Some might have heard about this...I was thinking the same thing earlier today...
Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Curt Phillips W4CP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Feb 1, 2008 6:21 PM Subject: [Swlfest] In The Middle East: Shortwave 3,Internet 0 To: Tarheel Scanner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: rtpnet RARS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, SWLFest SWLFest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast (story below) Don't get me wrong. As some of you know, I was teaching about the Internet at community colleges back before most people knew it existed, and I like it and use it on a daily basis. But as Scotty said, "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." (Trust a nerd to give you a Star Trek quote.:-) Whether these cables were cut on purpose or by accident, it highlights the vulnerability of this very complicated system that requires infrastructure around the world. As we all know (and we hams prove every Field Day), give us a generator, a tent and some trees to string up some antenna wire, and we'll have a shortwave station on the air quickly. And the intended recipients will only need a small portable battery-powered radio. To get a more reliable, larger coverage area takes a bit more work on the transmitter site, but it's still a system that is much tougher to stop than the Internet. We all know this, but you might want to pass along this story to those who say, "What is the need for shortwave radio when we have the Internet?" Hope to see you at the Fest. 73, Curt W4CP Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast (CNN) -- An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable. Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired. Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships' anchors. The loss of the two Mediterranean cables -- FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies -- has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India. Officials said Friday it was unclear what caused the damage to FLAG's FALCON cable about 50 kilometers off Dubai. A repair ship was en route, FLAG said. Eric Schoonover, a senior analyst with TeleGeography, said the FALCON cable is designed on a "ring system," taking it on a circuit around the Persian Gulf and enabling traffic to be more easily routed around damage. Schoonover said the two cables damaged Wednesday collectively account for as much as three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East, so their loss had a much bigger effect. Without the use of the FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, some carriers were forced to reroute their European traffic around the globe, which could cause delays, Beckert said. Other carriers could use SeaMeWe-3, an older cable that remained the only direct connection from Europe to the Middle East and Asia. Because this cable is older, it has a smaller capacity than the two damaged cables, Beckert said. Still, Beckert stressed that although the problem created a "big pain" for many of carriers, it did not compare to the several months of disruption in East Asia in 2006 after an earthquake damaged seven undersea cables near Taiwan. FULL STORY: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/index.html Curt Phillips, CEM CMVP W4CP ex-KD4YU; WB4LHI ARRL Life; QCWA; SKCC; NASWA Tar Heel Scanner/SWL Group WTSB AM1090- Sat. Mornings 6AM-9AM Raleigh, NC USA curt<at>nerdster.net -- "If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti ________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. _______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com -- Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above.
