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Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

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Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#11

Post by scarmig »

scarmig wrote: post #8
elithrar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A myth! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven#Principles - second paragraph.

I feel totally stupid for not knowing this. That's counteracted by what I now know is possible, though: "Additionally, microwaves can melt certain types of rocks, producing small quantities of synthetic lava" I know what I'm making for Thanksgiving.

It also led me to find this:

http://amasci.com/weird/microwave/voltage2.html

Teaser: the title is "UNWISE MICROWAVE OVEN EXPERIMENTS"

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#12

Post by jaytaylor »

Given that the FCC is funded by the taxpayers I find it frustrating that the FCC document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this?

With all the money it costs to physically store and maintain the documents, I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online and make them available to taxpayers for free, since we (the taxpayers) have effectively already paid for it, and continue to pay for it continually.

How did the BCPI become the sole contractor to have access to these documents? How can I find out how this came to be?

http://bcpiweb.com/fcc.php:

> Our office is inside of the FCC building and we have full complete access to FCC files,

> FCC divisions, FCC bureaus and FCC archives! We are the official contractor given top

> priority by the Federal Government in handling FCC documents to benefit the public.

Yes, what a boon for the public.

FWIW, I hate being so negative about this. But as is often the case with governmental affairs, this seems like total bullshit.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#13

Post by zanny »

I always thought it was some balance of range vs bandwidth, some nonsense about lower frequencies having larger range but having lower peak data carrying capacity, and higher bandwidths having less range but more data.

Which still wouldn't explain why we didn't use low bands for cellular (all the time at least, hello 900mhz) and high bands for wifi.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#15

Post by anotherhue »

mef51 wrote: post #14

found this article interesting: http://ca.gizmodo.com/5629814/giz-explains-why-everything-wi...

It's a good read, and one of my starting points, but I had already seen some official archival material that contradicted several of the article's claims. There aren't too many references given that can be chased down either.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#17

Post by seanalltogether »

jaytaylor wrote: post #12

Given that the FCC is funded by the taxpayers I find it frustrating that the FCC document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this? With all the money it costs to physically store and maintain the documents, I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online and make them available to taxpayers for free, since we (the taxpayers) have effec…

And yet, if given the chance, I'm sure google would love to scan and distribute any and every document the government gave them access to.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#18

Post by cmsmith »

jaytaylor wrote: post #12

Given that the FCC is funded by the taxpayers I find it frustrating that the FCC document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this? With all the money it costs to physically store and maintain the documents, I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online and make them available to taxpayers for free, since we (the taxpayers) have effec…

It's the same reason that federally funded scientific research is only available in for-profit journals. Someone has to pay for the costs associated with publishing things, and the scientists/FCC don't want it coming out of their budget.

Of course, the money being paid to access papers in for-profit journals is also coming from the government, just in a less efficient way.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#19

Post by mburns »

jaytaylor wrote: post #12

Given that the FCC is funded by the taxpayers I find it frustrating that the FCC document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this? With all the money it costs to physically store and maintain the documents, I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online and make them available to taxpayers for free, since we (the taxpayers) have effec…

The National Archives should have jurisdiction for storing the documents of all federal agencies, departments and commissions. Just like the NSA has jurisdiction to secure every federal computer network.

Re: Why 2.4GHz? Chasing wireless history

#20

Post by sliverstorm »

jaytaylor wrote: post #12

Given that the FCC is funded by the taxpayers I find it frustrating that the FCC document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this? With all the money it costs to physically store and maintain the documents, I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online and make them available to taxpayers for free, since we (the taxpayers) have effec…

document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this?

Traditionally the reason is it requires somebody to go find the physical copy, scan it, and send it to you.

I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online

Physical archival, once archived, is pretty low-maintenance. They could scan and index them, but that costs something. Yes, the information in the documents has already been paid for, but transferring that information has not.

Yes, what a boon for the public.

Well, at least you can get access if you need it. Compared to zero access, I'd say that's a boon. Also a good first step.

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