aubreyturner.org

The inside of my head is a strange and mysterious place, and sometimes I surprise myself by what may pop up, unbidden, from the murky depths.  Today, out of the blue, the song “Mr. Custer” popped in.  I have no idea what triggered it, but now it’s stuck in my head.

I went looking on YouTube for a copy to share, and eventually found this one.  But if you should search YouTube, don’t pick the first copy unless you want to get subjected to anti-Bush/anti-war propaganda (i.e. some dingleberry hijacked this song to make a point about “stay[ing] the course”).

While on the topic of dogs, I should point out two facts that will allow you to readily deduce the current state of my house.  First, Malcolm is a rough collie.  Second, shedding season is now in full force.

‘Nuff said.

I finally got around to doing my tax return over the weekend and idly considered putting “Canine Door Operator” on the line where the IRS wants to know your occupation.  But since I figured they have no sense of humor, I decided against it.

A while back I actually went to the trouble to purchase a suitably-sized dog door to allow Boots (and now Malcolm) unfettered access to the outdoors.  However, before I went to the trouble to hack a hole in the back door to install it, I came to my senses.  A door large enough for the dogs is also large enough for a person.  And given her behavior with regards to the door, I fully expected to find Boots sitting there with her head holding it open so she could watch the birds and squirrels.  Further, as it already costs a (metric) butt load of cash to cool this place in the summer, the last thing I need is a doggy-accessible portal to 95° air.

I’ve often wondered whether someone from work sneaked into my office and wired my chair into the instant messaging system.  There are times when I can sit here for two hours and not be bothered, but 5 minutes after I get up to take a break (or if I go to lunch) someone sends me a message. 

I’ve checked for wires, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t put a wireless tracker on it.  Maybe I should wrap my chair (and perhaps myself) in tinfoil? 

A while back I was commiserating with a friend of mine about how I seem to spend all my work time talking about the work that’s going to be done, but no time actually doing it.  I recently took stock of my calendar, and determined that my “base” meeting load is 18 hours per week.  That represents regularly scheduled checkpoints, status meetings, technical discussions, and administrivia.  It doesn’t count one-off meetings called to discuss new projects, hot issues, or to ameliorate the meeting chairperson’s loneliness.  It also doesn’t count double-bookings, which if rescheduled, would make things worse.

I suppose this would be a non-issue if my primary job task was to attend meetings.  But my employers seem to have this strange idea that I might deliver design documents and even the occasional batch of code from time to time.  I’ve worked both of the last two weekends trying to catch up with a project that has been neglected because of all the meetings and there may be light at the end of the tunnel in a week or so.  Of course, by then, some new hot topic will interrupt my regular work and derail things again. 

Anyhow, the “free ice cream” will be delayed for a bit longer while I brandish the chair and whip until the tigers are tamed (or at least shoved back into their cages). 

I occasionally get forwarded emails about things that just aren’t so (imagine that!).  The latest was one that said you should refuse acceptance of the new $1 Presidential coin because it omitted the phrase “In God We Trust.” 

It turns out that a few seconds of research (i.e. looking at the U.S. Mint’s website) would show this to be untrue.

Instead of being on the front or back, they’ve “incused” the phrase on the edge.  I suppose, in fairness, I should mention that some coins were initially released without the lettering on the edges.  But this was simply the result of a mistake, not some sinister conspiracy to remove God from the United States.

Of course, there are other valid reasons to not want a dollar coin.  I don’t know about this new coin, since I haven’t held one, but it will have to be significantly different from the old dollar coin (which was easily mistaken for a quarter by feel) before I’d accept it.  And I don’t particularly like having a ton of change in my pocket.  Dollar bills are convenient and light in weight.  And I don’t know if it’s just me, but the George Washington coin is kind of creepy. 

Anyhow, the whole “In God We Trust” non-issue is definitely no reason to get your panties in a wad.

This is quite possibly the funniest damn thing I’ve seen all week:

Via The Fat Guy.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked what kind of scanner to get to be able to listen to police and fire in Keller.  My answer was that it’s a bit complicated at the moment, and likely to be expensive, depending on how things shake out in the future.  This post is an attempt to add some detail to that and to provide this information to anyone else who may be interested.

Background and Basics
The first thing that you need to know is that Keller is a participant in the Northeast Tarrant County Motorola 800MHz trunked system. 

Trunked?  What’s the heck is that?  It can be a bit complicated, but here is the basic explanation.

Trunking is a way of using a set of frequencies in a more efficient manner than the old conventional way. In the past, each agency in a political sub-division would get some frequencies licensed to them and then would use those discrete frequencies just for themselves. Since there is a finite amount of available radio spectrum, as the number of users increased crowding and interference occurred.

…

Trunking is the use of several repeaters, on different frequencies in the same band, operating together under computer control to allow the pooling of resources for several agencies.

The trunking radio, in a patrol car for example, is much more sophisticated than the simple transceiver previously used in a simplex or repeater configuration. The trunking transceiver is a frequency agile radio capable of receiving instructions and changing frequencies on the fly. All trunked radios operate in a similar manner although the type of trunking technology used by each type of trunked radio system differs greatly.

In the trunked radio environment, each agency is assigned one or more talkgroups that the agency’s communications will use. All agencies on the system will have different talkgroups but all will share the same pool of frequencies.

I’d suggest reading the entire article I linked above from the Radio Reference wiki, as it’s important to understand the concepts if you’re going to attempt to program a scanner (your scanner’s manual will reference some of the same vocabulary, such as “talk groups” and “control channels”).

The Nextel Interference Problem/Rebanding
If it weren’t for Nextel, you’d be able to go down to Radio Shack or some of the online dealers and buy yourself a “trunk tracker” scanner.  After a little programming (which some of the dealers will do for you), you would be able to listen to everything.  And, in fact, you could still do this today.  The problem will occur in the near future, when your trunk tracker will stop working if you don’t understand what’s changing and how to accommodate the changes.

So what does Nextel have to do with this?  It turns out that those silly little walkie-talkies aren’t really a cellular service, but are instead classified by the FCC as an “Extended (or Enhanced) Specialized Mobile Radio” service (ESMR).  They are the largest ESMR provider, and are licensed in the same frequency ranges as public safety repeaters (in the 800 MHz band).  The interference problem occurs because their ESMR transmitters may be pushing up to 3kW, while public safety systems are operating at between 125 and 300 Watts.  Even though they are on different frequencies, they’re close enough that the much higher power of the Nextel signals can completely obliterate the lower-power police and fire transmissions.

To fix all this, the FCC has redesignated the spectrum allocation so that ESMR has a contiguous block far enough away from the public safety frequencies so as to prevent interference.  Nextel will be paying for the rebanding and in return is being given some RF spectrum in the 1.8 GHz range.

What this means for scanners
In order to follow a trunked system, scanners must understand the type of system and be able to decode the control channel to determine which frequency will be used for a transmission on a given talkgroup.  In some trunked systems, rather than send the actual frequency in the control channel data they use an index into a frequency table (this reduces the amount of data that has to be sent over the control channel).  When rebanding occurs, the frequency tables will change.  Some scanners have these tables hard-coded in ROM and will not be able to be changed.  These scanners will quit working with trunked systems when those systems have been rebanded.  Others have the tables in flash-upgradeable firmware.  Provided that the scanner’s manufacturer provides a firmware upgrade, these scanners should be able to work after rebanding. 

Unfortunately, many of the most affordable scanners fall into the non-upgradeable category.  So finding a scanner that will work today and into the future has become more expensive (due to having to get the newest and/or more high-end models).  While Nextel is reimbursing the public safety licensees, they have no obligation to pay us for new scanners. 

How does this affect Keller?
The upgrade will happen in phases.  The first phase, to be undertaken in the very near future (within the month I’m led to believe) is to replace all of the handhelds and all of the mobile units with newer models that can handle the new trunking scheme.  However, the radios will still operate on the existing system with the existing frequencies.  The second phase (which I don’t have any dates for) will be to actually switch frequencies.  This will be the watershed date for local scanner enthusiasts. 

Another spanner in the works: digital
But to complicate things, Keller’s new radios will all be digital capable.  While I have not heard any definite plans for switching to digital voice, the possibility of it means that a scanner purchaser should think long and hard about buying a digital trunking scanner.  The problem is that digital trunking scanners command a serious premium over their analog-only cousins at the moment (I will discuss models and prices below).

For those that do not know about these things, the difference between conventional (analog) and digital trunking is in how the voice signal is sent over the air.  In all trunking systems the control channel is digital (think of it as sort of like a modem signal) because it’s sending information about channels.  In conventional systems, though, the actual voice data is analog (i.e. generally narrow-band FM).  In digital trunking systems, the voice signal is converted to a stream of bits which is then modulated onto the voice channel (think modem again).  The advantage to digital is that additional checksum data can be sent to allow for recovery of small errors in the stream due to noisy signals.  Which means that digital voice can be much clearer than analog (it completely takes out static, pops, hiss, etc).  The disadvantage is that digital can only compensate for a small amount of lossage before the whole signal is lost (at which time you get nothing on the receiving end as compared to analog where the human ear may still be able to pull some information out of the noise).

It should be noted that digital does not mean encrypted.  It’s certainly a component of modern encrypted systems, but the majority of public safety systems that are using digital are not encrypted. 

So what scanner should I get?
That’s harder to say, as you will have to make the tradeoff between cost, ability to upgrade, and digital capability.  You will also have to consider which form-factor you want: desktop/mobile or handheld. 

There are only two major brands of scanners on the market in the United States: Radio Shack and Uniden (Bearcat).  Most (not all) of Radio Shack’s scanners are made by a company called GRE, which recently started marketing their scanners directly.  The Radio Reference wiki maintains lists of both Radio Shack and Uniden scanner models, their capabilities, and whether they can be upgraded for rebanding.  GRE is new enough on the U.S. market that all of their trunking scanners are advertised as being rebanding capable. 

Most scanners will also list in their description how many trunked systems they can follow at once.  For example, you will see phrases like “triple trunking” or “digital triple trunking”.  This means that it can follow up to three trunked systems at the same time (for example, my old Radio Shack scanner is programmed to be able to receive both the NE Tarrant system as well as the Ft. Worth system, although I have to turn Ft. Worth *off* to have any chance at all of hearing what’s happening in Keller because Ft. Worth has hundreds of talkgroups and thousands of users who seem to be talking 95% of the time). 

There are lots of online dealers out there, but I’ve had good luck so far with Scanner Master.  They carry all lines of scanners (Radio Shack, Uniden, and GRE), accessories, and (most importantly for the newbie) they offer programming services.  Even if you get the programming service, I’d recommend getting the software for the scanner and all the cables to hook up to a computer, as you can download info from Radio Reference to set up the scanner the way you want it.  As noted above I have multiple systems set up, but I also have variations on those system stored so I can limit things to a manageable level.  I have a config for the “full” NE Tarrant system (all talkgroups), one for NE Tarrant with just the Keller police and fire talkgroups, and another for Ft. Worth.  I can switch between them with the press of a button, depending on where I am and what I want to hear.

Be warned, though, that a digital trunk tracking scanner will start around $499.  If you’re willing to live without digital, trunk tracking scanners can be found in the $200-$250 range (but be sure to check that the model you choose will be able to be reprogrammed for rebanding).

Finally, the legal stuff…
Some people have the idea that scanning is illegal or some sort of violation of privacy.  Others may object to my giving the above information as it may help criminals.  First, at the Federal level the law is such that as long as you are not attempting to receive cellular or other telephone communications (i.e. cordless phones), you can generally listen to any non-encrypted transmission that you can receive.  All modern scanners come with the cellular frequencies blocked.  If a transmission is encrypted, then you may *not* attempt to decrypt it.  Each state has its own laws regarding scanner usage (both stationary and mobile), so you will need to check for yourself to see what you may or may not do.  A good resource for the laws in each state is the Scanner Laws site.  I am not a lawyer, though, so you should confirm all legal issues yourself before proceeding.

As for assisting criminals, all of the above information is freely available to the public, so I am not publishing anything new or providing anyone with special insight, other than distilling certain information into one place.

That Career Builder Super Bowl “heart” commercial is just plain disturbing.  It crossed the line from cute and right over into creepy (not to mention that I’d hate to have to explain it to any really small children that might be watching and who may have nightmares later).

Updated with link to video of the commercial thanks to Paul in the comments.

You can observe a lot by just watching.
—Yogi Berra

My last post about stupid drivers has me thinking about safety of late, so it seemed fortuitous that Instapundit pointed out these tips for better driving from Motor Trend.  While most of them are great for controlling the vehicle smoothly, I think that perhaps the most important lesson is about simply looking ahead:

3. Look ahead. Nope, not at the car in front of you. No, not at the car in front of him, either. I want you looking as far down the road as you can. On a mountain road, you’re not looking at the corner you’re in, you’re looking for the next one. On the highway, your eyes are scanning the horizon, often a half-mile or more down the road. On the track, you’re always looking where you want to go.

This one thing, if practiced on a regular basis, can save you from a multitude of troubles.  And it’s taught, albeit in different forms, in just about all driver safety courses.  When I took the MSF couse, it was described as SIPDE (Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute) and they had you scanning 4 seconds ahead for immediate dangers, as well as 12 seconds ahead for potential dangers.  When I took CEVO II, it was encapsulated in the concept of the “cushion of safety.”  Another good approach, as taken in Drive to Survive, is to equate it to Jeff Cooper’s states of situational awareness, with Condition Yellow being the optimal normal driving condition. 

If you’re not going to be operating a motorcycle (MSF) or an emergency vehicle (CEVO), then I recommend Drive to Survive, with the warning that you should probably ignore the sections on bootlegger turns and the like (unless you’re driving a limo for a diplomat or executive in a high-risk situation).  But his advice on steering wheel grip/hand placement (I grimace when I see some of you out there with your hands turned upside down and across the wheel while making a turn), awareness, and mirror adjustment have made me a much safer driver than I was before I was “reformed.”  I can say that simple situational awareness (driving in Condition Yellow) has saved me from several incidents that I would have just blundered into if I had been unaware.  And I’m fairly certain that if I’d been practicing them much earlier I would have avoided the two collisions that I have been involved with.  In both instances it involved another driver who failed to obey a traffic control device (one ran a stop sign, another a red light).  While I was not technically at fault in either instance, I now know that they could have been avoided if I’d been paying better attention.  And I’d certainly rather have avoided them, rather than to just be able to say after the fact that I wasn’t at fault.  Anyhow, the last one was in 1995, so perhaps the techniques have been helpful in the interim.

I’m not perfect, and it requires constant attention to follow these techniques, but I certainly try.  And even if you follow these techniques to the letter, there’s no guarantee that you won’t be involved in a collision.  Hell, no amount of observation is going to help you if a cow falls out of the sky onto your vehicle.  Still, though, I think we’d be a lot better off if people would just simply look where they’re going, and not just at the taillights of the car in front of them.  I suspect, though, that the people who really need these lessons aren’t interested in hearing them yet.  Unfortunately, it usually takes a serious incident to get their attention.