Meganet

Ofcom, the Super Regulator, has published a statement that will clear the 700MHz band (694 MHz - 790 MHz) for use by mobile broadband services (likely to be additional bands for LTE services).

It is expected that the auctioning of this band will raise significant revenue for the treasury as well as having a positive economic benefit by allowing mobile network operators (MNOs) access to increased spectrum allowing them to provide better data services. The 700MHz band has very good propagation properties (i.e. signals pass through walls etc well) which should improve mobile coverage in rural areas.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services will continue to operate in the 600MHz band, though multiplexes will use MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 technologies (any tuner that can decode Freeview HD will work with these technologies).

The main users affected by this will be Programming and Special Events (PMSE) radio microphones, who will have to move to other bands.

Whitespace technologies may also be affected, however these haven't really taken off in a big way and even Neul that has built equipment to utilise whitespace have recently concentrated on licensed spectrum (and have been purchased by Huawei).

This may seem daunting, but Ofcom is not proposing that these changes come into effect until 2020 (and maybe 2 years earlier in 2018), this is in-line with European harmonised spectrum strategy.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of driver Warren Agor. Warren Agor was one of a kind. He was one of the few very successful privateer drivers in the glory days of TransAm, Can-Am and IMSA racing. So if you have followed any of those series, you know his name. Born in 1942 in Rochester, New York. Agor earned a degree from Cornell University before joining the U.S. Army, ultimately reaching the rank of Captain.

Racing came naturally to Agor, growing up in Rochester placed him not far from Watkins Glen, NY. Watching races there led him towards road racing rather than circle track. Agor eventually became a mechanic for Penske Racing and was a crew member for Mark Donahue.

When Agor branched out on his own as a driver, he gravitated towards Chevrolet powered machines. Driving a series of 1st and 2nd generation Camaros in the TransAm series. Agor was the subject of the book Sunday Driver by Brock Yates documenting their exploits in the early Trans Am days. Agor then moved to the Can-Am series driving an ex Bruce McLaren  1969 M8B, and later a Dekon Monza in the IMSA series.




Agor was also successful off the track. In 1971 he founded Agor Enterprises, which to this day specialized in the conversion of vans for the disabled. Warren Agor remained active in vintage racing, even after his retirement, racing recently at Watkins Glen in September. The Agor family has asked that donations in Warren Agor's honor be made to the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, NY.


Rest in Peace and God Speed Warren W. Agor.

Jawbone the company that specialises in Bluetooth devices has launched two new activity trackers, the Move and the UP3.

The Move is a disk like (made out of anodised aluminium) and comes with a clip so you can attach it to your trousers, tie, bra or wherever you feel comfortable. It has a tri-axis accelerometer, 12 White LEDs, 1 Orange LED, and 1 Blue LED to indicate movement time, charge states, progress and current status. To be honest it seems very similar to the Misfit Shine. It uses a replaceable CR2032 battery which lasts up to 6 months. It only costs £39.99 which definitely puts it in the affordable bracket.

The UP3 on the other hand seems to be a vast improvement on the UP24 (and Jawbone known for being a Bluetooth company really shouldn't have released the original UP without Bluetooth support). It has a tri-axis accelerometer and uses bio-impedance to measure heart rate, respiration, Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). It also measures skin and ambient temperature. There are three single color LEDs: Blue for sleep, orange for activity, and white for notifications. It's also water resistant down to 10m (which means that it's suitable for swimming) and the rechargeable battery lasts about a week. It's £149.99 which isn't cheap, but the electronic sensors that measure your conditions are definitely better than the usual LED/pulse-rate detectors that most other devices use and can potentially allow the UP3 to do more accurate and advanced monitoring.

Though Fitbit dominate the tracker market (and though they are also launching new devices), the Move is a cheap and cheerful device for the low end market, while the UP3 has some nice advanced features and should give them a run for their money.

In October the Kilogram turned 125 and the current International Prototype Kilogram based on a 4cm rod of Platinum and 10 Iridium is going to be phased out in favour of a new Kilogram based on a fundament constant of nature.

The IPK is based at the International Bureau of Weights in Sevres, France with 6 copies spread across the world, but time is having an effect and the weights do not agree with each other and the disagreements are increasing (each time measurements are taken the IPK has to be handled).

The new Kilogram will be based on the Plank, which will be measured using a watt balance (in a vacuum, developed by the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington) and is worked out by measuring how much current is required to move the balance, this will also mean redefinition of the ampere (which will be based on the charge carried by a single proton), but if gravity is known at the measuring point, it all works out from there.

This won't happen overnight and assuming all goes well the new standard will come into force (sic) in 2018.