On 27/01/2011 10:50 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:

>>>
>> Nanny State ;-)
>
> Thhhpt! :-)  Technically, that's not the state, that's the airline. ;-P
>

Reel it in, I've got a bite. ;-)

>> I'm surprised they got a signal, that's all.
>
> I'm not, radio coverage is generally not a problem -

That surprises me.

> the two reasons I've
> heard for turning off a cell phone are interference with the onboard fly-
> by-wire systems (something I still doubt, though not as much as I used
> to)

I've been in a turbine control room when someone used a hand held radio. 
The dials went round the clock and the annunciator board lit up like a 
Christmas tree. So I can see that being possible.

> and because the cell towers can/used to be confused by seeing phones
> switching towers so quickly.  The latter probably isn't as big of a
> concern any more for the carriers, and probably doesn't cause problems
> (per se) but just a lot of extra bandwidth used to switch the signal from
> one tower to the next, only to have it change again almost immediately.
>

I can't see that being much of a problem to life and safety.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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