Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Hmmm. I know I have made cell calls in the past from within a > commercial airliner, both at the gate and while during long waits on the > tarmac [not in the air though]. I'll take your word for it. You're right about the windows, it isn't completely enclosed. There are typically cell towers AT or very near airports, which would make it easier to get signal. > Try using a GPS unit in them sometime; the signal is quite strong near > the window and fades as the GPS unit is moved away. GPS is "line of sight" with the satellites...so unless the GPS antenna can see a satellite directly, it can't receive it. Just like in your car...you have to place the GPS antenna on the front dash facing up/out so it can get signal, sit in the back seat with it, and you probably won't get signal. > It was widely published and broadcast throughout the news media that one > of the doomed passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was > talking to his family on his cell phone in the aircraft restroom just > before it augured in. Yes, but that doesn't mean it was a fact. News has a lot of speculation intertwined with it... I'm not saying it was incorrect, but in a time like that, I really don't believe people pay close attention to the particulars, like was s/he on a cell phone or the plane's phone... I'd say the next one of us to go up in a plane, head for the rest room and see if your phone works there! I find it interesting that of all the people on this list, no one has every tried their cell phone on a plane in flight! Anyway, whether cell phones worked or not on the plane wasn't really the issue, it was whether they interfered with the avionics, which I still contend they don't. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html