GENERAL NOTES FOR RADIO & TV

o Last weekend's southern California storm was brutal at some sites. Here are images of the Hot Springs Mountain Lookout Tower (el. 6,500') about 20 miles east of Palomar Mountain:

o More on potential interference to GPS receivers caused by Lightsquared's digital transmitters:

GENERAL INTEREST ITEMS

o Starting May 2, AT&T will cap DSL subscribers' monthly usage (150 GB for regular DSL; 250 GB for U-verse DSL) and charge 10 bucks extra for every 50 GB beyond that:

o A Communicator reader reports that the 12 volt "Revolution 300" LED lamp pictured here is a big source of wideband noise in the FM broadcast band raising Part 15 compliance questions:

o A miniature cesium atomic clock has been developed:

WWV TIME AND FREQUENCY SURVEY

Here is a time & frequency survey from NIST, the WWV people. If you are interested in commenting on WWVB (their 60 kHz service that sets portable "atomic" clocks and wristwatches), be patient. The WWVB questions start about half way through the survey.


GENERAL NOTES FOR RADIO & TV

o Illegal GPS jammers operated by civilians may cause serious problems at times. Here is where things stand:

o On the history of the NBC chimes:

o The "Battle for the Automotive Dashboard" is raging. While radio once dominated as the exclusive media, in-dash choices now pull the listener in many other directions:

o FCC: DTV broadcasters should eventually scrap MPEG-2 in favor of MPEG-4 for better spectral efficiency. NAB: That would require swapping out every TV set in the nation. That would be a daunting challenge for both broadcasters and viewers:

o Corpse found atop WWJ-TV tower in Detroit:

HAM RADIO NOTE, SPREAD SPECTRUM RULE CHANGES

The FCC has reduced the TPO for Amateur spread spectrum emissions to 10 watts PEP (down from 100 watts at present). At the same time, the requirement for automatic power control has been eliminated. APC had been difficult to implement. The net effect should be more spread spectrum experimentation.

HIGH STANDARD OFF TOPIC MATERIAL

Radio Related:

o The Tokyo Sky Tree is the world's tallest free-standing broadcast structure at 1,971 feet:

o An amateur astronomer captures both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station in one still frame:

o A NASA scientist claims to have found evidence in a meteorite that primitive life exists elsewhere in the universe:

o Secret UK Ministry of Defense files document hundreds of UFO sightings:

o Superior firepower, when demonstrated, equals effective deterrence:

o There are many still pictures concerning the surrender of Japan in WWII. Now a video has surfaced showing the surrender. It includes the voice of General McArthur and highlights the fact that many countries were involved:

o Using night photography to catch a cat burglar:

WISE SATELLITE CONCLUDES ITS MISSION

NASA's WISE satellite, designed to map the heavens in infrared, has run out of cryogenic coolant as expected and predicted. Fortunately, the 13 month cataloging of cosmic objects has gone very well.

Infrared photos are valuable because they tend to penetrate haze, making the invisible visible. Some of the WISE images are posted here:


MORE TRANSISTORS THAN GRAINS OF WHEAT OR RICE

An article in the current American Scientist makes the following amazing assertion:

"When Bell Telephone Laboratories announced the invention of the transistor in 1948, the press release boasted that "more than a hundred of them can easily be held in the palm of the hand." Today, you can hold more than 100 billion transistors in your hand. What's more, those transistors cost less than a dollar per billion, making them the cheapest and most abundant manufactured commodity in human history. Semiconductor fabrication lines churn out far more transistors than the world's farmers grow grains of wheat or rice."

o Here is a 360-degree picture of Mt. St. Helens and vicinity. Click and move your mouse. The mountains in the background are said to be Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The incoming e-mail adds, "Rotate further you can see Mt. Hood in distance:"

o The report claiming to find remnants of alien life in meteorites has been broadly dismissed by scientists after its recent publication in an eccentric online journal:

o Fifteen years of planning and 6 1/2 years of maneuvering in space will all come down to one moment late today as mission managers try to slip NASA's Messenger spacecraft into orbit around Mercury, the first spacecraft to do so:

OFF TOPIC ON THE MUCH LIGHTER SIDE

o Human Planet, the video:

o The Dubai Fountain with soloists Andre Bocelli and Sarah Brightman:

o A couple of Benny Goodman classics for your listening pleasure:
o The Photo Booth:

General Gems:

o Old time radio: WLW, "The Nation's Station," back in its 500,000 watt days:

o This four minute film of the Northern Lights ought to win an Academy Award. Best viewed in HD:

o This 2-minute video shows a drop of water falling into a puddle at 2000 frames per second with surprising results:

o Visualizing 24 hours of worldwide flights:

o Ueli Steck climbs Eiger North Face in 2 hours 47 minutes:

Japan, the tsunami, and ionizing radiation:

o Aerial photos taken over Japan reveal the scale of the tsunami's devastation. Drag your cursor over each photo to move from "before" to "after" images. Allow time to load:

o New ionizing radiation work suits are heading from America to Japan:

o Unofficial dose chart for ionizing radiation, clever graphical presentation: