>better yet, a way to boost signal strength? (John Erickson)
I've been toying with this concept but it does have the drawback of being illegal. I'm also not sure the boost you could get by just tweaking the transmitter module would be enough to get the plane into control.
>We suspect another flyer about a mile away but we've yet to find him.
If its consistent interference then you could try using a directional antenna ("Foxhound") to track the person down. If you can see the transmission on a scanner the source may be quite close -- our radios have very little effective range at street level in a built-up area (but a lot more effective range above the houses and trees, that's why someone even a mile or more away can bring us down).
My paranoia is helecopters. They use our channels and they can be flown anywhere. I've come across them flying in all sorts of corners where you'd not suspect model flying -- an empty parking lot at an industrial facility would be one place to look.
Things that might use our channels are assisted listening devices (continuous, voice stuff) and pagers (bursts of transmission). We've had enough interference from assisted listening devics to bring a plane down even though its not supposed to travel outside the facility its used in. I've never experienced any problems with pagers, even when they were the boom technology (does anyone still use the things?).
Someone mentioned "Broadband over Power Line" in a post. I don't think it'll be a problem, its yet to show itself to be cost effective and it just doesn't seem to deliver compared to proper wireless technologies. (It has all sorts of other pitfalls -- an early test in England fell flat on its face because of the interference caused by streetlights.) That doesn't mean we should ignore it, I think the radio amateurs have got the right idea in opposing it tooth and nail, its a really stupid idea, one of those things that just because its sort of technically feasible doesn't make it viable or desirable.
Martin Usher
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