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+--- Thread: Radio Frequency Allocations (/showthread.php?tid=2073)
Radio Frequency Allocations - Kokuten - 01-25-2007
First off, I welcome the contributions, corrections, input, and participation of any ham or non-ham 'Fen.
Radio Frequencies
Many 'Fen went into space on little more than a wing and a prayer. Some of them forgot to bring even so much as a cellphone, or were unable to. Most 'Fen, in contrast, brought along at least one radio, since in Space, Noone Can Hear You Scream.
This has led to a confusion of standards and frequencies and methods, though a few have gained prominence. As interconnections via Interwave increase, more and more individual 'Fen are becoming FCC compliant. More on this later.
FRS/GMRS
These cheap and readily available radios operate in the 462-467mhz range, and are theoretically unlisenced by the U.S. FCC. There are subtle differences between FRS(unlicensed) and GMRS(licensing required), none of which are terribly relevant in Fenspace. Almost all FRS/GMRS radios started as handhelds, though many have been 'modded into' installations or vehicles.
CB
Citizens Band radios, operating in the 26.965-27.405mhz range, are a perfect match for Fenspace. The incredible diversity and commonality of CB equipment meant that a fairly large chunk of 'Fen had one on the way up, or brought one with them. Handheld, 'Mobile' and 'Base' units are all common.
Cellular
Cellphones came up to orbit as well, and suprisingly, many of them work. Hephaestus is a cell site, as are many of the larger permanent structures. Cellphones operate on many frequencies and standards, including the following: 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz(3g data/voice), 1850-1990 MHz (PCS data/voice), 824-849MHz and 869-894 MHz (PCM cellular), and the '850, 900, 1800, 1900' GSM bands.
Cingular wireless has moved into orbit as well, and has behaved surprisingly well, after the first cell sites it deployed were returned to Cingular headquarters on earth, along with the entire Cingular storefront on The Island, and a note reccomending they 'play fair'. Now, instead of charging four to five times the initial pricing and eight to nine times the contract pricing as compared to Terrestrial plans, Cingular's "sky prices" are actually somewhat cheaper. Cingular sites may be found at The Island, Stellivia, Phobos, and many of the permanent communities on Mars. SV Gnarlycurl also has a Cingular site.
Amateur Radio
Amatuer Radio is spreading like wildfire through Fenspace. The massive amount of frequencies and equipment available to even an entry-level licensee, as well as the 'Hephaestus Grant' (Hephaestus resells many brands of amatuer radio gear at list cost or below), have contributed to the acceptance and spread of the lisences and equipment. Also a factor is the FCC's attitude that "General Mail, Stellivia, L5 Earth-Luna" is a perfectly valid address for licensing purposes.
Amatuer radio of various flavors can function in many bands from 1.8mhz to over 300ghz, providing an incredibly diverse array of frequencies and channels. Most common is 2-meter (144-148mhz), and 440 (420-450mhz).
Data Radio
While most of the previously named methods are almost exclusively voice, there can occasionally be heard a 'databurst', sounding like a UsRobotics modem being fed through a garbage disposal. This is usually two AI's communicating at high speed. Dedicated data is often transmitted via Wi-Fi (2.4, 5.8ghz), Wi-Max (variable from 700 mhz to 66ghz, depending on equipment), ISM (902-928mhz), and many dedicated lisenced data-only radios anywhere from 2ghz to 60.
Modulation
Aside from cell phones, almost all public communications in Fenspace are unencrypted Frequency Modulation (FM, yes) signals, providing very high voice quality. Cellphones use an encrypted digital transmission scheme, while secure comms can use any number of encryption or obfuscation techniques, usually AI moderated.
FTL/Wavenet/Interwave
In open space, radio signals travel at (obviously) the speed of light. Since space is big, this causes problems involving communications lag. A number of fen inventors have developed their own FTL radio systems. Each one is a bit different, but they all operate on the same principles as FTL travel.
The "standard" FTL radio used in Fenspace has an estimated signal speed of 10000.0c, bridging the gap from Earth to Pluto in just over a second (but calling the nearest star is a six hour round trip for one signal. Remember, space is big). As befits the patchwork that is the realspace radio network, the FTL system's total available bandwidth and general reliability depend on what device was handwaved to create the FTL transponder in the first place.
The system that's achieved the greatest penetration is the Interwave. Interwave transmitters are large and power hungry, but they provide enough bandwidth to act as the backbone for FanNet. Some notable Interwave nodes exist at:
Crystal Tokyo
Earth
Tranquility Base, Luna
Stellivia
The Island
Grover's Corners
Phobos
Mars
Starbase 1
Hephaestus
Starbase 2
Greenwood (Rockhounds, Inc. Homebase)
Hooking it All Together
The most common method of 'mediating' between different communications types is to have an AI take care of it, as this sort of work appears to be a nearly-effortless task for most of them.
Addressing
The non-voice-only services, such as cellular and Internet, have extended their addressing conventions to Fenspace, rather smoothly, all things considered.
Cellphone and Telephone- Using US convention, users dial a '1' to access Long Distance numbers, then the country code, then the number. This makes my dad's (made up but plausible) speeddial 11-907-373-5309, which calls Earth, Alaska, Wasilla, Dad.
All other Fen cell calls are considered 'local', given the massive location changes that are not only possible in Fenspace, but easy. For example, to call The Jason, I would dial 867-5309, with no long distance or country codes.
For dialing from Earth, the country code for Fenspace is +42.
Internet
Shortly after it was clear that long-term habitats outside of Earth's atmosphere were both here to stay, and connected, the IANA assigned the .space TLD.
This met with resounding indifference. Applications for other TLDs were processed, and the current list of TLDs that are only available for people and organizations whose primary operations are off-planet is as follows.
.merc - Mercury
.venus - Venus
.luna - Luna
.lib - Lagrange or Libration points
.mars - Mars
.belt - Asteroid and Kuiper belt
.jup - Jupiter and moons
.sat - Saturn and moons
.fen - For all things fennish and off-planet.
The IANA only approved .fen after over a year of repeated applications (one application submitted a day, by several interested parties), the first .fen domain, Kandorcon.fen, went active January 10th, 2010.
Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - M Fnord - 01-25-2007
Quote:I admit I'm a little puzzled as to why folks seem to think that usefully fast/high-bandwidth FTL radio is a bad thing. I mean, if the purpose is to evoke Age Of Sail travel, then the optimal thing would be to do away with FTL coms altogether. Otherwise we might as well make FTL radio as useful as any of the other various & sundry methods of communication.
need help developing a rule/formula that will let bandwidth drop as distance increases, without killer levels of latency. At 8 times lightspeed, Pluto is 40 minutes - that's an hour and twenty minute ping time, which is cool, but need a simple rule to scale that out, since 8x light puts Mars at a 3 second ping and Hermes at a mere 6 second ping time - that's way too low!
So, a counterproposal:
FTL Radio/Wavecom/Wavenet
In open space, radio signals travel at (obviously) the speed of light. Since space is big, this causes problems involving communications lag. A number of fen inventors have developed their own FTL radio systems. Each one is a bit different, but they all operate on the same principles as FTL travel.
The "standard" FTL radio used in Fenspace has an estimated signal speed of 10000.0c, bridging the gap from Earth to Pluto in just over a second (but calling the nearest star is a six hour round trip for one signal. Remember, space is big). As befits the patchwork that is the realspace radio network, the FTL system's total available bandwidth and general reliability depend on what device was handwaved to create the FTL transponder in the first place.
(insert: long rant that matches realspace description, etc.)
The system that's achieved the greatest penetration is the Interwave. Interwave transmitters are large and power hungry, but they provide enough bandwidth to act as the backbone for FanNet. Interwave nodes exist at:
Sydney, .au (the main connect point to the mundane Intertubes)
Wellington, .nz (secondary mundane net connect point)
Stellvia, .l5
Kandor City, .luna
Deimos, .mars
Utopia Planitia, .mars
Flying Island, .fs
Crystal Tokyo, .venus
Callisto, .jupiter
Mimas, .saturn
Starbase 2, .alcen---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Norgarth - 01-25-2007
Whichever version of Wavenet get used, you can add Babylon.5 as a node (.bab or .l3 maybe)__________________
The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. - George Carlin.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Bob Schroeck - 01-25-2007
And eventually .gc for Grover's Corners... Probably around the time they set up that City of Heroes server.
BTW, loved the bit with Cingular.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - robkelk - 01-26-2007
(Kokuten)
Quote:Stellvia also hosts a full BT celluar system, for the convenience of European tourists. (Different transmission standards, if I recall correctly. This also means Stellvia is a data transfer point.)
Cingular sites may be found at The Island, Stellivia, Phobos, and many of the permanent communities on Mars.
Quote:How quickly do you want bandwidth to drop off? We could do something like "transmission reliabiity varies inversly with the square of the distance the signal travels", which might make transmissions more than one planetary orbit away chancy...
need help developing a rule/formula that will let bandwidth drop as distance increases, without killer levels of latency.
(Fnord)
Quote:Also the already-existing .or (for "orbital"), in a situation analagous to a company buying the applicable .com and .net addresses. Ditto for Babylon .5 and any other station anywhere in Earth orbit, I assume.
Stellvia, .l5
(Bob)
Quote:Which might lead to a bit of confusion for Canadians, since ".gc.ca" is the Government of Canada suffix. Not saying "don't use it", just pointing out a possible throwaway comedy scene...
And eventually .gc for Grover's Corners...
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - ECSNorway - 01-26-2007
And there are at least some InterWave sites that less-courteous fen refer to as "dot-dane" - tranquility.uscg.luna (alias of tranquility.uscg.mil), benfranklin.tsab.or (alias of tsab.gov), and of course greenwood.rockhound.com
![[Image: wink.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif)
-- "I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Black Aeronaut - 01-26-2007
You do realize, of course, Verizon is not gonna stand for being left out of Fenspace.
Black Aeronaut Technologies Group
Aerospace Solutions for the discerning spacer
"To the commissary we should go," Yoda declared firmly. "News
of this kind a danish requires."
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Kokuten - 01-26-2007
FTL/Wavenet/Interwave
In open space, radio signals travel at (obviously) the speed of light. Since space is big, this causes problems involving communications lag. A number of fen inventors have developed their own FTL radio systems. Each one is a bit different, but they all operate on the same principles as FTL travel.
The "standard" FTL radio used in Fenspace has an estimated signal speed of 10000.0c, bridging the gap from Earth to Pluto in just over a second (but calling the nearest star is a six hour round trip for one signal. Remember, space is big). As befits the patchwork that is the realspace radio network, the FTL system's total available bandwidth and general reliability depend on what device was handwaved to create the FTL transponder in the first place.
The system that's achieved the greatest penetration is the Interwave. Interwave transmitters are large and power hungry, but they provide enough bandwidth to act as the backbone for FanNet. Some notable Interwave nodes exist at:
Crystal Tokyo
Earth
Tranquility Base, Luna
Stellivia
The Island
Grover's Corners
Phobos
Mars
Starbase 1
Hephaestus
Starbase 2
Greenwood (Rockhounds, Inc. Homebase)
End Proposed Section
In my opinion, we're not going to see a .l5, or a .bab, or a .gc. Top-level domains go to things like _countries_, and while the 'Fen are Something Completely Different, I don't see us getting individual top-level domains.
My suggested compromise is .or for orbital addresses, and .sp for space-based addresses. Hephaestus, for instance, hosts most of it's mail off of Hsfhom.net, while the 'professional face' (the URL on my business card, fr'instance) would read Hephaestus Metals and Metalworking, online at www.Hephaestus.sp
Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - M Fnord - 01-26-2007
Quote:Works for me.
End Proposed Section
Quote:I dunno, I'm with you on the .gc or .bab domains, but there's a certain logic to having TLDs for places where more than one operation may be placed. Frex, while B.5 or Grover's Corners might not qualify for their own TLD, L5 *would* since it's a geographic (astrographic?) area in it's own right.
In my opinion, we're not going to see a .l5, or a .bab, or a .gc. Top-level domains go to things like _countries_, and while the 'Fen are Something Completely Different, I don't see us getting individual top-level domains.
I'd see the following "country codes" in use:
.mer
.ven
.lun
.l4
.l5
.mar
.bel
.jup
.sat
As for a generic non-location TLD, go with the obvious: .fs---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Bob Schroeck - 01-26-2007
Quote:Or .fen.
As for a generic non-location TLD, go with the obvious: .fs
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Kokuten - 01-26-2007
Addressing
The non-voice-only services, such as cellular and Internet, have extended their addressing conventions to Fenspace, rather smoothly, all things considered.
Cellphone and Telephone- Using US convention, users dial a '1' to access Long Distance numbers, then the country code, then the number. This makes my dad's (made up but plausible) speeddial 11-907-373-5309, which calls Earth, Alaska, Wasilla, Dad.
All other Fen cell calls are considered 'local', given the massive location changes that are not only possible in Fenspace, but easy. For example, to call The Jason, I would dial 867-5309, with no long distance or country codes.
For dialing from Earth, the country code for Fenspace is +42.
Internet
Shortly after it was clear that long-term habitats outside of Earth's atmosphere were both here to stay, and connected, the IANA assigned the .space TLD.
This met with resounding indifference. Applications for other TLDs were processed, and the current list of TLDs that are only available for people and organizations whose primary operations are off-planet is as follows.
.merc - Mercury
.venus - Venus
.luna - Luna
.lib - Lagrange or Libration points
.mars - Mars
.belt - Asteroid and Kuiper belt
.jup - Jupiter and moons
.sat - Saturn and moons
.fen - For all things fennish and off-planet.
The IANA only approved .fen after over a year of repeated applications (one application submitted a day, by several interested parties), the first .fen domain, Kandorcon.fen, went active January 10th, 2010. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - classicdrogn - 01-27-2007
(rubberstamps Gnarlycurl mention)
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Kokuten - 01-27-2007
(files rubberstamp)
Edit: updates and changes made, version incremented to .something, anything more before I drop it in the Fencyclopedia?Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - robkelk - 01-28-2007
Quote:I'd like to see a mention of the BT celluar station on Stellvia (required because not all 'Danes use the same celluar protocols). Other than that, give it a spelling check and slot it in...
anything more before I drop it in the Fencyclopedia?
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Re: Radio Frequency Allocations - Kokuten - 01-28-2007
edit applied, posted in Fencyclopedia
A note on BT - they use GSM, same as pretty much everyone else. My quad band L6 is capable of hitting any GSM network in the world, and I can't see things diversifying much, there's too much pressure to have at least somewhat compatible networks.
I scoped BT's site, and most of their phones are also quad-band GSM, which means the 'sharing' agreement they have with Cingular is going to work out Just Fine.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979