

  (Source: NBC Universal)
Passengers are acting out against the rules and even hurting one another












Source: The New York Times

Comments     Threshold


RE: Idiots
By mcnabney on 1/2/2013 9:43:55 AM , Rating: 2
I actually do. And the idea is laughable - even for devices that broadcast.

First, the antennas on commercial aircraft are on the outside of the plane - usually the wings. So the signal is going to have to penetrate the hull and travel a fair distance to even begin to have a chance to be disruptive.

Second, aviation uses specific set-aside spectrum for communications which are highly isolated from the spectrum reserved for wifi and commercial wireless signals. That means that the only thing an airplanes antenna will be sensitive to is 3rd/4th/5th order resonance frequencies.

Third, these devices are low-powered and not adjacent - so Inverse-Square is going to reduce any signal to background static by the time it gets there.

It just isn't possible. It would be like FM radio from New York interfering with VHF TV from Chicago. It just isn't going to happen.

RE: Idiots
By JediJeb on 1/2/2013 1:26:20 PM , Rating: 2
What about the buzzing I hear in my speakers every time I have a call coming in? Could that type of interference bleed into some of the electrical cabling running through the plane?

