5MileWiFi, first impressions & a conundrum
So I’ve been testing two marine WiFi systems. First up is newcomer 5MileWiFi, pictured above…
Category: Communications
CellRanger Stix, bummer but…
I can tell you with some certainty that an RSSI value of -106 usually shows as one tiny bar on my Verizon Centro phone and usually means that it can ring when called but is darn flaky in terms of actual verbal communication. What I can’t tell you is whether the Cell Ranger Stix amplifier I’m testing was on or off when I took this photo…because it seemed to have no effect on the signal whatsoever!
KVH mini-VSAT easy, but what about DHCP?
Big yacht IT is challenging, and thus I nearly had to tickle local marine networking ace Nik DeMaria (Blue Maple Systems) to capture his naturally grinning good nature, above and bigger here…
Gizmo PAN, adventures in Bluetooth #1
Good times: I spent most of yesterday testing electronics on Gizmo and visiting around Camden Harbor. One system I was mostly pleased with is this little wireless communications and navigation PAN (Personal Area Network), if I...
Cell Ranger Stix, worth a try?
Thanks to John Forder for pointing out the intriquing Cell Ranger Stix wireless cell phone booster. It claims to use a microprocessor to analyze a cell signal coming in through its little antenna and then add 50 dB of gain (2–3 bars!) as it retransmits the signal in a six foot radius around that 12v lighter-plug-like casing, all for…
Bird report, Fleet Broadband & mini-VSAT
When I was researching a PMY article about VSAT and Fleet Broadband sat comms, I asked a fairly reliable source what would happen if Inmarsat lost one of its new I-4 satellites. He rolled his eyes and said, “they’d be dead.”
Icom AIS Mod, bad idea?
It’s wonderful that the marine electronics world is still small enough that a tiny company with a good idea can get somewhere. But I’m not sure that having your Icom M504 VHF modified by Marine Werke so it can output AIS audio signals is a good idea…
Callpod Dragon V2, boss boat Bluetooth?
This looks like good news indeed. That little 1.25” diameter Callpod Dragon V2 Bluetooth headset can not only do the expected with your cell phone but also communicate directly with another Dragon V2 headset up to 100 meters away. So, at least theoretically, you and your mate could be…
iNavX, raster navigation on iPhones
On Saturday the Apple iPhone app store started offering iNavX Marine Navigation and it’s already generated eight mostly positive reviews there. The $50 program is the work of Rich Ray, who also developed GPSNavX and MacENC, and it looks similarly well done…
Golden Shellback, waterproof your gadgets?
That’s a Blackberry getting dunked in pan of water, which it apparently survives just fine, thanks to a new “vacuum deposited” polymer coating process called Golden Shellback. You can see the CNET video “Waterproof your gadgets” below, Gizmodo filmed a cell taking a call while in a glass of ice water, and Tekzilla had some fun with an iPhone. But I’m a little confused…
