28 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 250 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Heathkits 
  Heathkits P.S.  
  Re: How Hackers Snatch Real-Time Security ID Numbers 
  Re: How Hackers Snatch Real-Time Security ID Numbers 
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Driver Texting Now an Issue in Back Seat 
  Palm Unveils a Smartphone for Younger Users 
  Re: Texting (and cell phone usage) while driving movie: the consequences 
  Re: Texting (and cell phone usage) while driving movie: the consequences 
  AT&T to Make Faster 3G Technology Available in Six Major Cities This Year
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer 
  Re: Where Have You Gone, Bell Labs? 


====== 28 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, and other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 07:57:46 +0000 (UTC) From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <h87n5q$t4e$4@news.albasani.net> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >On Sep 8, 12:40 am, "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote: >>Hah! You date things from CBBS! Traditionally, we celebrate the >>anniversary of February 16, 1978, although it probably went live a week >>or two earlier. >Would anyone know what platform this BBS used? Ward and Randy invented the BBS. Bill is recalling about a significant moment in computer history. This invention predated Usenet and the Web. Here's Randy's narrative. This article is undoubtably in the Telecom Digest archives. The original CBBS consisted of a S-100 motherboard picked up at some fleamarket. This was a "kit" of course, so I had to solder all the connectors. (lotsa soldering done in those days, such as 8 k memory boards filled with 1kX1 chips) It was mounted on a BUD chassis with a single density 8 inch floppy drive. On the motherboard was some 8080 cpu (upgraded to a Z80) a Hayes 300 baud modem card, a 3P+S board with the parallel port used for control signals, a Processor Technology VDM video display card, and an 8k memory board. There was also a card with 8 1702 EEPROMS that held the CP/M BIOS, video display drivers, and debug code, all written by Ward. I had a EPROM burner, and Ward made sure all the BIOS variables and experimentor stuff ended up in the last 1702. Musta re-programmed that sucker 10 times a week for a few months. The floppy drives of that time had 117vAC running the spindle motor, and the drive would wear out quickly. So I built a circuit on a prototype board that would turn on the system power when a ring signal came in from the modem card and do a reset of the computer. By the time the drive spun up, the software had answered the phone and booted CPM and CBBS from the floppy. (simple power fail system!) The circuit board also had some 555 timers, so when the caller went away, the drive motors would continue to spin for about 10 seconds to flush out any data, then shut the system down. I had an old Heath chart recorder I hooked across the floppy drive motor and set up the chart speed for 2 days per sheet. Was able to determine the calling patterns from the chart. From the 173k single density single sided floppy, we went to a pair of them, then to double density double sided drives. Bout a year later, moved CBBS to a NorthStar Horizon cabinet with a 10 meg seagate hd. Both those systems are still sitting around someplace. It is now running on a PC clone motherbard still running CP/M with the original 8080 assembly code! The clone board has a V20 chip, which fully supports the 8080 op codes. Ward wrote a wrapper around CP/M-CBBS, and CBBS has been running that way for over 15 years. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 07:16:49 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Heathkits Message-ID: <26d725ae-8da4-4a2c-abb9-70a61fd7e7d8@z30g2000yqz.googlegroups.com> Telecom Digest Moderator wrote: >In addition to Ward Christensen's CBBS, I also used it to connect to >the Heath User Group BBS in Massachusetts. In the separate discussion on Teletypes, there was mention of Heath products. I presume they mean the hobbyist chain, Heathkit, which, among other products, sold kits that customers put together themselves. The descriptions of the old BBS (Bulletin Board System) showed that everything was discrete components wiring together by hand. I knew computer experimenters who used Heathkits, both to build something as well as test and experimental pieces, such as jumper boards as described in the other thread. It was also big for amateur radio. I forgot how much in the early days was hardware work. Wiki has this to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit Cheap electronic assembly eliminated the cost savings of kits and the Heath business model. Heath ceased selling kits 3/30/92. The company is into other stuff now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:08:29 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Heathkits P.S. Message-ID: <cb9d9b4d-c7a6-4cbc-80c0-7ca53c8c7a01@t13g2000yqn.googlegroups.com> I forgot to ask in my earlier post . . . Did Heathkit ever sell telephone equipment? Back in the late 1960s some electronic supply stores began to sell telephone sets, perhaps older 302s or non Bell products, such as AE or ITT. Around that time people discovered they could buy their own telephone set, with the 4-prong plug, and not have to pay the extension rental charge. (A set cost about $10 back then). The bootleg extension market got rather large. Bell, as well as the state regulators, naturally didn't like this and threated the wrath of the heavens upon anyone discovered with a bootleg phone. Supposedly Bell developed line testers that added up ringer resistance on a phone line and compared it to its records to see if there were bootleg extensions in use. Of course, word of this got around and consumers disconnected the ringer of their bootleg phones. While Bell literature described such devices, I question if they really existed or were used to any great extent. The state of the art of computerization and equipment back then meant comparing business office records to a line tester wasn't so easy since the interfaces were usually very different. Converting AMA punched paper tapes to a form the billing computer could use required translation steps from one medium to another. I also question whether subscribers' service was disconnected--beyond a few "to be made an example of"--for having a bootleg phone. Also some electronics stores sold parts, like headsets, dials, etc. A friend of mine bought a headset (the 52 series?) and spliced it into his phone. I did likewise. We both found we could hear fine, but transmission to other people was poor. I wondered if headsets required a different circuit than the 500 set. At the same time my friend experimented with his phone dial, changing it to 20 pulses per second and found that it worked, nicely speeding up his dialing time. (we were served by either panel or #1 xbar). ------------------------------ Date: 9 Sep 2009 11:32:05 -0400 From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: How Hackers Snatch Real-Time Security ID Numbers Message-ID: <h88hpl$cqt$1@panix2.panix.com> <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote: > >What Windows applications would become dysfuctional if vulnerable >traits were closed up? You name it. First thing is dump the whole notion of allowing a visual basic script embedded into a word processing document or spreadsheet to run external applications. That would break a HUGE number of big corporate applications. It would also be a phenomenal improvement in system security. >In other discussions, some suggested that far too many applications >uilize these automated features; that eliminating them would cripple >computer use. Is that true? It's possible. It would have been better not to have put them there in the first place, but if you don't design security into a product it turns out to be very difficult to retrofit it after the fact. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:00:32 GMT From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: How Hackers Snatch Real-Time Security ID Numbers Message-ID: <19ufa5ttmbi4jkr2p3c73c24sq6kqeo7p2@4ax.com> kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote: >> What Windows applications would become dysfuctional if vulnerable >> traits were closed up? > > You name it. > > First thing is dump the whole notion of allowing a visual basic > script embedded into a word processing document or spreadsheet to > run external applications. > > That would break a HUGE number of big corporate applications. It > would also be a phenomenal improvement in system security. Microsoft offers a number of different levels of security to this problem. You can set the macro security of the application to be various levels. High means only files [which have been] signed with a recognized digitial certificate, somewhat similar to the SSL used in https pages by your bank, will be executed. Office 2003 came with high security enabled by default, as have newer versions of Office. Now it had its quirks as [does] any V1.0 feature. However that's over six years ago now. In the current out of box security settings Microsoft Office now refuses to run any code whatsoever. You, or your system administrators have to override that. Setting your macro security to low means anything goes which is how it used to be before Office 2003. Sementic quibble. It is not a Visual Basic Script that is part of Word, Excel, PPT or Access but Visual Basic for Applications. The term script can be seen as rather negative such as "script kiddies" >> In other discussions, some suggested that far too many applications >> uilize these automated features; that eliminating them would >> cripple computer use. Is that true? > > It's possible. It would have been better not to have put them there > in the first place, but if you don't design security into a product > it turns out to be very difficult to retrofit it after the fact. Hindsight is perfect, now isn't it? Tony (Microsoft Access developer since about 1993. Microsoft Access MVP since 1999) -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/ Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/ ------------------------------ Date: 9 Sep 2009 11:36:18 -0400 From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <h88i1i$dkg$1@panix2.panix.com> Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote: >The "Claim To Fame" for the Hayes modems was, as John Levine pointed >out, that it could be used with only a three wire connection. This may >seem like a solution in search of a problem today, but return with me >now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, prior to the Borg - > >* There was no agreement on what connectors to use: my Heath H89 had > both female and male 25 pin connectors for the DTE ports. DTE is male. Ma Bell is female. It's what the original standard says. Of course, nobody paid attention to the standard, which is how we got into this mess. > Retailers would sell anything that looked like a computer cable, > no matter what the connector sex, the wire, or the pinout. This has not changed. > Operating Systems did NOT have complete control of the serial > ports. CP/M required drivers that were written by OEM's, or even by > end-users like me, and everyone was in an incredible hurry to get > product to market, so "DSR" and "CD" leads were often ignored. Hell, > it was hard enough to get the speed right, with some control > programs requiring manual setup for the modem speed since they had > no "auto detect" capability. This is inexcusable and is the result of poor programming on the result of microcomputer vendors. You did not see this in the big computer world. Back at that time there was a huge influx of hobbyists coming into the microcomputer world who didn't really know what they were doing, did not know that standards already existed, and they found themselves making commercial products. It was a very weird time. > Software vendors advertised "technical support" very heavily, but > what they provided was a long list of excuses for doing nothing: if > the modem lights blinked, they would tell you it was a modem problem > and refer you back to your modem vendor. This also has not changed. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ***** Moderator's Note ***** ISTR a news story about Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland, who, while observing a Microsoft demonstration that involved dialing in to some online service they were pushing, stood up and asked why the modem lights weren't blinking. Bill Horne ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 12:36:56 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <4be49878-b23f-4026-9d96-661387dc2570@y21g2000yqn.googlegroups.com> On Sep 9, 1:10 pm, klu...@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote: > This is inexcusable and is the result of poor programming on the > result of microcomputer vendors. You did not see this in the big > computer world. Back at that time there was a huge influx of > hobbyists coming into the microcomputer world who didn't really know > what they were doing, did not know that standards already existed, and > they found themselves making commercial products.  It was a very weird > time. Yes, but with qualifications. Yes, you generally did not see this in the business mainframe world because work had to get done - employees and vendors waiting for their checks would have no tolerance for an excuse, "well, the pin connectors weren't as we expected". Work had to get done on time per schedule*. Indeed, big shops had reciprocal backup arrangements with another shop, so if their machine was down, they could run their critical reports at another site. Sometimes big shops would tinker with 3rd party add-on peripherals which sometimes worked well, sometimes not. But these normally would be on less critical applications and a backup on hand. In the science/academia world there was more experimentation with peripherals, especially if a lab had its own mini computer to experiment with. The flip side is that in the nascent micro-computer world, which was much more hobbyist than business in its early days, the era of experimentation produced many technical advances. It enabled end- users to really get into the guts of the new technology, certainly not possible or allowed with a mainframe. Mainframe technology moved forward slowly, indeed, IBM purposely set up its new PC division to be separate for that reason. My objection to that early experimental micro-world was that individuals and entrapreneurs passionately claimed a hardware or software [item] was fully developed and ready for the rigors of demanding real-world business service, when in fact it was most certainly not. Many end-users fell in love with a sales pitch of a micro, but closer examination often found the hardware was severely underpowered for its anticipated needs and the software's functionality was not as robust as claimed. In those days many mainframers found themselves in the unpleasant situation of rushing to bail out a critical end-user who bought a micro-application which didn't work. * I knew a junior programmer whose program crashed in the middle of the night. They called his house but his father refused the call. The programmer was fired the next day. ***** Moderator's Note ***** "Underpowered" doesn't begin to cover the rapacious and sleezy conduct of some micro vendors. I heard of one retailer which sold machines equipped with 64K of RAM, but never recompiled CP/M to recognize the memory beyond it's default 56K setting. When customers asked for a memory upgrade, the vendor would do the recompile and then charge them as if they had actually installed the added RAM. It was a gold rush, and the winners were the ones who kept their eye on the gold. Bill Horne ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 11:53:09 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Driver Texting Now an Issue in Back Seat Message-ID: <p06240803c6cd7f8edc2f@[10.0.1.3]> DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION Driver Texting Now an Issue in Back Seat By MATT RICHTEL September 9, 2009 After decades of marriage, Terry and Debbie Buchen learned to work through various marital issues. Then something new came between them - his cellphone. Mr. Buchen, 62, couldn't put it down while driving. The first time he sent e-mail messages from behind the wheel, he drove his BMW S.U.V. into a ditch on a deserted stretch of road. He was alone and driving slowly, and he wasn't injured. Still, the incident was "very scary," his wife said. Mr. Buchen knew he had a to make a choice between his habit and marital bliss. "I chose my wife," he said. But then Mr. Buchen, an agronomist for golf courses, asked for a compromise: he asked her to drive when they were together so he could stay connected with clients. That didn't fly. "If looks could kill," he said. For all the conversations about distracted driving playing out in statehouses and on talk shows, the most heated discussions, and the ones with the most lasting impact, may be happening between family members and friends. Such disputes are an extension of a longstanding source of tension - sometimes light, other times more antagonistic - between drivers and their self-appointed watchdogs. It's just that now, the back-seat driver is going after the BlackBerry. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/technology/09distracted.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 11:55:12 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Palm Unveils a Smartphone for Younger Users Message-ID: <p06240804c6cd8036039e@[10.0.1.3]> Palm Unveils a Smartphone for Younger Users By JENNA WORTHAM September 9, 2009 Taking the next step toward rebuilding its lineup of smartphones, Palm announced on Wednesday a new cellphone called the Pixi. Palm also announced it was dropping the price of its Pre smartphone by $50 to $150, with a two-year service agreement and after a $150 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate. Given the name, the Pixi is aimed at younger customers than those who bought the Pre. The company said the phone would have a smaller touch screen and be slimmer than the Pre, but it would share many of the same features, including eight gigabytes of storage and GPS navigation capabilities. Like the Pre, the Pixi runs on the company's new operating system, called WebOS, which promises speedy Web browsing. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/technology/companies/09palm.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:17:07 -0800 From: John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Texting (and cell phone usage) while driving movie: the consequences Message-ID: <h88k9c$9bd$1@blue.rahul.net> Thad Floryan wrote: > And some high-end production cars already can automatically > parallel park the vehicle on public streets. The ones I > know about include Lexus LS460, 2010 Lincoln MKT or MKS > (Ford's Active Park Assist), and BMW's Autopark system; > there may be others. The BBC show "Top Gear" tried out this gadget earlier this season, and it promptly drove the BMW straight through the front window of a store. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:02:38 +1000 From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Texting (and cell phone usage) while driving movie: the consequences Message-ID: <pan.2009.09.09.23.02.37.228203@myrealbox.com> On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:13:11 -0400, John David Galt wrote: > Thad Floryan wrote: >> And some high-end production cars already can automatically parallel >> park the vehicle on public streets. The ones I know about include Lexus >> LS460, 2010 Lincoln MKT or MKS (Ford's Active Park Assist), and BMW's >> Autopark system; there may be others. > > The BBC show "Top Gear" tried out this gadget earlier this season, and it > promptly drove the BMW straight through the front window of a store. It wasn't caused by some using a GSM phone and the signal interfering with the technology, was it? -;) -- Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 13:46:16 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: AT&T to Make Faster 3G Technology Available in Six Major Cities This Year Message-ID: <p06240807c6cd9a11ba73@[10.0.1.3]> AT&T to Make Faster 3G Technology Available in Six Major Cities This Year Rollout of New Technology - HSPA 7.2 - Matched by Backhaul Deployment to Cell Sites to Support Surging Mobile Broadband Demand Throughout Evolution to 4G Dallas, Texas, September 9, 2009 AT&T today announced details of its rollout plans for High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology, which will provide a considerable speed boost to what is already the nation's fastest 3G mobile broadband network. Supporting this HSPA 7.2 initiative is AT&T's ongoing deployment of additional backhaul capacity to cell sites. These backhaul connections add critical capacity to the network to support today's unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic as well as the future demands of next-generation 4G networks. AT&T plans to begin deployment of HSPA 7.2 in six major U.S. cities, including Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, with initial service availability expected in these markets by the end of the year. All told, the company plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 of the nation's 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011. The upgraded network platform allows for theoretical peak speeds of 7.2Mbps. Typical real-world downlink and uplink speeds experienced by customers with upgraded 3G will be less than the theoretical peak and will vary based on a number of factors, including location, device, and overall traffic on the local wireless network at a given time. ... http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=27068 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:13:27 -0500 From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (PV) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <ZuudnXRi24watTXXnZ2dnUVZ_rWdnZ2d@supernews.com> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes: >> Ward (and Randy Suess) had a long history of randomly breaking into >> CBBS sessions with comments (and not nice ones if it was Randy and >> you were doing something he didn't like). They were/are interesting >> guys. > > When were you on CBBS? I signed on every couple days from high school practically from the day they opened the modems. * -- * PV Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:14:55 -0500 From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (PV) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <ZuudnXdi24xCtTXXnZ2dnUVZ_rWdnZ2d@supernews.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: >On Sep 8, 12:40 am, "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote: >> Hah! You date things from CBBS! Traditionally, we celebrate the >> anniversary of February 16, 1978, although it probably went live a week >> or two earlier. > > Would anyone know what platform this BBS used? It was a purpose-built S100 bus computer, and custom software. * -- * PV Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:51:43 -0500 From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Dr. James Marsters, TTY deaf service developer Message-ID: <wfGdnYmh0vPirDXXnZ2dnUVZ_tqdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications> In article <sZqdnVt78pmnFDvXnZ2dnUVZ_oFi4p2d@supernews.com>, PV <pv+usenet@pobox.com> wrote: >bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) writes: >> When the hobby market developed, then things got seriously messy. >> If a computer was connected to a modem, it needed to look like DTE, >> because the modem was DCE. If it was connected to a terminal (or a >> printer, or, ....) it needed to look like DCE, because that 'other >> device' was hard-wired as DTE. > > And you had computers that didn't set some of the lines right, so > you might use carefully-spliced cables (or a gadget from radio shack > with jumpers and opposite-gender connectors on both ends) to > duplicate signals. And null modem adapters. And gender changers. And > then they added 9 pin serial... And -printers- that used non-standard pins for various handshaking. At this remove, I don't remember which one, but one of the _big_ letter-quality printer manufacturers (NEC, Diablo, ??) was *notorious* for this. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:10:35 -0500 From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Where Have You Gone, Bell Labs? Message-ID: <Ks-dnYn3tcF2qDXXnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications> In article <0dvda555cs3ob7s8m5eunl0jbkn6oh2j25@4ax.com>, Tony Toews \[MVP\] <ttoews@telusplanet.net> wrote: >T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> wrote: > >> And the antenna is about six feet high - too big to use in a car! > > Some radio amateurs are indeed using seven foot tall antennas > atlhough admittedly on minivans. _I_ was the "Armstrong" antenna mount when a friend would go on a 2m hidden- transmitter hunt, using a 10 element beam. Amazingly effective, although there was a significant 'distraction' factor with regard to other drivers. (A local cop nearly ran off the road when we drove past him :) After a few times out, we decided 10 elements was overkill, and went to a steerable 4-element beam, with the mast in a slip-ring, supported by a section on a 'moose rack'. Raise it enough to clear the roof to swing it for DF -- point forward or aft, and let it drop to where the antenna 'beam' was at the moose rack for close clearances. In fairly short order, some of the other 'hunters' were also using 4-element beams on a mast, stuck (near vertical) through a rear window on a van. The guys hiding the transmitter started to have to work a _lot_ harder, to make the hunts last any length of time. But that's a whole -nuther- set of stories. <grin> ***** Moderator's Note ***** I was once the "fox" on a fox hunt done on Boston Common. To throw the searchers off the scent, I dressed in an old Army jacket and dirty jeans, with mis-matched socks and shoes. I carried my 2 meter transceiver in a paper bag, and whenever a hunter got close, I'd go up to him and asked for spare change in a slurred voice. It took two hours for one of them catch me: he was using a slotted antenna made out of an aerosol can. He was the only one who believed what his DF gear was telling him. BTW, DF'ing, a.k.a. Radiosport, is a major hobby in Japan. Bill Horne ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. The Telecom Digest is currently being moderated by Bill Horne while Pat Townson recovers from a stroke. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Copyright (C) 2009 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of The Telecom digest (16 messages) ***************************************

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