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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Globalstar Telecommunications Limited GSAT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RMiethe who wrote (5654)	7/11/1999 11:14:00 AM
From: Rocket Scientist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

RMeithe and Maurice, maybe Maurice's experience with "tree interference" was result of less than complete constellation being up. When Maurice did his tests, there were at most 24 sat's, and quite likely some were not operating...Maurice were you given any guidelines on the time/location to make test calls such that the tests would be most representative of an eventual full constellation? The tree-int issue is pretty serious, IMO, and representative of a more serious question; will the phone work indoors outside "the core of high rise buildings?"

To: RMiethe who wrote (5654)	7/12/1999 11:33:00 AM
From: Rajala	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Have you gone bonkers, RMiethe? First you say skepticism is bad, belongs to old men in the park. Hmmm… So you are prepared to believe anything you hear? Does the word "sucker" mean anything to you? Good luck with your investments. >But on the technology questions -- my answers in my post remain. I am >supremely confident in their correctness. Its always nice to meet supremely confident people. Especially ones who don't believe in being skeptic (can I have your address please, my brother-in-law has this sure bet scheme with 140% returns). However, you are plainly wrong. For example if you go under an overpass, you drop the call with a satellite phone, but most likely not with a cellular. With cellular even the tunnels are covered, at least in Europe. Previously about the only thing I have agreed with Mqurice is lam in mint sauce, and maybe a Steinlager of two, possibly, but I must say that he is much more on the ball than you, RMiethe. You make even Valueman look like a swell guy (and I usually avoid using dramatic overstatements like this). I would like to add more on the question "does it work through the window". It depends. It depends on the thickness of the glass, and whether its treated to be reflective against sunrays. Also the number of glasses is important, for example in Scandinavia triple glazing is standard and thus make more of a barrier. The most important factor though is the angle of the line-of-sight to the satellite. If you have 10 mm glass and the angle is 45 degrees the radio waves have to penetrate 14 mm of glass, if the angle is 10 degrees the thickness is 57 mm, more than two inches. And this does not take into account reflection (which tends to increase as the angle decreases). So the answer "yes" is clearly a wrong answer. But why should these bother you, RMiethe, when you give advice to poor people saving for their pensions. After all you remain supremely confident of your correctness. Tmann's post cut through the crap straight to core questions: does it perform. It was even in verse. Brilliant. Couldn't have done better myself (OK so two overstatements in one posting). - rajala

To: RMiethe who wrote (5654)	7/15/1999 1:24:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 29987

Trees in the way Mr Miethe, Sticking to the effect of foliage, I used a Globalstar handset under a little tree. I walked around the tree trunk, which was at most 10cm diameter, with the aerial within a centimetre or three of the trunk. The leaves were very thin. The signal strength was fine when not under the tree, with excellent connection. I reconnected immediately after coming out from the tree after the call was dropped. This was probably a power control problem. Maybe standing still under the tree [without wind blowing the leaves around too much] would allow a good connection. So, although the Qualcomm engineer's answer reassures you, I can assure you that you will drop calls under trees or under other rapid power control situations, even when multiple satellites are available. This is a flimsy system which will need some subscriber education on where it can be used. When it can be used will be a problem once the system starts to fill and this issue has not been resolved either [other than subscribers getting a busy signal which is an unimaginative way to handle high demand]. That was my experience and I rate my personal experiences very highly. Maybe your engineer contact could elaborate on whether this is a power control problem or a link budget problem with too much decibel drop through leaves and wood. Meanwhile, it sure is nice to see the delinking of Iridium and Globalstar [no longer do people think that one failing means the other will too]. SurferM, not to gloat at Iridium, but it is important that if it isn't going to survive, it should die sooner rather than later, before more capital is poured down the drain by people innocently buying handsets. Globalstar stands to gain the minutes Iridium might have had. I've changed my tune. I thought Iridium was of academic interest only and would go on to sell the 1bn minutes, but not be a significant competitor other than that minor effect. Which would at least have justified, more or less, the constellation. Now it looks as though Globalstar can be the seller of those minutes. 1bn minutes at 40c per minute = $400m per year extra which Globalstar wouldn't have got. That is significant dosh and worth getting rather than leaving with Iridium to sell. If the Iridium system is closed by energetic Globalstar competition, all to the good for Globalstar. That $400m will be pure profit. Per share, that's a bonus $2 per share profit to add to the other $16 per share [give or take a bit]. That's worth having. Then add on the ICO profit from 15m minutes and we are talking serious money and much earlier than the G* business plan hopes for. Not long to go now [three months doesn't last long these days]. Maurice