OT; It's been a funny old day....

[Jethro_uk]

Having seen (admittedly older) engines light up like Christmas trees from leaky HT leads, I remain sceptical of a lot of "science" behind bans generally.

Most of it is just for show.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Heard one reason was that the RF from a mobile could effect the pump electronics.

Ever looked at a car starter motor in the dark? You'll likely see sparks from it, when you start the car. Same with older dynamos.

[dennis]

Mobiles aren't banned by the companies. They are banned under law and it has nothing to do with affecting the pumps.

Mobiles were banned by the airlines and they are now letting people use them to access on-board services because they get revenue from it. They don't affect aircraft systems as the systems are designed to high standards like those set by the EU.

[whisky-dave]

So how come cars have to be turned off at the pumps surely starting themn u p could cause a problem so best to leave the engine running surely.

[whisky-dave]

Nothing whatsoever to do with the EU. Transmitters for passengers was banned long before the EU existed in americ a. The ban existed BEFORE mobile phones and because they couldn't predict any future problems with mulitiple manufacuers they banned them all.

Ask a few pilots.

[Simon Mason]

The only time I've been on a plane was in 1986 and they banned me from using a short wave radio.

[Simon Mason]

In Belgium last May, the petrol pump I was using had no cut off and I only stopped filling when my shoes were soaking wet. There was a huge pool of petrol all around the car, so I paid at the pump and cleared off sharpish.

[whisky-dave]

Yes a long long time before people ,had mobile phones. Originaly it was for transmiting radios when in flight as they generated quite a bit of electrical noise .

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned in-flight use of most cell phones and wireless devices in 1991

I wonder how many had mobile phones then, they did really go on sale until 1989. The brain dead on her think the EU was resonsible for teh ban, I bet they think the EU had banned light from going over 186k miles per second too.

[dennis]

Who mentioned that it was the transmitters that were better? There have been a number of improvements in EMC susceptibility along with some rules to make it so.

[whisky-dave]

any future problems with mulitiple manufacuers they banned them all.

No one. It was electrical interference was the worry. The FCC NOT the EU were worried about signals being trnasmitted rather than recived as they wouyld be lower power, so it was the transmitters that wer e of concene NOT the recievers.

Yes thre have been since the days of valves, but teh worry that it could ha ppen in that a transmitter could intefere with the electrics of the plane t he risk was small and wasn't worth taking.

[charles]

I saw my first one in 1983 - the batterybox was the size of a house brick!

[charles]

That was one thing necessary to get the CE marking

[Simon Mason]

Those were the good old days when you could listen into their phone calls. I found out where all the knocking shops were, who were having affairs and people's bank account numbers.

Some old biddys around here still have analogue cordless phones and you can listen to them along with baby monitors, shop security CCTV, who the hospi tal porters are wheeling around, football stewards, BBC reporters, farmers, lorry drivers, taxis and much more.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You cheated amd left out the centipedes

[Capitol]

Car phones were around in the mid 1970s. I turned one down as it meant I could be contacted when traveling!

[whisky-dave]

wasn't the FCC a higher rating at the time, which was why the early Macs mac 128 and pluses and through the quadra had such a large amount of foil i nside the case. I really DO NOT believe it was the EEC/EC idea to dan transmitting devices being used on plane.

[whisky-dave]

If he included all animals on the planet he'd have almost half the average number of legs (which is 3.96)

[bert]

M&S French Apricot turnovers filed under Danish Pastries.

[bert]

No one has the balls to "unban" it when the technology changes.

[charles]

Newcastle Brown with a "Product of EU" under it on the shelf.