CompoundSemi Online - The Original Compound Semiconductor Industry Newspaper

April 25, 2002...In a recent chat with a longtime reader, I was asked for another installment of the humorous trials and tribulations involved in our trying to communicate with the outside world. For those who don't know, I work from my ranch in the wilds of Texas where we've come to accept third class citizenship in a world of so-called advanced communications. As the years go on, the experiences become more amusing than frustrating. (I shudder when remembering what it took to get four telephone lines and Internet connection established). As a Texas rancher, I call these mis-adventure columns The Barbed Wire which I'll someday bundle and post for posterity. Installments began back in the mid 1980s at our starter ranch in California when sharing that Allen Podell, an original founder of Pacific Monolithics, MMIC pioneer and noted guru, personally boosted our conventional housetop television antenna until it actually got a picture. The PacMo connection continued when we reverse-migrated back to Texas (at the turn of the new century) when we were the first in our area to install wireless cable. After nine years of first 5 then finally 10 channels, we've progressed now to DishTV (a noteworthy improvement but way too many channel options) and only a few months ago did we achieve the ability to receive cellphone reception.

Cellphones in the outback are the dawn of a new day for people like us who live and/or work about 20 to 30 miles from the nearest town. For years the only time a cellphone was usable was when I was in an airport. Total clarity from SFO of DFW or NewYork/NewJersey became taken for granted, but when I headed for home, there was no use for a cellphone because there simply were no services available. Only a year ago did services extend to where one could "call home" from town, and if parked on the tip of a tall hill you might be able to call 911 if needed. The old 5 watt bulky phones are still the best assurance in times of emergency, so we still keep one of those turned off and tucked under the seat of the truck with a flashlight.

Towers went up; radios went down but that seemed a small price to pay for farmers and work crews to gain the capability of communicating with spouses and/or bosses (who are sometimes one and the same). The cellphones work, but the tall towers definitely interfere with auto or other "wireless" radio reception. Fortunately there are CDs when music is really required (and if you've ever driven a tractor for hours on end, it is). The biggest stride in cellphone reception in the wilds are that they're small and light, and now they work. You see them on a Texan's hip like the gunslingers of old. The most amusing is when a volunteer firefighter has his emergency 2-way radio on one hip and cellphone on the other which tends to add a swagger to the gunslinger's stride. (In Texas we still get to carry guns... you just can't see them.) Years ago, when I had a leather holster made for my early-issue portable phone, I earned the nickname The Fastest Mouth in the West. Cellphones are comfortably smaller, but cost so much in air time and battery life that I still prefer the holster and smaller cost of using my 900MHz (not to mention how well it blends well with a "9mm". Somehow I picture you saying, "hmmm... this isn't your usual advanced technology application story.")

Rattlesnake season, which begins with the warm days, marks the best application for a cellphone. When I take long walks alone in our woods I'm now reassured that I could quickly call for help when out of reach of a land line. (Rattlesnake season also provides an opportunity to pack a real pistol on the other hip in classic cowboy fashion. At least on ones own land in Texas, you still don't have to conceal your weapons.) While we now have steady reception from our end of a cellphone, my biggest frustration remains when I'm on the land line and the caller is mobile and their reception gets very unstable, cutting in and out as they obviously drive up and down, in and out of range. The most fun is that cellphone reception has now become so flaky and static-ridden that we've come to accept its flaws. Why is that fun? Easy. If you're talking to someone you don't want to, simply crackle and spit and quietly yell... "Sorry... I can't hear you... You're evidently cutting out... Better ring off now... Bye!.

InP Startup T-Networks Scores Additional $30.6M Venture Backing

New Focus Sells Passive Line to Finisar for $12.8 Million

AXT Launches 6 Inch InP Substrate Line

Tokyo Denpa Teams with MItsubishi Chem to Develop Single Crystal GaN

Sandia Steps Into the HB-LED Spotlight

The Camera That Sees Through Things... Even Better

Wireless Woes from the Wilds of Texas