Real Estate

Ask the old RF curmudgeon: “What about RF interference from LED fixtures?”

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As for your observation of the LED transmitter, I only have a UHF two-way radio in my car, so I haven’t noticed the “LED effect” on the high VHF band. We have a lot of LED traffic lights in my area, so part of the equation is in place. And don’t forget all those red LEDs in car taillights now. I also haven’t noticed any LEDs directly on FM broadcast channels, including IBOC stations, but that’s more of a reflection that we have such strong broadcast signals in my area of ​​the country.

In response to your other comment, yes, the FCC doesn’t give a damn about the RF spectrum or its purity. I believe that this trend started more than a decade ago and is driven by two deeply entrenched political positions within the Commission. First, they really want to get out of the enforcement business. They don’t get major points or funding from Congress for running the Office of Field Enforcement (or whatever it’s called now), spectrum enforcement is a bottomless pit for them, and it’s a never-ending task. They prefer to auction off the spectrum and say to the happy buyer, “Keep *your* bands clean! We’re outta here!”

The second is the deeply ingrained regulatory notion that “cellular broadcasting” with its simultaneous frequency reuse is the highest and best use of the spectrum. If you use cellular, you don’t have to worry too much about the ambient noise level since the transmitters are always quite close to the users. The cellular regulatory model works not only in public land mobile telephony, but also in private land mobile telephony (where it is very difficult to obtain new PLMRS licenses for large area stations on top of mountains or major towers, and if you get a over most stations then you can run “walkie talkie” power levels. And on broadcast (LPFM and LPTV, which also conveniently use all available channel slots). And on unlicensed consumer Part 15 wireless LANs.” Et cetera, etcetera, etcetera, as the King of Siam would say.

I don’t know if you got it at the time, but a few years ago, the Commission introduced an NPRM proposing to *allow* sources of interference on licensed channels (in this case, microwaves), using a concept known as “Interference Temperature! ” The idea was that the “smart radios” at the source of the jammer would “know” when the source had gone a bridge too far and then turn off. Lacking that degree of equipment capability on the part of jammers, the channel licensee could always monitor and yell when the measured “jamming temperature” exceeded set limits.

The industry quickly dropped that idea *^@(&^!

So, spurred on by these two philosophical points, the Commission now says, “Please go ahead and trash the spectrum with lots of low-power, unlicensed devices, power lines that rattle, power meters that screech, high-speed digital logic with time femtosecond switching (I exaggerate, but not by much!), screeching LEDs – we don’t care, and we don’t enforce the law here in Dodge City anymore!

As soon as some clever businessman discovers a use for the 4 Kelvin cosmic microwave background radiation, it too will be quickly licensed and eventually auctioned off.

You and I, being veterans of this art and science, understand what an invaluable resource the RF spectrum represents and we respect it and do what we can to keep it in good working order. The Commission, especially in recent years, has been run and managed by lawyers, economists and politicians who do not know the physics behind electromagnetic transmission, have none of the “vision” for future non-economic uses for which the spectrum silent could be used, and they consider the spectrum mainly as an exploitable economic good. What would you expect?

Adding to this outrage, there is too much transfer of communications from wired to wireless modes today. Most people don’t really need a “belly button web service”. Now my eleven-year-old granddaughters have their own cell phones. Give me a (&#%$@& break!

Many, many services could be provided well and cheaply over cable, if only we had a universal fiber broadband network in this country. But that is another failure of the Commission on the “vision issue.” The Asians and perhaps the Europeans will “clean our clocks” only with this failure.

So, sayonara RF spectrum, my dear old love! I will always remember you as you were in those distant days when you were still young, fresh and beautiful.

Shopping Product Reviews

Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing Strategies

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Pay per click (PPC) marketing is one of the best ways to get instant targeted traffic. PPC is amazing because it allows you to do so many things with ease. You generate affiliates, test landing pages, test sales pages, test keyword variations to target SEO, and more. It’s an amazing way to promote products online and it’s unique in that it has the ability to get results fast.

The 2 biggest PPC search engines are Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Google Ads is bigger (since it’s owned by Google) and Microsoft Ads is owned by Bing. You’ll get most of your traffic from Google Ads, but Microsoft Ads can also get you high-quality traffic. You just want to be more specific with your keyword targeting, your budget, and your keyword’s cost per click (CPC).

I know that these abbreviations and terms can be too many to remember, but I assure you that they are very simple. Pay per click is great because of its ability to let you predict the results you may get. If you know the math of your business ahead of time and you’re getting certain results on pay-per-click networks, you can adjust certain aspects of your campaigns so that the numbers work in your favor.

But there are plenty of other pay per click search engines out there. Now you should know that I don’t normally recommend these other PPC networks. This is mainly because they are synonymous with click fraud and poor traffic. You’ll find that keyword cost per click is surprisingly cheaper than Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. While you can pay $1-$3 for a click for a particular keyword on Google and Microsoft Ads, on lower tier PPC networks you can pay 5-10 cents per click for those same keywords. Don’t expect to get good results with those networks.

The only time those networks get decent traffic is when you’re promoting something illicit. That’s all I’m going to do in regards to downplaying the other PPC networks, but here’s something you need to know before you start investing hundreds (or thousands) of dollars in these other programs. You may say to yourself, “Wow, I have no competition on these other networks!” But you should know that you have no competition because no one else who knows what they’re doing knows to stay away from those sites.

You will be bidding against yourself. And you will be losing all the time. You’ll invest your money in these low-grade PPC networks convinced that if you simply “tweak” some aspect of your campaign, you’ll get leads and sales. Unfortunately, it will not happen that way. You can tweak things as much as you want, but you won’t be able to get the leads and sales you’re looking for. So it’s best if you stick to Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, and make sure the math in your business works with the keyword bids you’re targeting.

So once you’re in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, what kind of strategies should you implement to get the best possible results? Well, I am going to give you some tips that you can use to get the upper hand over your competitors. Let’s start with this first tip. This is something I stumbled across when doing a different form of marketing that involved email marketing:

1) Tier 1 target countries

If you’re selling globally, there’s no point in selling to an audience that doesn’t have the financial ability to buy your products. Also, if your primary language is English, you’ll want your prospects to be able to speak English. So you’ll want to target the top 5 countries that have the most financial ability to buy and also speak English. These countries are: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these are the only countries that have people who speak English and have the financial ability to buy. Many people in countries around the world meet this criteria, but these 5 countries are the main ones you’ll want to target for overall campaign effectiveness. I’m not trying to disrespect other countries, but if you want practically bonus results, you’ll want to stick to these 5 countries. Here is another pay per click marketing strategy:

2) Don’t put all your keywords in one ad group

It’s best to have multiple campaigns, and more importantly, more than one ad group. For me personally, I have 2 sets of PPC keywords that I bid on. I have those keywords that I bid $1-$1.50 cents on, and then another set of keywords that I bid $0.50-$0.75 cents on. I do this because I’ve found that the high cost set of keywords converts better for me, and the lower cost set of keywords converts well, but not as well as the higher cost ones.

So for the lower cost set, I get more clicks, but lower conversion rates. So, to compensate, I lower the cost of those keywords so they can match the same conversion rates that higher cost keywords give me. Other people have their own reasons for creating multiple ad groups for the same campaign. When you start, you will also have your own reasons. This is what I do, and I have found that this works best for me. This is the last PPC tip I want to give you:

3) Never bid on broad match keywords

Never bid on broad match keyword terms. Broad means bidding on a raw keyword. For example, if you wanted to bid on the keyword “bicycle tires,” here’s what the broad match, phrase match, and exact match keyword types would look like:

WIDE MATCH: bicycle tires
MATCH PHRASE: “bicycle tires”
EXACT MATCH: [bicycle tires]

When you bid on broad match keywords, you’ll get clicks on your ad for any search query that contains the words “bike” and “tires.” This is a virtually guaranteed way to blow your budget and destroy your campaign. In my experience, phrase match keyword types have worked best for me.

Exact match keywords are great, but they’re very expensive and very competitive, and they don’t necessarily guarantee sales or lead conversions when you bid on them.

These 3 pay-per-click marketing strategies are tips you should consider before spending a single penny on ads. Follow my advice and you will be on the right path to success.

Sports

A brief history of the locksmith

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Locksmiths are tradesmen who are licensed to make, test, repair, and install keys and locks. Locksmiths obtain these licenses after graduating from a trade school that offers certificates in this trade. When locksmiths get certified to work in this field, they join an elite group of people who share an interesting history. Here is a brief history describing how locksmithing began and how it has become a key component in today’s security industry.

The locksmith has an interesting history dating back to ancient Egypt. The first locks and keys were made from wood using a template that required minute precision to use correctly. As a result, the early locksmiths were really craftsmen who had great skill and patient demeanor.

Today’s modern locksmith can trace its origins back to medieval times. During this time, blacksmiths made locks, keys, battle gear, and other things from iron. As the importance of keys and locks grew in medieval times, so did the need for an expert who made nothing but keys and locks. In the late Middle Ages, the current trade we know as locksmithing gradually developed as blacksmiths took the lead in producing these items.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the locksmith trade became an established field in Europe and the American colonies. During this time, locksmiths became more adept at designing and producing more elaborate key and lock systems that provided more security. These systems included the first deadbolt locking system and the first combination locks.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, locksmiths were able to open their own shops because the demand for keys and locks grew rapidly as cities and towns grew. During this time, new innovations in locking systems were developed to meet the demands of a safer society. Most of the innovations are still used today.

Today, locksmiths learn more than just producing locks and keys. Today, locksmiths must also learn to evaluate locking systems to see how well they can withstand stress. This has made the locksmith an important part of the security industry because our society has become a more violent place to live. As a result, locksmiths will exist as long as there is a need for security in an insecure world.

Relationship

Mompreneur Success: 5 Self-Care Tips for Maintaining Work-Life Balance

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The first time I saw Anita Renfroe’s “Momsense” video, I laughed. The second time, I cried.

Giving birth is a challenge, but being a mother is an art and a science. It requires incredible grace under pressure, skill, and the ability to let much of life’s stress off your back, because we’re “on duty” 24 hours a day.

Does the child wake up screaming in the middle of the night? Mom is up and on them.

Child gets sick at school? Mom to the rescue.

Stuck in the middle of nowhere? Mom calls “Triple A”, or changes it herself.

Now, I’m not saying that dads aren’t responsible people. Is it so. But when mom and dad are BOTH sick, who takes care of the kids?

Yes, that would be mom.

And who runs the business, carries the pearls, scrubs the floors, cooks dinner, does the laundry, and takes care of the house?

Good old mom.

Okay, I admit it, my husband does laundry at my house, but you get the idea that I’m driving here. I won’t take anything away from dad. Dad works hard, but as Anita Renfroe puts it so meticulously in her video, we do (and say) a lot of things for our family. Some good, some less than wonderful, but we are active in the lives of our loved ones. We are taking care of them, we are taking care of them.

Who is watching over us?

When we take care of the store, the children, the husband, the home, what are we doing to take care of ourselves?

Personal care is a growing concern among working mothers. A look at the Wikipedia entry on work-life balance leads me to believe that self-care is even MORE important to mom-entrepreneurs. With many of us building our empires with kids at home, we’re dodging the “guilt” bullet by keeping our kids out of daycare, but we’re even more exhausted trying to “do it all.” It’s no wonder Renfroe chose the William Tell Overture to quickly share all the “isms” we moms concoct on a daily basis. We are so tight that we probably DO talk that fast!

Here are some tips to incorporate into your day to give you a mini dose of self-care:

  1. Breathe. Waiting in a long line? Take a few deep, relaxing breaths. Use that time to decompress. As others around you become more impatient, see this moment as an opportunity to practice gratitude, patience, and bring a little solitude into your day. When I find myself stuck at a train crossing, I take it as a sign that I need to slow down and refocus. So I do. Taking a deep breath, relaxing your shoulders, and maybe even closing your eyes for a minute. Sometimes my children play, so everyone is more relaxed!
  2. Clarify. Be clear about what is really important. This can be daily or weekly. Take some time to review your priorities and focus on what is most important. Realize that if you’re like me, you’ll always find SOMETHING that needs to be done, and most days you won’t get everything on that list. Instead, focus on what I call the big rocks, the must-do’s that will get your life and business moving through the day.
  3. Make self-care a priority. Schedule it like any other business appointment. Don’t tell people you’re scheduling self-care (you might feel guilty). Tell people you have a conflicting appointment that you may not be able to reschedule. The first few times, you may feel a pang of guilt. Once you get used to “putting on your own oxygen mask first,” you’ll quickly discover how important it really is to take the time to attend to your own needs.
  4. Mitigate guilt with selfless rewards. For those moms who really struggle to do anything for themselves (including necessary doctor visits, you know who you are), commit to a selfless reward for taking care of yourself. You can choose to take the kids out for ice cream after your visit to the chiropractor, or give your girlfriend a special thank you gift for taking care of the kids while you take a break from the day. The act of doing something for someone else often helps dispel any feelings of guilt associated with taking care of yourself, because you’ll actually be doing something nice for someone else too!
  5. Look for ‘joy runners’. It could be a favorite song on your mp3 player or a poem you loved as a child. Maybe it’s a picture or a memory that brings some joy to your day. Strategically place these “corridors of joy” around your space. Like a memory runner, these little reminders give you a little moment of joy every time you find them. Sprinkle them generously around your home, car, and work space, so no space is considered stagnant. Even if that means carrying it in a pocket or purse and taking it out periodically to enjoy it. Joy joggers have micro personal care ways.

It’s been a long time since we moms started being mothers from time to time. Whether it’s a lighthearted jog, a break, or a doctor’s appointment, be sure to take the time to attend to your own needs, as well as all the other needs of your loved ones. The life you save can be your own!

Copyright 2010, Lisa Robbin Young