Bote's Mixer Board serving up Fort Lauderdale area public safety shenanigans is down today and tomorrow because BellSouth DSL is a bunch of incompetent nincompoops.
Because my unreliable DSL line is so unreliable, I put in an order to move it to the other phone pair coming into my place. So they dutifully executed the disconnect order on the old circuit, but there is nothing whatsoever on the new line. No hiss, no battery, no dial tone, no nuttin.
They are rolling a truck tomorrow (Wednesday) between 8 and 4:30 so we shall see if they can get one damned pair of wires to connect between my place and their central office.
Sorry for the outage.
2009-07-22
2009-06-22
McLean Relay Station testing
I have been testing the rejuvenated McLean Relay Station for the last few days, so far so good computer-wise. The scanner simply will not provide reliable reception here, whether on the tower-mounted antenna nor with the back-of-set antenna sitting in a window. This is still a Bermuda Triangle for RF, unfortunately.
The MRS was catapulted back into the spotlight with coverage of the horrific Metro train wreck in northeast D.C. this evening. It maxed out at 10 listeners for quite some time. I only wish the radio coverage were solid, but the voice frequently breaks up. If I can stick a better 800 MHz antenna on it I will, but that is doubtful.
I put a business-grade router on it, so it should work after I turn my back on it to return home. But with computers you never know.
My thoughts go out to those affected by this train wreck.
The systems that will normally be scanned on the McLean Relay Station include Arlington County fire, MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) fire, Fairfax County fire, and Fairfax County police district 3 (McLean, natch). Special events and incidents might require me to deviate from this list, such as this evening.
Enjoy.
The MRS was catapulted back into the spotlight with coverage of the horrific Metro train wreck in northeast D.C. this evening. It maxed out at 10 listeners for quite some time. I only wish the radio coverage were solid, but the voice frequently breaks up. If I can stick a better 800 MHz antenna on it I will, but that is doubtful.
I put a business-grade router on it, so it should work after I turn my back on it to return home. But with computers you never know.
My thoughts go out to those affected by this train wreck.
The systems that will normally be scanned on the McLean Relay Station include Arlington County fire, MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) fire, Fairfax County fire, and Fairfax County police district 3 (McLean, natch). Special events and incidents might require me to deviate from this list, such as this evening.
Enjoy.
2009-06-12
FtL PD 72 hour test
Fort Lauderdale police are performing an experiment for 72 hours starting at 06:00 this morning (Friday morning). They have eliminated the district 2 central dispatcher and have split the city into two halves, north and south. The dividing line is supposed to be Sunrise Blvd.
So if you hear 100, 200, and 300 series units mixing together, that might explain why.
So if you hear 100, 200, and 300 series units mixing together, that might explain why.
2009-05-14
Bote's Mixer Board more reliable--maybe?
I can't make any promises--BUT--BellSouth.net promised me that my frequent intermittent outages will not recur.
It turns out that when I originally ordered my DSL service I asked for the top tier which, at the time, was 3 Megabits / second. I'm too far from the central office and the cable is so old and crappy that it can't handle that speed, so they backed me down to 1.5Mb service.
The trouble is that the downgraded setting just won't stick. They have a local database at my c.o. with the working profile and the master database up in Atlanta with the original unworkable profile settings. Periodically Atlanta's 800 pound gorilla of a database comes down here and stomps all over the good changes that the techs have made and I wind up back in DSL hell.
At least I know what to look for now, and so do you if you have similar symptoms: brief outages lasting just long enough to resynchronize with the DSLAM (60-90 seconds) typically during thunderstorms. It doesn't affect web pages so much, but streaming media such as your Vonage VoIP phone call or, ohhh say, Internet radio get disconnected. You can log into your DSL modem management screen to see what the downstream line speed is set to.
We shall see how long this latest repair lasts. In the meantime I can't wait for Uverse to roll into my 'hood.
UPDATE 2009.06.12
Nope, the DSL still goes out when the wind blows. I'll have to kick some BellSouth butt here.
It turns out that when I originally ordered my DSL service I asked for the top tier which, at the time, was 3 Megabits / second. I'm too far from the central office and the cable is so old and crappy that it can't handle that speed, so they backed me down to 1.5Mb service.
The trouble is that the downgraded setting just won't stick. They have a local database at my c.o. with the working profile and the master database up in Atlanta with the original unworkable profile settings. Periodically Atlanta's 800 pound gorilla of a database comes down here and stomps all over the good changes that the techs have made and I wind up back in DSL hell.
At least I know what to look for now, and so do you if you have similar symptoms: brief outages lasting just long enough to resynchronize with the DSLAM (60-90 seconds) typically during thunderstorms. It doesn't affect web pages so much, but streaming media such as your Vonage VoIP phone call or, ohhh say, Internet radio get disconnected. You can log into your DSL modem management screen to see what the downstream line speed is set to.
We shall see how long this latest repair lasts. In the meantime I can't wait for Uverse to roll into my 'hood.
UPDATE 2009.06.12
Nope, the DSL still goes out when the wind blows. I'll have to kick some BellSouth butt here.
2009-04-28
Fleet Week in Likkerdale
Fleet Week has arrived in Fort Lauderdale and so have the Navy vessels carrying their payloads of sailors drooling for shore leave.
I will determine the best talkgroups to open up to enjoy the festivities. They usually set up a cooperative "shuttle" service between the armed services and the police to get the soused mariners back to their vessels, so expect some interesting traffic from that.
I will determine the best talkgroups to open up to enjoy the festivities. They usually set up a cooperative "shuttle" service between the armed services and the police to get the soused mariners back to their vessels, so expect some interesting traffic from that.
2009-04-13
Bote's Boca Box in transition
Expect the unexpected with Bote's Boca Box.
The current home of the streaming computer might be in flux over coming weeks, so if it turns up missing then check back later--much later. It could be down for a day or down for a month, there's no telling right now.
But, if nothing happens, don't worry, be happy!
The current home of the streaming computer might be in flux over coming weeks, so if it turns up missing then check back later--much later. It could be down for a day or down for a month, there's no telling right now.
But, if nothing happens, don't worry, be happy!
2009-04-01
Spring Break mode over
It's about time to wrap up my exclusive coverage of Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale.
I have locked out FtL police district 2 once again since the bar district downtown is back to normal and the common thugs in the wild, wild west of Fort Lauderdale are more trouble to listen to than they are worth.
Also, I will be opening up Broward County fire North and South dispatch channels, allowing us to hear all the fire calls that are handled by Broward's E.C.C..
Note that there are many jurisdictions that handle their own dispatching in Broward County, such as Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Margate, Deerfield Beach, and on and on. Apparently they operate in isolation which has bitten them in the butt before. Don't get sick or injured in Broward County.
Stay tuned for another big announcement coming tomorrow.
I have locked out FtL police district 2 once again since the bar district downtown is back to normal and the common thugs in the wild, wild west of Fort Lauderdale are more trouble to listen to than they are worth.
Also, I will be opening up Broward County fire North and South dispatch channels, allowing us to hear all the fire calls that are handled by Broward's E.C.C..
Note that there are many jurisdictions that handle their own dispatching in Broward County, such as Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Margate, Deerfield Beach, and on and on. Apparently they operate in isolation which has bitten them in the butt before. Don't get sick or injured in Broward County.
Stay tuned for another big announcement coming tomorrow.
2009-03-14
Acoustic Research IR200 Feed Radio
My new Acoustic Research Infinite Radio 200 works well on my feeds. It's not perfect, but I can let it stream my scanner audio while I use my laptop or desktop for real computing without the two purposes clashing with each other.
Pros:
Cons:
RCA/Acoustic Research/Audiovox seem to be working on improving the operation of this tabletop Internet radio so I am confident that these and other complaints will be addressed.
So if you want a neat way to listen to my feeds and the thousands of other Internet radio stations, this is a pretty cool way to listen to them.
Pros:
- Stand-alone, no computer needed to listen to streams
- Saves 6 preset stations in buttons across the top
- Excellent audio quality
- Wired or WiFi connections
- Versatile: receives live streams, audio files stored on mp3tunes or USB thumb drives, music from Slacker, AM and FM radio
Cons:
- Displays channel tags as soon as the scanner sends them, but the audio is still delayed by about 2 minutes, so the tags make no sense
- Even the latest firmware is a little clunky
- Some menus are not as helpful as they might be
RCA/Acoustic Research/Audiovox seem to be working on improving the operation of this tabletop Internet radio so I am confident that these and other complaints will be addressed.
So if you want a neat way to listen to my feeds and the thousands of other Internet radio stations, this is a pretty cool way to listen to them.
2009-03-02
Mixer Board tags, talkgroups trimmed
I received my Acoustic Research Infinite Radio 200 today. Once I got it programmed, cycled the power to get it to do something useful, I found that it receives my streaming scanner feeds just fine. It has great audio, by the way.
It also shows the channel tags as the scanner receives them, rather than as they are played 60-120 seconds later out the radio's speaker. While there is nothing I can do about that, I can trim the length of the alpha tags so that they don't need scroll so much on the 18-character display screen.
Also, since this is Spring Break month here in Fort Lauderdale and the FtL cops have special details for Spring Breakers, I am locking out some of the chatty talkgroups that are not directly of interest. These include Broward Fire South and North dispatch talkgroups, which cover Davie, Hallandale, and other jurisdictions outside the area of focus for now. On the other hand, I have added Fort Lauderdale police district 2 which covers the popular downtown nightlife district along SW 2nd Street on either side of the FEC tracks. I will change things back next month after the dust settles.
It just keeps getting better and better, don't it?!
It also shows the channel tags as the scanner receives them, rather than as they are played 60-120 seconds later out the radio's speaker. While there is nothing I can do about that, I can trim the length of the alpha tags so that they don't need scroll so much on the 18-character display screen.
Also, since this is Spring Break month here in Fort Lauderdale and the FtL cops have special details for Spring Breakers, I am locking out some of the chatty talkgroups that are not directly of interest. These include Broward Fire South and North dispatch talkgroups, which cover Davie, Hallandale, and other jurisdictions outside the area of focus for now. On the other hand, I have added Fort Lauderdale police district 2 which covers the popular downtown nightlife district along SW 2nd Street on either side of the FEC tracks. I will change things back next month after the dust settles.
It just keeps getting better and better, don't it?!
2009-02-25
FtL Audio restored
Sorry about the loss of audio this past week. The culprit was your brilliant system administrator who was on travel and turned off most electronics in the radio shack, including the mixer that feeds audio to the streaming computer. Hence, no audio for one week.
It's all better now, so tune in on those Acoustic Research ARIR200 Internet Radios. They have just come back in stock at both Amazon.com and at J&R so check 'em out. I just ordered mine from Amazon.com this morning and even though I chose the free shipping it is already listed in the "shipped" category, so I might have it by this time next week!
It's all better now, so tune in on those Acoustic Research ARIR200 Internet Radios. They have just come back in stock at both Amazon.com and at J&R so check 'em out. I just ordered mine from Amazon.com this morning and even though I chose the free shipping it is already listed in the "shipped" category, so I might have it by this time next week!
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