Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!ALLSPICE.LCS.MIT.EDU!dab From: dab@ALLSPICE.LCS.MIT.EDU Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: Re: Ethers, Copper, Fiber, Microwaves, Etc. Message-ID: <8712101810.AA00864@PTT.LCS.MIT.EDU> Date: 10 Dec 87 18:10:03 GMT References: <16836@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 17 > Now this is something new to me. If you can put them in a >briefcase they must be around 100GHz. That would probably limit the >range to a mile or so. The problem with infrared laser technology is >the atmospheric attenuation of smog, fog, and rain. Sounds like this >new ultra-high freq microwave fills the gap between low freq uwave and >infrared. In the ham radio community for several years there have been devices called Gunnplexers available (I don't know if that's a brand name or a generic name) which are a 10 GHz microwave system for about $200. When they first showed up there were several articles in ham radio magazines descibing how to send video through them, so 10 Mb/sec is probably not too far out of line. Except for maybe the feedhorn (or the dish itself) it would easily fit into a briefcase. The range is limited but I think to line of sight rather than 1 mile. Dave Bridgham