing in wireless -- anyone considering it should take a HARD look at the demand for high speed mobile data. Look at the Metricom disaster. Yes, they spent money like drunken sailors. But poor management aside, where were the customers? They weren't there. They just weren't there. Where are all the customers lining up for Sprint's (and other's) fixed wireless Internet access? They aren't there. They just aren't there. DSL and cable access is geographically limited. There are tons of potential customers who cannot get either one. If the demand for high speed Internet were what it is touted to be, Sprint should be having trouble keeping up with the demand. Instead, the response has been so poor that they have stopped marketing, preferring to hold on to existing customers and hope the demand picks up. Someday. And that's for FIXED Internet access, a much larger market than mobile access.
And who wants mobile high speed Internet access? A few road warriors. Where do they want it? Spread out, over the city, a perfect market for 3G. IF 3G can deliver it there. 1xRTT can't. It's higher speeds are limited to locations close to the sites. Out at the cell edges, speed drops to 9600, no faster than current CDMA data. Which nobody wants. Even if 3G services become all they are cracked up to be, we still have to ask the question, "Where is the market? Where do people want this service?" Yes, the road warriors sometimes want it in their customers parking lot. But mostly they want it at the airport. At their hotel. At places where a wireless LAN can, and will, be available, no thanks to Mr. Cellular Carrier. And no revenue, either.
The Internet is a useful tool, but those of us who are techies often lose sight of the fact that not all of the world is enthralled with it. We used to say, "If we build it, they will come." But the novelty of the Internet has worn off. It's a useful tool, but it's not magic. There is no new economy, and the old rules still apply. Always have, always will. Will we see the demand some day? Almost certainly. But not this year, and not next year, and probably not the year after that. The wireless industry's free ride is over. It was nice while it lasted. Now they'll have to work for their revenue. They'll have to build the networks and eat the losses until the demand slowly builds to profitability. It's not a game for the get in get rich get out crowd.
Dave Mock (Dave Mock's site -- external link)
Mark's opinion of making money by investing in wireless is consistent with mine. The opportunities to buy into network operators and expect the growth akin to 3-5 years back just won't happen. The growth model that everyone latched onto in 1999 is gone - a new approach has to be taken (ie - it's not a no-brainer anymore). I think a new phase will open up where the opportunities shift to applications, software, niche markets, etc. I don't think 802.11 will kill 3G cellular but it will steal some lucrative opportunities due to it's lower cost too. The best thing about 3G may end up just being its capacity for extending voice services...of which the U.S. is still missing out on until we resolve our spectrum issues.
Monday, March 25, 2002
Spent Sunday hiking around the Black Diamond Mines regional preserve in Contra Costa County, California. One of only a few places in California that produced coal. Quite odd to be walking on a trail and have the ground turn black; I've never before hiked over coal deposits. A neat place. Here's a link with a map of the preserve: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/black.htm
General site work today. Make sure to e-mail me if you find any dead or broken links.
Saturday, March 16, 2002
Tom:
I just read an article at http://www.privateline.com/PCS/
mobilephonepictures.htm, which I assume you wrote. As far as I am aware, the last IMTS/MTS mobile system left in North America is run by Bell/Aliant Telecom in Newfoundland, Canada. This system is also slated to be de-commissioned in August of 2002, thereby ending a long history of this technology. In conversation with a past IMTS supplier, Glenayre, a few years ago, they indicated that the only other IMTS system that they were aware of still in operation was in Asia (Cambodia or somewhere). Naturally, I stand to be corrected on this info.
In Newfoundland, our mobile switch is a Glenayre GL1200 (6 side by side units) and the mobile units used were mostly a combination of Novatel VTR74, VTR84, and VTR2084 radios, Glenayre GL2020, 2040, 2021, and 4040 units. Being a landscape with some remote areas difficult to service with cellular, the old IMTS will be missed by some users.
Gerald Rose
Editor's note. You can read the paperwork Aliant filed to decommission this service by clicking here. It is in Word format.
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Ruminations on vocoders from Mark:
Tom:
The vocoders in cellular are quite different from those in the PSTN, so a big difference is to be expected. Voice quality was never the objective in going to digital. Capacity was the objective. Also, the error correction in digital cellular is speed sensitive, due to the different types of radio frequency fading that predominates at different speeds. Vocoders used in digital cellular (or PCS) are very different in their operation from the A/D conversion used in CDs. It is a predictive process, and intended to maximize the bandwidth efficiency rather than providing superb voice quality. . ."
Monday, March 11, 2002
Tom:
We purchased Sprint PCS service to replace our land line long distance. During the month of February, we used the phone at home, almost always getting a signal -- but a very weak signal. So far in the month of March, we have not been able to get a signal at home. The phone does work if we move closer to a tower and it seem to be working the same as other identical phones on the same service. So I do not think the problem is with the phone. Because our signal was weak, I suspect that some variable has caused us to loose the signal. Sprint claims they do not have any equipment problems in the area. We have had a wide range of weather conditions in early march, cold, warm, cloudy, clear etc. But similar conditions in February. What variables could cause us to no longer get a signal?
Mark van der Hoek replies:
Loading will do it with CDMA. If they are borderline when the system is loaded at one level, more loading (more usage) could send them over the edge. Weather conditions could too. If he's in an area of the country where trees have leafed out during that time period, that could do it. I knew an engineer in Minneapolis who had two sets of system parameters, one for winter, one for summer. Each spring and fall he had to make the judgment as to when to switch the parameters. Or somebody may have built a building that is affecting the signal. Even if it's not a direct obstruction, it could affect the multipath patterns enough to ace him out.
Any of these things could push a borderline reception over the edge. Best thing to do is for him to continue to scream at Sprint. He laid his problem out clearly enough that even customer service people should be able to grasp it, but he'll have to be a squeaky wheel.
Monday, March 4, 2002
On Saturday I hiked next to the central fork of the American River. Looked at the Ruck-a-chucky rapid, a Class VI run that is a mandatory portage for rafters. This site presents some great views of this short but treacherous fall:
http://www.aorafting.com/ipix/mfa-rucka.htm (external link, was at this URL.)
General site work continues today, pretty boring stuff: cleaning up dead links, adding new material, and revising some pages. I think I will delay writing any new material until the old material is cleaned up.
Friday, February 15, 2002
Good comments on Verizon's new data network: http://proteus.com/about/news/articles/n_021302.jsp (external link, probably dead by now) It's called Salt for Verizon's 3G Slug: Verizon's Express Network is 3G in name only, says Proteus President Patrick McQuown.
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
I've long thought that 3G will be delayed or killed because carriers will charge too much for it. AT&T's GPRS service is too expensive for ordinary people and Verizon's new offering is similarly high priced. It seems that carriers want immediate payback for their infrastructure costs. The question is, will they get a quick return on their investment when so few people can afford such rates? Wouldn't it make more sense to charge less, over a longer period of time, to a larger group of people? I think this thought is lost on the carriers. Look at what at what Verizon is charging for their new data network.
First, you have to be spending $35 a month on a cellular plan to qualify to use the service. Next, they charge $30 a month for the service itself. For that you get 300 minutes a month, ten minutes a day on average. These count against your voice minutes so download or talk fast. Extra time cost 35 cents a minute. So you are looking at $65 dollars a month for a data rate that city wide may average 50Kbs a second. Throw in $300 dollars for the PC card you'll need to make your laptop work with the system, and, well, we're now talking about $90 a month averaged over a year. Plus whatever signup or activation fee they want to charge. For ten minutes a day?
Monday, January 28, 2002
Verizon launches 3G service? Well, sort of, kind of, maybe. Here's the story. I'd say they've boosted data rates but 3G is still a long way off. We'll see how they do:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46785-2002Jan27.html (external link, probably dead)
Monday, January 7, 2002
Why have one wireless standard when you can have a phone that will accommodate several? As well as multiple frequency bands? This phone will allow AT&T to transition from their IS-136 wireless network to GSM. One note, many writers now refer to IS-136 as simply TDMA which causes much confusion. GSM and IS-136 actually both use TDMA as their operating method or access technology.
IRVING, Texas -- (January 7, 2002) - Today, Nokia announced the new Nokia 6340 (GSM 1900MHz/TDMA 800/1900MHz/AMPS) wireless phone, the world's first GAIT (GSM ANSI Interoperability Team) compliant handset, allowing users to roam between GSM, TDMA and analog networks. Along with the multiple network compatibility afforded by the Nokia 6340 phone, other new features include a wallet that enables quick wireless transactions. Shipments are expected to begin during the first half of 2002.
"As TDMA carriers prepare for the future by building and integrating GSM technology into their systems, the Nokia 6340 wireless phone will give operators the flexibility to allow for roaming between their current and future networks," said Pekka Vartiainen, senior vice president of sales for Nokia. "Additionally, since roaming is seamless and automatic, consumers will have the ability to use all of their digital services in both TDMA and GSM service areas without having to worry about what kind of technology is being used in a particular area."
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Thursday, June 28, 2001
I'm happy to report that Niki Taylor is now out of the hospital. Let's hope the wireless industry moves more cautiously to install their overly complicated, overly featured mobile devices into vehicles, for the sole reason of selling us more things. At the C.T.I.A. convention I attended last September I heard nothing about public safety, just speech after speech on how to market through wireless. Some of them are talking about safety now, although they are comparing the distraction a phone causes to the problems people have while eating, drinking, and smoking in a car. I think that's the wrong approach. The wireless community should look at what they do and how they do it and then work on what they control. Driving is the responsibility of the individual, but the design of a car plays a part in ones' driving. And if talking while mobile is permitted, the wireless industry needs to look at what role in driving that they play.
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
We got an unexpected rain storm in West Sacramento yesterday. It promptly caused power outages and the cable television system to break down. Speaking of breaking down, I am amazed with the difference between the voice and data networks the telephone company maintains. Here in SBC land, an outage to the voice network of several hours, whether wireless or wireline would be completely unacceptable, yet a data network they maintain goes down frequently without explanation or apology.
The public switched telephone network has always measured outages in minutes or seconds per year, yet with SBC's DSL network, well, the system goes off line for hours at a time.Why don't they have backup procedures installed for this service? Like redundant servers and routers? I understand other telcos across the country have similar problems. It's odd that as we march into the new century, with better and better technologies, that the quality of the telco networks is decreasing, not increasing.
I'm not sure what this will mean in the future, as services and businesses become more and more dependent on the internet and data com. Will we have to provide a backup system ourselves? So that if Pac Bell goes off line I connect to a cable modem, satellite, or other wireless service to keep my business on the net? This hasn't been needed in the past but I can see where it might be needed in the future. How odd.
April 30, 2001
I'm in the middle of revising and adding information to the radio basics article. Revisions to that series should be done by tonight.
April 28, 2001
Melville had the sea. I have my mountains. Melville described his need to get away like this:
It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with
me. . .
Yesterday I hiked in the Sierra for the first time this season, through patches of snow, across half frozen meadows, along a stream bursting with spring runoff. I saw no one, my tracks were the only human mark on the trail. I hiked with a constant Dread, fearing bear but seeing none. I have never been worried about bears before this hike. Yet that day I was concerned. I can tell by this paragraph that I don't have my thoughts in order. Perhaps by Monday I will be able to concentrate. Finished revising the cell and sectors page I was working on. And the web site has now passed its old monthly record; with a few days to go this site has recorded 84,000 hits or page views. More later . . .
April 27, 2001
I'm working on revising the page on cells and sectors in the cellular basic series. Can't really comment on this much because I am still figuring it out in my head. But I am on the right track and the article will be much clearer because of it. Special thanks go to a telecomwriting.com reader and Mark van der Hoek. More soon.
April 26, 2001
A rumble and a tumble do I hear
A commotion in my living room, a burglar I do fear
But a burglar does not tread, it is my cat instead
A batting and a whacking on a mouse.
It's not enough to kill them, no indeed
Instead a cat must play with them, as if to glorify the deed
Toss it up a foot or two . . .
I better stop right there before I lose a morning composing poetry. :-) Montel woke me at 3:40 a.m. I found him throwing a dead mouse several feet into the air and then attacking the dead corpse again and again. I got a flat nosed shovel from the storage shed and used it to toss the rodent out the front door, then I prodded Montel with the same shovel to also go outdoors. Going back to bed I was much distressed to wake up a minute later to discover that he had dragged the mouse back into the house and was now tearing it apart, trying to eat it the best he could, now that he has only three teeth. The things I go through with that cat!
The web site set two new records yesterday. A new daily high for unique URLs or individual visitors: 1,088. And a new hour record for hits or page views in a single hour: 453. Thanks much. I have a link to my stats' service on the home page if you are interested.
There's a new girl on the block, Mandy Moore, and she's also interested in telecom, just like Britney Spears. While we all love Britney, she is getting on in years and it's time to look around for a new communications poster child. Click here to see if you agree. Mandy's photo is at the bottom of the page.
ABCNews reports that guns made to look like cell phones are now being produced. Lucrezia Cuen in London reports this new development is being tracked most closely in Europe. The United States Customs' Service says that hitting the 5, 6, 7 and 8 buttons on the phone will fire four .22- caliber rounds in quick succession. Here's the URL for the report:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/phone001205.html (link now dead)
April 25, 2001
I continue working on revising pages as described below. It's boring but absolutely necessary and I look forward to completing the job before May 1st. At that point I will start on many new projects delayed by redoing the site. I noticed that yesterday was another 4,000+ hit day, which means that people continue visiting the site, even with little new content produced this month. Thanks for the patience; the end result will be worth it. More soon.
April 24, 2001
A new record! Yesterday privateline.com got 4,825 hits, coming close to the magic 5,000 mark. Thanks to everybody for this positive development; it makes me feel that all of the work I am now putting into the site is worthwhile. Back to updating the pages. . .
Ken Solomon relates, "As far as I know DC was used to prevent hum, and to allow service to continue in the event of a power outage and because people were afraid of AC. It is used, after all, in the electric chair. Also, Bell used wet cells and probably would have killed himself using an AC generator. And, even though AC would have induced hum the interference and cross talk using DC was terrible anyway until a two-wire loops were introduced."
"In the early days iron wires were used and they were strung from roof top to roof top (this is pre poles). Since iron is a fairly poor conductor it picked all kinds of squawks, screeches, buzzing, parts of conversations (from adjacent lines) and other noises. Also, a single strand grounded wire will act as an antenna picking up atmospheric noises as well. Later, pure copper was used but it proved too soft so they used iron coated with copper which worked much better since it had many times the conductivity of iron alone. Of course if you hook up two modern phones in your house with modern conductors and a solid power supply you shouldn't have any interference. But plug in some cheap intercoms and you'll pick up (or induce) noise. BTW, did you know that the best place to ground the phones was in the soft earth surrounding the outhouse?"
"You're right about Edison who was a strange bird. He hires Tesla to improve his AC generation and products and then dumps him (without given him credit) when he accomplished all he was asked and more. I think Edison's problem was that he didn't understand AC as well as DC and was more comfortable with DC circuits."
