Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Valueman who wrote (3425)	3/16/1999 9:30:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Handsets I have a bit of information on handsets: Back on the satellite placement, orbital planes, etc. There's nothing magical about 16 satellites for testing. Only 12 of them are in place right now for testing. The latest 4 spacecraft won't be ready for Qualcomm testing for another 10 days after they've had their orbits raised to 1414 km. When all 16 are ready for test [they've already heavily tested the first 8 satellites], they'll be in a configuration that will resemble a swarm rather than an even distribution. We'll have intermittent single satellite coverage over temperate latitudes, followed by a half-daily bunch of 4 satellites that will last for 30 - 45 minutes or so. There's nothing special about testing across the orbital planes; most testing is confined to multiple satellite visibilites and multiple satellite soft-handoffs. They also check out power control, beam pattern measurements, etc. There are now real Globalstar handsets. I'm told they are the Qualcomm single-mode [satellite only] phone - you've probably seen photos of it. It comes in an actual Qualcomm "off-the-shelf" display box with it's very own User's Guide, quick reference card, power adapter, battery pack, etc. The phone is very spartan in design. It's about the same size and weight as a regular, garden-variety Sony/Qualcomm cell-phone. Sure, it's slightly bigger, and a little heavier, but still pretty close. The push buttons are rudimentary. The LCD display is the standard size of about 1" x 1.5". Really not that much to look at. The redeeming factor is the antenna. When stowed, you can't see it when looking at the phone front-on. The barrel of the antenna is quite large - about the same diameter of a dime [a USA unit of currency which means I guess about 13mm]. The length of the antenna barrel and phone are about the same. The real fun starts when you "deploy" the antenna. This is done by rotating the antenna 180 degrees counter-clockwise, as viewed from the front of the phone. There is another, smaller, spring-loaded antenna inside the main antenna barrel. The action of rotating the antenna 180 degrees slowly releases the spring-loaded antenna extension, making the total length of the antenna almost twice as long as when stowed. When the antenna is turned back clockwise, the antenna extension slowly tucks itself back into the main barrel. Cool!!! It seems that this is a novel feature which people find fun. It might be a selling point. The phone itself is very simple; almost ugly in design. The User's Guide is equally rudimentary. It has "Preliminary Draft" stamped all over it, but right now it's a document that only an engineer could love. "This button does this, that button does that" is as detailed as it gets; very few pictures or diagrams. Both the guide and the handset have a long way to go before they're ready for heavy marketing and store-shelf display. So, there are actually real, live handsets being produced and they seem good enough for me to beta test, though there is still some work to do. That's what I heard anyway! Maurice PS: Vman, I haven't had a close look lately, but it does seem that sporadically I could use the Dubbo gateway. I don't think I'll buy a phone on the strength of it though. No telemetry data on the latest four satellites, but I heard they haven't crashed yet. They are replaying the video to see if it is just the scripted version or a real, actual, launch. [just kidding for those who can't tell when I'm joking]. I checked out the still photos of the alleged launch and they look okay. It sure is a bleak looking launch site. Isn't it great that so much information is available on the Web. Thanks to those who provide the 'real oil' on how it all works. I really appreciate it!