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New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/definition-of-walkie-talkie-frequency/

Definition of walkie-talkie frequency?

Hi Pat (Patrick? Patricia? The Puppet Formerly Known as ‘Postman’? – Just kidding!),

Happy New Year!

Now, to answer your question, two-way radios use a range of what are called ‘frequency bands’ – these are areas of the electromagnetic spectrum (a fancy name for the total range of electromagnetic radiation) that are used for audio communication.

Most radios will operate on either VHF (Very High Frequency – any frequency range between 30MHz and 300MHz) or UHF (Ultra High Frequency – any radio frequency range between 300MHz and 3GHz) modes, but the two types of radio are incompatible with each other, so a careful choice is required on the part of the user.

Generally speaking, UHF radios are better suited to urban or indoor environments, whilst VHF has a slight advantage if you’re using your radio outside. For more on the VHF vs. UHF debate, check out Wendy from Stoke-On-Trent’s question, posted in December.

Anyway, the lowest frequency is the VHF Lowband frequency (25Mhz – 50MHz), whilst the VHF Highband frequency is anything between 126MHz – 174MHz. The general UHF Band is anything between 403MHz and 512MHz.

Of course, the right frequency for you depends greatly on your needs. Is your radio system used professionally or as a hobby? Is security an issue or not really? That sort of thing.

Remember also that it is illegal to use certain frequencies, as they are used by the Emergency Services. Two-way radio use is actually quite tightly monitored/restricted, largely for public safety purposes.

According to a Motorola online course “Because frequency spectrum is an infinite resource, and the number of users in many areas is high, many radio channels are becoming crowded. Channel loading is a term used to describe the number of users assigned to the same frequency. Channel loading is so heavy in some areas that additional users are no longer allowed on particular channels, or frequencies. The use of channels is authorized and licensed by government agencies in most countries”.

The course goes on to say that,

“In all cases, a license to operate radio equipment is required and must be applied for with the appropriate governing body. The license is granted to operate on a particular frequency, or set of frequencies, with specific eligibility rules that must be met”.

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Photos from the Web 02

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/inform-entertain-and-educate-two-way-radios-in-broadcasting/

Inform, Entertain and Educate, Two-Way Radios in Broadcasting

The disparity between how easy it is to watch a television program and how difficult it is to make one is truly staggering.

Outdoor shoots are often rushed, always difficult and dependent on a number of factors completely outside of any Human control (principally: the weather). Managing a live broadcast outdoors is a difficult job that only highly trained professionals are properly equipped to deal with.

Mistakes can cost huge sums of money and even jobs to be lost in an instant. As a result, it is of absolutely paramount importance that an outdoor shoot runs as smoothly as possible. It is not possible to control all the variables in this equation, therefore the factors that are controllable need to be handled with a great deal of care and attention.

Before we even get to the problems presented by demanding talent, caffeine-addled directors, technical hiccups (and anything else you’ve heard discussed in exasperating terms on a variety of DVD commentaries), producers need to consider the health and safety of all participants. Keeping so many varied lines of communication open requires a technology that is proven, reliable, affordable and easy to use. As a result, two-way radios are a mainstay of the broadcast industries.

Two-way radios help to keep a shoot or set running smoothly and efficiently, whilst at the same time ensuring that the production team, guests and everybody else involved are safe and secure. Without an instant method of communication, a large amount of today’s TV programming would simply cease to exist (of course, some may say that isn’t too bad a thing!).

Live broadcasting is like catching lightening in a bottle; all conditions need to be as close to perfect as Humanly possible. Two-way radios help to make such a demanding task achievable.

For directors, producers and assistants, the ability to speak directly to the assembled professionals is completely indispensable.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/what-does-jailbreak-an-ipad-mean/

What does jailbreak an ipad mean

Introduced in 2010, Apple’s iPad has been met with generally favourable reviews and sales, becoming far and away the most popular tablet computer on the world market. Sort of a ‘halfway house’ between and iPhone and Macbook, the iPad is an impressive gadget indeed. It runs a great many programs, and comes with up to 64GB of memory, not bad for a thing not much fatter than a short novel (and not much bigger, either). In fact, it has a great many appealing features. 

But that’s not what bothers me about the iPad. Apple has been a real breakout force in recent years. The combination of space-age design, virus resistance, superior operating systems and an increasing emphasis on user-friendly, trendy peripherals aimed squarely at the consumer market (iPhone, iPod etc), have seen the one time nerd-only machines evolve into the last word in consumer gadgetry. Apple finally rose up and challenged Microsoft’s much-vaunted industry dominance. This can only be a good thing for a marketplace mainly presided upon by one company; because where there is competition, there are fairer prices and a good deal more innovation. 

So what’s my problem? When I said the iPad ran a great many programs, did I mention that they were all exclusively Apple programs? Yes, you heard right, Apple only allow Apple programs on their newest computer. OK, the iPad is not an iMac or whatever, but it does set a worrying precedent. Here is a company, an industry leader no less, selling a machine so inflexible that it is no longer up to you what programs you run? Doesn’t that sound a little less 2011 and a little more 1984?   

Now, inasmuch as there are relatively few industry giants in the field of computers and etc, there are literally hundreds of thousands of software developers out there, many are working on innovative and intriguing ideas. Often, in business, mastery of specialist software can be the make-or-break between getting a client and merely getting in line. So if everybody is using the same products, we end up with a rather dreary and uncompetitive market, as well as a veritable ton of job loss. 

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Photos from the Internet 05

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/i-want-to-buy-a-gamer-pc/

I want to buy a gamer pc

Want to buy a PC? Its a confusing world out there. Luckily we’re here to help you buy the best PC for you, within your price range. It is important to remember that no computers are standardised. Different PCs are designed for different purposes. Whatever PC you want to buy, be it a Gaming PC, a Desktop PC or anything else, you are free to browse your PC buying options here. 

So, what is the best PC for you to buy? Firstly, you may find a salesman will lead you to the most expensive  PC model available. This may not be the best PC for you, despite the assurances of the price tag. Different PC’s have different amounts of memory, processing power and specifications. 

A Gaming PC will have a large memory and processing power, it will likely also have a powerful graphics card. This is due to the stress of running PC games, but why pay for what you don’t need? As the old aphorism goes. 

A Desktop PC may be exactly what you are looking for if you need something to function as your home computer, the Desktop PC will not be great at storing lots of data, however. If you are travelling and need a portable computer, neither of these are the best PC to buy. 

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/why-do-secret-service-guys-wear-those-earpieces-with-the-coiled-wires-instead-of-something-less-conspicuous/

Why do secret service guys wear those earpieces with the coiled wires instead of something less conspicuous?

That’s actually a pretty good question. Good quality wireless earpieces are available, affordable and would be far more inconspicuous than the classic ‘wired’ models. So why don’t the secret service make their presence a little more, well, secret?

The main reason is largely psychological in nature (though there will be a technical component later on). You see, if a potential troublemaker looks into a crowd and sees nobody there that he/she identifies with as a threat, then said troublemaker will be far more likely to start making trouble. However, if they notice secret service guys using their trademark earpieces, then they might think twice about it and a lot of unpleasantness can actually be avoided.

To you or I (assuming that you aren’t a troublemaker?), the secret service guys are just that, they usually appear to protect someone or something, so we ought to have no reason to fear them. Ergo, they stand out just enough to deter the would-be troublemakers, but not so much that they frighten the rest of us or distract from whatever proceedings we happen to be, um, proceeding with.

If you’re sitting there saying, “hang on, what happens if they want to sneak up on someone?” then my answer is still the same, expect that I would imagine that the secret service would put two or three agents within visual distance of a suspect and then ‘herd’ the troublemaker towards other agents in the vicinity. I have no evidence (or experience, I’m grateful to say), to back that up, but it seems reasonable to me to do it that way.

Now, onto the technical part: wireless communication, whilst it has improved greatly in the last few years, is still not as reliable as the more old fashioned forms of ‘wired’ communication. Wireless communication can be subject to signal interference, as well as suffering from a more limited bandwidth.

Finally, wireless communications gobble up battery power far more than their wired counterparts, so for tasks that may last for several long hours at a time, long battery life is a must.

When the wireless technology improves, I suspect that the secret service will make the leap, but I also suspect that they’ll keep the coil, for the reasons stated above.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/bose-knows-sound-the-bose-tv-sound-system/

Bose Knows Sound, The Bose TV Sound System

When I was young and inexperienced about the ways of the world, my Mum used to buy me those electric toothbrushes that you see on TV.

  Those things don’t actually have a very long shelf life, but they do work a treat (it was 27 years before I needed my first filling). Therefore, whenever an old one bit the dust, my Mum would somehow stump up the money and replace it. Good as gold.

  One of the many disillusions I’ve endured since leaving home about six years ago, (first for Uni and then for the big, scary real world) is that you have to pay for your own stuff. Like, all the time. For example, the other day our washing machine broke and it cost the best part of £40 to repair it (amazingly, all that palaver was just because the button had come off of my girlfriend’s trousers and gotten caught somewhere in the mechanism). The week after that, our food bill spiralled upwards to almost twice its previous amount with no warning from our local recession-maligned supermarket. As a matter of necessity, my much-loved electric toothbrush was forced out of my life.

  So, last week, with a little more money in my pocket than usual, I ‘treated’ myself to a new toothbrush and, wouldn’t you know it? The damn thing died on me this morning. For **** sake!

  What does this have to do with the Bose TV sound system? Not a lot, but I was pissed about it and I wanted to vent.

  Actually, the two products do have quite a lot in common (in a good way). Like my preferred brand of toothbrush, the Bose TV speaker doesn’t come cheap, however, it is also arguably the best product of its kind and, like the toothbrush; no home should be without one.

  Your average flat panel TV screen doesn’t have wonderful speakers to match its exceptional picture; you’ve probably noticed. The size and shape of those speakers are all wrong for anything but the most basic aural experience. Today’s average flatscreen TV viewer hooks an external sound system up to the TV as a matter of course.

  What I’m saying, then: is if you’re going to buy speakers; buy Bose.

  With a flawless, easy set up and a smart, compact design, Bose’s new TV sound system provides you with a broader, more detailed sound. You can hear every bone crunching in your favourite high-octane action fest, or experience fully the subtle nuances of heartbreak in your favourite rom coms (probably).

  Using proprietary digital signal processing (look it up – I have a word limit and I wasted almost half of it talking about a toothbrush), these speakers adjust and optimise the sound at almost any volume level. In practical terms, this basically means that you won’t have to turn the sound right up to hear the dramatic whispery bits, only to be deafened, in turn, by the sonic assault of the massive explosion-y bits.

  This speaker array will bring audio quality into your home that is damn close to cinema level and perfectly compliments a Blu Ray/Plasma screen setup, in fact, I’ll go one better: it completes it.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/this-lg-42-led-television-is-one-for-our-living-room/

This LG 42 " LED Television is one for our living room

If you think long and hard about it, you’ve most likely owned a bit of LG electronic equipment one day in your life. The corporation has been supplying quality products since 1947, beginning with chemicals and plastics and going from there. LG in reality make quite a lot of things, however the South Korean organization is probably best recognized because of its electronics products.

  This years LG 42-Inch LED TV is to become one of the most noticeable of that aforementioned LG products in the coming months. New for this year, this innovative all-singing, all-dancing smart Television is, to put it mildly, absolutely gob-smacking.

  With a MASSIVE 42-Inch Full HD 1080P widescreen (that also allows for Cinema 3D), you know which you’ll be looking at one of the clearest, most dazzlingly stunning displays on the web today.

  In addition to that, this TV has, well, all of the add-ons. Downloadable apps, built-in Freeview and an all-inclusive WiFi only add to the fun. So if you hook this bad boy up to your Bluray player plus your surround sound speaker system, you’ll be considering a cinema quality experience in the comfort of your own house.

  Actually, with a TV this good, you may well be getting at an experience so immersive that it actually bests the cinema for ambience. As for games? Forget about it (and I mean that in the good way), your games won’t ever have seemed so cool. The sounds and images will never have been sharper or better defined.

  As for the Web, you should be able to make use of the WiFi connection that is at the least as decent as your android tablet/Smartphone, if not even better. Brilliant apps like ‘LoveFilm’ ‘Facebook’ and ‘Youtube’ will bring the best of the Internet out of titchy gadgets or remote desktop computers and into the front room for all to share and enjoy.

  What we are looking at now, without overstatement, is one of those best TVs in the earth today. Crisp picture, wonderful sound output and more choices than it is possible to shake a TV Guide at. You really cannot go wrong.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/lateral-communication-meaning/

Lateral Communication meaning?

Asked by Sarah-Jane from Manchester

The term ‘lateral communication’ can actually mean (at least) two different things.

In the natural world, lateral communication occurs whenever a group of animals appear to exhibit a collective intelligence. For example, when a flock of birds turns at the exact same time, remaining in perfect formation, this is lateral communication. Other examples include shoals of fish acting in perfect synch, or the movements of ant colonies.

In the business world, however, the term ‘lateral communication’ denotes something else entirely. In modern business, lateral communication is all to do with hierarchy. An example of lateral communication occurs when two workers on the same level discuss ideas (e.g. a manager talking to a manager). Its opposite term, ‘diagonal communication’, occurs when communication is initiated between different levels of hierarchy (e.g. talking to your boss’ boss, or your boss talking to you).

From Wikipedia:

“The term lateral communication can be used interchangeably as horizontal communication. In his text entitled “Organizational Communication,” Michael J. Papa defines horizontal communication as “the flow of messages across functional areas at a given level of an organization” (Papa and Daniels 55). With this system people at the same level are permitted “to communicate directly without going through several levels of organization” (Papa and Daniels 55). Given this elasticity, members within an organization have an easier time with “problem solving, information sharing across different work groups, and task coordination between departments or project teams” (Papa and Daniels 56). The use of lateral or horizontal communication in the workplace “can also enhance morale and afford a means for resolving conflicts (Koehler et al., 1981) (Papa and Daniels 56).”

The pawns, on the other hand, can only converse one space at a time and only in one direction. Oh wait; I’m getting confused again!

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/earpieces-for-police-radios/

Earpieces for police radios

There are quite a few police earpieces on the market right now, Renée, so the high likelihood is that whatever you need, someone, somewhere will be selling it. If it helps, I’ll give you a bit of an overview…

If you’re in the market for an overt earpiece, or even if you fancy something a bit more discreet (like, um, a covert earpiece), you’ll certainly be able to find it on the World Wide Web. Police organizations across the world employ a wide variety of communications equipment, from ‘listen only’ devices to PTT (Push To Talk) earpieces and, as I said, a significant portion of that equipment is available for consumer purchase.

Covert earpieces can be wireless or wired and consist on an in-ear receiver and a hidden mic. The wireless models start at about £200 (240EUR), but the better models will set you back about £500 (607EUR). The more basic ‘wired’ models (the ones with the familiar coiled tube) are FAR cheaper, usually costing around £20 (24EUR).

The tube can fit into your ear canal either via a ‘mushroom tip’ (which blocks the ear canal entirely – hence the name, as there isn’t ‘mushroom in your ear’ once you wear it! Groan), or a ‘gel insert’ (I haven’t got any jokes for this one, sorry!) that is a little less invasive. The mushroom tip tends to block out ambient sounds, not unlike noise-cancelling headphones, while the gel inserts allow more background noise to bleed in. Both types work equally well and frankly it comes down to a matter of personal choice.

Finally, we come to the shapes: the two main shapes that police use are ‘G’ shape and ‘D’ shape. The G shape looks, well, a bit like a ‘G’ and slips over the top of the ear, whilst the ‘D’ shape hooks round the back of the ear and resembles, you guessed it, the letter ‘D’. Once again, this is a matter of personal preference, but according to my reading, the G is considered more comfortable by most users.

The Motorola MTH800 and Sepura SRH series are among the most widely used police radios.

I hope that little info-bomb helps you, Renée. Police communication equipment tends to be sturdy, reliable and high performance, so it is the logical choice for security or surveillance work. It can also be available at very fair prices, which means that everybody has access to decent equipment.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/buy-kinect-the-next-movement/

Buy Kinect: The Next Movement

Want to Buy kinect? You start here. This website has everything you’re looking for and much, much more.

  January, the month that begins with scraping vomit off the walls and ends with broken resolutions. I usually swear to read one classic work of literature a day whilst lifting weights every five minutes, but end up ‘just finishing off those last chocolate raisins’ (to remove any future temptation, you understand) and re-reading the latest Green Lantern trade (in order to really ‘get to grips’ with the story). Of course, there is Christmas money to consider.

  No, I’m not talking about identity theft, I am in fact referring to the only other way to get large sums of money from people you don’t actually know; Christmas money, that wonderful goldmine of wonga that you’re supposed to spend selfishly and can totally justify completely wasting on video games, comic books and all those classic works of literature you plan to read. Auntie Gladys gave you £20, which was nice of her…Now if only you knew who she was. Uncle Joseph and Auntie Beryl have given you 50 quid. You promise to say ‘thank you’ but you never get round to it, its not like Auntie Gladys has Facebook.

  So, its time to hit those January sales. You’ve scraped twelve pints of snake-eye and half a döner kebab with extra chillies off the bathroom wall and you wrap up warm in your new coat (because Uncle Bertram is a practical man who felt he should buy you something useful, even if it is about 12 sizes too sodding small!) and head out to any one of the million computer entertainment megastores currently clogging the arteries of town centres like those huge toxic puke deposits that you get for smoking cigarettes (I know, I know, this is the year you’re gonna quit blah blah blah) You clean the house and head on out in your new coat.  When you get there, you find yourself disappointed The prices aren’t actually that cheap at all!. In fact, the only games you can get in your price range are the ones you kinda want, or wouldn’t mind trying, as opposed to the one that came out last week and has now sold out entirely.

  So you wander home and find our site. Let me assure you once again that you’ve come to the right place, for the best bargains, best advice and best offers, look no further than this very site. So get ordering and put your feet up.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/games-pioneer-john-carmack-joins-virtual-reality-headset-firm/

Games pioneer John Carmack joins virtual reality headset firm

Editorial – The Band at Oculus are re-inventing the VR Headset with their crowd funded Oculus Rift headset. John Carmack of half life, call of duty and Quake fame and an authority in first person shooters, has joined the Oculus company to develop a game, presumably a 1st person shooter, for the headset. Mind how this develops because the future of games may be in this appointment.

  A firm developing a hotly-tipped virtual reality gaming headset has hired a gaming pioneer to be its chief technology officer.

John Carmack is famed for developing the first-person shooter genre, creating games such as Doom and Quake.

He will join Oculus VR to work on Oculus Rift, a goggle-like device which uses two small screens to “immerse” players into a game.

The company has not yet announced a release date for the headset.

However, developer kits have been sent out to companies keen to make use of the device within their titles.

The Oculus Rift, which has been made thanks in part to $2.4m (£1.5m) raised through crowd-funding site Kickstarter, requires the user to wear a black headset, the front of which contains two small screens, each displaying a slightly different perspective on the same scene.

The effect is one of being “in” the game – if the player moves his or her head around, the scene changes accordingly.

‘Transformative technology’

Movement is still achieved by using a traditional controller, although other designers have experimented with creating treadmill-like add-ons for the device.

Early demo models of the headset used a single screen divided to produce two 640 by 800 pixel images – one for each eye – but it is likely that the version that gets released publicly will be in high-definition.

Mr Carmack said: “Now is a special time. I believe that VR will have a huge impact in the coming years, but everyone working today is a pioneer.

“The paradigms that everyone will take for granted in the future are being figured out today. I’m extremely excited to make a mark in what I truly believe will be a transformative technology.”

Mr Carmack is best known for founding iD Software, the firm responsible for the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake and others – all of which pushed boundaries in what remains one of the most popular gaming formats.

Mr Carmack said he will continue to work with iD, but that his main focus was now on Oculus VR.

He also runs a small aerospace company, however this has been put in “hibernation mode” following various setbacks including a crashed rocket.

New Post has been published on http://schreckengost.org/xbox-one-unboxing-headset-included-with-all-versions/

Xbox One unboxing – headset included with all versions

Editors Note – in 2013 will be a huge year for the console industry. The modern generations of Xbox and Playstation, are expected to be released inside weeks of each other. Both are vying for our attention and hard-earned money, unlike the past generation, Sony with the Playstation 4 have put a less expensive deal together in contrast to the xbox one, which shocked everybody at E3 this year. But recent news announced by Microsoft proves that the xbox one includes kinect and a headset, proving that xbox ones additional cost is actually for additional extras.

  The standard and Day One editions of the Xbox One console will both include a headset, despite Microsoft suggesting that Kinect would be used instead.

As U-turns go it’s one of Microsoft’s more minor in recent months, but Xbox Live director of programming Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb has confirmed that all Xbox One consoles will be sold with a headset.

The unboxing video below is for the limited edition ‘Day One’ boxed set, although the only difference is an exclusive Achievement and a specially embossed controller.

That means the other contents of the box will also be included in the ordinary edition, namely a 4K compatible HDMI cable and the controversial Kinect sensor.

Initially Microsoft said that the Xbox One wouldn’t come with a headset, despite the console using a new audio connector port that means existing headsets need an adaptor to work.

The idea was that you were going to have to pay for that separately or just use Kinect’s microphone to speak to people. Microsoft then reversed its decision, then pretended it hadn’t reversed its decision, and has now admitted that actually, yes: it does come with a headset.