Will Cell Users Fly the Unfriendly Skies?

There are two primary laws that prohibit this. One is from the FAA and the other is the FCC. Both agencies would have to agree to this along with all cell cariers, since this impacts their cell sites.

The FCC allows transmission on any frequency at any location if the cause is a life and death emergency. That is the only legal exception.

What a waste of time! Why is the House dealing with this issue, which is already regulated, when it has so many more important issues to deal with?

What is the opposite of progress? Congress!

What I've been wondering is whether a conventional cell phone would even be usable on an airplane above, say, ten thousand feet? I'm assuming airlines that intend to offer wireless internet service are "piping it in" via an RF carrier through the aircraft system--I know a brief fad was the phones on seat-backs, which I presume worked the same way as above.

Given how crappy cells usually work, especially in cars, I've got to think that. above a certain altitude anyway, cellphones would be pretty useless.

Any regulation preventing personal cellphone use is probably the result of intense lobbying on the part of airlines to force consumers to use the alternatives they provide. However, I'm in favor of prohibition in locations where people have a reasonable expectation of peaceful gathering, such as theaters, restaurants and airplanes (please keep your howling infant on the bus) But not necessarily sporting events or rock concerts--chamber music is a different kettle of horse feathers!

As a 9/11 truth movement supporter, I question cellphone reliability because I think any messages from flight 93 were faked (since you can hardly get a cellphone to work on the ground in rural Pennsylvania)--once passengers retook control of the flight (if indeed they ever did) it became necessary to shoot it down.

The FAA regulates cell phone usage due to concerns regarding potential interference with flight instruments and navigation aids.

The FCC regulates cell phone usage due to signal spend from elevated cell phones acquiring multiple cell towers and interfering with ground users being able to get coverage.

Congress has no need to pass laws for an activity that is regulated by agencies that Congress has created. This is a waste of time and tax payer money.

UHF(cell and satellite phone) frequencies are line of sight with the exception of Tropospheric ducting and WILL only work better with altitude and no physical obstructions.

The radio horizon of the transmitting and receiving antennas can be added together to increase the effective communication range.

Antenna heights above 1 million feet (1966 miles, or 3157 kilometres) will cover the entire hemisphere and not increase the radio horizon.

VHF and UHF radio signals will bend slightly toward the earth's surface. This bending effectively increases the radio horizon and therefore slightly increases the formula constant. The ARRL Antenna Book gives a constant of 1.415 for the feet/miles formula for weak signals during normal tropospheric conditions. This can usefully be approximated as:

In practice, radio wave propagation is affected by atmospheric conditions, ionospheric absorption, and the presence of obstructions, for example mountains or trees. The simple formula above gives a best-case approximation of the maximum propagation distance but is not sufficiently adequate for determining the quality of service at any location.

Here's the link:

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

There may be equipment and other problems that cause them to fail, but not propagation of the radio waves.

The 911 comment may be in poor taste here, can we continue without them, please?

Cellphone usage should be banned in all aircraft, all trains, all subways, and all cars and trucks.

As Tom Clancy the writer would say: "They are a clear and ever-present danger", apart from being very intrusive for others.

Kind Regards....

As well as all restaurants, meeting rooms, etc...