Can you tell phony from real officer ?

Where from the government
Really?
The problem with Phony Authorities, and made up stories

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

The above picture shows a genuine classified project as you can see it is clearly some type of secret government weapon assembly .Really?
Who says because any one with any kind of mechanical background could tell you this is some type of industrial assembly and they would be right .It is used to heat oil that’s about to be recycled and cleaned .But what about the classified picture it really does look official does it not does it not look like some kind of nuclear device you have seen on TV ? Yes to the untrained eye .So now this picture will be spread all over the net about this so called top secret government weapon which never was.
Unfortunately this is what has happened with the internet, and extreme right and left wing
Wing web sites and the hysteria they spread.
To make an intelligent decision on what you are seeing, you must take all factors into consideration.
Where from the FBI really? Do you realize how many phony Police officers, FBI , Code Enforcement etc. pretenders there are out there? Plenty , many with criminal intentions. If you were stopped by some one who said they were an FBI agent do you know what one of there badges look like .
No they do not look like the ones you saw on X-Files not even close. What you see on TV is TV not realty a gun shot into a planes pressurized fuselage will not bring it down like in the movie Gold Finger but that’s what TV would have you believe.
I had some police detectives come to my door one time after a crime was committed in my niehborhood I did not recognize them and I asked them for there names and said I would let them in after I called 911 to verify they where you they said they were. A professional officer should be more than accommodating to this if not then you
Either have a phony who will run and disappear , or you have an unprofessional officer who needs to be reported disciplined and if necessary him and his dept. should face a lawsuit.
We have a big problem with phony officers pulling over single women on highways around here . We had an arrest the other day when one of these phony cops got caught pulling over a real off duty officer .We even had a phony Coast Guard Patrol craft spotted and stopped by the real Coast Guard on the Monongahela river .Plus plenty of phony military as well. So when some one says there so and so be sure they really are. Especially if there calling over the phone this is a common trick to gain information that is no ones business.
It is a shame all the people who will take advantage of situations by posting items which are supposedly the honest to god truth and there is absolutely no truth to it. total and complete fabrication.
How many E-mails I get about this and that congressional bill etc. and none of it true it is all a made up story some one is getting a good laugh off at every ones expense.
A responsible Writer/Journalist should either report it as confirmed fact with backed up materials which should be at least 2 independent sources or as an unconfirmed rumor or allegation which needs further investigation.
With a recent mass shooing at an L.A. Fitness Center near Pittsburgh Pa. the TV news were interviewing
Witnesses to the crime and several times it was mentioned by one of the people who where shot at ran running out saying it is my ex- boy friend trying to kill me .Again really? This was not the case the gunman was a mentally disturbed man with no connection to any one at the fitness center .Just a bad complex against women.
But it did not come out till the day after the rumor in the news was let loose.
Unfortunately it has been proven time and again in studies Eyewitness Testimony is faulty. But yet we have many people in jail based just on faulty eyewitness testimony
This has been the case too many times. DNA fortunately has freed many of them.
We had a case with a kidnapping and rape of a Photo kiosk clerk near Pittsburgh Pa. who I went to school with who swore up and down the man she says did it, did it yet 7 years later the real suspect who was an almost perfect double was finally convicted and wrongly imprisoned man let loose.
This is why checking and double checking of facts and circumstances and incidents needs to be carefully evaluated so you do not fall into a trap and become a victim of some ones deliberate stunt or criminal actions. There is a reason Con artists are called Con men it is because they gain there victims confidence.
Check out stories and rumors you hear thru sites like www.snopes.com and others
Do not just believe everything you hear. Beware of what you are watching on TV as well when it comes to movies and documentaries .How many WWII movies like Bridge on River Kwai, The Fighting Sea Bees ,Wake Island etc. are almost all totally made up.
Just because you saw it on the History and Discovery Channel does not make it true either. How many of the Myth Busters shows are based on real provable scientific studies using the scientific method to obtain accurate results , very few unfortunately.
None of the crew is scientists or engineers etc. There mostly special effects guys.
If how they busted a myth was presented in court it would be ruled inadmissible.
Remember the Daubert Challenge. Based on what?
Sorry if I sound very skeptical about what I see and hear but there is so much misinformation going on out there it is hard to get to the truth of a matter ,and if its hard
For some one like me with a highly trained technical background what must it be like for the general public?
Of course this is what these merchants of propaganda and misinformation count on so they can get away with things .The old saying you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people al of the time is so true.
Take the FEMA Camps I have personally went to all these so called camps in Pa. which where on a map being circulated and there was nothing there or it was a misidentified utility company installation.
Are there FEMA Camps .There are plans etc. which are part of FEMA’s programs that in case of nuclear attack , plague etc . That they can and would be set up in extreme circumstances . But actual set up built camps none that I could find.
Now there’s plenty of old unused barracks etc at military bases like Indian town gap which could be quickly used and converted to detainment centers . But again available information has been blown out of proportion by who for what reason.
Take the rumor the government has a switch to power over all Radio and TV stations
And take control . Wrong again Im a broadcast engineer
There is the national emergency alerting system but it has been years since it was tested 1994 to be exact and even then only 50% of the stations even got the test signal. If a real national emergency message came in from the government it must first be verified by station personnel it is a real message and most station personnel have no idea how to verify it or retransmit it. Stations have special binders with sealed envelopes which contain codes which must first match, This is why during 911 it was not used most stations are automated and the message would have stopped at the station and not gone further. As no one is there though your suppose to maintain a presence from 9-5 at the station yea every one does right?
The EAS as it is known is being revamped again for the umpteenth time and this time its suppose to work everywhere right?
In today’s radio and TV world so many stations like the one I engineer at are all totally automated and computers control them and these same computers are running automation software that in many cases has so many glitches that programs cut off short and commercials run on top of each other etc. because stations do not want to pay to have a full time board operator on staff to make sure the station is running properly its all satellite and computer switching get as many commercials in as you can and its not very good.
But it seems Robot Radio and TV and its poor quality is a constant point of conversation in engineering magazines ,and it is here to stay.
Yes there are bad people in this world who are conspiring and who wish us all bad and even dead ,but being able to make clear judgments is a must.
Remember check it out and ask if this information you are seeing , reading or hearing is real. Remember the guide rule “ Based on what” Than decide how to react properly to it. Is it real or is it some one trying to fool you and make you look like a fool or attempting a criminal act.

Note: there are currently phony Fire Inspector cases in Westmoreland County and Phony Health Inspectors in Allegheny County Pa.
In addition there have also been several cases of phony state troopers as well.
and now a phony FBI Agent http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11087/1135376-455.stm

Low voltage and NEC most do not get it?

Do you run Low Voltage Wiring Outside?
Are you following National Electrical Code?
Are you putting your self at risk by not doing so?

An alarm company runs a cable between 2 buildings across an alley way and put it at 12 foot assuming it is high enough, no truck tall enough coming down the alley can hit it they thought.
Wrong one day a Crane Truck 12’9” comes down the alley and pulls out all the wiring and causes
Damage to both buildings .Which also resulted in a surge in the wiring destroying the camera system.
The Alarm Company assures the building owner since the trucker took it down the truck companies insurance will pay. Wrong the investigator comes on scene and denies the claim because the installers failed to follow National Electrical Code which requires wires in this situation to be 14 foot high. In addition the wire was not properly grounded and surge protected as required by the NEC the alarm company will now have to pay for the damages.
An alarm company is hired to install a camera system in an open dock area of an industrial building to watch where flammable gas cylinders are being stored. Under NEC this area is defined as a hazardous area even thou it is open on 2 sides it still requires the use of very specific methods as to how the wiring is installed and wiring sealed to prevent explosions becuse gas is being transferred in this area .The alarm company mistakenly believes its low voltage wiring does not require the use of explosion proof fittings and components and installs standard equiptment in the room, a month later there’s a major explosion and the room is destroyed and three employees are hospitalized with serious burns. And the investigators trace the ignition source back to the alarm company not using proper wiring measures, besides the lawsuits and local code violation citations they are facing they are also facing massive fines from OSHA as well.
An alarm company installs IP Cameras on several light poles in a parking lot and lightning strikes one of the poles sending a surge thru all the equipment and takes out the computers in the building and at the same time starts a small electrical fire.
The alarm company claims it’s an act of god and not there responsibility. Wrong again when the investigator gets on scene and again determines the install fails to meet the NEC section 900 which requires all low voltage cables entering buildings be properly protected by using surge protection and bonding and grounding applications. The alarm company also faces a code violation citation for not following the code as well after the fire and code people investigate.
Cable companies and Telephone Companies include surge protection on all of there installs what makes an alarm company think it is exempt from following these same codes.
Mostly it is a lack of proper education in our industry and apathy on the part of alarm company owners to get there employees properly trained. Plus when going to even an approved training class all too often these courses fail to properly recognize and endorse the use of the NEC .
I see it all the time when it comes to fire alarms better than 90% of the fire systems I have taken over or serviced for others are non code compliant when it comes to how Fire Alarm wiring is to be properly run and installed. This is why I feel alarm companies should be employing electricians to install the wiring to code not using techs who are not trained to follow the NEC and when wiring is not properly installed this is when systems fail. It is time the Security Industry takes a good hard look at its self and its training and start turning out properly trained techs becuse as the world gets more in the mood litigate
And as OSHA , NFPA, ICC and other codes are being more closely watched and updated as technology is changing at a fast pace and more and more integration of computers becomes involved there is now a much higher chance of something going very wrong and an incident hitting seven figures in damage.
The industry needs to get out of its head we are doing low voltage and do not need to meet codes and instead realize we are installing Class II and III wiring which must meet all applicable codes because if we do not do it right some one gets hurt.

EAS not used

Pa. Has one of the most Technologically Advanced
Emergency Alerting Systems and fails to utilize it.

Being a Broadcast Engineer for a 5000 Watt AM Radio Station
I became aware of a new Emergency Alerting System( EAS ) Being installed in stations and 911 centers across the state. Designed by Com Labs in FL.
Known as “Em Net “
Instead of what we had in the old days where we monitored KDKA -AM and WQED -FM who sent the signal via broadcast which activated our EAS Receivers to rebroadcast the message (We Still use this as a back up )
We now get messages via a Satellite on the roof a little bigger than used for TV. The system is also hooked to the internet connection at station as well.
So now when something is going on in the state PEMA in Harrisburg or NWS can send a signal instantly and then gets return message from each station via internet that the message has been received Vs. the old system where you hoped everyone got it and up in the hills of Armstrong County where I am at it was a crap shoot.
So the other day in the City of Clairton Pa. A young girl reports seeing another young black girl with Duct Tape over here mouth in a blue van being driven by a middle aged white male . A possible Abduction . Clairton Police immediately issued a Amber Alert as there have been several abduction attempts of children in the Mon Valley this year.
My station WAVL 910 AM along with couple others sent the message as soon as they got it. WAVL is unattended so we have our equipment set to always retransmit immediately no matter what is playing.
While the other stations took as long as 10 minutes to report it. Waiting till news or commercial break.
10 minutes time could have been life or death in this situation but as far as police can confirm no young girl is missing. However there could still be as Clairton has a very huge drug and crime problem and a irresponsible parent may not know there child is even missing.
So Clairton did the right thing but the stations where slow to respond.
But what if this had been a serious Hazmat situation and a cloud of poisonous vapor was in the air. This along with 60 other emergency warnings can now be sent over Pa. Em Net System and in fact there have been several bad industrial accidents where the EAS system could have and should have been used to alert the public and was never used.
What better way to alert the public to what is going on all Broadcast radio and TV stations would receive it along with Cable and FIOS TV broadcasters as well.
I immediately got the Amber Alert on my cell phone thru a text from www.Pa Alert.gov
All this technology in place and our local officials fail to use it. Millions was spent putting it in place 7 years ago and much of it has been upgraded as well.
In fact there is a big debate in the US right now involving EAS to upgrade it nation wide. The national alerting system has been in place and other than a test in Alaska many years ago a full nationwide emergency test message has never been conducted.

So here we go we have the technology and it sits there and is not used.
Why did we ever spend the money on it if our local officials are not going to use it?
When the time does come to actually us it will any one even remember how to do it?
Once again our hard earned taxpayer money being wasted.
It is not only in Pa. But across the country.
Just hope to god nothing major happens on a weekend like another 9-11
So many places have no one attending them or very small staff and rest on call. With 30-120 minute response time.

Theres alot to concider when installing Cameras

Understanding Modern Digital Video Surveillance Systems
And Keeping the recording secure and court admission able

A young man sets a fire outside a local grocery store loading dock and is caught by the stores Surveillance Camera System in which police obtain a CD of the incident from the store manager who has called the local security company who has sent a tech to pull and record it.
The court hearing arrives and the young man walks free when the judge rejects the video during a suppression hearing despite the fact the young man is clearly visible in daylight and color .What went wrong.
3 items chain of custody a lack of a Water Mark on the CD to show tampering did not take place and the system is also Internet Accessible.
So how do you make sure you have a solid conviction and video evidence that will hold up in court . It starts with understanding the technology and its vulnerabilities.
In the old days surveillance systems were known as CCTV systems Closed Circuit Television Systems.
The earliest systems were composed of a Camera the size of a big shoe box and a small
9” B&W TV Monitor which had to be constantly watched and monitored ,which were developed in the early 60’s for business. Then in the early 70’s an easy to use tape recorder came on the market known as the VCR which used standard VHS Cassette tapes instead of some very expensive real to real recorders some sophisticated systems used or in the case of banks and savings and loans
which used stationery 35 MM film cameras. The VCR revolutionized camera systems allowing most business owners to install a camera and recording system for around $2500.00 a camera. As systems became more popular and affordable Electronics was totally revolutionizing Camera systems by eliminating tubes and allowing images to be captured on a Integrated chip set plus the advent of SMD Surface Mount Device technology which has allowed cameras to be miniaturized to the point they are almost totally un-recognizable .However VCR units lagged behind many could only real time record for several hours so to get around this they used a technique called Time Lapse recording now you could record up to 720 hours on one tape but one problem was the unit only took photos every few seconds allowing much activity to go on and not be recorded and then in a famous case with a nanny accused of child abuse in the UK a large lawsuit came forth after it was reveled the jerky film the VCR produced was wrongly used to convict the nanny and her case was thrown out . But finally after many years a VCR which could record 24 hrs real time on one tape .However 1 month at a time was what was really wanted but the units did the job most tapes easily went thru court challenges because it is hard to change video tape and tamper with it at the time but that was soon to change. In the late 90,s as portable computers became more powerful with there video capabilities like Apples I Book there came to be what is known as the DVR or Digital Video Recorder there are basically 3 types of DVR units one which is built into a desk top computer case via a line card and utilizes the computers hard drive for storage .The others are known as Embedded or dedicated units which
Are stand alone boxes with built in hard drive and software some of which the hard drive can be removed for allowing multiple hard drive archiving.
There are now IP Network based DVR systems known as NVR capable of recording 64 or more cameras real time for up to 1 yr or more as the technology jumps weekly.
Cameras have also drastically changed what was once a camera that had to be hooked up to a dedicated DVR box to be recorded there are now totally independent IP Based Cameras you can buy for your home and business under $200.00 and view over the internet.
While all of this is bringing us fantastic video we never would have gotten back in the old Analog Camera days the new technology can and has been challenged in court and been denied and beaten because of concerns over tampering. Every Digital device puts out a stream of I/O data which can be manipulated unless it is properly locked down and secured and even then hackers are beating even the most secure of systems every day.
So How do you insure what video you have when challenged in court will be able to meet the test .It starts with understanding which system you have who the manufacturer is and what its capabilities and vulnerabilities are. Systems today can be watched clear across the country or the world and in live real time by Central Station Security agencies paid to monitor sites 24/7. Systems can be as simple as a 4 camera system with a simple DVR box in a back room to multi camera multi technology systems all being used at once like in a casino.
Let’s start with the basic small system you might find at the corner convenience store. They likely have 4-8 cameras tied to one of 2 DVR units either an embedded DVR or a Desktop computer. The system may even be tied to the stores high speed computer or POTS line so the owner can look in when he is not there.

Ok here are questions which must be asked for even a very simple system.

No 1# is the DVR locked in a cabinet? If it is who has access what kind of locking mechanism is it a common key or is it open on a shelf so anyone has access. Does the DVR require codes to manipulate the buttons or can they be locked down were they locked down can it be proved on a log.

No2# If the DVR is a desk top computer type is it also used to do other programs and go online. If so who has access and when? Does the computer have Anti Virus, Anti Spy ware Anti Root Kit running and updated is it behind both a software and hardware firewall with up to date software.

No3# Does the DVR have a built in anti tamper system such as a Water Mark or other feature to warn when a video has been altered.

No4# Does the DVR have the capability to log who and when it was accessed.

No5#Does the DVR have a built in CD/DVD Burner so recordings can be instantly burned or does a tech have to come on site with a laptop to pull the recording and burn it.

No6# Is the tech who is pulling the video using a dedicated laptop just for pulling video or does he use it to access internet and other programs? Did he take all antivirus etc precautions does he use the lap top on WIFI or Cellular system which could be compromised.

No7# Does the DVR have a removable Hard drive who has keys and does DVR record when it has been removed.

No8# Is the DVR remote reviewable who has access how is it accessed Internet Browser based or special software or both what level of user and pass codes are used?
are they simple or complex the codes is it logged in DVR who accessed and when?

No9# Was video when it was pulled handed directly to police or court authorized officer or was it given to manager who gave it to officer at later time and date?

No10# were there any IP cameras tied to this DVR system is it a hybrid DVR

No11# Who installed ,programmed and services the system are they available to testify as to what there role is in the system if needed

If you can not answer all the above questions in my court to my satisfaction proper precautions were taken, your video has now been quashed period.

The reason as you can see there are so many ways the digital stream could be tampered with it is almost impossible to prevent it in some cases even with the water mark. Also what is there to taking the cd burn it back to a VCR tape and no one is the wiser. You bring a supposed VCR tape in which was originally digital and you can not tell unless very sophisticated examination is done so now even all tapes are suspicious. This is why absolute chain of custody must be kept and any copy’s etc noted and all master copy’s kept secure in the chain of custody.
Which brings us to tampering .Having worked for a company who is now defunct that did remote video recording I was called one day to go from Pittsburgh are to a Cleveland Ohio Welfare High rise on 13th street where a shooting had occurred overnight to retrieve the video for the police. The system consisted of 2 desk top computers DVR’s each with 16 cameras and when I went to pull the video yes you guessed right it was not there .The guards for the complex had used the computers online and gotten virus in them which crashed the hard drives and lost all possibility of retrieving the footage and remote site did not record the incident either suspect walked because no one would come forward.
Plus there are many other problems which can happen.
Lets say you have a recording involving a capital case on one of the cheaper DVR’s which have no CD/DVD Burner do you take the DVR as evidence and aggravate the store owner who now has no recording system in some cases I have impounded a unit then had a back up tape system I lent got there DVR back also what about the tech pulling the video is the officer right there when video was pulled which can take a while or did he go else where in store and come back to it. If he did chain of evidence is broken.
Ok have a given you a headache are you saying to your self what about my past cases “What If”?
If you are review them now and be ready in case a challenge arises as defense attorneys
Now its time to talk about hybrid and IP based systems

The IP Camera is a camera which can sit stand alone all by itself on an Intranet or Internet Connection and can be viewed by any computer on the network which has proper software or in some cases all that’s needed is an Internet Browser and user and password or it can be both .
A Hybrid DVR allows conventional cameras and IP cameras be connected to it.

When multiple IP cameras are used they are recorded to a NVR Network Video Recorder
It is basically a DVR that sits on the Intranet or Internet and records all feeds from cameras assigned to it. The record capability of IP cameras is fantastic however they come with a whole new set of concerns when it comes to tampering. Again all the video is broken down to a code stream of I/O’s which can be manipulated with any computer and the right software this is where the person installing and setting these cameras up have to be extremely skilled to insure they are not tampered with.
Let alone when the cameras are used behind a corporate systems Firewall. Which is a whole different subject.

So what questions should you be able to answer in court this time

No1# Is the IP camera system Hybrid or stand alone

No2#Is the IP system on its own dedicated wiring network or regular business network

No3# Where does camera video stream record to is it a secured location and how is it secured

No4# who set up the network a tech with some computer knowledge or a Microsoft or Cisco Certified Network or similar qualified technician

No5# Are cameras before or with in company firewall are cameras video streams encrypted or otherwise secured.

No6# Is video pulled from NVR watermarked or otherwise tamper resistant

No7# How is the NVR accessed Browser special software both what are the user and security levels who is allowed to view.

No8# Could you also apply any of the above questions from the first set of questions

Your head should be pounding right about now.
Now also consider the considerable headache when these IP cameras are behind a corporate fire wall with all your computers and some kiddy hacker gets into the video stream and then the company computers and it has happened.
This is one reason I am not putting in many of these cameras as there are not enough security features built in yet in many case’s.
So what can you do to help prevent problems use this checklist i have developed to answer all questions possible when you go to court.

Disclaimer
This document at time of publication covers the best available information at the time but DVR/NVR technology is moving so fast it is very hard to keep up with
Wear by Nicholas J. Markowitz also known as Nick Markowitz Jr and Markowitz Electric &Integration
Shall not be held responsible for any inaccuracies and uses of this document are at own risk



Questionnaire for DVR NVR VCR Surveillance Systems

No1# Is the system stand alone VCR DVR or NVR or Hybrid

No2# Who is manufacturer of equiptment –Model numbers

No3# How many cameras on system and what type whose make and model

No4# DIY or Professional Install who installed ,programs maintains system.
Are they sup enable if needed for court to support your claim recording is not tampered with

No5# type of wiring method used Coax or Cat 5 with Balun’s

No6# is hard drive removable –common key -

No7# is there a built in CD/DVD/ or tape recorder what style or type?

No8# has DVR/NVR Manufacturer built in a Water Mark or other security feature can you show how it works?

No9# Does DVR/NVR have an activity log can it be dumped or otherwise displayed to court?

The Medical Alert Mess

Medical Alert Systems
Can be a real headache to First Responders
When not properly installed


One of my clients owns several large multi building apartment complexes and has had a problem with some of his tenants who have installed Medical Alert Systems in there apartments and not told him about them.
He has had Fire Trucks show up looking for the building the fire alarm is going off in.
To go to the main annunciator and there’s no alarm sounding and had to do individual building searches, only to find out it is one of these medical alert systems which has a wireless smoke detector installed to it that has been improperly placed and has been set off by shower steam or toast burning. In one case medics called the fire dept to gain entry by breaking a small window to find out the apartment has been sublet and system was moved and current tenant is not the one having a emergency event.
The whole matter is 100% avoidable had the medical alert installing dealer gave the proper details to the central station exactly what building the apartment is located in and had notified the management to the system.
My customer has now sent letters to all his tenants advising them they are to notify the rental office when they get a medical alert system and that there maintenance emergency number be notified when there is activation so apartment management can dispatch a maintenance man to the site to help stop the confusion. He also advised them about the permit they are supposed to get from the municipality.
But even with these steps being taken the Medical Alert Systems being sold in many cases are of questionable value due to how they are constructed and who is installing them.
While many have a UL listed medical alert labeling and approval and are professionally installed many do not, they are also not professionally installed instead a salesman simply plugs them in and there is no proper training and use and no
Phone line supervision or RJ31-X jack installed for making sure a phone left off the hook does not block the transmission.
Many company's also charge exorbitant fees for the equipment $1500.00 and the monitoring $50.00 a month, when in fact there are programs thru major hospitals which charge zero to a small amount for monitoring and supplying the systems. It’s the old Buyer Beware when it comes to these systems.
But until the industry cleans up its act you can bet there is going to be an epidemic of problems with these systems as our population ages and gets interested in some type of protection. The rip off’s will continue.

In the digital world are you Viking or Victim?

The Digital World
It’s not about making things better for you
It is about Charging Fees and controlling you?
Why Analog had to die a slow death.

When it comes to the digital age you’re either a Wolf or Sheep a Viking or Victim
Which are you?

As we go bravely into the digital world and all the new and fantastic things it is bringing into our lives
In medicine, Entertainment, Safety and Security it also comes with a price.
The price is slavery to Fees and poor service and limited availability.
Do not pay a fee then your living in the Stone Age. In the digital age there are the haves and the have not’s.
And the digital divide grows bigger each and every day as newer technologies come out and totally exclude entire generations and groups of individuals. Can not afford to pay a fee or figure a way around it then you will find yourself out of the digital game period.

Take the simple ATM and debit cards.
Why carry cash use your debit card it is so much more convenient and easier to use and carry and so much cheaper for retailers and banks to do electronic transfers. Really then how come every time you turn around banks keep slapping more and more fees on use of these cards.
Now a bank wants to charge $5.00 for you to withdrawal cash from an ATM which is not in there network.
Remember when checking was free because banks made money off our money well they still do but they have gotten so money greedy you now pay for the privilege. Do not keep a minimum then there’s a fee. That’s why I stop and get cash from a local small town bank I use I do not stop at an ATM and I use a smaller home town bank because it does not fee me to death. The ATM is convenient but I figure time in my schedule to stop at my bank and avoid ATM fees period. I try and avoid at all costs impulse buying as well.
The Big banks hate me because they can not rip me off too bad. If more people where like me and refused to put up with big bank shenanigans it would stop but people are like sheep instead of wolves and willing stand in line to get bent over and screwed by big banks and there fess and then say thank you for screwing me. Because It was more convenient for me, instead of doing my home work and making a plan.
Take a look at your home security system once a luxury now unfortunately a needed realty in too many places.
In the old days you bought a system had it put in and you had a tape dialer which called local police for cost of local phone call when alarm activated. But in today’s new digital world where there is no longer a local police dispatcher it goes to a 911 center where tape dialers are no longer permitted. Instead you now pay a fee of $30.00 or more dollars per month for ever for a system that is worthless and poorly installed by a big national alarm company who wants your money and provides you with nothing its all about the fees .They charge for everything and they charge big. There are still a few small independents out there doing good work with good prices but there few and far and hard to find but ask around.
And yes panels can be designed to call your cell phone or pager if you want to self monitor but many company’s will not service your system unless you’re monitored by them.
Again I say screw them you can put your own professional system in and self monitor with some good research.

Then look at the new Digital TV service again a total rip off of the consumer who had existing analog TVs
Using over the air broadcasting. Set top converter boxes.
These converter boxes are nothing but a big consumer rip off and of inferior quality. If you live high on a hill like I do your fine you can still get most local channels but any where else your screwed.
And in a effort to get better pictures consumers ran out and bought all kinds of antennas to improve the picture which did not work either. When the real problem was the converter box it self. People who went out and bought new digital TVs with real digital tuners where getting over the air broadcast with few problems. With just a simple set of rabbit ears. And all these fancy antennas all you really need is a good quality UHF antenna that’s where digital is being broadcast , again do your home work you can get around paying for cable or satellite.
Ok so let’s say you really can not get over the air well then you need cable or satellite. But do you really how much TV do you really watch. Do you have a good internet connection many TV shows you can now get over the internet next day you can even get old movies and TV shows for free as well on sites like www.veoh.com
Oh have you tried to use your old VCR on digital TV yes you can record what’s being shown but want to record another channel at a different time forget it now you need to either purchase a DVR rental from the cable company or buy a DVR where you use a service like Tivo or buy a very high end unit for $2000.00 that lets you select when you want to record but again pay me a fee for your convince Now you can go to TV guide site and use there free DVR recorder ad record a show and watch it via internet to your TV as an alternative to get around this.
And talking about internet you can still get a free 10hour dial up account from Net Zero .com
Not great but still free and good for email etc. when you do not need full internet service or are some where you can not get free WIFI.
Also are you paying for software from Microsoft and others Why? Again with good computer skills and research there are all kinds of free alternative programs that work as good or better than Microsoft and Adobe etc products. Why are you paying $150.00 to 500.00 for something you do not need. Especially anti virus software there are plenty of free programs got to www.komando.com this computer users info site has many good articles etc where you can find all kinds of tips and links to solve what ever problem you are having with your computer.
Tired of paying for phone service have internet there’s all kinds of company’s like Vonage etc offer almost free telephone but again why are you paying a fee. Goggle voice offers free calls all over US.
Then there are service contracts and yes some plans like for water, gas and sewer lines etc make sense if you can not physically do your own work and own a home or business but many things you can do again why you are paying for services you do not need to pay for. Learn how to do them and slowly acquire the tools you need
My wife severely jammed the sink drain line other day did I call a plumber no way and where related to several.
I got out my hand snake and took care of it to point I had to open up the copper drain line take a section out work the hand snake thru clog and then put pipe back in place with 2 rubber Fernco couplings. Total cost couplers and snake $30.00 not having to call a plumber saved $350.00.
There are all kind of free and inexpensive trade classes you can take to learn how to take care of the little things in life even right on line. Do your research and learn about them.

Again it takes time and effort to do the research and learn how not to pay all the monthly fees and be kept a slave to them. But are you a Wolf or Sheep a Viking or Victim If your sheep or victim step right and welcome to the new digital age. Now Pay Me. Forever

Think before you enter a Pool or Spa Rescue.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY DO NOT MIX
THE POTENTIAL RESCUE DANGERS YOU FACE
WITH SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS

It absolutely amazes me that with the potential fire and electrocution dangers that Swimming Pools and Spas pose that the majority of owners of these devices allow slipshod wiring to be installed to these Units.
One of the main problems when people purchase a pool or hot tub is they never consider
the Additional costs of having the Pool or Spa wired properly and what usually happens is they either have a friend who knows a little about electric do it or they do it themselves or they hire a less than reputable Maintenance man / Electrician to do it.
and what results is danger to everyone who goes near that pool or spa including you the rescuer. And this even includes Large public Pools and Spas I have found dangerously wired.
It should be part of every SOP when performing a rescue from a Pool or Spa that involves a Possible drowning that in fact the drowning may be from Electrocution and proper precautions be taken. Which would include making sure the power is off to the pool or spa.

One of the most frequent violations I run across is people with above ground pools running these pools off of extension cords often times plugged into an outlet which has no ground or ground fault protection unit.
The other major violation I run into is in ground pools that have concrete decks around them not being properly grounded and bonded to the electrical system .
When it comes to in ground pools all surrounding metal parts are to be bonded to each other and to the electrical system grounding wire this type of grounding known as a Equipotential Plane,
Keeps all potential items that can be come energized at the same potential there by eliminating a shock hazard when swimmers go from the water on to the deck and vice versa .Pool Contractors mistakenly believe this grounding procedure is to protect you from lightning so they often will not install it. If you do not have correct grounding and bonding of an in ground pool should one of the Electrical devices such as a light or pump become energized to a shorted out wire against its metal case the current can travel thru the swimmer delivering a fatal
Shock to the swimmer instead of being carried away by the Equipotential plane grounding.
And when it comes to the proper wiring and Inspection of all types of pools and spas the specialized education needed is very much lacking . When it comes to commercial pools and Spas most jurisdictions require either annual or bi annual inspections of wiring to commercial pools and spas in PA it is every 4 years but all too often I come across commercial pools newly re-inspected or Just Built inspected and find major code violations missed by the Inspectors. Even after these inspectors had to pass a special test to certify Pool Wiring. This is because the rules for wiring Pools and Spas are very complex and can be confusing even to the pro's .
Often times I would be called to give bids on a Pool or Spa too be told I was too high on my bid.
but in reality I was not ,the other Electricians did not figure in all the proper wiring and equipment
Required such as GFCI Breakers, 4 wire cable not 3 wire and a disconnect within 10 feet of the tub
and correct size and type wire or piping for the application, which would put there bids similar or higher than mine.
And of course 6 months down the road I would have these same people calling me up complaining
how there pool or spa was burned up or malfunctioning and even giving them a mild shock ,would I please come out and correct it.
Then there is the problem related with Spas and Proper GFCI Protection of Electrical outlets
near by how many times I walk into a home to find the home owner has put a spa in inside his home and there would be an electrical outlet right next to the spa or even covered up by the spa and they have no GFCI protection as required by code. All electrical outlets within 5 feet of a spa are to have
GFCI protection but the home owner brings his new spa into his already built home puts it in the basement and never converts the outlets to GFCI Protection and what do you know some one plugs a radio etc into one of the receptacles puts it on the Spa tub rail and the next thing you know it falls into the tub and who ever is the lucky person inside the tub is toast.
You name the possible hazardous wiring condition you can create with either a Pool and Spa and I have seen it. Like the man who built his pool deck up against his home and right under his Electrical meter with out any type of proper grounding, But until there is proper education and installation combined with proper inspection and enforcement these ticking time bombs are out there waiting to get you and remember you are no safer going to a public facility.
like I tell every home or building owner who tells me he knows how to do proper electrical wiring my response is always " Well people prove to me just how well they know what there doing with electric wiring every time I have to get on a fire truck and go to a call"

Sound the Cyren Call.

This Cyren Call
Should Be heeded?
If your involved in Your Fire Depts. Communications


In 2009 all Terrestrial based Television Stations in the US will have to begun transmitting in Digital Format and there will be no more Analog Broadcasts. On channels 2-13
Which means a large block of Radio Spectrum will be freed up and Auctioned off by the FCC in the 700 Mhz band but 30 Mhz of this band has been reserved for 1st responder use. And the Cyren Call Communications a large provider and manufacturer of 2 way and various other communications products has proposed a Public /Private partnership whereby
Police ,Fire and Medic depts. would be able to get the latest in 2 way technology in the 700 Mhz band by leasing the towers and repeaters at a reasonable rate from a public service provider in 12 Mhz of 700 Mhz spectrum
Instead of having to fork out thousands of dollars for towers and repeaters that are dept owned. Often times by the time a department specs out equiptment comes up with the money to pay for it and have it implemented the technology is already old.
then there’s the maintenance etc. that goes with it.
This would all but be eliminated with this new agreement and depts. would have access to the latest technology and professional tower sites that are secured 24/7 and with back up power in place.
When Hurricane Katrina Hit one of the biggest problems responders had was lack of 2 way communication while the 900 Mhz Radio System designed by Ma-com for business
Kept functioning and there was little damage to there hardened sites.
OK so there are potential down sides such as monthly bill for service etc. a private company not coming thru and customer service issues etc. but you can still have all this and worse with privately owned systems .You can find further information at
www.cyrencall.com and to stay up with issues on 2 way radio issues
check out the Mobile Radio Technology Magazine at www.mrtmag.com

A fire 400 feet up a radio tower

You’re DEPARTMENT IS READY FOR A RADIO TOWER RESCUE
BUT ARE YOU READY TO HANDLE A RADIO TOWER FIRE

Although extremely rare Radio tower fires do happen mostly at ground level in equipment rooms but what happened in Pittsburgh Pa.
was a fire developed 400 feet up a Radio Tower several years ago . If your station had to respond to just such a fire would you know what to do.
For a fire to happen so far up a tower one of several things would have to happen either a failure in the towers lightning protection system allowing a lightning strike to catch equipment mounted on the tower to catch fire or the Aircraft Warning light system which can be anywhere from 120 volts to 480 volts AC short-circuiting and malfunctioning rarely would the actual radio signal cables cause a fire as they do not carry enough power through them to cause a fire except for high power radio and TV station towers .which pump out thousands of watts ,which should cause serious concern for responding personnel due to high amounts of electro magnetic radiation being given off. So now that you’re responding to a tower fire what kind of precautions must be taken upon arrival? Are vehicles far enough away from tower but close enough to affect a ground fire attack if necessary? since you are not going to be climbing up the tower to fight this fire you will have to protect ground structures from falling tower parts and embers the tower could also be weakened by the fire which is another major concern you will also have to determine how to get transmission lines and power lines shut off to allow the fire to burn it self out never attempt to take an ax through any power or transmission line find the breaker and switch panels and shut the power off there this is extremely important as fatal results could happen if a high power transmission line is cut
or power line which has 440 volts running through it. A friend of mine who is also a career fire fighter relates a story of when he was in the Coast Guard on a military base when some one tried to cut through a high wattage transmission line on the base all they found afterwards was the attackers ax.
It is also important to keep all responding personnel away from the tower as the structure it self could have become energized by the fire .This is why pre planning is essential when it comes to these types of structures to make sure that tower maintenance personnel can be contacted immediately and that power can be shut off with out injury to responding personnel.
Hopefully you will never have to fight one of these towering infernos but if you do
be prepared.

No protection at all

High Risk Money Handling Business protected by an alarm system
Not worth 2 cents

I due work occasionally for a national alarm servicing company and I recently did a conversion / take Over system for them at a store which handles large amounts of cash since they cash checks in a run down area of Pittsburgh.
What I expected to find from the previous security system installation company was a well installed system similar to what you would find in a bank.
I arrived and after clearing the security doors etc I was shown the Burglar alarm system
which was an older technology it still looked fairly formidable. It was installed by
A Mid regional sized Pittsburgh Based company which now also offers national account services for big box chains.
A Radionics 8112D panel a grade A - Ademco Bell and a UL Potter Safe Unit all in conduit as required by UL But that’s were the protection stopped.
I opened the panel up by taking 2 screws out there was no required key lock and extra security screws and no tamper switches or sheet metal attack switch as would be required on a high security install. Then I found batteries which were last serviced in 1995 and its 2005 they are 5 years past what they should have been for servicing and this is what was causing the alarm to false every time power went out as none of the batteries including the main panel the aux Altronix power supply nor the Potter unit had current fresh batteries.
Then to make matters worse all of the end of line resistors were in the panel and not out side protecting the wiring.
This means there was no protection against shorting any of the wires including the grade A bell which is specifically designed to detect a shorted liner attack if some one drills into it. There was also no motion protecting the equipment as well.
Then to make matters worse the wireless Linear Panic Pendant the manager wears around her neck would never had worked because the installer put the receiver inside a metal can.
Something Linear clearly says in there instructions not to do.
Then when I went to take the Potter safe unit apart I found that the wire from the control unit to the safe was not in flexible conduit or of the type of wire which has a grounded shield in it that detects a ground or short.
The only thing going which would save this install from a burglary attack was the Derived channel supervised connection. And any simple maneuver by a burglar could have defeated the system and no signal would have been sent unless the burglar cut the phone lines first .Then while talking with the manager while she was on a break she said how clean and professional my work was and how the other company's technicians were a bunch of ignorant slobs who never cleaned up after them selves and treated them very rudely and like they were stupid. To make matters worse there’s the UL certificate they issued for a non UL complying set up. So much for excellence you get when you pay all that extra money for UL listing.
Unfortunately this is a case of Ghetto alarm install and service work the stores in the ghettos so any thing goes and no one gives a damn about any one.
This is a very bad and racist attitude any installer gives when they work in run down area and do not treat there customers with professional service and dignity .But all to often I hear it and see it from installers, and if this is how they treat one of there national accounts how are they treating every one else. Then again that’s probably why they lost the contract for service with this national chain of stores and why I was now in there installing a new system.

Excuses Excuses

We never had to do this in other communities
And other lame excuses by contractors.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.


I was accompanying a Building Inspector the other day on a walk thru of a large residential town house project as the person who is paying for the project wants to make sure things were being done correctly so he hired me to keep an eye on things. I am very impressed with this inspector’s knowledge. We were walking thru the complex when we spotted the electrical contractor using non approved electrical boxes back to back in a fire wall the inspector stopped further work in the wall till proper boxes were installed or wiring was removed.
The Electrician was mad because he always did the work this way and no one ever questioned it. He never heard of such a code requirement, which I then showed him in the electrical codes and fire codes at the request of the inspector.
My first question to him was do you have a current codebook his answer was yea some were. My next question was did you go to electrical school or how did you otherwise get your training. No he had not gone to trade school and had worked under another electrician who taught him what he needed to do. My next question was did you ever get your work inspected he replied no. He then had us call his boss and explain things that were wrong he immediately came out to the job site all pissed off we dare question the work.
I asked his boss the same questions and he said he was school trained and worked under several electricians all of whom did the same exact kind of wiring and never had it questioned. The Inspector and myself looked at each other as to say what a snow job this guy was giving us. Any good electrician knows you cannot double back boxes in firewalls with out proper boxes Putty fire shield Pads etc. .At this point the electrician is crying about all the work he is going to have to do to correct this situation and the cost.
Now it could be other jurisdictions inspectors are not s well trained as this inspector
Or do as complete an inspection.
Well this time he got caught and was going to do the job correctly.
Needless to say how many buildings are there out there this guy wired incorrectly.
We then proceed to the basement area were the man putting up drywall is not putting the correct fire resistant type, thickness and holding brackets. Again the same stories I am only doing what the boss said, to do. I know this dry wall installer personally and I tell him he knows better and he huffs and walks away his boss shows up couple of minutes later and all the usual excuses and says he will get it taken care of.
This goes on several times in the project with shoddy work being done because they think they can get away with it. They know all along what the codes are and just do no care to follow them it is hurry up get the job done as fast as you can make as much money as you can and get on to the next job let the next guy deal with it. [Which is usually me]
This same scenario of I did not know, I was told to do it that way, the architect said it was OK the other Building Inspector said it was Ok, I do not care what the codes are this is all I was paid to do the job for and I could go on for 12 more paragraphs of excuses. Gets played out every day everywhere there is work being done.
Now I have done my share of mistakes and had to correct them on job sites when I first started working but each time I asked questions and got the correct answers to make sure the next job did not have the same problems. I viewed it as a learning experince.
Not some inspector busting my chops.
I here it from contractors asking inspectors all the time how come Markowitz was allowed to do something different then how they did it the answer is because I educated my self on the codes and found out the allowable alternatives to satisfying the codes. I asked the right questions they did not even bother to call and talk to the inspector till they were done and ready for inspection.
I check with the inspectors and find out what codes they want followed and any additional requirements before I bid and or do the job especially when I am working in a new jurisdiction, and since I know the codes I can intelligently talk to the inspector and tell him why I am doing something how I am doing it and get there input before I get into trouble. So I get no surprises and I call the inspector when a possible problem develops to help make sure it will pass or see if alternatives are available. I get several Free Trade magazines and periodicals so I can keep up on the latest codes and tends. And I attend free or pay for training seminars when I can. But please do not pat me on the back for doing a good job. I am not blowing my own horn this is what exactly every good competent Professional contractor does in his or her trade.
I refuse to work for general contractors, builders and other’s who do shoddy work.
I bid a job and do the work only if it can be done so correctly for the amount of money I have bid. If the person comes back and wants me to cut my price then it is good-bye get some one else. A trap all too many other contractors risk because they figure they will make the money up in the end with extras. This is a bad precedent to start a job going into it knowing you will be losing money and then trying to figure out where you’re going to make it up. That means the consumer looses.

If the shoe fits

This Community was right to give this Shoe Merchant
The Boot?

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

A Foodland Super Market unfortunately goes bankrupt and the building sits empty for several months when a company which sells shoes at a discount and supposedly has 40 established stores comes by and decides to lease the building for a new shoe warehouse outlet. At the preliminary meeting with building officials they outline what they want to do including significant interior work and the township tells them what all permits and building plans etc will have to be submitted. Including a complete set of construction documents which includes a set of plans showing all interior work a plan which shows how the existing sprinkler system will properly cover the new work and exterior landscaping and disabilities compliance.
The merchant then sends a crew in to start demolition work but unknown to the township the contractor is doing a lot more than just knocking out walls he is building new interior walls doing significant plumbing and wiring work and already putting in shelving and starting to stock them .
When the towns Fire Marshal decides to stop in and check on the progress of the interior demolition he is shocked to find they are nearly ready to open and they have not filed one plan or permit .He immediately issues a stop work order and stops the delivery of more shoes into the store. The store owner angry over the whole matter gets mad and starts yelling to the local press about how he has never had to file plans etc. at any of the other stores he has built and opened and feels he is being picked on. My reply of course to him is where exactly did you open these stores because it was not in Pa or the surrounding states as they all have building codes in place and if you did open stores without permits and plans shame on the community which allowed the construction to be done and did not follow the codes because you have placed your community and its officials into very deep complications including civil and criminal actions should something go wrong in those stores. The Uniform Construction Code or UCC as it is known was put in place specifically to prevent people just putting up what ever they feel like and endangering the public and I applaud this community near me for enforcing the UCC and protecting its citizens Proper code enforcement is essential to prevent major tragedies we need only look back to 2003 when 100 people lost there lives at The Station Night club in Rode Island because people chose to ignore building codes including using the wrong noise cancelling foam and the use of pyrotechnics .

Abandoned structure fire and Utilities

Abandoned Structure Fires – Are Active Utilities To Blame?

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

There’s that old abandoned corner store building which has been sitting empty for close to 20 years now that all of a sudden catches fire one hot afternoon. Of course right away you’re thinking it was kids fooling around with matches. However that’s not what happened this time. In conducting your investigation, witnesses tell you they saw smoke coming from the side of the building where the electric wires hooked in from the street. Maybe its the old service wires they think. While many an investigator may dismiss this because all utilities where turned off. Where they really?

Turns out in this case the wiring was the culprit not the kids seen nearby playing. How could this be possible? Well it starts with how electric power is turned off to structures. Typically an employee from the electric supplier comes out, pulls off the meter, then inserts a plastic cover in its place which seals off the meter base. All fine and well but the problem is the wires from the meter out to the street are still energized and can deteriorate to the point that an arc fault develops. This in turn can catch the building on fire.

A common myth that current has to be traveling through a wire for it to catch fire. This is not true. As long as voltage is present anywhere in a circuit, the potential for a fire is present. When it comes to a fire starting, the old weakest link in the chain theory is where the fire will start. When it comes to the installation of wiring outside, it starts to deteriorate as soon as it is installed due to sunlight hot and cold always being present. We make the materials to resist this, but eventually they get so bad as they became a hazard. This happens more often than you would think, but too many investigators are quick to blame it on the kids.

The question then is if this does happen then why do utility companies not cut off the wires completely especially if they know a building is going to sit empty for a long time? The main reason is the cost to unhook then re-hook the wiring. You can send a non lineman in a pick up truck to cap a meter base. It takes a lineman in a utility truck to unhook the wiring or worse case they have to climb the pole. Plus with utility companies always cutting back, linemen are already too busy handling emergencies. Then you have cases like here in Pa. where power was deliberately kept on in old coal mine and industrial sites and substations to prevent the theft of copper wiring and other valuable materials.

Ok so is there something in the NEC-70 or other codes which could be enforced? Well it all depends who you ask. The utility companies do not follow NEC-70, they follow The National Electric Safety Code which sounds the same but is different and designed for utilities which are also regulated by state consumer/utility commissions. NEC -70 only deals with voltage inside structures not utilities.

As long as the wires are not presenting a danger they can stay in place in perpetuity. So if this is the case, should there be codes mandated as to when power wires should be completely cut off structures to prevent future problem? Say after 1-3 years or more? That what seems to be what it would take and it would have to be able to mandated on the utility company who at the moment has the final say. But wait a minute, the customer paid for the wiring from the weather head to the meter base on the building, would that not make them responsible? Yes it would if you could find them. This is a matter which has been debated and handled differently many different times in as many different states as to who is responsible for what when it comes to a fire or other problem involving an electrical service to a structure.

What we need is one complete concise policy on this matter. However, with giant utilities facing down communities and code making panels I do not see it coming any time soon. So what’s the AHJ to do? It starts by keeping an eye on abandoned properties and when you see service wires etc falling off a building or otherwise causing a hazard, immediately notify the utility. Document the incident and if they refuse to do anything notify the state utility commission who regulates them. They will be able to some fire under there feet. Having the media there with you also does not hurt as well when its a serious situation which is being ignored.

Elevator Pit Dangers

A New Potentially Dangerous Electrocution Problem Found With Elevator Pits
A Continuing Look At Why We Need To Take a Hard Look At Elevator Codes and Revise Them.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

I have previously written about the dangers sprinklers and shunt trip breakers pose to people riding in the cars of elevators, which I will review later in this article. However, a new hazard I have found involves a dangerous electrocution hazard to the people who service the cars, the elevator mechanics.

With all the precautions taken to prevent electrocution hazards to service personnel, which includes the use of Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, one area has been overlooked. The alarm system used in the sump pump pit which warns when the sump pump has failed and the elevator pit is filling with water has been overlooked. What I have found in a majority of the cases is theses alarms are not UL Listed assemblies and that 120 volts is present on the wire lead which goes to the float down in the pit. This could seriously injure a service man if he accidentally cuts into the cord by bumping it with something or if the cord going to the pit deteriorates. Additionally since this alarm is not UL Listed there is no way of assuring they have been properly designed and protected. I can tell you from examining these units there is no way they would ever pass UL Listing as they are currently made. They are in too small a junction box and have no fuse protection and allow high voltage on the probe.

A far better way to do this would be to use a Class 2 low voltage alarm assembly which could also then be backed up with a battery. Better yet, since it is an essential part of the safety system serving the elevator, tie a float probe to a addressable monitor module of the fire system to supervise it. So flooding can be identified well before the pit has filled and starts going into the pits lighting fixtures plugs and hydraulic fittings. So once again another chapter of poor judgment when it comes to developing codes goes into my grand jury file for future use in prosecuting those who have failed to put the public’s safety above there own.

Also, talking about safety and elevators, the codes have failed to address serious life threatening issues when it comes to allowing sprinkler heads in shafts and allowing a shunt trip breaker to be used to shut off power to the elevator. This situation could trap its occupants between floors to die of smoke inhalation. In the first place, there is absolutely no reason why a sprinkler head is needed in a top of an elevator shaft which has an all metal car and 2 hour fire rated wall assembly, period. There has never been a documented fire in a fire protected elevator shaft other than a minor paper fire from accumulated debris in the pit. It makes sense to have a sprinkler head there, but not at the top. And then to allow them in there using an unproven system to shut off power with a device which is known to fail and does not allow for interlocking to make sure occupants are out of the car before the power shuts off makes absolutely no sense. I can tell you this, the first time I hear of a serious injury or death due to this failure of code officials to review and revamp this code my grand jury file on this matter will be turned over to the district attorneys office and plaintiff attorneys representing the injured. I will personally see to it there is such a stink made in the media that reckless endangerment or homicide charges are filed against every person involved in that codes decision.

The problem starts with the way the power is shut off to the car when sprinklers activate. Instead of using a flow switch with dual contacts interlocked to the controller, which is a sure way to know water is moving in the line. They instead rely on a heat detector 20 degrees lower then the sprinkler head is set that is mounted within 2 ft of the sprinkler to do the job of initiating the shunt trip breaker to shut off power. Shunt trip breakers are known to fail
and are no longer permitted by NEC code to shut off electrical services which are remote from each other. Because of this known high failure rate a heavy duty contactor should be used instead. Then we have the sprinkler head in the elevator mechanical room again. Why? This is a 2hr fire rated room and all the electrical and controls are contained within metal pipe and cabinets which prevent a fire from getting serious. When the sprinkler head does come on it can present a serious environmental hazard because of all the hydraulic oil and greases which are stored in these rooms which are combustible not flammable.

Then there is the problem of the sprinklers accidently activating and the shunt never energizing because a fitting has cracked or head blown off. A flow switch should be used for this operation not a heat detector which is not interlocked. You also have the problem with this whole shunt trip nonsense of it not being properly wired. Many electricians have not been properly trained to wire in a shunt trip breaker and are not familiar with fire systems. Fire systems techs are not electricians and the shunt trip circuits on elevators are complex. Many never do work properly as they should without extensive trouble shooting. I have never had the problem being cross trained but most personnel are not.
If the code panels are seriously concerned about fires in elevator shafts they need to do a total and complete revamp and look regarding this issue and then make sure all existing setups are modified to prevent problems.

Here are some suggestions to the code making panel if they’re really serious about fires in shafts and mechanical rooms.

1# Replace the heat detector with a flow switch. This ensures any water flow will be detected and power shut off.

2# Before a power shut off to a car takes place, insure it has stopped at the closest landing so occupants can safely exit.

3# Eliminate the shunt trip and install a heavy duty contractor instead. This way you are assured power is off.

4# Look at Deionized Water systems which prevent electrical shock in shaft areas which they’re worried about and use a clean agent or dry powder in the equipment room to prevent damage to environment.

Of course it is going to take some one being killed before this code is finally reviewed and fixed but what worries me most is how professional engineers which sit on many of these panels ever approved it in the first place. They should all have their licenses removed in my opinion for passing such a law. If a plain ole electrician / volunteer firefighter can see the dangers why can they not.

The Digital TV Ripoff putting lives at risk

As we go to Digital Television
A significant Safety Feature is lost
Why once again “DIGITAL HAS NO BACK UP”

By: Nick Markowitz Jr.
Broadcast Engineer WAVL 910-AM

When storms hit and the TV set goes off with the rest of the power in the house many people turn on there Battery powered AM/FM radios to get information as to what is going on .Many of those radios are multi band and include a channel which allows you to hear the TV stations FM audio Carrier (82-88Mhz) so you can still follow along with your favorite TV show or listen to the news many country folks use the TV band radios because they can some times get the video but the voice is screwed up so they turn TV set volume down and turn up the TV band radio .But this is all going away except in a couple of instances where stations are going to try and keep there FM carrier working what are known as Franken FM’s at 89.9 with music and limited video . NPR and others are pushing to get the Franken FM’s off the air As TV stations move to digital they are also completely moving off the VHF band 2-13 where the audio can be heard to UHF channels 14-99 and as of the latest current Radio Industry news no one plans to bring out a multi band radio with Digital TV Sound any time soon.
So once again a very important news and communications source is lost. TV stations for the most part are all backed up with generators for power failures and can still broadcast
And have actual people in there studios while many small and even large radio stations do not especially on the weekend they run automated. This is the most dangerous time for a serious incident to happen and not be able to notify people.
So once again digital proves its dangers.
Your best bet at this point is to have a multi band radio with Battery and even solar or wind up capabilities even better with weather band where at least the weather service can get important messages out. That is if you’re local Emergency Management Coordinator
Is smart enough to call them and most are not.
So all the money spent by our Dept. of Homeland Security and every other agency once again proves it is totally worthless.
Every radio and TV station has some type of system which monitors the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which our government put into effect during the cold war in 1951 and during 9-11-01 it was never activated. Finally they are planning on a continental US wide test some time this year. To see if it even works nation wide.
Our government proves everyday just how incompetent it is and if any thing they have managed to
Decrease our safety instead of increasing it when they mandated the digital TV change.

Note : When I originally wrote this article digital was just starting and now I have found out with
The government’s interference with the Converter box program once again shows
Just how we the taxpayer got ripped off again.
I get calls all the time I can no longer get thru the air TV when I use to be able to get 2-4 channels I have tried everything got couple different converter boxes new antenna everything does not receive signal.
Well another dirty little secret the industry does not want to tell you most of these converter boxes are useless and of inferior quality.
The tuners in them will not pick up properly. How do I know this because when I bring my cheap little digital TV set and put it right next to the analog TV with converter I get a perfect signal, with just a simple set of rabbit ears. So what’s going on?
Very simple the digital TV’s with built in digital tuners have a better built receiver in them than the converter boxes which of course forces the consumer to go buy a new TV.
But even a new TV does not solve the problem some areas you are just plain out of luck you will not get reception even in the big city because buildings trucks etc block the digital signal. And all these so called new fancy digital TV antennas being sold are nothing more then good quality UHF antennas because this is where TV band has been moved to so do not waste you money on new antenna till you sure you need it.
Once again the public has been hood winked by government and big business. You want to watch TV then pay a fee. How dare you watch it for free.
They are trying to do the same thing to terrestrial radio as well. With the advent of XM/Sirius Satellite and Internet radio.
So unless you keep up on technology you will find yourself paying thru the nose for stuff you can get for free thru alternate channels.

Is your high end homes fire system working?

Three Million Dollar plus + Homes.
With Fire and Security Systems Worth .03 cents

I normally do not do residential work but occasionally get a call from a desperate home owner and even alarm company owner to try and resolve issues with an advanced Fire and Security system in a home. The problem is that these bigger homes need a commercial grade panel which can handle all the zones and points of protection.
While most alarm installers can handle the lower end fire/burg panels normally used for residential work, when it comes to big homes these panels are totally inadequate for them so you need to go into a high end panel which are normally used for commercial work. The problem is these higher end panels have many features and technologies in them the average installer has never seen and does not understand. Now this should not be a problem the panels come with full documentation and there are classes available for free for installers to learn how to install these panels. But unfortunately alarm company’s do not spend the time required to produce good installers and techs and as a result most of there people are mediocre in skill sets which often results in tragedy. How ever every once in a while myself and other master trouble shooting technicians get there before the tragedy is allowed to occur.
The problem starts with the alarm salesman who does not understand what he is selling or designing with a high end home.
High end home owners want more advanced fire protection than 120 volt ac smokes with back up 9 volt batteries which provide very good protection but are limited because they are not supervised to warn of troubles and not capable of alerting the authorities to a fire. When you own a million dollar home you want the fire dept there now not later and with in 4 minutes a fire can get totally out of control. When you own a million plus home it is not filled with Second hand furniture so besides your loved ones often valuable antiques and collections are also put at risk.
So home owners instead of the normal 120 ac smokes will have installed commercial grade smoke detectors which are supervised by a main panel with back up power and reports to a central station any problem in the system it is immediately reported to central so a tech can be dispatched to find out what is wrong. Well that’s the way it is suppose to work but too many times it does not and there have been many cases where million dollar plus homes and very valuable collections have been destroyed and no fire signal was ever activated or sent. Which has resulted in home owners and there insurance carriers filing major lawsuits against alarm company’s often winning big dollar amounts.
Ok so your saying to your self are homes not suppose to be inspected and permits issued etc . by the local authority how can these homes be built and never inspected and tested by the local authority? That’s a very good question and the answer is many times inspectors will issue a temporary occupancy permit to allow a high end home owner to move in and the inspector is suppose to make sure all safety systems are in and working before issuing the permit and then they are suppose to come back with in 30 days for a follow up but in the 3 houses I have worked on 2 in PA. 1 in OH this was not the case .
The systems in all 3 houses I worked on where in over 1-2 years and never worked properly leaving the home owner with no protection in a house so big a fire could start and not be known about till it is too late to call 911.
Especially when you are not going to use the 120 volt ac powered smokes then you must follow completely NFPA 72 rules for the fire system to meet state codes here in Pa and OH
This includes using red jacketed Fire cable but all 3 homes I worked in the installers used standard burg wire.
The smoke detectors used should either have individual sounders in them which all come on at once or there needs to be supervised sounders in a general area loud enough to be heard all thru the home 15 decibels above ambient noise.
In all 3 cases this never happened as well.

Case No 1# A large Million plus home in a well known resort community in Fayette county Pa.
Home owner contracts with a mid regional Pa. alarm company to install a complex fire and burg system. In addition the home is sprinklered because this is a replacement home
The first home burned to the ground.
The home owner moves in sprinkler accidentally freezes and activates alarm never goes off.
First problem panel is programmed wrong. And wrong loop type was used alarm never sounds and never trips to central station after examining the rest of system I find all of the 4 wire smoke detectors not wired correctly for proper supervision with end of line power relays and resistors . The result there are 6 fire alarm zones and none are correct.
I take fire system wiring off the panel and put in a separate residential fire panel with supervised sounders and with a cellular back up system as phone lines are out more than there on in this are especially in winter. By separating the systems I am now assured a signal will get thru. And none of the bad things the installers did on burg side will affect it.
Shortly after I did this work a few months later in my local paper I saw this company who installed this system was in fact being sued for a fire in another million dollar home on other side of state I wonder why?
One of the big problems is the installers and techs installed this system but never once uploaded it with a lap top or other computer to check all the programming or they instantly would have found the problem. It is suicide to not have your techs or people at service side to not have computer upload capability to be able to look and know you properly programmed a panel mistakes can be easily made and just as easily corrected when you use the software provided for free by the manufacturer.

Case No 2# Marshal Twp Pa. in this high end community. This installer was actually jailed for all the bad work he was doing but not for bad work but for being a con artist who took money and never finished.
In this home the installer tried hooking up 120 volt ac smokes to a 12 volt DC fire /burg panel. The smokes worked when you pushed buttons but it seemed like once a month the home owner was changing 9 volt batteries and burg end of system was never finished.
Needless to say 120 volt smokes are for 120 volts AC not Dc.
I took all of these smokes down and put in smokes with sounders which all come on at once and are properly wired and supervised, as this house is so big a general sounder would never be heard. This is also a problem is installers putting in these sounder smokes with out the proper reversing relay to sound them all which I have written about in a previous article. When I went up to talk to fire marshal to show him what I found he was familiar with the situation and individual involved and the township was after him for not filing permits etc. like I said he was eventually arrested and did time for being a con artist.
Case No 3#
An alarm company owner called me because he had a special client whose business he did and has a very high end home in the Ohio river valley area.
His installers are very good at installing the lower end panels but they where stumped by the high end panel they installed. Could I come over and help them out. Sure I said and he made sure one of his best installers was with me so he could follow me and learn the panel as well as the software as they where just getting up to speed with it.
Well his installer was very good and we started by uploading the panels memory to see why the wireless key fobs would not work. This is usually a programming issue. Well there where some really big problems first the fobs where all programmed wrong and the wrong receiver was installed easy enough fix.
But then we saw that both fire loops where disabled in the programming a very big problem. So we reactivated the loops and everything starts going off loop 1 the smokes are in alarm and loop 2 the heat detectors are in trouble.
We check the smokes first and find that the installers had mistaken the addressable smoke detectors as being usable on a 2 wire loop wrong. The dipswitches should have clued them off they where addressable or a simple look at instructions or call to tech support
With the model number would have solved the problem but NO instead just turn them off. This is exactly what they did needless to say both have been terminated by there employer for this. To correct this we put the wiring on the correct terminals for addressable devices and terminated the fire loop for smokes with a resistor as it was not needed for this application. Then we looked at the heat loop and found 2 problems first they had both a resistor in series and a second in parallel in a fore loop you only need one paralleled on the end so we took the resistor out and still had problems. Ok what’s going on? After putting my meter on resistance and reading the loop I was seeing 10,000 ohms instead of 2000. We found the end device and in fact the wrong resistor was on the loop these 10 K resistors do not even come with the panel where they got them who knows? But before we left everything was checked out and tested and we made sure the panel was sending its test signal every 30 days as NFPA 72 requires.
When it comes to big multi million dollar homes you would think an alarm company would want to do above average work for the customer but as you can see this is clearly not the case. These high end panels should not even be sold to those who can not install them you should have to be certified or some other means be able to show you can properly install them and while a couple manufacturers do this most do not, so you have a total mess when it comes to those who own high end homes.
What I find especially bothersome is in Ohio you can not do any kind of commercial Fire work with out a license so I never expected to find this problem in a high end residential home. Again I ask the question where wear the inspectors?

East Coast Vs West Coast made products

You would expect a machine from Europe to not work the same and require modification
To be able to be used in the USA
But would you expect the same thing when a West Coast machine is installed on the East Coast?

As a trouble shooting electrician I often get called upon to hook up and commission machinery a customer may have bought either 2nd hand or from a country other then the USA and of course you would expect issues when it comes to making everything compatible and working as foreign countries often use different power systems than we do here in America.
For example our traditional power system to a home is 120/230 60 Hz while in Europe it is 230 50Hz they supply to homes and business. This can be overcome several different ways and as long as all the rules of electricity is followed different machines from different countries can run with no problems. With this thought in mine you would think that when you buy a machine or system here in the USA it would work just as well in California as it would in Florida or Pennsylvania but this is not always the case.
Take the gate system one of my clients bought to use with his mini storage facility. It was installed in may and ran fine all summer long but when it started getting cold in October and then temperatures plunged in November the gate started acting up. After some investigation it was determined that the gate manufacturer was using a active IR beam system that was designed to make the gate stop and reverse should a child or object be under the gate when it closes an excellent safety control but however fatally flawed. The active IR beam was only meant to be used in climates where it is above 32 F
And in November in Pittsburgh it often goes well below 32F at night. Thus the problem,
when the gate manufacturer was contacted about the problem and it gets so cold here they seemed surprised. Supposedly they tested the gate to 0 F and had no problems. But then again that was in a lab not Pittsburgh with wild temperature swings daily some times
the end result the beam needed changed to a beefed up unit. which could handle the cold.
Now a manufacturer that makes a product that is supposed to be able to be used any where in the USA you think would do the research and field testing before sending out a product but this is apparently not the case as I hit this problem all the time. Take the Burglar Alarm panel a manufacturer from Oregon was selling in the Pittsburgh area in early 80’s These panels had all kinds of great new features but had continual problems of causing false alarms and arming and disarming by themselves. The problem was ultimately found to be that while the panels worked fine on the West Coast where they have good clean electrical power where when they say an outlet is providing 120 volts it actually is . But on the east coast the power is not as clean and as solid some times only 108 might be coming out of an outlet the result the panels advanced microprocessors could not withstand the imbalance and problems developed. To make the panels work properly you needed a filtered /regulated power supply transformer and the panel worked great only problem these transformers at the time cost as much or more than the panel cost. End result they stopped selling product on the east coast where bought and sold several times and are out of business.
So then you have to ask your self where was the research and development at with these products? Well apparently there was none. What they should have done is send units out to various parts of the country for what is known as Beta Testing .
This is where Alarm dealers like myself test the equipment in the field to discover if there are problems. Honeywell Security does this and I participate as one of there Beta testers and occasionally we find problems not encountered in the lab and it provides positive feedback
To Honeywell so that they do provide a superior tested out product before releasing it for general sale.
Sure these programs cost money and can be a pain to run but in the long run it saves money and face.
So why are more companies not doing it?
It comes down to the same old thing everything comes down to Money and incompetence.
This is just one of many reasons why when companies try to expand and go national or world wide they often fail .Because they do not put enough money into research and development and it comes back to bite them.
It’s the old story” Plan your work- work your Plan “ “ or fail to plan –plan to fail.

This Old Hotel

Why did it take a News Crew to finally get an AHJ’s attention about an old and potentially dangerous Hotel?



It has been sitting along Pa Route 66 with the Kiski River in view and nearby the Westmoreland &Armstrong county lines for over 100 years the old all wooden Belvedere Hotel long closed and slowly decaying, yet some one still lives there using a wood stove and a single light bulb which always seems to be lighted in the down stairs. It is a spooky looking old place Steven King would love but if it had not been for all the attention a WPXI Channel 11 TV News team it very well could have become a death trap.
News Crews Notified the AHJ and Pennsylvania Dept of Transportation known as Penn Dot to the fact part of an upper floor fascia and gutters was working loose and creating a hanging hazard over the road and upon further investigation by means of an old picture found several posts along the long front porch the hotel has were missing.

 This Hotel has been in this condition for many years and ignored by the local community despite the fact numerous individuals including my self pointed out hazards of this old place. But now miraculously I drove by the other day and there are brand new Poles in place of the old ones on the porch and all the hanging hazards have been removed. Amazing what a little embarrassment of local officials does here in Pa. But it never should have taken this long.
A similar situation occurred and was finally rectified near Oil City Pa along Pa. Route 8
Where it took local citizens to place large posters on an old decaying building asking how long till it would be corrected. (I am being nice compared to what was on some of the posters) Now I know budgets are stretched when it comes to getting a building torn down but in the case in Oil City this particular building has been sitting abandoned since at least the 60’s when I was a young child passing it when my father took the family for a long Sunday afternoon drive .It was even a hazard then yet I have seen cases of blatant harassment of property owners for no good reason other than a neighbor is a busy body.
It appears too many officials are busy barking up the wrong tree or just not caring until it is too late an incident happens and some one is injured or dies and then the litigation begins .Of course officials of small towns do not care because Tariff laws in Pa limit damage awards against community’s to $500,000.00 per incident which many just let the insurance company handle it. Until a Local or state District Attorney has the fortitude to start criminally going after officials in these cases you can continue to see the bodies stack up in Pa.

 

Update. The Hotel burned to the ground around 2015 

Citizen vs Town

This incident never should have happened
How a town had its eyes opened up by accepting Fire and Burg signals


Back when I was a young man about 1981 My Uncle and God father Jack who was a Captain at his local communities Fire dept west of Pittsburgh’s Border Introduced Me to a customer with an old existing Faraday AC Type Fire Alarm in a Senior High Rise Tower where the Fire system was a had a leased line Reverse Polarity signal to local police and fire Dispatcher but also had a primitive nurse call system in each apartment they desired to be tied into the circuit . I designed a circuit were for 10 seconds the dispatcher would receive a pulsing signal which would flash when it was a medical alarm at tower and stay solid for fire I also put in a back up battery on circuit so it would not drop during a intermittent power loss which was a problem in this area. Everything worked fine till one day I got a call from tower something was wrong medical alarm went off and no signal was sent I trouble shooted the circuit and determined power was going out and decided to go down to dispatch center to see if the were getting power at there Ademco Mod U Alarm Board
When i got there to my horror I found some one had pulled the horn unit out because one subscribers alarms was sending multiple alarms and driving everyone crazy having to reset it. Instead of taking the offending unit off line which could be easily done the Police chief insisted on taking the horn off and putting it in the office safe he told dispatchers to look over at the board every so often to check if any were in alarm . I blew my stack knowing not only my building full of seniors lives were at risk but several other structures were at risk of a delayed response by the Volunteer fire dept I had the Police Chief called at home on a Sunday and made him come in open the safe and give me the meter to protect the citizens or he would face a hell and brimstone he would regret. He threatened to arrest me and I advised him as a citizen I would place him under Citizens arrest for risking a catastrophe/riot a serious felony arsonists are often charged with and had already called state police. He wised up we both cooled down and resolved the matter I pulled out the offending burglar alarm unit .That Monday I get a very mad call from a Boro Councilman that asked me who the #$%$@ I was, and he wanted me at the council meeting that Wednesday to basically get inquisitioned .
I immediately called the local channel 11 News channel and they like sharks after blood started asking questions and I got a call later that evening from a different councilwoman
Who asked me what happened and I explained it to her and she asked me to call off the hounds and come to council meeting she wanted the whole story out.
I went to the council meeting and very diplomatically explained the situation to the council and went on to explain to them the liability they were left open to over this issue and what should be done in the future to avoid it. They had no idea just how much trouble they could have gotten into both from a criminal and civil matter. I started sighting various things which have happened in other towns across the country and the Boro Solicitor
Agreed with me .He was familiar with a couple of them as well as various state laws.
The chief very well could have been charged with several felonies and the council could have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars due to gross negligence
So after all the dust settled there was peace in the valley .I also learned a valuable lesson from the system I designed as well as I did not rig in a latch circuit on the medical system and when a man bent on committing suicide by jumping from his apartment window was being restrained by his wife she would pull the medical cord to get help he would reset it and dispatcher took several minutes to figure out the trouble signal he was getting was coming from the tower. The delay was enough despite a valiant effort from Police and fire dept personnel the man succeeded in his plan. We switched the medical over to its own leased line after the incident despite the cost.
I eventually lost this customer several years after the incident when a new owner came in and used his preferred servicing company and also the digital communicator was coming on strong as a replacement for expensive leased line polarity reversal systems as dispatch centers condensed into centralized 911 centers. Most of the people involved in this incident are long gone or very old at this point but I chose to keep there and the towns name private to avoid embarrassment to them and there families.