On the Web : July 2008

If you enjoy reading 'On the Web', your ham radio club can publish this column on an exchange basis with SJRA. Contact Ted, , for the exchange details.

Our contributions to the South Jersey Radio Association club bulletin "Harmonics" includes lengthy Web addresses. As the URL's can be difficult or a nuisance to type into your Web browser, the postings here should make it easier to get to the Web sites SJRA members are interested in. Look for the posting at w2xq.com at the time "Harmonics" is scheduled for delivery in the south Jersey area. Questions, suggestions or contributions are always welcome.

Weather

We are in the midst of the 2008 tornado season and near the beginning of the hurricane season. Severe weather has been playing havoc in the mid-West. On June 11 a tornado wiped out a Boy Scouts camp in western Iowa. Dikes have burst on the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. A number of Web addresses have appeared on the cable news network channels as credits for images and information. I did some exploring and found some interesting pages.

Severe Studios — severestudios.com — has a lot of interesting information on severe storms in general, and additionally features streaming live video of tornado chasers on the move throughout tornado alley. There is a live IRC (Internet Relay Chat) room for up to the minute information plus questions-and-answers. It was this chatroom that tipped me off to live streaming video, taken from a television station's news helicoptor, of tornados in central Oklahoma; that video only made it onto CNN some 30 hours later. Another interesting tornado-focused site is The Storm Report — thestormreport.com — that offers daily podcasts (updated at 7 a.m.) and video.

Tropical storms, hurricanes and cyclones are popping up elsewhere in the world, and I found a severe storms site operated by the World Meteorological Organization (wmo.int), the UN's authoritative voice with 188 member states and territories participating in distribution of weather information. The Severe Weather Information Centre — severe.worldweather.wmo.int — has a clickable world map with the storms and tropical depressions' current locations. Click on a marker and a popup window offers a half-dozen links to the reporting weather organizations in the area. Neat stuff.

All of these links are included in our weather links at mypages.verizon.net/trscons/bm_weather.html. This is a move from the links formally on trsc.com.

Backup to GPS?

Since the launch of the first Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite in 1978 as a Department of Defense strategy, the GPS technology has expanded into all aspects of our lives. The GPS is not merely a navigation tool mounted in the car or boat, but it is the core of the next-generation air traffic control system, key to the cell phone's precise timing — there are an estimated 250 million cellphones globally, 100 million in the USA — and used in automated farming. An article in the July 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics (page 20) prompted me to do some additional research on the 'net. I found some interesting writings.

China poses a threat to the orbiting birds, acquiring jammers from the Ukraine in 1990. Using your favorite search engine, search for "GPS jammers"; Google returned about 139,000 results! That is one reason why, in January 2008, the federal departments of Homeland Security and Transporation asked for comments on using Loran (Long Range Navigation) and enhanced Loran (e-Loran) systems as a backup tool. Further, solar flares can knock out signals according to a NOAA report released in April 2008. For details, read the articles at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1007/102907wb.htm and techinsider.nextgov.com/2007/05/china_poses_threat_to_gps_back.php.

Crossrate Technology now offers an integrated GPS/Loran receiver, and discussed jamming risks at crossrate.com/news.html. If you are interested in keeping up with all aspects of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Compass/ Beidou, and related technologies, read the online edition of the trade magazine "Inside GNSS" at insidegnss.com.

If you are interested in buying a GPS for your boat or car, perhaps some of the links at mysite.verizon.net/trscons/bm_gps.html may be helpful. I found these resources when looking to upgrade the Garmin purchased in 2000.

Quickies

While researching GPS information, I discovered some radar detectors now incorporate GPS functionality to track locations that give false alerts. These may include traffic signaling, cameras, building alarms and more. If you are purchasing a radar detector for your car, perhaps these links may be of interest: mysite.verizon.net/trscons/bm_radar.html.

Do you like to spend time in the federal wildlife refuges? (I like to take bird photographs at Forsythe NWR, Oceanville, north of Atlantic City.) Now Google Earth includes the boundaries of the refuges. Read the details at www.fws.gov/refuges/generalinterest/googleEarth.html. Note the capital letter in the URL or, as always, use the live links on the Web version of these columns at w2xq.com. If you are interested in birding, see the links at mysite.verizon.net/trscons/bm_birding.html. This page also includes links to the wildlife refuges.

Iran is now streaming live video, in English, on its "PRESS TV" Web site at presstv.ir. The format is Window Media Player, and streams at a nominal rate of 300 Kbps (easy for any 'net connection other than dialup). Obviously this site is designed to counter the West's stance against Iran, but nevertheless I find it interesting as an insight to a world hotspot.

On July 6 the BBC aired a program about the 9/11/2001 collapse of the third tower at the World Trade Center. This was Building 7, the last to fall even though it was not hit by a plane. Conspiracy theorists insist the building was deliberately brought down by demolition. There are a series of short videos linked to bbc.co.uk/conspiracyfiles, and the program is quite interesting. Have a look.

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Revised 6 July 2008

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