----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 12:13 PM Subject: Re: bad science (and the titanic) created the broadcast industry
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 12:03:44PM -0600, The Fool wrote: > > > http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/03/12/spectrum/index.html > > > > The myth of interference Internet architect David Reed explains how > > bad science created the broadcast industry. - - - - - - - - - - - - By > > David Weinberger > > > > the rich and famous can deliver their messages -- and it's all based > > on the fact that radio waves in their untamed habitat interfere with > > one another. > > > > Reed plays fast and loose with "science". Yes, the airwaves are not > being utilized anywhere near 100% capacity (between distance, time, and > frequency there is a lot of unused space), but there most certainly > is a limit. The best receivers have a certain noise floor, and the > best transmitters have a certain S/N ratio. Given the signal to noise > parameters for a transmitter/receiver pair, there is a limit to how > much information can be transmitted per second. And if you have other > transmitters within range, they add to the noise level and reduce the > information rate. > > So while he is right that we can utilize the airwaves much better, he > is wrong to say there is no limit. We may be far from it, but it does > exist. In some cases, we are actually close to it. The station that broadcasts the Houston Rockets have change their signal pattern to not interfere with a station up in Kansas after 6PM. So, I have a very hard time hearing them over other stations. Radio receivers have traditionally operated on the principal of a tunable resonance. Such a resonance has finite width, so one cannot have a radio station at 601.1 kHz and another at 601.2 kHz and expect to receive one and not the other. That is why there is "only so much room on the dial." Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
