Posts by alwallgbr

RIP Sir Clive Sinclair: British home computer trailblazer dies aged 81

Made work fun

RIP Clive.

I worked for Sir Clive for 2 years in the 1970's at St Ives, Cambs.

Two amazing hard working, fun packed years servicing audio products and demonstrating at Hi-Fi exhibitions.

I enjoyed the work and the buzz of the company so much, no other employer came close in my entire working life.

'Mindset reset' contributes to £1bn extra costs and another delay – 2 years this time – for Emergency Services Network

Is "back to back" viable?

At 3.4 Ghz without using a local EE network, just what range will a couple of these handsets have when used back to back?

Firefighters to UK Home Office: Yeah, maybe don't turn off emergency comms network before replacement is ready

Re: Remembering Grenfell (and others)

Fireground radios didnt perform well according to reports. However if you look at the allocation plan the problems are self evident.

There is extensive documentation on the enquiry website

Openreach tells El Reg it'll kill off copper sales in 118 UK locations next year

Re: The reality of FTTP

Unfortunately the FVA product can no longer be ordered ☹

So we are stuck with having to use a UPS to power both the Smart Hub and the ONT

Re: The reality of FTTP

There is no copper involved in the latest BT FTTP offering, just optical fibre.

If you require a phone service you will now get "Digital Voice" and either use BT supplied wifi phones that connect to the Smart Hub or use the port on the rear of the hub for a DECT or conventional (DTMF) phone. BT warn that this service will not work during a power cut

Banhammer Republic: Trump declares national emergency, starts ball rolling to boot Huawei out of ALL US networks

Re: National Emergency

Ooooooooo Matron

Home Office cops an earful for emergency network feck-ups - £3bn overbudget and 3 years late

Re: Shambolic

@YAAC

I assume you are joking!

U/G HV cable faults injuring personnel

Fuel spills from tankers in RTCs and where power is cut for safety

Rural RTCs involving OH electricity cables.

Just 3 examples

Shambolic

PTT doesn't work.

"Back to back" operation doesn't work.

Lacks resilience.

Complete clusterfcuk.

UK's national Airwave terminal procurement framework awarded to Motorola and Sepura

Greedy Government

It uses frequencies that the UK Govt would like to sell to the highest bidder :(

The lack of data bandwidth could be overcome by using 4G solely for data, as is the case currently.

UK comms watchdog Ofcom pokes probe into Vodafone and EE over network coverage numbers

Another nail in ESN's coffin

That'll be the same EE that was intended to provide the infrastructure for the increasingly delayed replacement for Airwave for the Emergency Services.

Excellent coverage is crucial

Ex-UK comms minister's constituents plagued by wonky broadband over ... wireless radio link?

Re: For His Masters Voice Transport Missions with Tramp Steamers/Sleek Tenders

Eh?

I predict a riot: Amazon UK chief foresees 'civil unrest' for no-deal Brexit

With Y2K *PPPPPP

Hardly hysteria.

Try reading the EU's published preparedness notices covering every aspect of what will happen in March 2019. https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/brexit-preparedness/preparedness-notices_en

Then see if you can find what the UK will do to mitigate these major changes ...... zilch!

*Prior Preparation Prevented Piss Poor Performance

UK Home Office sheds 70 staff on delayed 4G upgrade to Emergency Services Network

Re: Airwave

Makes me wistful for the Home Office Directorate of Telecommunications. They pushed manufacturers on specifications but also based them on realism!

Mobile to Mobile range

When the local 4G stops working in a remote area, what is the range of these 4G handsets back to back?

Would this explain why Ofcom have retained substantial frequency allocations between 410 and 470Mhz for Emergency Service use?

UHF handhelds anyone?

An expensive SIM swap !

So if the Ambo Service can "put in an ESN SIM card and have far better data quality" with an existing MDT why is so much money being spent on a SIM swap? :)

Britain mulls 'complete shutdown' of 4G net for emergency services

Re: Airwave - pah!

I used to install and commission fireground talkthrough base station radios in underground road tunnels.

Had no idea that they were still in use.

Re: Still waiting

"speaking a description now seems antiquated"

Not when you are in pursuit either on foot or in a police vehicle. Voice is essential, there's no time to look at a screen, and it would be unsafe for a (usually) single crewed response driver.

Re: How much?

Unfortunately Pye, and it's more recent incarnation as Philips Radio Systems, are no more.

Also long gone is the procurement that was driven by well qualified and experienced radio engineers in the HO.

There are many stories about Airwave usage being charged per minute to Police Forces with huge airtime bills having to be paid in the past. Police officers have told me how they were encouraged to use PTT as little as possible on their Airwave terminals to save the Force money!

Commercialism gone too far

ESN: A huge leap into mediocrity

I could never understand why the Airwave system couldn't be re-engineered to increase its data capabilities, even if that function added 4G data to new terminals/handsets, with existing functions retained on existing frequencies

Small UK firms laying fibre put BT's Openreach to shame – report

Re: Virgin

Correct. They use a fibre to coax converter at the premises so that their existing kit can be used rather than an optical modem

Openreach hiring thousands more engineers

Who uses a landline in this day and age?

People who can't stand the inferior quality of many mobile to mobile calls

Putting the urgency in emergency: UK's delayed emergency services network review... delayed

New last minute technology to extend Airwave's life

To keep Airwave going the Select Cttee was told that Vodafone is replacing TDM with an IP based solution. This stopgap solution is itself still being tested

We have standards, says 3GPP as group starts to lay groundwork for 5G

Almost infrared

Yeah..... but what's the point? The frequencies used will need infrastructure every 50 m

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, 4G: Tube comms trials for emergency crews

"We don't have any concerns about the technology working"

Anybody who has implemented underground systems for emergency comms might disagree!