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One-Watt Wireless Radio Modem Reaches 40 Miles

maxstreampr wrote in to plug their radio modem. It's the size of a credit card, one watt, and can transmit 40 miles line of sight or 3000 feet indoors. Something about using the AT command set to fire off a command 40 miles through the air amuses me.

11 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Denial of service attack! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    +++ATH0 on a cloudy day. With a repeater.

  2. Re: One-Watt Wireless Radio Modem Reaches 40 Miles by Scoria · · Score: 5, Funny

    Additionally, rumor has it that this device will burn a hole in your pocket. (Thank you, I'm here all week.)

    --
    Do you like German cars?
  3. Okay, I'll do it by koreth · · Score: 5, Funny
    Someone's going to, so it may as well be me...

    "Site" - a location.

    "Sight" - something visual.

    "Line of sight" - a line along which you can see (i.e., an unobstructed line.)

    "Line of site" - evidence that what you've written matters so little to you that it's not worth the effort to proofread. You don't care; why should we?

  4. Calling Long Distance by grunt107 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used with a 256-bit key, the highest encryption standard available.

    The real question is, did they use Lexar programming techniques?

  5. Did anyone else read this... by Ignignot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Using the AT command to set a fire 40 miles off? Or has it just been too long a day at work? My office has been regularly swept for mines.

    --
    I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
  6. What kind of antenna?? by ARRRLovin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What kind of antenna did they use? "High gain" isn't all that descriptive.

    --
    -Randy
    1. Re:What kind of antenna?? by chill · · Score: 5, Funny

      What kind of antenna did they use? "High gain" isn't all that descriptive.

      A thin, copper one, 40-miles long. :-)

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  7. Re:Why do we even need the Internet? by Anita+Coney · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn, I knew I should have actually read the article!!!

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  8. Quick follow-up by joranbelar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently, the editors are hedging their bets on this one: I keep hitting reload, and the submission text alternates between "line of sight" to "line of site".

  9. Not very impressive by jandrese · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wow, that's some marketing. The "40 miles" claim is when you're in deep space and using high gain antennas. Actual performance will be less than a mile. Also, in case people want to compare this with 802.11 (which is difficult because they are in different bands), a typical 802.11b card radiates 30mW, instead of the 1W these guys are apparently claiming. The data rate is nothing exceptional either, 115.2kbps (and these are 1000 bits/kb sized), which pales in comparison to 802.11g at ~55000kbps. This technology would have a much higher "wow" factor 5 years ago, but nowadays that kind of range for that kind of throughput just isn't all that new or special.

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    I read the internet for the articles.
  10. 1000 Miles per watt award by leighklotz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In ham radio, there's a 1000 miles per watt award that's not particularly hard to get....I made 1842 miles per watt (Palo Alto, California to Sakhalin Island in Russia) using a data modulation called PSK-31 and a wire antenna on my roof, and just over 1000 miles per watt from San Luis Obispo, CA to Estonia using CW: 5700 miles with 4.5 watts to a 28 foot wire thrown from a second-story window into a small tree, running on a pack of AA batteries.