My thanks to our last two presenters, Haywood and Martin, who obviously put a lot of effort in their presentations. I found them both extremely helpful; some aspects of LK and Malmquist bias that I was confused by have been greatly clarified.
Hyunsook, who is doing a good job maintaining our web site, has put some notes on the site about the noise problems we've had during our telecons, especially yesterday's. Those of us who participate in telecons with other working groups have found that the SPS telecons have noticably worse noise problems than other groups have. This makes it difficult to follow the presentations, and I'm sure we are losing people (figuratively and literally) because of this.
We need your help to alleviate this problem. I'm copying Hyunsook's advice below. In addition, we found that the worst noise problem yesterday (a strong echo) came and went two or three times. It is likely that this was caused by someone making a new connection, or altering their setup in some way (activating a microphone, changing speaker volume, moving closer to speakers). When such problems occur, we need everyone to cooperate in identifying the problem so we can resolve it quickly and get on with the presentation. Please speak up and identify yourself if you have any suspicion that your connection may be related to the problem. Then we can best sort it all out together.
Hyunsook made some suggestions regarding equipment. Regular telephone handsets usually work just fine (though they may not be very comfortable!). If you are using a speakerphone, note that there are poor ones (i.e., cheap ones!) and good ones (alas, more expensive). The good ones have sophisticated noise and echo cancellation DSP in them. If your institution has a system like this that you can borrow, please use it (this is what is used in the SAMSI conference room and what we use sometimes at Cornell). For those contacting via their computer with something like Skype, note that your computer's own audio is often not ideal for internet telephony. Buying a headset with a headphone and a directional, noise-cancelling microphone will make the whole experience better, not just for those you call, but also for you. I called into my first SAMSI exoplanet telecon via Skype and my computer's mic/speakers; subsequently I've used an inexpensive headset. Both the SAMSI folks and I found the connection much improved when I switched to the headset.
For those of you in the US, there is an electronics surplus store that presently has a good headset for sale for just $3:
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/PHN-32/search/PARROT_MIKE__HEADPHONE_COMBINATION_.html
This is the one I use with Skype (it usually sells for much more than this). It is slightly inconvenient in that it has no on/off switch, so you have to insert/remove batteries every time you use it. But it works much better than my computer's own speakers/mic. Electronics stores (like Radio Shack here in the US) also sell inexpensive headsets.
I've also seen very good reviews for this small USB speakerphone with built-in echo cancellation:
http://www.mvox.com/mv100.html
In the US it sells for around $39 at stores like Radio Shack, and online. I haven't tried it myself, however.
Thanks for your cooperation with all of this, and for your continued participation!
-Tom