Posts in category: Radio & Tech News

Sky Fiber Internet and Tarana Wireless announced today the launch of upgraded networks to bring high-speed internet to 25 towns in northern Nevada, passing 30,000 rural homes and hundreds of businesses with reliable broadband service.

Sky Fiber Internet, a Reno-based internet service provider (ISP), has significantly expanded its service coverage in Lake Tahoe and northern Nevada over the past two decades. Their team is committed to providing the best possible broadband, enabling their customers “to do more of what they love online with ease.” To accomplish this goal, Sky Fiber is always looking for innovative ways to provide service, which led them to Tarana’s groundbreaking G1 product line. G1 is the first instance of “next-generation fixed wireless access” (ngFWA) technology, a unique approach to delivering broadband at mass-scale. Since its introduction to the market in late 2021, G1 has been rapidly embraced by more than 240 ISPs in 19 countries.

The Sky Fiber team was intrigued by Tarana after discovering that the G1 platform excels at providing dependable high-speed service in noisy radio frequency environments and challenging long-range settings. Their previous wireless equipment had a restricted range and was susceptible to significant performance degradation, known as “rain fade,” particularly during inclement weather. These limitations resulted in service disruptions in snowy regions of Nevada like Lake Tahoe and neighboring towns.

Previously limited to a maximum speed of 50 Mbps on point to multi point deployments, Sky Fiber has significantly improved its service offerings with plans now ranging from 50 to 500 Mbps. By leveraging the capabilities of the G1 platform, the company can consistently provide reliable and enhanced service throughout all four seasons. This advancement not only allows Sky Fiber to retain its existing customers but also positions them to compete effectively against established providers in the market.

One of the standout features of Sky Fiber’s upgraded G1 network is its ability to establish connections over Lake Tahoe. Utilizing Tarana base node (BN) radios positioned on Genoa Peak, customers located up to 15 miles across the lake can now access impressive speeds of up to 500 Mbps. The wireless performance achieved through this technology is truly unprecedented and represents a significant advancement in the industry.

In March, Sky Fiber invited Tarana team members to witness the outstanding link results for themselves. Sky Fiber then released a short film summarizing their memorable trip up to Genoa Peak and explaining the value of Tarana in their network. 

When the Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, urgent distress calls were sent out in the hope that someone would come to the rescue. 

But with no other ship nearby in the wide expanse of the freezing North Atlantic, more than 1,500 passengers and crew lost their lives before survivors were rescued by cruise ship the Carpathia, two hours after the sinking.

Although the distress call did not prevent the immense loss of life, one man was listening 3,000 miles away in south Wales and tried to do something about it. 

After hearing the calls, amateur radio enthusiast Artie Moore told the local police about the plight of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic, but was not believed. 

It was only two days later, when the sinking became national news, that authorities realised he had been telling the truth. 

It comes after scientists created a 3D ‘digital twin’ of the wreck of the ill-fated ship, revealing it in greater detail than ever before. 

Amateur radio enthusiast Artie Moore, from south Wales, picked up the distress calls sent out by the Titanic as the vessel sank after hitting an iceberg in April 1912. Above: The inventor outside his radio shack. He lost a leg in an accident at his father’s mill when he was a youngster

Born in Pontllanfraith, near Blackwood, in South Wales in 1887, Moore was the eldest son of local miller William Moore. 

He and his brother took over the running of the mill from their father and were known locally as entrepreneurs and pioneers. 

According to the local history society, the brothers developed machines for local farmers and gave the area its first access to electricity using a homemade generator that was powered by the mill’s waterwheel.

Moore used the experience of losing a leg in a horrific accident in the mill when he was a youngster to create a counterbalance on his bicycle, allowing him to ride with just one foot.  

As a teenager, he built a working model of a horizontal steam engine and submitted it to a national competition, where he won first prize – physicist Sir Oliver Lodge’s book Modern Views Of Magnetism And Electricity.

This piqued his interest in wireless technology and Moore then started experimenting in the loft at Gelligroes Mill.

Amateur radio enthusiast Billy Crofts told the BBC: ‘He strung up all these aerials made from thin strands of copper wire from the Gelligroes mill, over the nearby River Sirhowy and slung between trees up the hillside to an old barn.’

Using his homemade aerials, Moore was able to pick up radio messages from further away then anyone had previously thought possible. 

The radio enthusiast initially came to public attention in 1911, when he picked up Italy’s declaration of war on Libya. 

When the Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, urgent distress calls were sent out in the hope that someone would come to the rescue. Above: The Titanic before its departure from Southampton

When he alerted police about the Titanic’s distress calls in the early hours of April 15,1912, they are said to have mocked him and told him to go back to bed. 

But when the news reports came through about the disaster, all of what Moore had told police was corroborated. 

‘In Blackwood it might have been thought of as black magic, but to those who knew and understood, wireless telegraphy was the internet of its day,’ Mr Crofts added. 

Moore’s interception of the Titanic’s distress signals led to an offer of a scholarship to the British School Of Telegraphy in London.

After studying for just three months, he was noticed by famed engineer Guglielmo Marconi, who offered him a position as a draughtsman. 

He then worked on the development of the integral thermionic valve, which helped propel many advances in radio technology.  

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he was working in the ship equipment department of the Marconi Company.

He was appointed technician and supervised the installation of radio equipment for the Admiralty. 

It comes after scientists created a 3D ‘digital twin’ of the wreck of the ill-fated ship , revealing it in greater detail than ever before

Survivors from the sinking of the Titanic are seen in a lifeboat shortly before being rescued by the cruise ship Carpathia

After the war had come to an end in 1918, he transferred to Liverpool and oversaw the first fitting of wireless telegraphy equipment to a trawler.

He then transferred to the Marconi International Marine Communication Company, where he developed an early form of sonar called the echometer in 1932.

Moore retired in 1947 and died in Bristol in January 1949 after suffering from leukaemia. 

Fittingly, it was the sonar technology he pioneered that was used to find the Titanic’s wreck in 1985.  

DISASTER IN THE ATLANTIC: HOW MORE THAN 1,500 LOST THEIR LIVES WHEN THE TITANIC SANK

The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world were on board, including property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Constructed by Belfast-based shipbuilders Harland and Wolff between 1909 and 1912, the RMS Titanic was the largest ship of her time

Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to his family’s mining business, also perished, along with Isidor Straus, the German-born co-owner of Macy’s department store.

The ship was the largest afloat at the time and was designed in such a way that it was meant to be ‘unsinkable’.

It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first-class cabins.

There were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations.

After leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading to New York.

On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm local time.

James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him: ‘What do you see?’ The man responded: ‘Iceberg, dead ahead.’

By 2.20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it.

Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived nearly two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water.

It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor. 

More than 50 years after leaving high school, Marilyn Farnworth remembers the feeling of being handed an orientation package and learning that she was going to bear witness to one of the greatest singers of all-time.

“The package said we were going to have the Ike and Tina Turner Revue there. Being a Motown girl, I knew exactly who they were,” she said.

“It was quite exciting to think that we would have the opportunity in Windsor to see such a famous duo performing at the University of Windsor.”

That’s exactly what happened during University of Windsor orientation in 1972, as Ike and Tina Turner performed “Proud Mary” on the school’s athletic field.

“It was like watching a football game because you’re there in the stands watching, but you’re watching Ike and Tina Turner instead of watching a football game,” said Farnworth.

“There were a lot of people and a lot of students there. A lot of them were sober and some not so much. It was just thrilling and electrifying.”

A photo of Ike and Tina meeting with officials after the duo’s orientation performance can be found in the University of Windsor’s 1972-73 yearbook.

The pair would go their separate ways four years later, leading to Tina Turner’s resurgence as a solo act.

“I actually feel her best performances came after she left Ike in 1976 and started doing her own performances,” said Farnworth. “Obviously, I love Proud Mary … but I just felt she became more of her own person and her music was more of my style.”

While most people remember Tina Turner for her vocal ability, one Windsor native says it was her conversational voice that will always remain unforgettable to him.

Charles “Spider” Jones is a recipient of the Order of Ontario, a motivational speaker and a long-time talk radio host. His latter venture dates back to the late 1980s, when he conducted his first radio interviews.

Jones had a show called “The Spider’s Web” on CHUO, a station near Toronto. Thanks to a connection with a booking agent, he had the opportunity to interview artists performing at the Royal York Hotel’s Imperial Room.

In just his second radio interview, he found himself standing next to Tina Turner. At the time, she was in the middle of what many people consider the greatest comeback in the music industry.

“I said, ‘you were my first crush … I used to sit in front of the television set when you were on American Bandstand.’ She laughed and kissed me on the cheek,” Jones recalled with a laugh.

“I said to myself, ‘I’ll never wash it again.’”

As for Farnworth, her favourite Tina Turner moment is seeing her perform live in Orlando in 2000.

“She was a fabulous performer. If you ever had an opportunity to see her, you would never be disappointed because she always gave 100 per cent in everything she did,” she said.

“Tina Turner was a very energetic, enthusiastic and motivated performer.”

The agreement emphasizes the importance of skilled Amateur Radio Operators in times of crisis and the role of ARES leadership within the emergency communications space. 

ARES (see the ARES fact sheet at www.arrl.org/ares) is a network of trained Amateur Radio Service licensees organized across the country to provide communications and other support to served agencies, such as local governments, hospitals, and disaster response charities. More than 20,000 ARES volunteers actively participate in the ARRL program. In 2022, they provided more than 420,000 labor hours of service saving local officials $13.4 million in personnel costs.

Each member of ARES has specialized training in emergency communications. Many have also completed training in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in order to integrate with local officials during an emergency response.

In March 2023, FEMA released the final version of the NIMS Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Functional Guidance, which includes radio amateurs in the response ecosystem and national emergency preparedness.

“The agreement is representative of the continued commitment and cooperation between FEMA and ARRL,” said ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV. “Serving our country during emergencies is an important service provided by ARES volunteers and a principal purpose of our Amateur Radio Service. Our well-equipped volunteers bring their training, use of innovative technologies, and community partnerships together to serve before and during disasters.”

FEMA announced the new agreement on Twitter stating, “We recently signed a new MOA with @arrl — establishing our partnership with licensed, voluntary amateur radio operators to support response [and] recovery efforts. We’re honored to work side-by-side to meet the needs of millions in the wake of disasters.”

Former FEMA Administrator and ARRL member Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, led the agency when the previous MOA with ARRL was signed in 2014. Fugate said the agreement underscores the importance of ham radio. “By incorporating amateur radio into their emergency plans, FEMA ensures that they have access to a network of trained operators who can establish and maintain communication links when traditional infrastructure fails. This collaboration between FEMA and Amateur Radio Operators allows for more robust and resilient emergency communication capabilities, ultimately contributing to effective disaster response and recovery,” said Fugate.

“The ARRL Board and the Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee are committed to strengthening our resourcefulness to the EmComm (emergency communications) community,” said ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR. “Our partnership with FEMA helps further ARRL’s work to better serve our volunteers, partner agencies, and the country.”

About ARRL 

ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio® was founded in 1914 as The American Radio Relay League, and is a noncommercial organization of radio amateurs. ARRL numbers within its ranks the vast majority of active radio amateurs (or “hams”) in the US and has a proud history of achievement as the standard-bearer in promoting and protecting amateur radio. For more information about ARRL and amateur radio, visit www.arrl.org.

About ARES®

Amateur Radio Operators, or “hams,” have a long history of serving their communities when storms or other disasters damage critical communication infrastructure, such as cell phone towers and fiber optic networks. Amateur radio functions completely independently of the internet and phone systems, and a ham radio station can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. Amateurs can quickly raise a wire antenna in a tree or on a mast, connect it to a radio and power source, and communicate effectively with others.

The ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES® www.arrl.org/ares) consists of hams who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with their local ARES leadership for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. They use their training, skills, and equipment to prepare for and provide communications during emergencies When All Else Fails®.

RTÉ has announced the online publication of some of its earliest radio recordings from the RTÉ Archives.

The collection, available at RTÉ Archives Acetate Disc Collection, includes over 5,300 recordings made for RTÉ Radio between 1927 and the 1970s and gives a fascinating and rare insight into the voices, sounds, topics, and processes involved in the creation of early radio broadcasting at RTÉ.

Over the last three years, RTÉ Archives has been creating digital files from thousands of fragile acetate discs which contained the original recordings.

The recordings are now preserved for the long term thanks to the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s Archiving Scheme, which has now been incorporated into the recently established Coimisiúin na Meán.

Among the collection are full programmes and news broadcasts. There are also sound effects, inserts, performances, interviews and reports, all created for use in the production of radio programmes.

Highlights include:

Opening of the Cork radio station 6CK (1927)

Maud Gonne Recalls Evictions (1947)

Provincial News Round Up (1957)

Sean McBride jokes about the merits of radio (Wexford Festival 1952)

Christmas in Amiens Street (1949)

Commenting on the publishing of the Acetate Collection, Bríd Dooley, Head of RTÉ Archives, said: “We are delighted to open up this hugely evocative collection from the earliest decades of broadcast recording technology. It will take audiences back to the mores, sounds, and voices from 1927 onwards as the new Irish State was emerging, many decades before television itself came along. It provides a unique insight our audiences can now enjoy and will be a source of important discovery for researchers, programme makers, historians, and educators alike.”

“We are very grateful to Comisiúin na Meán for its support of the very specialist preservation and cataloguing development work involved under the Archive Funding Scheme, and to our partners at the Irish Traditional Music Archive who, together with our team of archive specialists, developed the catalogue and the online publication. At the beginning of this project we had the labels and recordings, whereas now we have a rich and searchable resource. We will continue to enhance the collection as we learn more about these recordings.”

For more on RTÉ Archives, visit www.rte.ie/Archives.

Sky Fiber Internet and Tarana Wireless announced today the launch of upgraded networks to bring high-speed internet to 25 towns in northern Nevada, passing 30,000 rural homes and hundreds of businesses with reliable broadband service.

Sky Fiber Internet, a Reno-based internet service provider (ISP), has significantly expanded its service coverage in Lake Tahoe and northern Nevada over the past two decades. Their team is committed to providing the best possible broadband, enabling their customers “to do more of what they love online with ease.” To accomplish this goal, Sky Fiber is always looking for innovative ways to provide service, which led them to Tarana’s groundbreaking G1 product line. G1 is the first instance of “next-generation fixed wireless access” (ngFWA) technology, a unique approach to delivering broadband at mass-scale. Since its introduction to the market in late 2021, G1 has been rapidly embraced by more than 240 ISPs in 19 countries.

The Sky Fiber team was intrigued by Tarana after discovering that the G1 platform excels at providing dependable high-speed service in noisy radio frequency environments and challenging long-range settings. Their previous wireless equipment had a restricted range and was susceptible to significant performance degradation, known as “rain fade,” particularly during inclement weather. These limitations resulted in service disruptions in snowy regions of Nevada like Lake Tahoe and neighboring towns.

Previously limited to a maximum speed of 50 Mbps on point to multi point deployments, Sky Fiber has significantly improved its service offerings with plans now ranging from 50 to 500 Mbps. By leveraging the capabilities of the G1 platform, the company can consistently provide reliable and enhanced service throughout all four seasons. This advancement not only allows Sky Fiber to retain its existing customers but also positions them to compete effectively against established providers in the market.

One of the standout features of Sky Fiber’s upgraded G1 network is its ability to establish connections over Lake Tahoe. Utilizing Tarana base node (BN) radios positioned on Genoa Peak, customers located up to 15 miles across the lake can now access impressive speeds of up to 500 Mbps. The wireless performance achieved through this technology is truly unprecedented and represents a significant advancement in the industry.

In March, Sky Fiber invited Tarana team members to witness the outstanding link results for themselves. Sky Fiber then released a short film summarizing their memorable trip up to Genoa Peak and explaining the value of Tarana in their network. 

From June 15-18 ADIFF Chicago celebrates its 20th anniversary by showcasing films that give voice to misrepresented Black & Indigenous experiences

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, May 25, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — From June 15-18, the Chicago African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF Chicago) celebrates its 20th anniversary with programs and screenings at the Film Center and Facets Multimedia. The films selected will have their Chicago premiere in this international film festival that, since its inception, presents culturally significant films that explore the Black and Indigenous experience, giving a multidimensional voice to often misrepresented realities and peoples.

Several films in this year’s festival explore the interaction between immigrants and their surroundings. In Opening Night film LUDI by Edson Jean (USA) – sponsored by the DuSable Heritage Association and The Haitian American Museum of Chicago – we follow Haitian nurse Ludi Alcidor as she embarks on a frantic scour through Miami’s private care-taking world in an increasingly desperate attempt to send money to her family in Haiti. ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET by Petr Lom (Netherlands/USA) follows three African American women fighting for social justice in a black church in Philadelphia with their soup kitchen and their embrace of a family of Mexican refugees. YAFA, FORGIVENESS by Christian Lara (France/Guadeloupe) explores the social and economic dynamics at work in the relationship between an African immigrant in Paris and a Caribbean policeman from Guadeloupe as they seek to understand each other.

The program Spotlight on New African Cinema presents the work of two young upcoming African filmmakers: THE AFRICOLOGIST by Valerio Lopes (Cape Verde) is an innovative Afrofuturist documentary that takes us on an exploratory journey into the past, present and future of Africa. BLIND EYE by Mengameli Nhlabathi (South African) is a thriller that explores the mechanism behind the all too real corruption problems in South African society today.

The program The Magic of the Blues is comprised of two films: Mercurial blues-man Fantastic Negrito faces his demons amidst the mental health crisis ravaging his Oakland community in the dynamic music documentary FANTASTIC NEGRITO: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND YET? by Francisco Núñez Capriles & Yvan Iturriaga (USA). MUSIC PICTURES: NEW ORLEANS by Ben Chace (USA) gives us legacy portraits and a rare backstage access into the lives and craft of four New Orleans music legends: Irma Thomas – the reigning “Soul Queen of New Orleans”, Little Freddie King, Ellis Marsalis, and The Tremé Brass Band.

ADIFF’s SPOTLIGHT ON MALI presents two films: WÙLU by Daouda Coulibaly is an urgent and vibrant African thriller that follows Ladji (a beautifully understated Ibrahim Koma) who, when he loses out on a job opportunity, is lured into the lucrative but highly dangerous world of drug smuggling. The other film DANCING THE TWIST IN BAMAKO (TWIST À BAMAKO) by Robert Guédiguian is set in the early 1960s, as Mali’s capital city celebrates the country’s independence from French colonial rule. The idealistic Samba works toward creating a more just nation by day, and dances to Otis Redding and the Supremes with his spirited girlfriend Lara by night. For the film’s theatrical run at New York’s Film Forum, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott wrote ”The cast is… dynamic and sincere in a way that gives the drama a buoyant teen-movie spirit even as it takes a grave turn. It’s affecting.”

ADIFF CLOSING NIGHT is MOVE WHEN THE SPIRIT SAYS MOVE: THE LEGACY OF DOROTHY FOREMAN COTTON, an inspiring portrait of Dorothy Foreman Cotton, a courageous and overlooked key player in the Civil Rights Movement, and a bold and highly effective leader who educated thousands in their citizenship rights and inspired generations of activists with her powerful freedom songs. Director/Producer Deborah C. Hoard and Executive Producer and Senior Advisor Laura Branca will be in attendance for a post screening discussion and reception in celebration of Juneteenth.

For a full schedule and to order advance tickets online please call 773-281-4114 or 212-864-1760 or visit http://www.facets.org or http://www.NYADIFF.org. Tickets are $13 general admission, $10 for groups of 10 and Facets member. The All-Access Weekend Pass is $65.

The ADIFF Chicago Film Festival is made possible thanks to the generous support of FACETS Multimedia, SISKEL Film Center, ArtMattan Productions, the Dusable Heritage Assocation and The Haitian American Museum of Chicago. The African Diaspora International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.

For screeners, press information, and interviews for the ADIFF Chicago Film Series contact Diarah N’Daw-Spech (Info@NYADFF.org) or visit the Festival web site: www.NYADIFF.org.

ADIFF CHICAGO FILM SERIES FACT SHEET

WHAT: 20th Annual ADIFF CHICAGO

WHERE: Facets Cinema – 1517 West Fullerton Ave, Chicago; Gene Siskel Film Center – 164 N State St, Chicago

WHEN: From June 15 to 18, 2023

TICKETS: All Access Festival pass $65; Opening and Closing Nights: $15;

Spotlight on New African Cinema & The Magic of the Blues programs: $20

Regular Screenings: $13. Groups of 10 or more, Students, Seniors, Siskel/Facets members: $10

10 FILMS – 7 COUNTRIES:

USA, Cape Verde, South Africa, France, Guadeloupe, Mali & Senegal.

WEB SITES: http://www.NYADIFF.org or Facets.org

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Thursday, June 15 – FACETS

6pm Opening Night Reception

7pm Ludi + Q&A

Friday, June 16 – FACETS

Spotlight on New African Cinema Program – Complementary desert during intermission

6pm The Africologist

8pm Blind Eye

Saturday, June 17 – FACETS

2pm Yafa, Forgiveness

4pm Angels on Diamond Street

The Magic of the Blues Program – Complementary desert during intermission

6pm Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind?

8:30pm Music Pictures: New Orleans

Sunday, June 18 SISKEL

12noon Spotlight on Mali: Wulu

2pm Spotlight on Mali: Dancing The Twist in Bamako

4:30pm Closing Night – Screening + Panel + reception after the screening

Move When the Spirit Says Move: The Legacy of Dorothy Foreman Cotton

Diarah N’Daw-Spech
ArtMattan Films
+1 212-864-1760
email us here

ADIFF Chicago 2023

Most cellphone users have experienced the inconvenience of having a call go dead while driving along a country road. But what about the people who live at those dead spots?

Many residents of Rush Township and other rural pockets throughout the area say lack of high-speed internet and reliable cellphone service is a fact of daily life.

Service in Rush Township varies from house to house due to its many hills and valleys.

Hilltop residents like Diane McKinley have been able to drop their landlines for a cellphone, but others don’t have that choice. McKinley can get her internet through an attic window, while her neighbors in the valley just below bring in no 5G signal at all and can use their cellphones only while traveling away from home.

Neighbor Neil Wertz, just up the road, has decent phone reception in the house, but it disappears once he heads up to his shop, just a few hundred feet away. Yet, he has noticed unfamiliar cars pulling over right next to his garden, a local hot spot, to complete a call.

TV, streaming

TV viewing and streaming are also challenging. Except for the Route 54 corridor, fiberoptic cable has not been run in Rush Township, according to Sam Haulman, general manager of Service Electric. That’s because, with such a sparse population along so many roads, it is not cost-effective to install cable at $40,000 per mile, Haulman said. So, TV in the hinterlands is mostly through Dish or Direct TV, and even that is not always feasible.

Cindy Dozpat lives on the side of a mountain. She said DishTV told her that picking up their satellite’s signals is impossible. Cellphone reception is good for her now, since Verizon installed another tower, but earlier she could use her cellphone only in her dining room, and only if she didn’t turn her head while talking. Even with better service, her Zoom still freezes sometimes in mid-sentence during a meeting.

For internet service without a cable option, Rush Township residents are left with several non-ideal choices, but have learned to improvise.

DSL through the phone lines is one very slow option, with decent internet reception but not enough bandwidth for streaming. That means no possibility of Netflix, Hulu or streamed sporting events.

The PA Statewide Broadband Plan released in November 2022 reports that approximately 5 percent of Pennsylvanians are “unserved” by high-speed broadband and many more are “underserved.” The FCC defines “unserved” as less than 25 Megabits per second download and 3 Mbps upload. “Underserved” is less than 100Mbps/20 Mbps. Since DSL lines max out at 3 Mbps download speed, that puts its users in the “unserved” category.

Haulman said that DSL can’t handle higher speeds because it’s just a tiny copper wire. Just for comparison, the fiber-optic cable internet offered by Service Electric starts at 100 Mbps download and can go up to 2 gigabytes, depending on the plan chosen.

Frustrated, many rural residents turn to through-the-air reception.

“I’ve tried everything that is feasible,” said Mike Trelease, who lives on Erlston Road in Rush Township. During COVID, both he and his wife were working from home and his kids were on Zoom for school, which caused a family crisis. He finally settled on a combination of Starlink, a satellite-based internet, and T-Mobile.

“My setup is not cheap, but it mostly works,” he said. He said he chose Starlink because it has the least latency among satellite providers, but it’s not perfect. He said his setups require frequent tweaking of position to keep them working.

Reception, signal challenges

Most residents choose T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon as their provider, but getting signal through a modem is still tricky.

Carl Beagle, who lives in a valley in Rush Township, keeps his modem in the garage looking out of a window, but “it has to be placed perfectly, with the cords to the side at 9 o’clock position to work. Anything else, it just quits.”

He also loses the server on cloudy days, or during storms. Reception is worse in the summer when leaves are on the trees.

Besides Rush Township, there are a few other rural pockets in the Danville area without good service. Duncan and Libby Beiler, who live in the far reaches of Limestone Township, have created their own personal hotspot, thanks to the tech talents of their son. Before that, they used HughesNet.

“It was awful,” said Libby Beiler.

“We are fully aware that Rush Township is underserved,” said DRIVE Executive Director Jennifer Wakeman, who has been working to bring economic development and high speed internet to Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union and Columbia counties.

She said that Danville and most of Montour County are in good shape for high-speed internet, but there are a few scattered unserved pockets, such as the low-lying areas of Limestone Township.

Obstacles to improving access

Running fiber-optic cable to every home would be the perfect solution, but “it’s a big hurdle to build a cable network in areas with low population,” according to Haulman.

Another difficulty is sharing poles with the utility companies. “In rural areas, many poles may be too old or too short or otherwise not designed to accept another attacher. If a pole needs to be replaced, the new installer has to bear the cost,” he said.

Getting approval for pole use also takes time.

“We’ve been waiting almost a year now for pole replacement authorization for a job that’s ready to go,” Haulman said.

Another problem is that “everybody’s needs are different,” said Haulman. “When we build an extension, we don’t get all the homes to subscribe. The rate is usually about 55 percent.”

“Cable is not a utility like gas or electric, where everybody uses it,” he said. Haulman said that’s why government grants and encouragement are so crucial in making it happen.

According to an email response from Senator Lynda Schlegel-Culver’s office, “in December 2021, a law was signed to establish the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) which was responsible for creating a statewide broadband plan and distributing federal and state monies for broadband expansion projects in unserved and underserved areas of Pennsylvania.”

She added that “The PBDA recently approved guidelines for a $200 million Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program and they began accepting applications this week.”

Local efforts

Locally this effort is directed by DRIVE (Driving Real Innovation for a Vibrant Economy), established in 2015. In January 2022, DRIVE launched a public-private partnership, combining a loan from Geisinger and CARES Act funding. According to its website, the $3.2 million were used to begin a fixed-broadband network in the five local counties, and they have added 16 towers to date. Service providers for this network are Sky Packet and Centre WISP.

That project is now complete, according to Wakeman, and DRIVE has submitted a new grant application to the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to increase the network’s reach. They are also working on an application for new PBDA grants.

At the beginning of 2020, federal government grants were given to companies to invest in internet service in unserved areas, but the company assigned to Rush Township was not able to follow through, which has delayed improvements in that area, according to Wakeman.

“Rush Township is a challenge,” she said. “We’ve been working on mapping to see where towers are most needed and would be most effective, given the topography.”

DRIVE’s fixed broadband network is a “non-line-of-site” system, which allows signals to go through tree foliage, though not hills. It works on radio technology, and the DRIVE network uses a licensed Citizen’s Band Radio spectrum for their system, according to Wakeman.

“We need to find the right pieces of land and get permission from the owners to build new towers,” she said.

Haulman is encouraged by the DRIVE project, but said “topography makes it hard for this to work for everyone. It will need to have towers everywhere.”

In its first phase, according to the DRIVE website, “60 percent of rural and underserved residents were expected to receive service.”

Potential customers can sign onto the Sky Packet website, skypacket.net, and enter their address to find out if they are included.

Will internet service to rural Pennsylvanians get better anytime soon? “I am hopeful,” said Haulman. “The new government grant programs have the possibility to make a difference.”

Wakeman said she is committed to the effort. “Areas that don’t have internet will not be on a level playing field in economic development with those that do,” she said.

Computer literacy

In addition to bringing high speed internet to all of Pennsylvania, Wakeman emphasized another need, computer literacy for all.

“At present, only so many people will use what they have compared to the number of people served,” she said.

Statistics estimate that 1.2 million adult Pennsylvanians (14.6 percent) lack the skills they need to take advantage of broadband access. Digital literacy is yet another arm of the PA Broadband Authority mission.

“Rural areas have known for a long time that they need better internet, but the pandemic has brought this to national attention at last,” said Wakeman.

“There are lots of different solutions and we are working to find them,” she said.

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