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DIY Texting System For Really Underground Radio

Posted by timothy on from the nitpickers-will-come-out-of-their-caves-now dept.

Gulthek writes "Sixteen-year-old Alexander Kendrick has created a device that allows texting and other data transfer from almost 1000 feet underground. The tech could allow rapid emergency communication with the surface and opens the potential for scientific measurements without the need to continually visit (and disturb) the cave environment." There's some kvetching in the NPR story's comments that it's not the first use of cave radios, but that seems to miss the point.

1 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Then what is the point? by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Well, what is the point, then?

    VLF systems have been in use for decades to communicate with the US Submarine fleet, not because of interference, but because it passes through just about everything and has a very, very wide propagation. Unfortunately, the power levels are so high that people wonder/suspect it's causing nature / health problems for nearby residents.

    I mean for fucks' sakes, this stuff was in use by the German navy during WW2- 70 years ago. All this kid did was apply the obvious, and apparently, it's so obvious, someone thought of it 40 years ago. More info:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_frequency

    Also, the kid didn't implement any sort of retransmission or error correction. That makes it pretty useless for both emergencies (imagine: "person has 3 hours to live" instead of "30 hours") and scientific data collection. It's also pretty standard these days.

    --
    Please help metamoderate.