BoatUS asked its members to tell FCC to leave the GPS system alone

[osead]

You should read this as it may effect your GPS unit if this goes through.  This CEO of Lightsquared claims many GPS units  were not designed sufficiently to reject interference and maybe effected by his company's proposal to use an adjacent frequency.




http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/14/virginia-company-nears-breakthrough-in-nationwide-/?page=1

[B-Juled]

Wow, there's another shocker that our government does not know what is going on....

[pepmyster]

Unreal

[AlexisandChad]

Looks like the General that was involved in either approving or disapproving this Lightsquared was told by the whitehouse to "adjust his testimony" to come into line with what they wanted to hear.  He goes in front of a congressional committee today to express that he was "told by the white house to lie" and he disapproves of putting the military and recreational GPS system at risk.

Wonderful......

[osead]

Yep I found this article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/15/lightsquared-did-white-house-pressure-general-shelton-to-help-donor.html

Looks like the good of the Country takes a back seat to the good of the Party as they vie to gain more power and wealth at the expense of the Middle Class.

[Tony Walker]

As a ham radio operator, I have been following this LightSquared thing for some time.  But today was the first I was aware it was an Obama sponsored perk for some contributor.

We dodged a bullet recently with the "so called broad band over powerline" effort to make the internet available from your 110v house power plug.  The problem with that was it would have totally crapped up the entire high frequency spectrum.

It would have affected the ham radio world, "a licensed radio service" the worst but it would have affected any interest that used short wave.  The American Radio Relay League and other interests killed it.  It was a year long effort no, longer than a year.  Fortunately it was just the misguided actions of the FCC.

The mandate of the FCC is to protect the use of the radio bands by "lisenced radio services." but it had to go to court a couple of times to make this point clear.

On the "LightSquared" issue, now that I am aware that it is a politcal item of the Obama administration, my disgust of our current Washington administration only increases.

We have members from all parts of the world.  They must be amused.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

[osead]

Wow, Tony, I'm impressed!  I could never get pass the 5 wpm to get a license.  Do they still require knowledge of the code to be licensed? I remember the old call cards on the wall days!  My favorite was time from CHQ Dominion Observatory Canada, but I digress.


Apparently, this Administration is just as, or even more, corrupt than the previous ones given the irony of Pelosi's claim to be the most ethically run Congress and Obama's "transparency" pledge!  Couple this with the Solynda issue and it smells!

All the "Anything for a buck politicians" are ruining this Country!

[Tony Walker]

Osead,

My friend across the street and I learned the code at the same time, with each other.  That was in 1953.  We are back in touch.  My call is W8PWP and his is W8PWQ.

I have a shore station in GA where I have lived for many years.  But now my official "citizenship" is in FL, where we keep the boat.

I have a ham station aboard the boat there but not in that house.

My most interesting contact, of many, was in 1955 as a kid, with Captain Kurt Carlson of the Flying Enterprise the second, W2ZXM/MM.  Google anything related and you will see why.  I keep the card he sent me in a freezer bag to keep it protected.

My first license the required 5 words per minute you mentioned and my second license required 13 words per minute in code.  It is still my favorite way to communicate.  The code requirement was eliminated a year or two back because in this digital age, few want to learn it as a condition of getting a license.  I kind of regret that change but given that I am a product of the 50's and 60's where Morse code was "high tech" I can understand that today's tech generation is far advanced of that.  They are into digital modes which ham radio has embraced but I am not involved, the newer folks can do things with digital ham radio that is truly phenomenal.

But the surprise is that many of today's new hams are learning the code just because they want to.  It is truly an elegant way to communicate in a very basic form.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

[l-skynyrd]

    You mentioned Solyndra, it is located right next to I-880 in Fremont, CA. I drive right by it every time I
go to the boat. I watched for two years them building a nice new building, two months after
it was finished they closed up.
    The problem with Lighsquared is the frequency used by the satellite was never intended to
be sent over ground from tower to tower. It was intended to be sent from satellite to ground
station only. I work for Space Systems/Loral, and we did not build this satellite. It was built by
Boeing.