Mobile 'phones - again
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I understood the new phone capability will be via a single routing server within the plane to handle all calls. (yes/no?)
If so this is prob so all calls will attract a airline tariff on top & make it easier for the assigned phone network to track the plane and thus all calls to/from it...
Calling from the plane at low levels or 'remote' areas calls are def possible but flying at high speed above cities with multiple vendors networks would be a nightmare for providers.
At land level, just moving from one cell to another in central London at peak time on Vodafone causes calls to be dropped
Re interference - doubt this very much. I work in huge datacenters with major $$ at stake. If there was a case for potential corruption of data etc mobiles, PCs, PDAs, Digital Handhelds etc would have been banned long ago.
If so this is prob so all calls will attract a airline tariff on top & make it easier for the assigned phone network to track the plane and thus all calls to/from it...
Calling from the plane at low levels or 'remote' areas calls are def possible but flying at high speed above cities with multiple vendors networks would be a nightmare for providers.
At land level, just moving from one cell to another in central London at peak time on Vodafone causes calls to be dropped
Re interference - doubt this very much. I work in huge datacenters with major $$ at stake. If there was a case for potential corruption of data etc mobiles, PCs, PDAs, Digital Handhelds etc would have been banned long ago.
Thread Starter
Skyfish
>If there was a case for potential corruption of data etc mobiles, PCs, PDAs, Digital Handhelds etc would have been banned long ago.,<
In the days of long ago, a computer centre somewhere near Heathrow had to have a lot of shielding put in becasue of the big L band radar at LHR. But mobiles etc are relatively low power, so data handling equipment meeting the usual EMC immunity standards is relatively OK. But unwanted emissions from 'phones can be anywhere - on the VOR channel, or the DME, or the weather radar, or the comms channels, or the secondary radar receiver frequency, or the radio altimeter frequency...............one can go on. You'd not want your TCAS receiever blocked by a spurious emission from a mobile 'phone.......
However, even the low power of a mobile can be a problem when you have an aggregation effect with several operating at the same time in a metal tube. Also, as aircraft get older, the shielding integrity around the cables doesn't always hold up, either. So other functions can have problems.
Never did trust this electronics rubbish myself......
>If there was a case for potential corruption of data etc mobiles, PCs, PDAs, Digital Handhelds etc would have been banned long ago.,<
In the days of long ago, a computer centre somewhere near Heathrow had to have a lot of shielding put in becasue of the big L band radar at LHR. But mobiles etc are relatively low power, so data handling equipment meeting the usual EMC immunity standards is relatively OK. But unwanted emissions from 'phones can be anywhere - on the VOR channel, or the DME, or the weather radar, or the comms channels, or the secondary radar receiver frequency, or the radio altimeter frequency...............one can go on. You'd not want your TCAS receiever blocked by a spurious emission from a mobile 'phone.......
However, even the low power of a mobile can be a problem when you have an aggregation effect with several operating at the same time in a metal tube. Also, as aircraft get older, the shielding integrity around the cables doesn't always hold up, either. So other functions can have problems.
Never did trust this electronics rubbish myself......
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
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Another consideration is that the ambient noise level in the cabin is quite high, so not only will there be the inane chatter there will also be those who already speak loudly when on the phone speaking even more loudly, and asking the person at the other end to "say again, sorry didn't catch what you said...". 
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Then just pray to Gods of SLF that you never sit next to a Kantonese granny happily yapping on the phone - not only they naturally speak with max volume, it goes on for hours and sounds like a massive fight.
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Radeng - supports your post as to interference of computer systems.
Long distance lorry driver Peter Orr told the Eye [Private Eye, 7 July 2006, ‘Road Rage’) how his modern truck, equipped with a high-tech engine control unit (ECU) suffered brief loss of control as it passed through areas of interference: ‘Interference from powerful radio signals is knocking out the brakes and gearbox in my truck and others. In the last two years there’s been a massive boost in radio aerial power. We’ve had serious issues with our trucks. It affects the gearbox and braking of 44 ton trucks, but it doesn’t leave a memory in the computer system. It just says: There’s a fault on your ECU’.’
He said the problem was acute in France but also occurred in Britain. including at a motorway service station, where there were communication masts either side of the road. He had reported the issue to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the government body overseeing vehicle safety, in February 2005, but feels he was brushed off.
Long distance lorry driver Peter Orr told the Eye [Private Eye, 7 July 2006, ‘Road Rage’) how his modern truck, equipped with a high-tech engine control unit (ECU) suffered brief loss of control as it passed through areas of interference: ‘Interference from powerful radio signals is knocking out the brakes and gearbox in my truck and others. In the last two years there’s been a massive boost in radio aerial power. We’ve had serious issues with our trucks. It affects the gearbox and braking of 44 ton trucks, but it doesn’t leave a memory in the computer system. It just says: There’s a fault on your ECU’.’
He said the problem was acute in France but also occurred in Britain. including at a motorway service station, where there were communication masts either side of the road. He had reported the issue to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the government body overseeing vehicle safety, in February 2005, but feels he was brushed off.
Thread Starter
It was well documented that the early Volvos using electronic ignition had problems around Daventry, back when the BBC had a transmitting site there. So you tow the car away into a relatively EMC benign area, and of course, 'no fault found'.
Tornado fighters have their EMC problems, too......
Tornado fighters have their EMC problems, too......
