I've always been fascinated with wireless communications. Listening to AM radio late at night, and finding distance stations barely above the static was intriguing. As I got older, I had one of those multi-band AM/FM/SW radios, and started pulling in voices and music from all over the world. This was almost unbelievable for a pre-teen.
Teenage years rolled around, and CB radio was all the craze (“Hello skipland!) - probably dating myself a bit here. Soon I was introduced to amateur (ham) radio, and the wireless bug really bit me. To press a key down to make a series of continuous wave (cw) signals, and someone a world a way could hear you instantly? Whoah! It was here that I learned about various types of antennas, propagation, power levels, frequencies, rules and regulations, etc.
Bringing the past up to the present, it still amazes me that a computer can communicate with another computer or access point wirelessly. I bet Marconi hadn't even a sliver of an idea that we would take his wonder theories and inventions, and progress them so far. Guess it goes to show, that geeks really do rule!
I have worked in mainframe operations for the military (USAF), done computer support for small and medium sized companies, computer sales to VARs as a manufacturer's rep and have worked for a wireless ISP (WISP). It was here that the wireless bug bit me once again. Installing antennas and routers at clients locations, and aiming them at antennas miles away on mountain tops, then seeing data begin flowing was remarkable. To other workers, hey it was just a job. To me, it was feeding an almost addiction. I wanted to know more and more.
My current job has me as a network administrator, supporting both wired and wireless communications. Whether its someone sending an email from their laptop to a customer or employee, or someone using a wireless device (Bluetooth) I am there to support it. Got a PC thats down? Call me. Can't sync your data to the server? Yep, you guessed it, call me. I could go on.
It was last year that I decided I needed to actually achieve some certifications for the many years I have been involved in IT. I chose to go the wireless route, and came across the certification programs from Certified Wireless Network Professional (www.cwnp.com). I have achieved both the Wireless# and Certified Wireless Technology Specialist (CWTS) certifications.
My next goal, is to achieve the CWNA – Certified Wireless Network Administrator certification. It is this blog that will deal with my attempt to conquer this one before the end of the year. I will be posting information about my studying, my material, interesting articles, and links that others who have an interest in wireless communications might find of interest. Feel free to drop me a line anytime at sayno2wires@gmail.com.
Rick
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