Skype schematic sharing won't work

Yeah, the local cell tower camouflage is getting better. An old first attempt (which is still standing). Must have been a drought: This one should be banned for indecent RF exposure: When art and technology mix, usually technology wins.

Verizon and others have vehicles that drive around allegedly doing quality checks on their maps.

This (slow) map should help: Try "by carrier" for a small area or it will take forever.

Nokia "Shorty" or CDMA "candy bar" phone. I have one in my pile, somewhere, maybe. The 2115i was sold by Virgin and MetroPCS and has few wiz-bang features.

Try: *3001#12345# Scroll to FIELD TEST and hit [SELECT] Scroll to ENABLE and hit OK Turn the phone off and turn it back on. Instead of the barf graph, you should see numbers in dBm.

I played with one for a few minutes and immediately saw a potential problem. It apparently does anti-aliasing and removes mixer spurs from the display in software, which takes a long time. When I swing it around to see changes in RF levels for direction finding and circuit tweaking, it responds very slowly. I was impressed by the size, but I think I'll stick with my fast responding analog boat anchor for now.

I haven't seen one this ugly before.

Oh, that one is embarrassing. I am surprised that none of the graffiti kids have "obscened it up" yet.

Their map zooming is broken. It pops all over California when I try to zoom in.

I have that routine printed out somewhere, but there was none about how to get it back.

Yes, that is a downside. But I can live with the slow speed because for me size and weight is very important.

But only at home. If in the car you might be in for a surprise at the end of the job. Turn the ignition key ... click ... followed by silence :-)

In about 2003, when I doing the local cell site maps, I announced that I was going to organize a tour of the local cell sites. It was intended as a joke, since I assumed that nobody would be interested. About 20 people were interested enough to ask for schedules and fees. However, in exchanging email, I found that none were particularly technical. It took a while to determine what was happening. They were into Orgonite and cell tower "gifting" in order to magically detoxify the RF. I was expected to drive them around to the various cell sites, where they would perform the "gifting" ritual. Sigh...

It worked once for me and then hung after that. I think the server is having a bad day. Wait and try again.

To bail out, punch MENU -> Field Test -> Select. Dial 00 to disable or 01 to turn it back on. Power off and then back on, and the field test mode menu should disappear and the signal strength indicator should go back to a bar graph.

I routinely carry about 100ft of AC extension cords. My IFR-1500 and Wavetek 3000a both run on 12V, so that's easy enough. Most of what I do is on mountain tops, where there's plenty of both conventional AC power, and backup generator power. Most of the building have AC battery chargers available so that we can use the vehicle headlights for night work without running the engine. Much as I would like a more portable instrument, the convenience factor isn't sufficient justification. Well, there is one justification. Carrying the boat anchors up and down 30 or 50 stairs is getting really old.

Boy oh boy oh boy. I hope you have good medical and liability insurance. Those stairs look like a disaster waiting to happen and the electric stuff underneath doesn't look 100% code-compliant either :-)

Doesn't your ISP give you a few hours of dialup per month? My Earthlink Broadband through Brighthouse gives me 20 hours a month as part of the contract.

United Video (Cincinnati) used a custom made 'Ditch Witch' to lay underground drop cable in areas that had dirt, instead of rock. Some of our service area required CG&E to blast holes to set poles, and marked them 'R-I-P' for 'Replace In Place'. Those areas had no choice but overhead utilities, unless they hired a contractor to remove enough rock to lay conduit for each utility.

In a lot of places, each has to be separated by 3', and that would make for a very wide trench.

Sounds like he lives in 'Green Acres' and tried to use the Hooterville TV & Bait Shop.

s/Hooterville/Placerville

;-)