Name change:AIW to AIDH

What exactly is 'the wireless community'? Give how widespread the use of wireless is, it's about as meaningful as referring to 'the air-breathing community' or 'the able to dress self in morning community'.

alexd wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ale.cx:

wireless

meaningful

"wireless community" -meant to mean the community that inhabits AIW. Liebermann was one of the few contributors to this group but he was too worried about being labeled hacker friendly (might lose his commissions?). (this is not a multipost)

Ah, my favorite topic... me.

That's fairly close. I was worried about posting internal info derived from work done by my former clients. However, that's no longer a problem, as I haven't done much consulting for many years. I don't think they would take too kindly to me providing exploits and vulnerability details for their products.

The lack of traffic in this newsgroup can mean many things:

- All the important questions have been answered.

- The GUM (great unwashed masses) learned how wireless works.

- Everyone is reading the FAQ.

- Much of the products offered actually work.

- Other forums or newsgroups have taken over answering questions.

- Manufacturers tech support has finally become functional.

- Those with a clue didn't derive sufficient revenue or entertainment value from the newsgroup.

- Wireless is no longer fun.

- NBC (NoBody Cares).

I suspect the last as the most likely. At this time, I'm keeping myself entertained posting comments on HD Radio, a topic on which I know nothing. Also in other newsgroups, with topics on which I know even less. As always, you have only to ask an intelligent question, and I will do the absolute minimum to provide a suitable answer. However, a thread, started by an obvious troll, is really scraping bottom.

Seems to me people should be playing with 5.8G, designing dual band directional arrays, etc. There is plenty of hacking to be done.

The real action is on the unlicensed 24GHz and 60GHz bands.

24GHz for point to point backhaul. 60GHz is for wireless video. Visualize a laptop with a removable display that can act as a tablet. The video between the laptop (keyboard) section and the display will go via 60GHz. Unfortunately, there are competing technologies, which are likely to cause compatibility issues:

Google for "wireless HDMI" for products you can actually buy.

Now, if I could only afford test equipment that goes up to 60GHz.

Not saying a word

So you're not reading rec.humor.funny.reruns any more? Last Sunday, they reposted "Computer Nightmares" from July 1994 again. If you're not subscribed, look back about 8 article numbers from "now".

] Support, Santa Cruz Style or Where Do These People Come From?

Funny thing is, none of those items look "unusual"

[list of probable reasons]

- My ISP dropped Usenet from their included services.

"Pay Radio" - what a concept.

Old guy

Yep, that was one of mine. I didn't submit it to Brad Templeton, who was running the newsgroup at the time. One of my friends had to do it for me. However, that's not my best. I like this one:

even though I did make some mistakes.

They weren't really unusual. Most were quite common and easily survivable. However, it did give a fair indication of trouble to come, as the GUM (great unwashed masses) discover computers. I originally wrote that for a local newspaper columnist, who needed some filler for her "high tech" column.

Most ISP's have dropped Usenet. There's no revenue in Usenet (no advertising). However, there are plenty of cheap and free Usenet service providers. I'm on Supernews (Giganews) for text only groups at about $5/month.

Oh-oh. You've been reading my drivel.

HD is free, though it will eventually have commercials. Most radio stations stream their HD, so you can hear it on your computer or smart phone. Not that you want to hear it.

The real problem with HD is they stole the old broadcast guardbands. So you get QRM at times. It won't demod on FM, so you just wonder why you lost a station that used to work. The HD signal blots out your DX signal. On AM, it sounds like hiss.

Much like internet over power lines, I filed my compliant with the FCC when HD was introduced. The FCC is no longer an engineering organization. They sell spectrum and police exposed breasts.

When my ISP dropped Usenet, I got an account with Astraweb. Now, Astraweb is mostly for people who want massive and fast binary downloads, and I never use the binary groups at all. So I sent Astraweb a cheque for $25 which gave me some massive giga-amount of download which I'll never use in the text groups I frequent. That was, I dunno, 8 or maybe 9 years ago I think; that's what, less than $3/year. It'll be good until I'm too old and grey to continue. I still have enough gigas left to download the occasional spanking video, should the impulse take me. Astraweb is fast and carries everything.

I also occasionally use news.mixmin.net, which is free, carries only text groups, but has the stigma of being a bit anonymous.