As a bonus to our customers and a nod to the economic climate, Teletrix announces a temporary price freeze.  We are holding at 2011 prices while continuing to provide the innovative, state-of-the-art technology our Radiation Training Simulators have brought to industry and education for over two decades.

As we hold prices, we invite you to look forward with us in reviewing and addressing your radiation training needs.  If DOSE is a training imperative, explore our popular Simulated Alarming Dosimeters .  Stay tuned as we roll out several new simulation products this year that broaden the scope and breadth of radiation training as it is realized today.  May this be a healthy, productive and prosperous 2012.

Contact Denise at 412.798.3636 or  denise@teletrix.com   for all things simulation.

Visit our website at  www.teletrix.com  for more information.

It is almost the end of another year. 

For many organizations and even more families, the economic challenges we all have encountered have been difficult.  We hope all of our friends and Teletrix customers have thrived despite the burdensome times.

It has been said, and we believe it to be so, that small business is the heart and soul of a healthy economy.  Although our reach now includes international customers and even though we are the training simulation of choice for the majority of the market – state, local, federal and commercial, we are still very much a small business.  We take enormous pride in the fact that we conceive, create, build and service our radiation training simulators right here in Pittsburgh…that our ‘small’ business supports six families (and counting) and that this years company Christmas party will celebrate the beginning of our 24th year.

We have made some deep changes this year and reinvested in our future.  “Growth” is a state of mind and progress is the action behind the words.  Our staff has increased and now includes two new amazing members, Carlos Contreras and Denise Capoccioni – both consummate professionals and good people.  We have some new product and product enhancements on the way, we are being welcomed by new international markets and have expanded our niche to include hospitals, technical schools and universities

The changes are all good and timely.  We are proud to have thrived in a difficult climate and we believe it is because we maintain excellence in product, integrity in practice, respect for our clients and a basic belief that we and our fellow ‘small’ business owners are the bedrock of our country.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and God Bless You all.

There are times when finding the blessings in our days is a challenge.

For the Teletrix family, Thanksgiving means family, food, a lot of joy and a bit of  bittersweet melancholy as we remember holidays past and miss those who are no longer with us.

As many times as we are reminded to live in the moment and celebrate all that is fine and full in our lives, the memories attached to the winter sky, the chill in the air and the child-like anticipation of this season give us pause.

We want to take this moment to wish you and yours a full and joyous holiday.  May God bless you and all that you hold dear… those around your table and those who sit within your hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Teletrix.

Carlos Contreras joins Teletrix Radiation Training Simulator Sales Force as a Field Representative

Welcome Carlos Contreras!

Teletrix is the industry leader in the development of  radiation training simulators.  Our newest and proudest upgrade is the addition of Carlos to our staff!

We lucked out!  It has been a banner year for us and we are so pleased to let you all know that we have had a huge personnel upgrade with the very welcome addition of Carlos Contreras to our sales and marketing team.

As a field sales representative, Carlos brings not only a vast store of knowledge and experience to the task, but also a deep respect and commitment to the nuclear industry.

“I am a firm believer in nuclear power and anything that can be done to improve training is a positive!  The difference in training methods prior to our use of Teletrix instruments at Beaver Valley (Nuclear Generating Station) was night and day.  We were now able to provide actual hands-on training without the need for human interface.  The equipment was used by plant personnel as well as State and County personnel and it always received positive reaction and reviews from the end user.  The best job that you can have is one that you enjoy going to, in an arena where you can do what you know best…and perhaps, make a difference.  Teletrix Corporation is that fit for me.”

Contreras’s previous experience includes thirteen years as an Emergency Planner at the Beaver Valley (Nuclear Generating Station) where he was also a qualified nuclear instructor.  In this position he was responsible for drills,  exercises and off-site interface with response organizations on Federal, State and County levels including: NRC, DHS, FBI, FEMA, Pennsylvania EMA, Pennsylvania DEP, Ohio EMA, West Virginia DHS/Emergency Management. 

As well as specialized credentials in Hazmat and Operations Training, he is also a credentialed community service professional with specialized certification in: Operations Training, Hazmat Training and is an EMT Volunteer Instructor and Paramedic.  He is a Founding and Current Member of Plum Emergency Medical Services and holds a Hazmat Instructor Certification from Allegheny County, Pittsburgh PA.

Carlos will be available to travel to your sites, demonstrate the capabilities and functions of Teletrix Radiation Training Simulators, answer your questions and help you make the best choices for your radiation training program(s).

Mike Podobnik, President of Teletrix remarks, “This is a real coup for Teletrix.  Carlos knows the industry and has a passion for education and communication.   If I drew a composite of the best person for the job, Carlos would still exceed my expectations.”

Carlos is available at our office, via his cell phone or email at:

Office: 412.798.3636

Cell: 412.759.3473

Email: carlos@teletrix.com

NUKES it is!

Teletrix makes a product that is so profoundly straight-forward that it would seem unlikely (and frankly, maybe even a little frightening) if I could not explain it to my six year old. 

Until really rather recently, I haven’t been able to. 

The admission of such blatant serious dumbness is not an easy one.  However, I feel it is time for full disclosure.  I have a disability.  It has no formal name because it has no medically validated category but I have taken the liberty of creating a niche and a name for it.  I call it “knee-jerk-itis”.  It is an affliction so subtle that one might think it was a product of the imagination (and I do think there is a sub category called hypochondriacal knee-jerk-itis… but we will unfetter that troublesome little ‘ism’ in a later rant).

So here’s the thing. 

This malady seems to be one that has attached its testy little tentacles primarily to old hippies.  You know them!  They were the wearers of bell-bottoms because everyone wore them and the followers of protests because every one was following them and the believers in ‘the music’ because….well the music was AWESOME!  But, I digress.  Essentially, we were just kids following other kids to fit in but it was such a narcissistic generation (with maybe a little brain smash thrown in) that we actually began to think we were defined by the stuff we shouted, wore and sang to. 

The positives of being young at that time are many and I am so grateful.  However, the down-side is that those of us who did not grow up to be bald lawyers and Wall Street fat-cats have acquired the malady of knee-jerk-itis (KJI).  And we struggle.  Oh Lord how we struggle!  Those of us who are ‘on the wagon’ admit we are powerless not to just stand by and watch our knee smack us in the nose.  All of us in and within recovery have a long-held and adhesive BELIEF.  It is almost a lament and it goes something like this:

The rain is acid, the flowers have died

My lungs will explode, and seas have run dry

You smoke, you shoot and you kill our trees

Our demise is because of your NUCLEAR BREEZE

(Okay, so they suck at poetry)

Bottom Line:  Solar Good…Nuclear Energy Very Bad

So very bad that we will refuse to look at it, refuse to understand or tolerate it and never look at what an amazing tool and force ‘of nature’ it is.

Next Blog, should you have the slightest interest, will be an exploration of the reformation, reclamation and ultimate healing of KJI syndrome.

Teletrix to the Rescue

It’s the end of the fiscal year and we are receiving a high volume of requests for “end of year” orders and are up to the challenge!   We are prepared with inventory to meet short lead times that will fulfill end of year fiscal delivery requirements.

Last week we exhibited at the Fire Rescue International Conference in Atlanta.  Nicely done, great seeing old customers and pleased to have created so many new contacts.  As often occurs, we came back with a renewed spirit and confidence in our simulators and industry. 

For those who requested a demonstration instrument, you will be contacted by our sales staff as soon as possible.  We want to send you the demo models when they will be most useful to you and would like to get you on the schedule this month for October and November.

Hope summer has been peaceful and productive (if there is such a balance) for all.  Looking forward to the cool breezes and wonderful colors of fall.

Praxis  makes perfect, you’ve heard that, right? 

prax·is

n. pl. prax·es (pr k s z ); Practical application or exercise of a branch of learning.

We learn by doing.

That’s pretty simple.  Elemental, fundamental and the primary concept behind Teletrix Corporation’s “Train Like You Work” foundation.

Think back on learning to ride a bicycle, use a computer, drive a car or dance the tango. What allowed us to master the new skill was our active participation in the event and our reflection on what we attained.   Experience and reflection taught more than any manual or lecture ever could.

Kurt Lewin wrote that “learning involves feeling things about the concepts (emotions) and doing something (action).   These elements need not be distinctive. They can be, and often are, integrated”.   David Kolb describes learning as a four-step process, identifying the steps as:

(1) watching,

(2) thinking (mind),

(3) feeling (emotion),

(4) doing (muscle).

He drew his concepts from the works of Dewey (who emphasized the need for learning to be grounded in experience) and from Jean Piaget (who described intelligence as the result of the interaction of the person and the environment).

Active learning results in longer-term recall, synthesis, and problem-solving skills than does learning by hearing, reading, or watching.

At Teletrix we have designed our radiation training simulators so that trainees can learn-by-doing.

Praxis makes perfect, makes the difference and makes radiation work safer.

Giant tent being built over Fukushima plant’s No. 1 reactor

Building materials are being pulled up by a crane beside the No. 1 reactor, seen behind the crane, to build a tent to cover the reactor at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co

Email Newsletter Sign-up: Win an HDTV.

The Teletrix email newsletter is soon to be launched and promises to be insightful, informative and a little fun too.

Sign up by August 26, 2011 and enter a drawing to win a 37″ HDTV from Teletrix.

Click here to sign up and enter the drawing. 

Click here to sign up and enter the drawing.

The winner will be announced on August 29, 2011 right here on our Blog and at our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Win a Teletrix SP418 Radiation Training Probe Pak.

Fill out a short survey about radiation training in your organization by September 10, 2011 and enter a drawing to win a Teletrix SP418 Radiation Training Probe Pak for your radiation detection training.

Teletrix Probe Paks are a perfect fit for any training program where hands-on manipulation of radiation detection equipment is required.  Use them in conjunction with your actual meters to bring realism and meter functionality to training without the use of sources.  Safe, realistic, reliable and made right here in Pittsburgh, PA.

Click here to sign up and enter the drawing.

Click here to sign up and enter the drawing.

The winner will be announced on September 12, 2011 right here on our Blog and at our Facebook and Twitter pages.