I work in a medium sized office that is a satellite office to a large financial corporation, and the LAN administrator gave me a good insight to the reasons for using standardized name brand computers. When configuring part of a large corportate network standardized (i.e. mass produced) PCs are much easier to support than a hodgepodge of boxes of various manufacturers. When one fails, he just pops a new one in and fixes the old one (if it can be fixed) at his leisure. Many of the problems are the result of unskilled users improperly shutting things down, etc, but the Compaqs they use there don't seem any more reliable than the white box I built for myself.
I notice that I can get nice useable 3 x 3 square lawns, that I can use for needed public utilities, such as schools, hospitals, etc, particularly on some of the nice waterfront estates. Still I wonder who I am pi**ing off by appropriating their lovely, but useless lawn. Might be the guy that owns all of the Kong Towers downtown;o).
I actually had the attitude toward lighting that you mention, when I lived in a house heated with resistance heating, so I didn't care if I left the lights on during the winter. The point you forgot to mention is that that electricity is only about 30 percent efficient in the use of fuel, assuming it was generated in a coal or oil-fired plant and transmitted long distances. There are better ways of heating a home, the typical oil or gas furnace is about 85 percent efficient or better these days. It actually costs less to heat my drafty old farmhouse that sits exposed on a windy hilltop with oil than it did to heat a sheltered townhouse with units on both sides with resistance heating.
The decision on where to place radio transmitting antennas depends on the availability of a site that will cover the area that needs to be covered at a cost the owner of the equipment can afford. Most Cell Towers are usually in the 100 to 300 foot range because it is usually cheaper to build 5 200 foot towers and equip them than to site and build a single 1000 foot tower. Often Cell Companies will take advantage of man-made and natural features of the landscape to get their antennas where they need them. As a result, Cell sites and antennas for paging transmitters, fire and police radios, ham repeaters, NOAA Broadcasts, and others can be found on the tops of tall buildings, water tanks, and on mountaintops. Heck, they are even putting cell sites around here on top of high tension towers!
On the other hand, take a close look at the side of one of your city's major TV or FM Broadcast towers. Chances are, there will be lots of other antennas hanging off the side of that 700 or 1,000 foot tower in addition to the big one on top. The price of tower real estate is proportional to height above ground level, so up high, there will probably be one or more FM broadcast antennas, and lower down will be paging services, amateur radio repeater antennas and other services, and as frequently is the case, cell sites!
Remember also that the WTC collapse not only took down the transmitters of several major New York media outlets, but also much of the cellular phone service within a 25 mile radius of lower Manhattan.
Hell, here is Baltimore there is one tower for all 3 VHF TV stations, called the Candelabra Tower, which got the name because of the 3 antennas on top. There are other antennas on it now as well besides WBAL, WMAR, and WJZ.
Just a point of perspective. Now off to shoot some UHF signals at a satellite 40,000 miles out in space.
Ham Radio has many great opportunities for outdoors activity, especially VHF Mountaintopping, Field Day,Contest Roving, and APRS. In addition, you can also include Hamfests, Foxhunting (finding hidden transmitters),and of course antenna work!
One good source for racks is your friendly neighborhood hamfest. At the larger shows I frequently see rack cabinets to 6 foot height often going for a song, sometimes even for the hauling away. Go to the ARRL Website for a hamfest near you.
The next big hamfest in the area is the Bowie MD Hamfest located at the Bowie Baysox Stadium parking lot. The stadium is located just South of US Rt 50 on US 301, about 8 miles East of the DC Beltway. IIRC the date is Sunday September 16, and most hamfests usually start letting in tailgaters around 6am. If you want a smaller flea market sooner, our radio club is holding a tailgate fest at the Pleasant Hill PA Fire Department near Hanover PA on August 26.
You might want to try one of the larger hamfests in your area. In the Mid-Atlantic area where I live, there is a guy who goes to all of the major hamfests who has a large number of operator and service manuals for all types of test equipment. Check the ARRL website for a hamfest near you.
Even if you don't find the manual you are looking for, you are liable to find all kinds of great slightly used electronics stuff, from spark gap transmitters to the latest computer hardware. I even saw some of the consoles from the Appollo program on the block once. BTW: there is a big hamfest in Timmonium MD this weekend if you are in the area:o)
Bruce N3LSY
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I work in a medium sized office that is a satellite office to a large financial corporation, and the LAN administrator gave me a good insight to the reasons for using standardized name brand computers. When configuring part of a large corportate network standardized (i.e. mass produced) PCs are much easier to support than a hodgepodge of boxes of various manufacturers. When one fails, he just pops a new one in and fixes the old one (if it can be fixed) at his leisure. Many of the problems are the result of unskilled users improperly shutting things down, etc, but the Compaqs they use there don't seem any more reliable than the white box I built for myself.
I notice that I can get nice useable 3 x 3 square lawns, that I can use for needed public utilities, such as schools, hospitals, etc, particularly on some of the nice waterfront estates. Still I wonder who I am pi**ing off by appropriating their lovely, but useless lawn. Might be the guy that owns all of the Kong Towers downtown;o).
I actually had the attitude toward lighting that you mention, when I lived in a house heated with resistance heating, so I didn't care if I left the lights on during the winter. The point you forgot to mention is that that electricity is only about 30 percent efficient in the use of fuel, assuming it was generated in a coal or oil-fired plant and transmitted long distances. There are better ways of heating a home, the typical oil or gas furnace is about 85 percent efficient or better these days. It actually costs less to heat my drafty old farmhouse that sits exposed on a windy hilltop with oil than it did to heat a sheltered townhouse with units on both sides with resistance heating.
The decision on where to place radio transmitting antennas depends on the availability of a site that will cover the area that needs to be covered at a cost the owner of the equipment can afford. Most Cell Towers are usually in the 100 to 300 foot range because it is usually cheaper to build 5 200 foot towers and equip them than to site and build a single 1000 foot tower. Often Cell Companies will take advantage of man-made and natural features of the landscape to get their antennas where they need them. As a result, Cell sites and antennas for paging transmitters, fire and police radios, ham repeaters, NOAA Broadcasts, and others can be found on the tops of tall buildings, water tanks, and on mountaintops. Heck, they are even putting cell sites around here on top of high tension towers!
On the other hand, take a close look at the side of one of your city's major TV or FM Broadcast towers. Chances are, there will be lots of other antennas hanging off the side of that 700 or 1,000 foot tower in addition to the big one on top. The price of tower real estate is proportional to height above ground level, so up high, there will probably be one or more FM broadcast antennas, and lower down will be paging services, amateur radio repeater antennas and other services, and as frequently is the case, cell sites!
Remember also that the WTC collapse not only took down the transmitters of several major New York media outlets, but also much of the cellular phone service within a 25 mile radius of lower Manhattan.
Hell, here is Baltimore there is one tower for all 3 VHF TV stations, called the Candelabra Tower, which got the name because of the 3 antennas on top. There are other antennas on it now as well besides WBAL, WMAR, and WJZ.
Just a point of perspective. Now off to shoot some UHF signals at a satellite 40,000 miles out in space.
Bruce N3LSY
Ham Radio has many great opportunities for outdoors activity, especially VHF Mountaintopping, Field Day,Contest Roving, and APRS. In addition, you can also include Hamfests, Foxhunting (finding hidden transmitters),and of course antenna work!
One good source for racks is your friendly neighborhood hamfest. At the larger shows I frequently see rack cabinets to 6 foot height often going for a song, sometimes even for the hauling away. Go to the ARRL Website for a hamfest near you.
Bruce N3LSY
The next big hamfest in the area is the Bowie MD Hamfest located at the Bowie Baysox Stadium parking lot. The stadium is located just South of US Rt 50 on US 301, about 8 miles East of the DC Beltway. IIRC the date is Sunday September 16, and most hamfests usually start letting in tailgaters around 6am. If you want a smaller flea market sooner, our radio club is holding a tailgate fest at the Pleasant Hill PA Fire Department near Hanover PA on August 26.
You might want to try one of the larger hamfests in your area. In the Mid-Atlantic area where I live, there is a guy who goes to all of the major hamfests who has a large number of operator and service manuals for all types of test equipment. Check the ARRL website for a hamfest near you. Even if you don't find the manual you are looking for, you are liable to find all kinds of great slightly used electronics stuff, from spark gap transmitters to the latest computer hardware. I even saw some of the consoles from the Appollo program on the block once. BTW: there is a big hamfest in Timmonium MD this weekend if you are in the area :o)
Bruce N3LSY