Out with the old, in with the new. The FCC seems intent on dragging the country, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.

Last Friday, the FCC order removing the requirement of Morse code proficiency from amateur radio took effect. Many old-timers had a fit, decrying the swell of idiots sure to fill the ham ranks in the wake of the ruling. More rational minds argued that the reduction of the licensure requirements to technical tests would provide a needed shot-in-the-arm to amateur radio. For my part, I went and upgraded to Extra on Saturday.

In less than a year, on February 18, 2008, cellular operators will no longer be required to operate AMPS (analog) cellular networks. The vast majority of cell phones in current service are digital, not analog, but that doesn’t mean the switch will be completely painless. Older versions of services like OnStar rely on the analog network. In order to guarantee continued operation, those services will need to upgrade. The bright side is that digital phones are much more bandwidth efficient, so in theory the change should increase the capacity of 800-MHz-band cell networks.

Speaking of the switch to digital, high-power broadcast television stations will turn off their analog transmitters by February 17, 2009. I’m not sure how the populace will respond to the switch. My initial hunch was that the transition will catch many people unawares. However, after considering it more, I now think that the transition will be fine. Three factors are driving this: this country’s obsession with the entertainment industry, the fact that cable TV operators can still use analog signals on their cables, and the plan by the government to send up to $80 to each household to subsidize digital to analog converters. Billions of dollars are going to be spent to make sure that people can still watch TV. That makes me sick. Imagine if that money were spent on something else, like, oh, say, the promotion of exercise. Have to keep the media companies happy, I suppose.

Of course, that begs the question: when will they stop selling analog televisions? I’m not sure, but I do know one thing: they will be illegal to import starting in just a couple of days. After March 1, 2007, all televisions and related products, like DVD players, that include analog tuners must also include tuners for digital broadcasts. My prediction is that the major electronics retailers will somehow turn this into a sales event.

What will be the next big change in the communications world? Will it be a wholesale switch to IPv6? What about the proliferation of fiber to the home? My money’s on ubiquitous WiFi access.

Here’s the current Minneapolis forecast for Sunday from The Weather Underground:

Sunday

Breezy…snow. Areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation around 4 inches. Storm total snow accumulation of 17 to 22 inches. Highs around 30. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph.

Lots of snow! The television meteorologists are downright giddy.

I’ve had some bad flight experiences in the past, but at least I always ended up at my destination. A woman on my San Luis Obispo to Phoenix flight today wasn’t so lucky.

Most of the sparsely occupied flight was uneventful, save for the flight attendant in training making a poor go of the announcements. I relaxed by polishing off a few more chapters of Founders at Work while occasionally glancing out the window at the mountainous landscape. Everything seemed perfectly fine for everybody on board until the flight attendant announced our pending arrival at Sky Harbor.

“What?!” screamed a woman from two rows behind me. “Why are we landing in Phoenix?” Obviously, the flight was landing in Phoenix because the flight was from San Luis Obispo to… Phoenix. The increasingly flustered woman called for a flight attendant and demanded to know why the plane wasn’t landing in Las Vegas. The source of the confusion became apparent after the flight attendant looked at the woman’s boarding pass stub.

“Well, here’s the problem,” he said, “this flight goes to Phoenix, and your ticket is for a different flight that was supposed to go to Las Vegas. Not only that, but this is an America West flight, and your ticket is for United.” That’s right: the woman got on the wrong flight. I’m not sure which is worse: the fact that she flew to the wrong city or the fact that nobody noticed.

Fortunately, there are many flights from Phoenix to Las Vegas, so I’m sure her trip had a happy ending.  She also learned a valuable lesson: I doubt she’ll ever get on a future flight without triple-checking both her ticket and the plane.

12:15 pm – My phone rings.

Me: “Jeff speaking.”

Other person: “I’m just calling to confirm your flight to San Luis Obispo for 5:00 today.”

Me: “Wha… I’m flying where? Today?!?”

 So, yeah, I found out that I was flying to San Luis Obispo, California less than five hours before the plane departure.  Got to love last-minute business travel.  The real miracle is that my luggage made it to my destination plane during my 15-minute layover in Phoenix.

The department-wide email had just a few key words: “Free,” “device parts,” and “some valuable.” I bolted out of my cube towards the goods. I wasn’t alone.

As I made my way through cubeville, I saw engineer after engineer poke his head up and dart in the same direction. The horde converged on the table carrying the steaming mounds of junk. I had never seen so many engineers so giddy about things so worthless. Of course, I joined the fray.

After digging through box after unmarked box, I came across a couple of things worth salvaging: a spool of wire, a couple of old patient programmers, and a very small Allen wrench. Mmmm… stuff…