On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:03:57 +1300, Ken Taylor wrote:

Well, he's not a troll in that he's making it up as he goes - it appears he
really is hoping to do for his company what he says (source: Google).

I have a clear history for anyone to Google.

However it's a job which really equates to:
Government fleeces tax-payers
Bureaucrat gets hold of budget allocation
Bureaucrat needs to succeed - ie. unload allocation
Ari and co. want to be under the hopper when the jackpot payout commences

Not too much wrong with that synopsis, Ken.

A valid way of doing business, but still a crock.

Ken

Indeed it is both. Considering we gave away a central DB technology to
DHS-NOLA, then they failed to use it, we are hoping to make money this time
around *and* that they will get their acts together.
--
Drop the alphabet for email

On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 09:51:46 GMT, wrote:

Tracks across Lake Ponchartrain fell in.

Granted they were put back in service faster than anything the
government had connection to.

Why a loco anyway? It would appear to be the mistaken assumption that
anything that big must have power to burn on anything plugged in by a user.
Not the case - the power from a loco is, not surprisingly, applied to the
tracks.

Actually, it's not.

What made you bring up tracks anyway -- my reference to the
tracks on the lake falling in? My point was that the locomotive is
going nowhere there aren't usable tracks.

On a diesel-electric locomotive, the generator's output is
applied, not to the tracks as you seem to think, but rather through
control circuitry to the stator around the axle. It's rather amusing
to see a repair yard worker with a set of wheels-and-axle (they're all
one single piece, in case you didn't know) clamp a stator around the
axle, connect a battery with a pair of short jumper cables and walk
the whole arrangement across a concrete floor as though he were
walking the family dog.

BTW, at 4,000+ horsepower, you could plug in nearly anything a
user might want, given proper appliances and the right plug. :-)

This is what we have been led to believe and the schematics are on their
way in. Jeez, if we can't find wattage on these beasts.........
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On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:26:05 +1000, John Doe wrote:

But Wait,
There's more!
Emergency Messaging, over broadcasting on
AM/FM/SCA/IBOC/Satellite/TV/HDTV/Mobile Phone/

Actually, this has been accomplished.
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On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 21:44:09 -0400, Fred W4JLE wrote:

That would be much easier, simply sweep a modulated oscillator across the
band. With a couple of adjustments it would be easy to emulate a train
whistle, a somewhat universal warning.

That's a better idea than a tone and what has been proposed is a tone and
an electronic pre-recorded message.

Thanks.
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On 4 Oct 2005 14:12:19 GMT, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 17:19:42 -0400, Ari Silversteinn wrote:
DHS has proposed a change in scenario. They want an on locomotive alerting
system that could be commandeered and driven at, near or about a disaster
site. Everything else stays more or less the same, overbroadcasting on
local AM/FM, power off the locomotive, selective or full frequency
broadcasting, train (s) to be in motion at all times. 20-30 second messages
that would also combine a message to be aware that a locomotive (at speed)
will be flying by the at grade crossings.

Comments?

And what are these messages suppose to convey?

Primarily two things, alerting pre-evac and at grade crossing alerts that a
high speed locomotive is approaching.


We all (outside the screwed zone) saw the blizzard of useless
"messages" the government(s) issued during and after Katrina.

And a blizzard of useful ones as well.

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On Wed, 5 Oct 2005 00:51:49 +1000, John Doe wrote:

Durrrrrr,
Can anyone spell EAS
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/eas/

The EAS is designed to provide the President with a means to address the
American people in the event of a national emergency.
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On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 14:33:52 GMT, Wayne P. Muckleroy wrote:

Like I said in another thread, "Emergency" implies IMMEDIATE (not planned)
danger to life, limb, or property. It seems that, in your proposal, you are
PLANNING to use these frequencies instead of more appropriate ones. I would
think that you need to create (and supply) a system that is isolated from
broadcast frequencies.

Wayne-
(KC8UIO)

It's not my call, Wayne, it's the client driving the systems.
--
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"Ari Silversteinn" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 14:33:52 GMT, Wayne P. Muckleroy wrote:

Like I said in another thread, "Emergency" implies IMMEDIATE (not
planned)
danger to life, limb, or property. It seems that, in your proposal, you
are
PLANNING to use these frequencies instead of more appropriate ones. I
would
think that you need to create (and supply) a system that is isolated from
broadcast frequencies.

Wayne-
(KC8UIO)

It's not my call, Wayne, it's the client driving the systems.
--
But you've already changed it! Initially you said it was to be used at an
emergency site, and now you're saying it's to warn of a high-speed train
cometh. What the hell gives?

Ken

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 12:29:52 +1300, "Ken Taylor"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 17:19:42 -0400, Ari Silversteinn
wrote:

DHS has proposed a change in scenario. They want an on locomotive
alerting
system that could be commandeered and driven at, near or about a
disaster
site. Everything else stays more or less the same, overbroadcasting on
local AM/FM, power off the locomotive, selective or full frequency
broadcasting, train (s) to be in motion at all times. 20-30 second
messages
that would also combine a message to be aware that a locomotive (at
speed)
will be flying by the at grade crossings.

Comments?

Tracks across Lake Ponchartrain fell in.

Granted they were put back in service faster than anything the
government had connection to.

Why a loco anyway? It would appear to be the mistaken assumption that
anything that big must have power to burn on anything plugged in by a
user.
Not the case - the power from a loco is, not surprisingly, applied to the
tracks.

Actually, it's not.

What made you bring up tracks anyway -- my reference to the
tracks on the lake falling in? My point was that the locomotive is
going nowhere there aren't usable tracks.

On a diesel-electric locomotive, the generator's output is
applied, not to the tracks as you seem to think, but rather through
control circuitry to the stator around the axle. It's rather amusing
to see a repair yard worker with a set of wheels-and-axle (they're all
one single piece, in case you didn't know) clamp a stator around the
axle, connect a battery with a pair of short jumper cables and walk
the whole arrangement across a concrete floor as though he were
walking the family dog.

BTW, at 4,000+ horsepower, you could plug in nearly anything a
user might want, given proper appliances and the right plug. :-)



The electric generators used for powering gear other than the
train's vitals are not high power.

Ken

4,000hp is a lot but not enough to swamp all the broadcast radios, which is
what the OP wants.

Incidentally my reference to tracks was just that the loco is made to move,
not power a boom-box. Like your anecdote though. :-)

Cheers.

Ken

"Ari Silversteinn" wrote in message
...


"Ari Silversteinn" wrote in message
...
DHS has proposed a change in scenario. They want an on locomotive
alerting
system that could be commandeered and driven at, near or about a
disaster
site. Everything else stays more or less the same, overbroadcasting on
local AM/FM, power off the locomotive, selective or full frequency
broadcasting, train (s) to be in motion at all times. 20-30 second
messages
that would also combine a message to be aware that a locomotive (at
speed)
will be flying by the at grade crossings.

Comments?

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:15:23 +1300, Ken Taylor wrote:

Impractical, for the same reasons cited earlier. What's wrong with
electronic message boards on trailers fitted with sirens and, if deemed
necessarily, a very large guy with a gun to maintain interest.

Nothing but why not broadcast an alert that a locomotive, especially at
unmarked crossings, is approaching and too supplement other warning
systems?

You may find that sci.electronic.misc or sci.electronic.design may be
more
relevant, since it's commercial/military and not amateur. Mind you, they
may
also be less polite.....

Ken

Thanks, Ken.

Should I be scared?
--
No, but forewarned is fore armed. :-) Your spec's are a bit nebulous, to say
the least. I'm not accusing you of having no clue, but I'm damn glad DHS
doesn't use tax-payer funds from this part of the world. This is an exercise
in getting rid of funds grabbed during a crisis, when the opportunity arose
to expand the empire. Standard bureaucratic function.

Cheers.

Ken