C-Message Weighting Messaging System (408)-377-7441 ===================================================== B A S E L I N E N E W S - M A Y 1 9 9 3 ===================================================== "News about technology and technology policy" - including an electronic digest of published reports - This Month: =========== - Signals of Interest - Freeway 85 Contractors and Their Radios - Cities and SMRs - Armed Forces Day at Moffett Field - European dialing and GSM cellular =========== SIGNALS OF INTEREST (MHZ) 35.020 McDonalds, Industrial E of I880, Newark "(BEEP) May I take your order?" "Yes, two stomach pounders with cheese..." 35.020 McDonalds, North 1st St. near Brokaw Rd., San Jose 42.160 CHP, Corte Madera, (base) 42.440 CHP, San Francisco, (base) 42.640 CHP, Corte Madera, (mobile) 42.760 CHP, San Francisco, (mobile) 44.180 Gagliasso Trucking, 415 Aldo Ave., Santa Clara (dirt & rock) 151.445 San Antonio Fire Department, San Antonio Junction on SR130 (Squad 15) "only fire station for as far as you can see" 151.745 Woodside Patrol, Portola Valley (private patrol) 151.955 Almaden Delivery, San Jose (take-out food brought to you; DPL) 152.330 Veterans Cab, Hayward (base) 154.570 McDonalds, Cushing at Fremont Blvd., Fremont (near NUMI) 156.600 Coast Guard, Ch12, traffic control for ships on the Bay 157.590 Veterans Cab, Hayward (mobile) 451.9625 Mystery phone patch -- covers a large area (Hello?) 456.6375 Purissima Hills Water District, Los Altos Hills, (telemetry) 457.4875 Veterans Cab, Hayward (repeats 157.59 MHz @ 114.8 Hz) 457.550 Carl's Jr., 5600 block of Thornton, Newark 457.575 Jack in the Box, 1075 Willow x Lincoln, San Jose 463.550 South Bay Towing, San Jose 464.525 Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Oakland ("Victor" units) 464.775 Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Hayward The frequencies you reported took up so much room there wasn't enough space to post them all! Check the database for recent updates in your listening area. FREEWAY 85 CONTRACTORS AND THEIR RADIOS As State Route 85 construction plows ahead, radio channels are busy with daily activities like surveying, pouring concrete, and erecting lighting. We don't know much about highway construction but it seems like the moment one stretch of new pavement is in place, a second crew comes along to dig it up with a backhoe. If you have any interest in this sort of activity, try some of these frequencies: 151.955 Cupertino Electric, installing lighting and electrical wiring 484.9375 Central Valley Electric, San Jose (traffic signal work) DPL 853.3125 Gradeway Construction, Fremont (paving and so forth) 854.4375 Gradeway Construction, Fremont (paving and so forth) 854.8625 Penhall International, sawing concrete 935.175 Kiewit Pacific Company, Bay Area, repeater and talk-around CITY GOVERNMENTS USE SMR SYSTEMS With the shortage of available Local Government frequencies, some cities are opting to use Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR or commercial trunked) sys- tems. Cities including San Jose, Atherton, and East Palo Alto have used commercial trunked systems for city government operations. By moving non- emergency services to SMR systems, valuable airtime on existing Local Gov- ernment frequencies can be made available to critical city services. Trunked systems allow relatively inexpensive changes of system configura- tion when agencies reorganize, combine, or city borders change. Commercial SMR systems usually offer better range than most cities can get with a con- ventional Local Government channel. This is particularly true of new as- signments since (1) frequency coordinators want to use the minimum trans- mitter power possible and (2) cities generally will not pay the price of new voting and simulcast equipment needed to cover Timbuktu. SMR use can also be a step toward converting an entire city's radio systems over to trunked. If the city purchases a trunked system, it is (ideally) only a matter of reprogramming existing SMR mobile radios to the new city trunked system. A big disadvantage to SMRs is that they are subject to service outages or traffic overloading that may be worse than government systems. Moreover, the quality of SMR service varies greatly from system to system. One sys- tem we heard about reverts to failsoft mode after every power failure. FCC rules and economics do not allow commercial SMR operators to load systems lightly so that they will always be useful during disasters, busy periods, or bad weather. In a disaster, the commercial trunked system may fail en- tirely. SMRs usually charge for airtime. Airtime charges can drastically change from month-to-month because of a parade, festival, disaster, or large pro- ject. Trunked systems are not the panacea envisioned by many radio system man- agers and salespersons. Many trunked system users do not realize how seri- ously a system, commercial or government, can be overloaded by unusual events, or even inclement weather. While annoyances of conventional sys- tems go away, new problems take their place. Nevertheless, SMR use can be a good interim "patch" for a radio system manager's problems. AMBULANCE DISPATCH If you listen to 856.4375 MHz, or your local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agency's equivalent, you might wonder who gets dispatched to what. In California, local EMS agencies establish standard medical protocols for emergency medical personnel. Guidelines specify things like when car- diopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be started and when certain splint- ing methods are applicable. Normally, Advanced Life Support (ALS or Paramedic) units are dispatched to all emergency calls. Basic Life Support (BLS, EMT, or Emergency Medical Technician) ambulances provide routine transfer service for patients travelling between a convalescent home and a hospital or transfers between hospitals. Paramedics are usually stretched pretty thin between calls. It is usually impractical to staff ambulances for peak loads. So, there are seldom un- used ambulances waiting for an entire shift without a call. What happens when the "big one" hits? Say a plane crashes or part of a building collapses and many people are hurt. Emergency agencies activate a mutual aid plan. A mutual aid plan calls in resources from agencies or units not normally employed. Mutual aid employs, for example, out-of-area resources or operational spare units and off-duty staff. For Santa Clara County EMS, this plan is called the Mass Casualty Incident Plan. In some situations, BLS units provide treatment and transport of victims in support of paramedic units. MCIP also affects the allocation of resources inside hospital facilities. How can ten paramedics manage 200 patients? A method called "triage" is in use at a mass-casualty incident scene. Personnel at the scene identify victims as "now", "later" or "presumed dead". During normal day-to-day conditions, it's unheard-of for any accident victim not to receive immedi- ate and full attention of ambulance crews. In mass-casualty situations, scarce emergency medical people have to focus attention on those who will likely have the best chances for survival. On-scene personnel use their best professional judgement to determine who will be attended to, trans- ported, or wait. An annual MEDEX drill gives county medical personnel practice at handling a simulated mass-casualty incident like a bus or plane crash. ARMED FORCES DAY AT MOFFETT On Saturday, 15 May, Moffett Field will open its doors to the public at no charge. The day will include celebrities and ceremonies, historical ex- hibits, fireworks, and a laser display. The revelry will start at 10:00 a.m. Saturday and conclude at 10:00 p.m. Exhibits will also be open Sun- day, 16 May. The Navy plans to turn the airstrip over to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center in 1994. According to one Moffett spokesperson, U.S. Army, Air Force, and California Air National Guard operations will continue after NASA Ames assumes operation of the base. 800-NUMBERS CHANGE May 1 marks the date that 800-numbers will change: any number can now work with any long distance carrier. Previously, 800-numbers were assigned to long distance carriers in blocks. For example, the number 800-CAR-PART was assigned to a single long distance company, say MCI for example. In order to use a specific number like 800- CAR-PART, the company wanting the number would have to get service from the long distance company with that block of numbers (800-CAR). In this exam- ple, only MCI could offer the customer this specific number. Before May 1, an 800-user who changed long distance carriers would also be forced to change 800-numbers. This is no longer the case. Local exchange carriers (LECs) will now maintain databases of 800-numbers. Switching equipment will check the LEC's database to determine which Interexchange Carrier (IXC) will be accessed to process the call. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS STATES TO BAN RECORDED MESSAGES "If you'd like to hear a message about cleaner water, please stay on the line..." Is there anyone who hasn't received such a message on their home telephone? California Public Utilities Commission regulations prohibit computer-dialed recorded announcements unless they are preceded by a live person asking if you would like to hear the announcement. The Supreme Court ruled on 29 March that states may ban businesses from making unsolicited calls to con- sumers using automatically-dialed recorded messages. Most states already restrict such calls. The court rejected arguments that laws regulating au- tomatically-dialed recorded messages infringed on the free speech rights of businesses. CEPT MASTER TELEPHONE PLANS The Conference of European Post and Telecommunications (CEPT) is busy plan- ning to standardize telephone systems, numbers and dialing plans throughout Europe. Among CEPT initiatives are plans to insure that the European equivalent to U.S. personal communications services (PCS) will have the capability to "roam" outside of their home country. GSM cellular telephones already have the technical capability if carriers agree on billing and roaming details. Furthermore, plans are being explored that would lead to a single area code for Europe. The group is also investigating the possibility of pan- Euro- pean numbers: a single telephone number could reach a company from any country in Europe. Pan-Europe toll-free numbers -- called "green numbers" -- are also being investigated. If they could only get the person answer- ing to speak the same language as the caller... BULGARIAN PLANT AND EQUIPMENT DRAGGED INTO 1993 Like most former Soviet-bloc countries, Bulgaria had -- until recent times -- a disincentive to provide efficient telephone communications to the pub- lic. The European Investment Bank has advanced a ECU 70 million loan for improvements to telephone plant and equipment. The funds will be used to implement digital telephony, telex exchanges, install a microwave radio network, and connect transmission facilities with fiber optic links. GSM CELLULAR DEPLOYMENT According to XIII MAGAZINE NEWS REVIEW, the pan-Europe cellular system (GSM) has been setup rapidly. In October, 1992, a roaming agreement was signed between Sonofon, a Danish company, and Swiss PTT Telecom. Now Dan- ish and Swiss GSM subscribers can use cellular systems outside their re- spective home countries. So far, only the Swiss cities, and the highways connecting cities of Basel, Berne, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, and Zurich of- fer GSM service. Danish and German subscribers already have a roaming agreement. In fact, Sonofon customers can use their GSM telephones in Finland and Sweden as well. "Hello, grandma? The weather's great here..." HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION CD-ROM The Human-Computer Interaction Service in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, has published a CD-ROM on human-computer interactions. The CD-ROM database, with full-text searching capability, has 25,000 items from the mid-1980s to late 1991 and is updated annually. Is it for DOS, Windows, or Macintosh? We don't know. For more information, contact: Peter Reid or Kathy Philips, The HCI Service, P. O. Box 31, Loughborough, LEII 1QU, Eng- land, United Kingdom or telephone 011 +44 509 264083. E-mail contact may be made via the Internet at P.Reid@lut.ac.uk or Philips@lut.ac.uk. FREE TIME AND WORKING HOURS The following figures show average hours worked per year by country for in- dividuals working in "skilled labor" jobs: Japan 2,080 Luxembourg 1,800 Norway 1,748 United States 1,912 Sweden 1,792 Belgium 1,744 Portugal 1,898 Italy 1,788 Netherlands 1,732 Switzerland 1,865 Spain 1,788 Austria 1,722 Greece 1,848 Great Britain 1,777 Denmark 1,691 Ireland 1,817 France 1,771 Germany 1,667 Source: THE WEEK IN GERMANY $MOG & CHECK$ State and federal government are still haggling over what equipment will be required for future smog checks. As we reported previously, the federal government wants $150,000 emissions analyzers. That would force smog checks to be performed at fewer facilities: possibly large centers staffed by state government employees or contractor personnel. The centers would only verify proper operation of the systems and would not perform repairs. Tests may be so sophisticated that cars would be placed on dynamometers during the check. If your car fails, you would get it fixed and then re- turn to the center to have the emissions retested. Cold starts are being discussed as a source of high pollutant emissions. Part of the reason is that catalytic convertors don't work until the ex- haust stream heats the material inside to operating temperature. One pro- posal calls for electrically-heated convertors. On a cold start, a heating element would quickly warm the catalyst to operating temperature. A recent study showed that seven percent (7%) of vehicles produce fifty percent (50%) of the pollutant tonnage according to MOTORLAND magazine. In effect, most of us are paying dollars to buy, smog check, and maintain cars with relatively clean exhausts and the net result is being spoiled by 7% of drivers on the roadway. One proposal calls for an elimination on dollar limits to repair emission controls on older vehicles. The federal government may require car manu- facturers to extend the warranty on emission control parts to 120,000 miles or ten years. There is also discussion of roadside infrared detection sys- tems that will check the signature of exhausts on passing vehicles. Photo radar for your tailpipe... MOSQUITOES It's mosquito season and welts are springing up everywhere -- especially in the forested areas of California. We saw a recent article in the STANFORD DAILY detailing how mosquitoes locate their victims. It seems that us mam- mals emit a huge plume of carbon dioxide gas as we exhale. Mosquitoes pa- trol for such plumes, then follow them upstream to their source. For ter- minal guidance, they sense your body's temperature and then swoop in for the attack. Only the female mosquito draws blood in order to support her reproductive efforts. 1960: USS TRITON SAILS AROUND GLOBE Early U.S. nuclear submarines broke new technical ground. On May 10, 1960, the U.S.S. Triton completed an 84-day around-the-world submerged trip. The vessel travelled 41,814 miles roughly following the route of Magellan in 1519. THOUGHTS for May... --------------------- "If the human race wants to go to hell in a basket, technology can help it get there by jet. It won't change the desire or the direction, but it can greatly speed the passage." Charles M. Allen " `Well, now, that's the way we've always done it.' How many sins have been committed in our utility industry with no more justification than that one stupid remark?" O. C. Seevers, PE "Political leaders have been forced to spend too much time reacting to sur- prises like the HUD debacle rather than doing the work the agencies were created to do." General Accounting Office "Tolerably early in life I discovered that one of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world re- gards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog." Thomas Huxley _____________________________________________________________________ Thanks to individuals who contributed information for Baseline News. _____________________________________________________________________ Baseline news is not affiliated with Bay Area Scanner Enthusiasts (BASE). Baseline News (C) Copyright 1992 C-Message Weighting Messaging System (408)-377-7441 1200/2400/9600/14400 baud. As long as you distribute this file in its entirety, (including this statement) it is okay to redistribute, print, or copy this file for any lawful purpose without other restrictions. (end)