Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!atha!aupair.cs.athabascau.ca!rwa From: rwa@cs.athabascau.ca (Ross Alexander) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Important Petition/Technology Message-ID: Date: 18 Apr 91 21:36:47 GMT References: <14131@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <1991Apr11.034720.26091@uncecs.edu> <1991Apr16.143014.5664@truevision.com> <1991Apr16.195650.15885@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us> <2962@wn1.sci.kun.nl> Organization: Athabasca University Lines: 34 ge@dbf.kun.nl (Ge' Weijers) writes: [pardon the botched attribs, foax - Ross] >>>>Will it be the CB radio bands? >>Unlikely--way too much signal out there. >CB users are voters too. VERY unlikely, as # CB-users >> # AppleXXXNet users. They may be voters, but many, many of them are political idiots... I will resist the urge to gibe at the Mac _users_. >Only bands with predictable propagation can be used. Intercontinental CB >happens sometimes on a sunspot maximum. Same for other HF and VHF bands. Intercontinental propagation is *quite common* on the 11 meter band, only the fact that all the idiots sit there and drown each other in interference prevents them from making contacts (consider this the human equivalent of a 1-persistent CSMA-CD lan in congestive collapse). Intercontinental DX on 6 meters is *sometimes* mediated by sunspot activity, but not often. Above 6 meters (2 meters, 70 cm, and so on) tropospheric ducting, sporadic-E, auroral scatter, and meteor bounce all become more common DX modes. >This is definitely an application for the > 1 GHz range. Right, absolutely right. I might add that the CB band is only about 220 or 240 KHz wide, and that is way too narrow for the kind of data rates and modulation techniques (spread spectrum means just that :-) You just can't get around Shannon & Nyquist no matter how hard you try! -- Ross Alexander rwa@cs.athabascau.ca (403) 675 6311 ve6pdq "I'd like MY data-base JULIENNED and stir-fried!" -- Zippy