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?

The target audience already knows it's screwed.

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

Just what I need to hear from a locomotive blowing by at 50 mph:

"Hi! We're the government and we are here to help you."

The best that came out of post-Katrina was from self-help and
assistance from non-government organizations. And, the
government even thwarted some of that.

The inmates are running the asylum:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/02/news/storm.php

Ninety-one thousand tons of ice melting in idling 14-wheelers.

73
Jonesy
--
Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux
Pueblo, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | OS/2 __
38.24N 104.55W | config.com | DM78rf | SK

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.

--
Drop the alphabet for email

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:27:44 -0400,
Ari Silversteinn wrote:
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.



they'd be better off with bells and lights at the crossing for the
latter...


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.


wheat from chaff?


--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
"The three principal virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and
Hubris."
-- Larry Wall in den Perl5-Manpages

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:06:27 -0700, Jim Richardson wrote:

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


they'd be better off with bells and lights at the crossing for the
latter...

Many crossings have none.

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.


wheat from chaff?

Yep, that's the strategy for now.
--
Drop the alphabet for email

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 18:33:00 -0400,
Ari Silversteinn wrote:
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:06:27 -0700, Jim Richardson wrote:

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


they'd be better off with bells and lights at the crossing for the
latter...

Many crossings have none.


I was thinking of putting the bells and lights on the train...


More people have ears, than radios. Few of the ones without ears, use
radios


--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
The mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer.
--Ancient Egyptian Wisdom, 2200 B.C.

On Wed, 5 Oct 2005 02:24:25 -0700, Jim Richardson wrote:

they'd be better off with bells and lights at the crossing for the
latter...

Many crossings have none.


I was thinking of putting the bells and lights on the train...

More people have ears, than radios. Few of the ones without ears, use
radios

lol
--
Drop the alphabet for email

This is beginning to remind me of a panel I was involved with about 15
or so years ago when I was on an ad hoc White House Advisory Committee
which was discussing the broadcasting of television to Castro's Cuba.
I was a DOD tech rep and a careerist (I am now retired). We met in the
White House Situation Room, almost directly under the Oval Office.
Virtually all the other folks on this committee were lawyers and all
but me and two military (one was the Vice Chief of the Joint Staff)
were political appointees. This project went forward and is known as
TV Marti, despite warnings from the technical folks that it could be
easily jammed should the Cubans decide that they did not wish their
population to see it. (The Cuban Government did want their population
to see it and they did jam it). Although I did not have a political
role in this matter and I was not a decision maker, just an advisor,
what we had was a bunch of politicos trying to legislate the Laws of
Physics. The engineering folks put forth all the technical arguements
why this project could not meet its goals (that the Cuban average Joe
with a common TV set could see American propaganda at any time), but
to satisfy an interest group (the Miami Cuban exiles) the project was
done anyway. In my technical capacity I was asked how many weeks or
month it would take to jam this signal and I said 30 seconds. I erred,
the Cubans identified and jammed the signal in 29 seconds.

This summer, I was back in my hometown, a small town in the midwest (I
now live near Washington DC) and the ham club to which I belonged as a
kid was making improvements to their club station, located in a public
building, under the guise of Homeland Security Anti-Terrorism, and
funded in large part by that program. Now there are many reasons why
the public officials might want a back-up emergency comms systems in
this sparsely settled area, but I seriously doubt that terrorism was
one of them. More power to the club for having the initiative to try
to get these funds, but multiply this by every hamlet in the 3000+
counties in the US and you have what my history books called "pork."
This program in the hinterland is draining off funding for areas where
a terrorist incident is a very real threat, like here in Washington DC
where it did indeed happen, at a building in which I once worked for a
time.

W3JT

Jim Richardson wrote:

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

Trains are a big part of successful evacuation. When Rita approached
Texas, officials asked for more Amtrack trains and got them , though not
enough, to evacuate Galveson and surrounding areas. No reports pf
injuries to evacuees on trains, but many in autos and aboard busses died
in traffic jams on highways.
The nation needs a rail system especially in emergencies.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:36:05 -0500,
Richard Harrison wrote:
Jim Richardson wrote:

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

Trains are a big part of successful evacuation. When Rita approached
Texas, officials asked for more Amtrack trains and got them , though not
enough, to evacuate Galveson and surrounding areas. No reports pf
injuries to evacuees on trains, but many in autos and aboard busses died
in traffic jams on highways.
The nation needs a rail system especially in emergencies.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI



please have a care with your attributions, I wrote none of the bits you
quoted.

--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
To believe in gun control, one has to believe that guns are not an
effective means of self-defense, which is why police carry them.

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?

The target audience already knows it's screwed.

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

Just what I need to hear from a locomotive blowing by at 50 mph:

"Hi! We're the government and we are here to help you."

The best that came out of post-Katrina was from self-help and
assistance from non-government organizations. And, the
government even thwarted some of that.

The inmates are running the asylum:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/02/news/storm.php

Ninety-one thousand tons of ice melting in idling 14-wheelers.


The Republicans are going to take care of all those problems! Darned
Democrats anyhow!

- Mike KB3EIA -