On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:25:42 -0500, Michael Ash wrote:


Anyone know more about it? I'd like to know more than my patchwork
memory....

In the UK, anyway, the base station transmission patterns are quite flat
which can stop you getting a signal in the air.

A year or two back I wanted to annoy a friend with the "ring him and hold
phone by the audio vario" trick, but at 3000ft over Huntingdon, i.e.
above a flat bit of Cambridgeshire, there was no signal at all. I was
using a GSM phone, so the radiation pattern was evidently flat enough the
exclude not only Huntingdon masts but also those further away (Cambridge,
Northampton). This makes sense to me. Why should a telco waste
electricity transmitting a hemispherical pattern when a pancake pattern
will give a better signal strength for less radiated power throughout its
service area.

IIRC this has been noticed and commented on in the USA too.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |