[amsat-bb] Re: Cell Phone in Spce

[Nate Duehr]

Technically, operating a cellular phone in-flight is also illegal. (FCC
rule, not FAA.  FAA says if you have permission of the Pilot-In-Command
you're okay, and the vast majority of U.S. Flagged Air Carriers have rules
against their pilots being allowed to offer that permission. Non-U.S.
Carriers have their own rules.  But the FCC rule overrides the FAA rules.)

Nate WY0X

-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Michael Heim
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 12:48 PM
To: Tony Langdon; AMSAT-BB at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Cell Phone in Spce

I recall doing a broadcast remote where I was engineering the remote from a
single engine aircraft.  At about 5000 feet or so, I lost all cellphone
functionality because I was getting into  too many cell sites at the same
time and the system locked me out (thats the best explanation I could come
up with).  Even if there was enough signal from that distance, I doubt it
would work for that reason.

Michael Heim
Chief Engineer, Forever Broadcasting
New Castle PA
WKST  WJST  WWGY
814-671-0666
ARS KD0AR


--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Tony Langdon <vk3jed at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Tony Langdon <vk3jed at gmail.com>
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Cell Phone in Spce
> To: "Kelly Martin" <kelly.lynn.martin at gmail.com>, "Dave" <dave at mynatt.biz>
> Cc: AMSAT-BB at amsat.org
> Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 9:51 PM
> At 01:33 PM 2/4/2009, Kelly Martin wrote:
> >Cell phones need about -95 dBm received to work at all
> (and really at
> >-95 dBm about all you get is network beaconing, with no
> ability to
> >actually place a call).  Typical cell transmit powers
> rarely go past
> >one watt, and I think the cell base stations rarely go
> much over ten
> >watts (per channel).  I think you'll find that
> there's too much path
> >loss for that to work to even LEO, notwithstanding the
> fact that cell
> >tower antennas typically have radiation patterns that
> send virtually
> >all the signal into terrain, that being where the cell
> phones are.
> 
> Some systems (GSM being the main example) have a distance
> limitation, 
> of how far you can go from the base station, without losing
> sync due 
> to propagation delay.  Suffice to say this is well short of
> any LEO, 
> even the ISS.
> 
> 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
> http://vkradio.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those
> of the author.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur
> satellite program!
> Subscription settings:
> http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb