Where In The World Is Sum1?

Teaching from Home

Locale: Bloomington, Illinois

Week of: November 16, 2020

         This week finds me at home once again, delivering that 'Fleetmapping' course I was asked to learn in March.  This is fine, because we all know things could be a lot worse.  Some of my co-workers have been traveling like crazy though, and I'm not envious one bit.  Since the pandemic hit in March, I have traveled for class delivery 5 times.  I will travel again Sunday to Springfield, Missouri, and that will be my last field trip of this year.  Since March, I will have taught classes in the field five times, and on line a whopping TWENTY times!  Yikes!


         I was a little concerned about this class because this customer has already completed their Fleetmap design.  I wondered why the class was scheduled, but deep down, I knew why.  All I could do was deliver to the best of my abilities, and go from there.  I will say that the students were very cooperative, seemed to enjoy the class, and overall it was their willingness to be there that made the class a success.  Yes, they had a good instructor that somehow manages to make an online session somewhat enjoyable, but it was the students who made this class enjoyable.

         Have you wondered what 'Fleetmapping' is all about?  Here's a little info about it for you.  Imagine you're a customer, perhaps a Public Safety Agency in a large city.  You've purchased this state-of-the-art' radio communications system from my company.  Because of the size of your city, the Public Safety Sector, and general city businesses (Parks & Recreation, Public Utilities, Transportation, etc) are all going to use this system.  You will have about 15,000 users on it, all transmitting on their 2-way radios to remain in touch with their co-workers and managers.  These radios are pretty sophisticated, and are programmed using a special program on your PC.  Plus, they can be programmed in hundreds, if not thousands of different ways.  Plus, the radios have to be properly configured in the system applications that reside on a web-based server.  You have to know your options and system capabilities to really configure things appropriately.  Fleetmapping enables you to plan how both the system, and the radios, are configured and programmed.  After all, if they don't mesh and work together, you (the city) just spent a little over a couple of hundred million dollars on a useless communication system.  That's the class I edited greatly, and taught myself to teach in March.

In Closing

         I will spend the holiday week at home before driving to Springfield Sunday.  I will be working on a couple of small work-related projects while here, trying to get aheda, (or remain ahead), of that eight ball.  Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!



Jim Dorrell