From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Oct 22 01:12:51 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9M5CpA07127; Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:12:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:12:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410220512.i9M5CpA07127@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #506 TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:13:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 506 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance Today? (Anthony Bellanga) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Mark Roberts) Re: 'K' v. 'W' television station callsigns (Neal McLain) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Garrett Wollman) Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns (Dave Close) Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth (jtaylor) Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Phone (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? (AES/newspost) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Jeff Spidle) Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 11.20 (Monty Solomon) Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks (Lisa Hancock) Partners Wanted (Marcel Riley) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:11:06 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Subject: Re: Who Carries TV Signals and Long Distance Today? Reply-To: anthonybellanga@withheld at request PAT, in order to deter $pam, please do NOT display my email address, neither in the "from" line, nor in the "reply to" line. Lisa Hancock wrote: > Years ago, the Bell System carried network broadcast transmissions > from first radio and then television. After WW II one of the > functions of the new coaxial cable and microwave systems was capacity > to carry TV signals. > With satellites and competing companies that own their own fibre > networks, does AT&T still carry broadcast transmissions today? If > not, when did the transition start? Was this a blow to AT&T > revenues? Today, MOST all "long haul" and/or point-to-multi-point (network) radio and TV is distributed by satellite. But remember that AT&T also owns or is part-owner of several satellites as well. "Short haul" (within the same city) distribution, such as "remotes" seem to be handled half-and-half by the local telco (sometimes even on a "dial-up" 3-Khz bandwidth basis! but also on a permanent or temporary "leased line" basis too) as well as by private microwave equipment owned by the TV or radio station, under FCC license for such microwave too. If a local radio or TV station is doing "remotes" on their own from distant locations (Hurricanes, Iraq, etc), they would more than likely use satellite equipment. The first use of satellites for radio/TV pick-ups or distribution first began in the 1960s when such satellites were new, novel services, mostly for special events, such as Olympics, Coronations, Space Shots, etc. In the mid-1970s, the major radio networks (CBS, NBC, Mutual, ABC, and even APRadio, UPI Audio, and even the less important radio services) began to use RCA and Western Union domestic satellites for remote pickups of sporting events outside of the usual program centers of New York or Washington, as well as for sending "time-zone-delayed" feeds to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco (and the major radio networks usually owned stations in all of the above mentioned major cities as well), when the program was picked up in Chicago, L.A., or Frisco, it then was distributed by Bell System landlines throughout the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones, sometimes with different programming in different time-zones, delayed one, two or three hours. When full landline distribution was in effect for both network radio and network TV, Chicago would usually be the first point in the Central Time Zone on a program fed out of New York or Washington DC. And depending on how the network chose to have AT&T wire-up their network, either Hollywood or San Francisco would be the first point in the Mountain Time Zone for a program fed from the East or Midwest. Chicago, and likewise Hollywood or Frisco, would tape, transcribe (on wax disc), or "kinescope" the TV or radio program as fed from the east, for playback one, two, or three hours later, throughout the remainder of the network. But with the use of RCA Satcom or WU Westar satellites, all program delaying could be controlled directly out of New York or Washington DC. In the later 1970s, Mutual (which was radio only), NPR, APRadio, and UPI Audio, and some other "minor" radio and TV networks (and I think PBS-TV as well) decided to begin converting over to 100% satellite distribution. In the "long run", use of RCA or Western Union with satellites would be "cheaper" than using long haul AT&T lines. Of course, there still might be the use of the local Bell or "independent" telco on the distant local end, especially if the radio or TV station couldn't place their dish in the same location as their studios. Local telco loops would be needed to "backhaul" the program from where the dish were located, back to the studio. Also in the later 1970s, emerging national-in-scope Cable-TV services such as HBO, CSPAN, CBN, CNN, etc. chose to distribute via satellite directly to local cable franchise operation centers rather than use Bell System facilities. I also don't know if Bell had enough landline VIDEO capacity using the technology of the time for all of the new emerging cable services, on a NATIONAL basis. Afterall, AT&T had mostly been doing the distribution for ONLY three or four major national TV networks for some 25+ years by the late 1970s -- CBS-TV, NBC-TV, ABC-TV, NET/PBS, and the original (early 1950s) DuMont Network which I understand was re-worked (as far as AT&T circuits were concerned) into the "ad-hoc" Hughes Television Network of the 1960s/70s. The three radio networks which also had associated TV networks -- CBS Radio, NBC Radio, ABC Radio, continued to use satellites only for backhaul of sports and specials which didn't originate in New York or Washington DC, and also for "trunking" Central and Pacific programming to Chicago and Hollywood or Frisco into the 1980s. And while CBS-TV, NBC-TV, and ABC-TV also were using RCA and Western Union satellites for the same purposes into the early 1980s, it wasn't until 1982 or 1983 when the "big three" for *BOTH* their radio and television networks, decided to migrate over 100% to satellite. On the RADIO side, CBS, NBC, ABC all chose to go to a "proprietary" *DIGITAL* system, all integrated so that an affiliate which was going to carry programming and services from multiple providers could have a single full-service set of equipment. CBS Radio, NBC Radio, ABC Radio, and a one-time RKO Radio Network, all chose to use "DAT" (Digital Audio Terminal) Technology from Scientific Atlanta and distribution from RCA Americom's SATCOM. (Mutual, PBS, NPR, APRadio and UPI Audio all went with Western Union Westar in the late 1970s/early 1980s). I don't know if CBS-TV and ABC-TV went with RCA, WU or someone else, but in addition to CBS Radio and ABC Radio along with NBC Radio going with RCA, so did NBC-TV. Afterall, RCA owned the National Broadcasting Company. Later in the 1980s, when General Electric purchased RCA and NBC, the communication satellite division was renamed GE American Communications. Today, the players, movers-and-shakers, etc. have changed a bit in name or owners, as media and technical entities have merged and consolidated, but there's no turning back from the use of satellite for long-haul national/network radio and TV. Also, note that the remaining radio and TV networks, the "Big three", made their announcement to migrate to 100% satellite around 1982 or 1983, for full use by 1984 and 1985. Remember what else happened 20 years ago, on 1/1/84 -- this was the official beginning of divestiture, the break-up of the Bell System, where AT&T had to spin-off all its BOCs. The "big-three" knew that RCA Satcom was relatively stable, but were probably worried about what the new world of post-divestiture would bring! > Likewise, who actually carries long distance telephone calls? I use > Verizon, do they own their wholly own long distance network > capability of reaching any US central office? What medium is > typically used -- ground coax, microwave tower, satellite, fibre. > Or do all the other carriers simply contract in bulk with the > established AT&T, Sprint, and MCI? The "big three" of interexchange are AT&T, MCI, Sprint. But there are many others out there with regional or national full networks, including Qwest (the Long Distance side though), Global Crossing, Vartech, and others. I think that Verizon as well has established somewhat of a long distance network as well. Of course, ALL of the common carriers do buy and route traffic over each other depending on the circumstances. > With satellites, is there a problem with transmission lag time? YES! In the 1970s, when AT&T (Bell) announced and even began to utilize, Comstar (owned jointly by AT&T and GTE) satellites for long-haul toll traffic trunking, there was major concern by many large business customers. Two way voice telephone conversation with such a delay/lag for the uplink and downlink to a small radio device some 23,000 miles over the equator was indeed a concern, especially if a corporate customer was conducting a teleconference! But it was a MAJOR worry for two-way data transmission. Radio/TV network broadcasting is different in that a program usually originates from one point (or maybe a small number of locations) and is sent to "everyone" across the country. But a two-way telephone (or data) or full participating mulit-party teleconference needs to be as "realtime" as possible! AT&T did establish means for "forced" landline distribution of switched "telephone" connections, to "avoid" satellites, for large business customers. There were special routing codes to be used if the call were really a data call, or a conference, etc. Also, for telephone calls originating or terminating outside of the mainland US or Canada, AT&T had to introduce special routing instructions so that no domestic satellite circuit would be involved, since the connection to the overseas location (including the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and even "far-northern Arctic" Canada) might involve an international satellite hop! Since one satellite "hop" involves awkward delays, imagine what two or even three satellite hops would be like! There are going to be times when more than one satellite hop, sometimes even as many as three, are going to be unavoidable, but those are quite RARE. But where possible, AT&T's policy was to keep the number of satellite hops when introduced into a 2-way switched telephone call, to ONE and ONLY one. > In 1970 AT&T descriptions, long distance routing had a triangle > design. That is, most calls were sent to a toll center for > subsequent routing. However, local exchanges had their own links to > some nearby exchanges. For example, New York City to Newark NJ is > "long distance" since it crosses states and LATA boundaries, but is > physically so close calls be carried over plain copper interoffice > trunks. Are such close LD calls still sent that way? It would seem > strange to bounce 10 mile call off of a satellite. Because of the complaints about satellite hops on most domestic (and even many international calls), and also because of the falling prices and proliferation of land-based and undersea fiber optic, as well as digital microwave, about the only times you might encounter a satellite hop within the North American network on a switched 2-way (voice) telephone call is if one of the parties is in a remote Arctic location, such as in remote parts of Alaska, or way up in northern Canada outside of the landline network. There *ARE* landlines in Alaska and also northern Canada's territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), but the more remote parts of the Arctic parts of North America only interface with "down south" by satellite. Some Pacific Ocean and Caribbean points of the North American network might also still regularly use satellite to connect with each other or the mainland, but telephone calls within a particular location will still be landline, whether copper, fiber, microwave, etc. Anthony Bellanga ------------------------------ From: markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:19:16 -0000 Organization: 1.94 meters Neal McLain had written: > Anthony Bellanga wrote: >> Louisiana and Minnesota both "straddle" the Mississippi River. > In my experience (mostly in cable TV), the Mississippi-River rule can be > more accurately stated as follows: > "K" = west of the Mississippi River plus the entire state of > Minnesota. > "W" = east of the Mississippi River plus Louisiana parishes > located in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans DMAs. > But even with this version of the rule there are numerous exceptions, > especially in the case of low-power television stations (LPTV, Class > A, translators, and boosters). The rules also seemed to weaken, especially after WWWK(FM) Granite City, Illinois won the right in 1982 to assume the KWK-FM calls after its St. Louis AM simulcast partner. Back in the 1950s, when WTAD(AM) Quincy, Illinois put a TV station on the air, it was licensed to Hannibal, Missouri, and thus went under the calls KHQA-TV. Those are still the calls of channel 7, whose studio and transmitter are now on the Illinois side of the river. The best explanation of the K/W split, and the most throughly-researched, is Thomas H. White's "United States Callsign Policies", at . I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. > Bonomi's list included: >> WOI (AM, FM, and TV ... ), Ames, Iowa > WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a > commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ > Marshalltown DMA; it's still licensed to Ames, but it claims "Des > Moines" in its publicity. ISU does not operate a TV station (most > public television stations in Iowa are operated by Iowa Public > Television, a state agency independent of the state universities). >> WWL Waterloo, Iowa. Intrestingly, KWWL is in the same town. > WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. >> WSUI Iowa City, Iowa Also the home of KSUI. *SAME* owner, >> even. :) > WSUI(AM) and KSUI(FM) are licensed to the University of Iowa > (formerly, State University of Iowa; hence, "SUI"). UI does not > operate a TV station (same reason ISU doesn't). For clarification, U of I *never* owned a TV station (other than for experimental purposes) while ISU *did* own WOI-TV, originally putting it on the air on channel 4 in 1950 and then moving it post-freeze to channel 5 in 1953. ISU sold WOI sometime in the 1980s, ostensibly because it no longer fit the "extension" mission of a land-grant institution. > WIL St. Louis, Missouri > FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. >> WRTH St. Louis, Missouri > The FCC has no record of this callsign. Well, it's there, on 1430 kHz. Do a search for all the stations on 1430 in Missouri and you should get back records for three stations, including WRTH. I left WIL intact in the quoted portion above because WRTH and WIL are, in fact, related. Years ago when I was stuck in Kansas City, I put together some pages regarding the histories of some pioneer stations. I haven't been maintaining them too closely the past couple of years but I have kept them accessible at . Pertinent to this discussion are the histories of: WDAF (KCSP), WHB, KCKN (descendant of WLBF), WIBW, WREN, WOQ (defunct), WOS (defunct), KWK (possessor of multiple K and W calls), and WIL. Frank Absher's stlradio.com has more history and a much richer trove of treasurers than I ever managed to put together. Frank also writes a monthly column on radio history for the St. Louis Journalism Review. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) > at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] Yes. WIL-FM is still in St. Louis. It switched to the parent AM station's country format in 1973, and its success eventually eclipsed the AM station's (much as what happened to the west with KCKN-AM/FM, FM now KFKF, in Kansas City). In part, that was because the St. Louis metropolitan area grew to the west, into areas where WIL(AM)'s directional signal was rather weak. Mark Roberts|"Entire media networks, such as Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, Oakland, Cal| prop up Bush in a way that would make their fellow propagandists NO HTML MAIL| in North Korea and Cuba proud." -- Markos Moulitsas, Guardian Unlimited, 2004-10-12 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:53:30 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' television station callsigns In response to a post by Robert Bonomi , I wrote: > The FCC has no record of this [WRTH St. Louis, Missouri] callsign. Oops, my mistake. WRTH(AM), St. Louis MO, is licensed to Bonneville Broadcasting of Salt Lake City. FCC database record: . In response to a post by R. T. Wurth ), I wrote: > WIL-FM is licensed to St. Louis, and the transmitter is located in > Missouri. FCC record (scroll down below WILL-FM) at: > Whereupon PAT asked: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' > (two /L/) at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC > on AM band.) PAT] Yes. WIL-FM, St. Louis MO, is also licensed to Bonneville Broadcasting of Salt Lake City. FCC database record: . But there is no WIL(AM) -- what used to be WIL(AM) is now the aforementioned WRTH(AM). The "-FM" suffix normally indicates an FM station co-licensed with an AM station; however, if an AM station changes its callsign, a co-licensed FM station retains the "-FM" suffix. WILL(AM), Urbana IL, is licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. FCC database record: . WILL-FM, Urbana IL, is also licensed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. FCC database record: . Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 02:06:16 UTC Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Neal McLain wrote: > WOI(AM) and WOI-FM are licensed to Iowa State University. WOI-TV is a > commercial station (ABC affiliate) serving the Des Moines/Ames/ > Marshalltown DMA [...]. ISU does not operate a TV station However, ISU *did* operate a TV station, namely WOI-TV. It was sold to a private owner within the last couple of decades. > WWL(AM) and WWL-TV are now located in New Orleans, LA. Formerly owned by Loyola University. >> WOW Omaha, Nebraska > AM only; sister TV is WOWT. AM is now KOMJ. >> WRR Dallas, Texas > FM only (PAT: classical music, streamed online!) Started out on the AM facility that's now KTCK, if I remember correctly. >> WBAP Ft. Worth, Texas > AM only. Amon Carter's TV station was channel 5, now NBC-owned KXAS. The radio stations are owned by Disney/ABC. >> WNAX Yankton, South Dakota > AM only. WNAX's sister FM has been WNAX-FM several times in the past (as recently as 2001 when I was there). >> and, some hair-splitting (Metro area crosses the river, >> transmitter_could_ be on the Illinois side of the Missippi): >> WIL St. Louis, Missouri > FM only. Transmitter is located in Missouri. >> WRTH St. Louis, Missouri > The FCC has no record of this callsign. I had no trouble finding it in the FCC database. In any case, WRTH *is* the station that was WIL. St. Louis also has the unusual case of KWK, Granite City, Ill. >> WACO Waco, Texas. > FM only. Formerly on AM (as with all of these examples outside of Minnesota and Louisiana). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is there a 'WIL' (one /L/) in > St. Louis? The reason I ask is because there is a 'WILL' (two /L/) > at the University of Illinois in Champaign, 580 KC on AM band.) PAT] Yes and no. There is no longer a "WIL" in St. Louis; that station is now WRTH. There is still a "WIL-FM", but according to the FCC's rules as written, there can never be a "WIL" again. However, the Commission accepted a frankly ridiculous argument from the owners of KKHJ (930 Los Angeles) to get its old callsign (KHJ) back. (KHJ's historic FM sister is most recently KRTH, ironically enough.) Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@lcs.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those of| search for greater freedom. MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: 'K' v. 'W' Television Station Callsigns Date: 21 Oct 2004 20:31:07 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California Neal McLain writes: >> WOC Davenport, Iowa > AM only; sister FM is WLLR(FM); sister TV is KWQC(TV). The TV station was once WOC-TV. WOC is alleged to represent "World of Chiropractic" and was originally owned by Palmer College of Chiropratic. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Callsigns and Horse Teeth Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:06:26 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to in message news:telecom23.505.2@telecom-digest.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, no matter how many teeth you > saw in the mouth of some particular horse, there can always be > exceptions. For example, how many toes does a cat have on its paws? > Some people would say 'five', which is normally the correct > answer. But some cats have *six* toes on one (or all four) feet. The > vernacular name for such cats is 'polydex' and my first cat 'Nicholas' > (the one who was so warm and loving, not the later Nicholas who was > always hateful with humans) was that way. Nicholas had six toes on > each of his two front paws, five toes on each of his back paws. I > guess it is some genetic thing going back a million years or so. PAT] Polydactyl cats are particularly common (not just if you count them by their toes) around Boston and Halifax; must have been some good mousers in the first lot of ships to come over. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: With Nicholas it appeared to anyone who saw him that he had his 'shoes on the wrong feet'. If I held him on my lap and crossed his legs, then it appeared normal. Nicholas was *too* domesticated, *too* mild mannered. He would have not known what to do with a mouse if he had seen one, he was so well fed. Now one of my present two cats, the older one, a DLH (Domestic Long Hair) is very friendly and peaceful, but *she* knows what to do. Although she is also well fed she chases after the birds and insects in my back yard, but only rarely kills the birds if she gets hungry. Only once have I found any evidence of it: I found *half* of a sparrow in the back yard the other day and I feel certain she did it. I think she waited until it was at the bubbly fountain back there they drink from and bathe in, then she pounced. I don't mind if she gets the mice which come around now and then, and the insects (both flying or crawling) are for her, but she loves to play with them, bat them around, etc, but is never hungry enough to eat them. But she learned her lesson last summer from a wasp she tried to bat around which stung her. When I heard her squall then come limping back with her paw swollen I rushed her over to the animal hospital. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:36:02 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >From: J Kelly >Subject: Re: Verizon Taking Lessons From Hooterville Telephone Company >Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:55:50 -0500 >Organization: http://newsguy.com >Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com > Where my brother lives if the power goes out across town, or even in a > town 30 miles away (where the headend is), his cable tv and internet > die. Hard to believe that Mediacom has no UPS's or generators for the > headend or any of the line amps. I think they bought some cable co's > that were pretty messed up though. In time I suppose they will clean > them up. There isn't much you can do if the utility dies. However, you can keep your house running indefinitely using something called an "inverter". This converts DC into "modified sine wave" AC. If you connect an inverter to the battery of your car with the engine running, you can power your computer, telephones, or other small utilities until you run out of gas -- which would probably take several days idling if you start with a full tank. An inverter is rated by peak and sustained power. One that will provide about 1200 Watts sustained will be rated for about 2400 Watts peak. You can probably find one for under $140 on the internet. This is enough power to start and run your refrigerator or, possibly, the fan on your furnace. Maybe even your well pump. The power is clean enough to run your computer, phones, or other electronics. If you have more than one car, then you can have more than one inverter. The alternator on a car can produce about 400 to 600 Watts, but the battery can supply the rest of the load. Thus, you can run your refrigerator, even though it draws about 900 Watts, because it does not run continuously -- your alternator recharges your battery. ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Old Stock Quotation Things? Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:10:11 -0700 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) wrote: > haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) wrote: >> I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. ... What >> was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? Surely brings to mind the big noisy rotating "card flip-over" mechanical displays that used to display arriving and departing flights in major airports -- maybe still do in some cases. ------------------------------ From: Jeff Spidle Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:49:20 -0500 Pat, a 10 Amp fuse should be sufficient. 10 Amps * 12 Volts = 120 Watts. If you only have 88 watts of lights it leaves you with some headroom for small surges and inrush current when you turn on the lights. 10A fuses are common and inexpensive. Jeff, KC9EII wrote in message news:telecom23.504.14@ telecom-digest.org: > In TELECOM Digest V23 #500, TELECOM Digest Editor > wrote (in part): >> I have two transformers: One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 >> Volts at 3 Amps. >> The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and >> it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. ... Are these two power >> supplies interchangeable...? > The Radio Shack power supply is DC [direct current] at 13.8 V (the > output of a "12-volt" automotive charging system). > > The Intermatic Malibu light power pack is simply an AC transformer > with a timer on the primary (line voltage) side. I think the "1 Amp" > rating you saw was the line side draw (120 VAC 1 A). >> How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > For DC, it's pretty simple for simple loads on a linear power supply, > which is almost certainly what the RS unit is: watts = volts x > amps. > AC calculations are trickier -- that's likely why Intermatic gives > their power consumption figures in watts (the 88-T is rated at 88 > watts). > For a rough calculation, though, you start with 120 VAC at 1 amp (120 > volt-= amps) supplying a 10:1 power transformer (120:12 volts) with a > typical transformer power factor of about 0.75 (0.733 in this case): > 120 V x 1 A = 120 VA x 0.7333 PF 88 watts (output) > When you calculate how many Malibu lights the 88-T will handle, power > factor is practically 1.0, since lamp filaments are almost pure > resistive load. > I'm not going to further flaunt how long it's been since I've done any > real AC calculations ... > Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer > Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355 > 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789 > P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My problem is *something* caused a > short on the line which caused the Malibu 88-T to get fried. That > something was probably the all-day drizzle/rain we had the other day > in the one spot where the cord strung to the various lights was not > properly protected. I will endeavor to find/correct that problem, but, > wouldn't it be good to put an external fuse in the line to prevent > that from happening in the future? I am thinking of one of the little > glass fuses and fuse holders you can wire in series with the line. > I *assume* (correct me as needed) such a fuse in the line would stop > any short from reaching the Intermatic power supply. I would rather, > next time, blow one of the little five in a box for two dollars fuses > rather than be in bed asleep when the short develops (if in fact I > get it cured) and the Intermatic silently fries away all night until > I wake up, or worse, have my backyard shed burn down (unlikely, I > know). What are your thoughts? What *size* fuse should I use of the > little glass ones that fit in a holder from RS? Not to small to not > allow the little lights to work correctly, but not too big so it won't > do a prompt job of stopping any shorts. Ideas? PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is what someone else said to me tonight on the phone. A 10 Amp fuse, wired in series on the output side of the line should protect future Intermatic transformers in the event of a short. It should hold up for the light string but pop quickly in the event of a short. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:13:19 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" EFFector Vol. 17, No. 39 October 21, 2004 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 310th Issue of EFFector: * Protect Passenger Privacy - Help Ground "Secure Flight" * California Poll Workers Told to Withhold Information from Voters * Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case * EFF to Trusted Computing Group: Preserve Meaningful Control for Computer Owners * EFF Seeks Dynamic, Motivated Membership Coordinator * MiniLinks (15): Indymedia Protests Seizure of Servers * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/17/39.php ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:13:28 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 11.20 ======================================================================= E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================= Volume 11.20 October 21, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.20.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== [1] FBI Backs Down in EPIC Lawsuit for Release of Secure Flight Info [2] Award Winners Question Science Funding for Mass Surveillance [3] Ethics Committee Reprimands Congressman For Misleading Agency [4] Federal Agency Approves RFID Implant for Health Care Use [5] Foreign Government Seizes Indymedia Servers in UK [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: The Identity Theft Protection Guide [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.20.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Bell System Competition: Private Telephone Networks Date: 21 Oct 2004 21:16:47 -0700 It is often said that the old Bell System was a strict monopoly on telephone service. That wasn't 100% true. Many large organizations had their own internal telephone systems that were not Bell supplied -- those companies chose to lease/buy their systems from someone else rather than Bell. AFAIK, those systems were internal only and could not connect to the outside Bell network, but their internal network could be quite large. In an old Bell Telephone employees magazine, they had an article about that. They had a picture of a businessman with two phones on his desk and the story described how that arrangement was costing the Bell System lost business. They wanted employees upon seeing that to encourage the customer to go 100% Bell. I wonder what the actual cost differentials were between self- ownership and self-maintenance (which included capitalization) vs. leasing from Bell. I also wonder how much effort and thought Bell gave to that competition -- did they ever consider lowering their rates or selling equipment for such large installations? In small offices, there was competition between privately purchased intercoms between boss and staff vs. key systems with intercom lines. In old movies the Boss always had an intercom box on his desk in which he buzzed in staff, but I've never seen that. Most big key systems I've seen had dial intercoms or push button signal buzzers. I presume large organizations had their own because it was cheaper to own and maintain their system than lease it from Bell, and having outside connectivity wasn't important. Indeed, sometimes companies did NOT want outside connections for internal phones to avoid employees wasting time on the phone on personal calls. In such facilities, offices that had contact with the public would have double phones, but most locations would have only an internal phone. Private networks were easy to spot since, esp in later years, the private phone would be an AE 40 with a numeric-only dial with the silvery bands compared to a Bell 500 set. The installations I'm aware of tended to phase out in the 1980s because the equipment/wiring got old and tougher to maintain. I suspect Bell Centrex rates for multiple locations became more attractive at the same time. I also know some large installations, such as large hospitals, that were 100% Bell. At least one Bell employee (sometimes more) was assigned to the property full time to handle repairs and changes. Despite the advantage of outside connectivity, some phones were restricted and not allowed outside connections. Indeed, it was quite common on many Bell PBX systems to restrict stations to making internal calls only, and receiving calls were screened by the operator based on company policy. Pay phones were liberally provided for employees to make their personal calls. (I remember office buildings having a few pay phones on every floor plus a big bank in the lobby, factories had pay phone near restrooms; that's no more). Some large network examples: City transportation company: A large dial system connecting all subway-el stations, offices, shops, and key street locations. City govt: A large dial system connecting police and fire stations and streetside call boxes and other affiliates (ie hospitals). For example, a hospital emerg room had a city PAX phone. Schools: Internally connecting classrooms with the school offices. Large factory plants: connecting various shops and offices. Railroads: These were very large networks, connecting stations, headquarters, shops, offices and wayside stations. These was particularly important since otherwise toll charges would be incurred. Railroads had their own signal depts, so they could easily maintain a phone system. Wayside phones were often local battery (crank), and many remained in service through the 1980s. Railroads also had internal Teletype networks. Additional observations/comments welcome. [public replies, please] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I was growing up, the Standard Oil Company refinery in Whiting, Indiana had an independent network like that, called 'Stanotel'. Stanotel went everywhere in the USA that Standard Oil went and the thing I thought was odd was that although it was fully automatic (a PAX type thing, using the Automatic Electric type phones you mentioned), when one dialed a '9' to get an outside line in Whiting, because Whiting was still a manual exchange (it would not be dialable as 219-659 for several more years), after you dialed '9' for an outside line, you then had to sit there and wait for the Whiting operator and pass her the number you wanted to call. Then after Whiting cut to dial, as 219-659 soon thereafter Stanotel was changed over to Illinois Bell centrex as 219-484, while retaining all the features of the old Stanotel network. PAT] ------------------------------ From: marcel_riley@yahoo.com (Marcel Riley) Subject: Partners Wanted Date: 21 Oct 2004 21:29:35 -0700 I am exploring starting a business to offer services to companies to install/repair/etc. their business Nortel systems. I am looking for partners who knows how to service Norstar and MEridian PBXs. Also, I would like to ask people who are engaged in this type of work to offer their perspective: Pros, cons, etc. Let me know if you are interested. Marcel Riley ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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