Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I very loosely follow the aviation scene and there have been hard reports of cell phone usage causing problems with on board electronics. John Collier > From: Nathan Wajsman <wajsman@webshuttle.ch> > > Brian, > > As far as I know, modern cellphones would not interfere with navigation of a > modern plane. The prohibition is motivated by three factors: > > 1) tradition/caution: maybe they could interfere, let us ban them just in > case > 2) profit: the in-flight satellite phones are very profitable for the > airlines > 3) considerations on the ground: because a plane moves so fast, there could > be problems with the hand-off of the call from one cell to the next. It > could result in two cells being "occupied" by one cellphone at the same > time. If enough people did this, it could cause capacity problems on the > cellular network. For this reason cellular operators support the ban. > > Nathan > >> Brian Reid wrote: >> >> I spent many years working for a company that designed, built, and sold >> laptop computers. One of the most important qualities of a laptop is >> battery life. If you can make your laptop last 10% longer than the >> competition's, it will sell better. Consumer magazines rate laptops >> according to how long they run on a charge. And the holy grail of laptop >> computers is to be able to run LAX-JFK on one battery. >> >> If a laptop computer loses energy to electromagnetic radiation, that >> energy is not available to power the computer. For this reason, the >> companies that design laptops spend extraordinary amounts of time and >> money testing and reducing the RF radiation from the computers, not >> because some government agency makes them, not because it will be kinder >> to airplanes, but because it will be more profitable. >> >> For this reason I am quite certain that laptop computers do not bother >> navigation equipment. I have no knowledge of cell phones, but their >> purpose is to transmit RF signals, so this economic argument would not >> apply. >> - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html