Beware Fraudulent Text Message

Both my wife and I received a text from 215990@vtext.com   10.28.12  reads

"Attention Required . call 1-407-392-0234

This is a fraud they claim your debit card has been hacked.  We both know this is not possible our bank does not have our cell phone numbers to text us.

beware any type of message like this unsolicited telling you debit or credit card has been hacked and they need information to confirm it .

A business learns the Hardway about 3rd party IP based Phone Service

 One of my customers a large swimming pool distributor saw an add for Vonage Phone service for business and saw he could save around $1200.00 a year so he went and signed up for it and transferred his phone lines from Verizon to vonage and what a nightmare he created.
I wish he would have called me first before he did it ,but he did not.
A store manger calls me and asks how does he hook p the interface boxes vonage sen him. I said stop right there and do nothing till I get there. Once there I explained to the owner the problems with vonage it may or may not allow Fax and his credit card transaction machines to work properly and its all based off his internet service ad depending how strong the lien was depended on how well the service would work. He would also have to put a cell phone back up unit on burglar alarm because it will not work on vonage.
He said well he was in this far lets try it out.
 first of as you can see at left the mess his internet connection was I cleaned this up first then a attached the adapters bottom left picture and with in couple minutes we had phone service. 

But then the problems started. First off the main phone line did not have roll over service a big problem customers where getting busy signals . Next some times the fax and credit cards worked then some times they did not . Then a major crash as they started turning all the computers on and downloading files etc the internet slowed toa crawl and hone service crashed. vonage may work fine for a small home based business but no way as big as this business was. What vonage should have said was for them to order a separate internet line dedicated for the vonage and they should have asked what kind of services where needed on the lines instead the adapters where removed and sent back and my customer went back to Verizon.

If you own a business and seriously want to save money and want to look at IP phone service. Consult a professional telecom dealer  who will make sure you order a proper dedicated internet line just for the service Along with the proper equipment. Otherwise you might as well forget trying to run a business cheapening out and doing the DIY thing. Vonage works great for homes and small business but only when properly ordered and installed. .

HD Radio The free thru the air Digital Radio Channels your missing

If you live in a major AM/FM radio market like I do theirs over 75 radio stations to listen to including several country western stations but not the kind of country I like to listen to. So what to do get an XM satellite radio  to listen to  Hank , Willie  and the rest of the good ole boys  no way I am not going to pay $10.00 a month  for something thats free thru the air.
Thats exactly what HD radio is but you have to have a HD  radio or adapter in picture at left  that allows you to pick up the digital signal  and in some cases multiple channels can be picked up from a single station.  using a technique known as IBOC or In band on channel .
 Digital content is sent right along with analog stations broadcast. Think of it like the FM stereo signal some FM stations put out.

http://www.hdradio.com/

I like to listen to Y-108 or WDSY 107.9  its official call letters . Its a country station which also has on HD 2 its Classic Country Station
The Wolf  HD2  which plays the older artists . and its CD quality sound as well. I also like to listen to talk station KDKA 1020 AM  but some times all the noise on the AM band makes it hard to hear. No problem I tune in its FM simulcast on 93.7 HD2 on KD's sister sports station   and now I hear KDKA with no fizz or noise.

The HD radios beside sounding great also can send you info  as to whats playing etc as well.
Now HD does have its draw back the signal does fade in and out  here in Pittsburgh with the hills and tunnels and does not travel as far  as its analog cousin and not all stations broadcast HD signals and HD signals can cause digital  buzz bleed over to other stations especially at night on AM band  . But the sound quality is unbeatable.  People can not believe I actually have a radio station on they think its an High End  MP3 player etc. it sounds that good.  HD radios are couple bucks more than standard radios and are hard to find not everyone stocks them but the adapter you see at left is around $100.00and easy to install. Some new cars now come with HD radios as a standard feature and check out Crutchfield Radio  on the web for a wide selection of HD radios .

http://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearch/hd_radio_receivers.html


You can even hear the BBC Worldwide News  shortwave broadcasts here in Pittsburgh and across the country as many of the NPR radio stations carry it on there HD channels as well. There's all kinds of extra sports and  Jazz channels as well  to be explored  some stations even run there old formats on HD as well .
                          No Receiver ?  Have a Smart Phone or Internet Connected Computer?

If you have a smart phone and download  the -Radio.com App  CBS has some of there HD channels you can listen to thru the app. Like the Sky channel for those who like new age stuff  and numerologists and such and yes if you look up Pittsburgh the Wolf HD2  classic country can be listened to on your smart phone.
Plus many other HD Channels can be found on other apps as well like" I heart" and "Tune In" . There are also sites on internet to find and play HD channels as well  Look up your favorite station and some have button right on there site so you can tune in the HD channel they run
So what are you waiting for join the HD wave.

3 Red Light Bulbs in an Industrial Facilty If one went bright or went out it meant big trouble in the old days

Its been a while since I have seen  this 3 Red Light Bulb set up till I walked into an old building which served as a Car Dealership to do some work  and there they where.
Since I am an older  electrician the customer asked me if I knew what those 3 bulbs represented  in the repair shop area. Yes I  told him they where used to warn if there was a problem with the 230 volt 3  phase delta  power coming into the building before modern 3 phase monitoring relays .
I have also seen where sometimes 3 yellow bulbs have also been used.
The 3 bulbs  warned of  problems with the 3 phase  if a bulb went out  there was a usually a phase failure and you needed to shut down the machines or destroy them..

If one of the bulbs went brighter than the others it meant one of the phases was grounded out some where in the shop.  This could be potentially dangerous and fatal . But many shops would still run and then when they had time  at end of a shift go and look for it machinery at that time was not grounded with ground wires.  This was common practice till late 60's  when electrical engineers determined it was safer and better to run ground wires to all equipment and trip out a motors overload relay  if theirs a grounded condition in the motor   VS.  not grounding machinery . which could allow an entire line of motors to be destroyed under the right circumstances. Besides damage to equipment the machines operator if he was touching a machine and  would become grounded by not standing on rubber mat under his feet or touched something else metal could receive a fatal electrical shock under the right conditions.
 With modern electrical codes the practice was all but abandoned by late 60's  but you can still find some facility's using the bulbs to warn of a phase failure. At the now gone  BSA  camp Semiconon in Butler county Pa. they installed the bulbs near the camp office to warn when 3 phase was out to the camps water pump which was frequently plagued by single phasing conditions.

One violent Crime and The cost to this community

Don Harris is a friend and customer of mine . he runs Harris Sales & Service  also known as the ER room  which stands for Everything Rubber .
He has a store on Butler street in the Lawrenceville section of city of Pittsburgh .
its part variety store in front and in the back yes its a sex shop.  He sells rubber and leather clothing and  adult novelty's.
Don took a hobby/fetish  of loving to wear rubber and latex clothing  and turning it into a retail venture.

I have known Don thru his sale of industrial hardware , and rubber sheeting
When he sold it from his mechanics garage/ warehouse  on US 30  He often had hard to find industrial fittings I use when building industrial machinery

Don got away from the mechanical stuff because he developed carpal tunnel in his wrists as many mechanics do and started the retail business which he asked me to put an alarm system into
But it has been a struggle for Don  and he barely keeps his head above water.  It has been several years now and Don has had his share of shoplifting incidents but other than that  he has had few problems . He rarely has much cash in the store almost all his sales are by credit card .
The section of Lawrenceville Don has his store is slowly being transformed from vacant  shabby store fronts all dead since the steel mills went quiet in the 80's  to a nice mixed use neighborhood but Lawrencevilles  old ways  are still haunting it.

 It was a  sunny warm September afternoon about 2 PM when 2  young black men entered Dons store with hoodies and sunglasses and  sneaked up on him  since the shop door was open  to let in the cool air ,as they went toward Don at last moment he saw them got up out of his chair and they brandished a small silver hand gun. Don started to fight them off but he was struck in the head  as he fought with them he managed to wrestle with them grabbing the ones sunglasses and part of his hoodieas he made it out the door and fell to the curb had he not gotten out that door he probably would have been found dead.
 As a shocked shop keeper heard  the commotion and then saw the 2 individuals run off and saw Don was injured . Medic's and police responded quickly  Don now a mess of blood was taken to a local hospital where it  took 50staples to close the wounds on his scalp . There was blood all over the shop and on front street as you can see in the picture at left.
Don had  panic buttons but was unable to get to them . He had cameras as well but they where not working and he did not have money to fix them and did not want to impose on me he needed them fixed and would pay me later I wish he would of. It has been several weeks now Don still can not drive and has not been able to open and run his shop. He was already in the hole to begin with and this may be the straw that broke the camels back. 
These same 2 individuals who have done this are suspected in many more robberies of stores and citizens on the street yet city police can not seem to get a lead on who they are or where they are despite numerous help from citizens and now having evidence with DNA which could help solve problem but the county crime lab is backed up and it could be 6-8 months before results are available.
So once again a crime goes unsolved and a community suffers a loss which could be permanent and which will dissuade others from setting up shop when they can not be assured its safe to do so.
The locals who live around the area many section 8 and on welfare could care less as once again they see and hear violent crimes and will not come forward and help.
Then they sit back and complain how violent the neighborhood is and cops are not doing a good job. Then when cops do there jobs there nothing but pigs and racists .
Sad to say this neighborhood is never gong to change until the people living there are  eventually evicted  or change there attitudes.But this goes on in city's and small towns all cross the country .
The answers to fix it are not popular  and expensive but if we are ever to get rid of the slums the crime and everything that goes with it will take a mammoth effort to reeducate and change attitudes.  Which includes making jobs available and getting the economy moving again.

Supervision of Fire Alarm wiring theres a reason for it

At left is a 24 V DC fire bell with 4  flying leads for connection to a fire alarm system. a red and black power in and red and black power out.
But as you can see in this picture it was wrongly done. You should never see wires hooked like this on a conventional fire alarm The correct way this job should have been done incoming power leads should have been hooked to one set of black and red  bell leads and then the resistor hooked to the second set. This insures that if one of the wires disconnects that a trouble signal is produced at the fire panel . with both wires hoked up to the resistor a wire could fall off or break and you would never know bell is not working. This is one of the reasons almost all fire alarm devices now use a terminal strip  instead of flying leads to encourage correct hook up. The instructions written and diagram  on how to hook up a Bell horn smoke or other device are always included with a   all you have to do is look at them  and do it correctly but again because a installer was lazy he puts lives in jeopardy.  If a fire alarm is properly hooked up  any single wire break should sound at the panel with in 30-90 seconds depending on age of panel . But how many times I can walk in pull wires off and no trouble. Very disturbing knowing how critical these systems are to saving lives. not just property.

                                                Top photo incorrect  bottom photo correct way to wire to have ready to attach to input leads