Cell phones are evil! - Page 2

JunkyardDog · 05-18-2010, 02:54 AM

I realize that making them inoperable above a certain speed would also prevent passengers form using them, but considering all the other crazy things they have come up with, like photo radar and red light cameras, which are strictly to make money, how bad would that be. I'm 51, and I remember when you had to stop and find a pay phone if you needed to make a phone call, and everybody did just fine. I have no problems with cell phones, but they are being seriously abused. I always carry one with me in the car and on motorcycles, but it is always turned off. If I want to make a call, or check for messages, I can find a safe place to pull over and stop.

I fully support preventing people from driving while using a cell phone by any means possible. Cell phones are not life support systems, though many people treat them that way. It is not going to harm anyone if they actually have to stop to use their phone. But it could save a lot of lives if you could prevent anyone from using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. Jerry.

**Shadow Shack** · 05-18-2010, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JunkyardDog

It amazes me that the IIHS (an insurance company lobbying group) wants to make anti-lock brakes mandatory on motorcycles, yet I can find nowhere that they have come out against cell phone use while operating a motor vehicle.

This one's easy. You know what they say about the golden goose --- insurance agents and their clients do business with each other using...cell phones. Often while driving. It's tough to convince the police that they need to police the police.

Quote:

I recently flew from Phoenix up to Portland, OR and back, first time I have flown in several years, and cell phone use was not permitted on the plane.

Disrupts their radio and navigational systems my left butt cheek, don't planes fly through hoardes of cell phone signals every second? Last I checked, they usually operate somewhere between the cell phone satellites and cell phone reception towers. You know, that space where all the cell phone signal waves are bouncing around...seems to me the sole reason for that policy is they want you to use their "AirPhones" at $5/minute. Exactly how do those AirPhones work, do they have an extension cord trailing behind the plane that is long enough to be connected between the departure and destination airports? Or are they actually cell phones in disguise?

**twocoolgliders** · 05-19-2010, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Shack

This one's easy. You know what they say about the golden goose --- insurance agents and their clients do business with each other using...cell phones. Often while driving. It's tough to convince the police that they need to police the police.

Disrupts their radio and navigational systems my left butt cheek, don't planes fly through hoardes of cell phone signals every second? Last I checked, they usually operate somewhere between the cell phone satellites and cell phone reception towers. You know, that space where all the cell phone signal waves are bouncing around...seems to me the sole reason for that policy is they want you to use their "AirPhones" at $5/minute. Exactly how do those AirPhones work, do they have an extension cord trailing behind the plane that is long enough to be connected between the departure and destination airports? Or are they actually cell phones in disguise?

Cell phones on airplanes...........

Don't you guys ever watch Mythbusters???

The cell phone is of such low power that it is unlikely to disrupt the avionics (electronics) of the aircraft. Most of the important wiring is "shielded" against EMF noise anyway. Mythbusters however found one instrument that was disrupted....can't remember what. They don't let you use any electronic devices during take off and landing, and only certain electronics during the flight.........they are just covering their butts, just in case......

But sometimes you can get interferance.....we just installed a really old model GPS into an airplane.......the customer is now complaining of interferance on his communications radio.....probably the GPS antenna or the device itself is too close to the radio antenna or wiring....

The strength of the EMF near the cell phone, like a cell phone in the cockpit, is way stronger that the EMf bouncing around in the atmosphere, unless you fly really close to a cell tower (antenna). I have flown close to big antennas and got music coming through my headset.......FM radio station....

But what the general public seems to not know is:

Cell phones don't work right in the air anyway.........especially at altitudes above 2000' or so. The cell phone is designed to contact a cell tower, only one cell tower, the nearest cell tower, if you are mobile it will switch from one tower to the next as you move.

In the air, line of sight, your cell phone can easily contact MANY cell towers at the same time. If this happens, it confuses the system and the call just gets dropped.

Cookie

**Shadow Shack** · 05-19-2010, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Don't you guys ever watch Mythbusters???

I used to back when I worked the day shift, I miss that show.

I wasn't 100% sure, hence the interrogatory nature of the statement and a theory, rather than actually staking a claim

**regularman** · 05-25-2010, 10:02 PM

I saw a bike sticker I am going to buy when I see it again. It said. I'M SORRY IF MY LOUD PIPES ARE DISTURBING YOUR PHONE CALL

JunkyardDog · 05-26-2010, 02:53 AM

I have for the most part been out of aviation for a long time. I know there were no avionics that would have had a problem with a few milliwatts of RF at cell phone frequencies back in the 80s. All the stuff was analog, sturdy and well built. I still fly once in a while (with a rented plane and CFI), and the digital stuff they use today looks pretty flimsy. As far as radios, they operate at way lower frequencies, and much higher power than cell phones I don't see a problem. But some of the high frequency navigation stuff they use today might have a problem. I seriously doubt it though. While I don't think modern avionics are made nearly as well as those back in the '60s, they have to meet much higher standards than pretty much anything else.

Remember when you could not use a cell phone in a doctors office or in a hospital? Those days are gone. Apparently cell phones no longer interfere with medical equipment, if they ever did. It's not the RF output from a cell phone that is dangerous. It is the impaired driver using the damn thing. Jerry.

**Fridgitator** · 05-26-2010, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JunkyardDog

I have for the most part been out of aviation for a long time. I know there were no avionics that would have had a problem with a few milliwatts of RF at cell phone frequencies back in the 80s. All the stuff was analog, sturdy and well built. I still fly once in a while (with a rented plane and CFI), and the digital stuff they use today looks pretty flimsy. As far as radios, they operate at way lower frequencies, and much higher power than cell phones I don't see a problem. But some of the high frequency navigation stuff they use today might have a problem. I seriously doubt it though. While I don't think modern avionics are made nearly as well as those back in the '60s, they have to meet much higher standards than pretty much anything else.

Remember when you could not use a cell phone in a doctors office or in a hospital? Those days are gone. Apparently cell phones no longer interfere with medical equipment, if they ever did. It's not the RF output from a cell phone that is dangerous. It is the impaired driver using the damn thing. Jerry.

Remember not long ago (before the oil leak) when the big news was that airlines were grounding flights because of a volcano in Iceland, or Iowa, or wherever? The big concern was that airborne ash was going to drop a plane out of the sky, and no airline wanted to be the one to take the hit. Once the press had something else to focus on, the race was on to be the first to start making money again. When cell phones hit the scene, Airlines claimed that communications/ navigation/ in-flight movies may be impacted, and since there was no compelling reason to let people use their phones in flight while the airlines developed on-board phones of their own at obscene rates, no one really had a legitimate whine about it.

**Shadow Shack** · 05-29-2010, 06:47 PM

There's an active discussion going on over at beginnerbikers.org : "I can drink three beers and drive better than you can with a cell phone". Very interesting remarks...my fave so far?

Cop pulls you over for drifting in and out of your lane:

Driver 1> Sorry, I was making a phone call.
Cop> Don't do it again.

Driver 2> I had a couple beers
Cop> You're going to jail

JunkyardDog · 05-30-2010, 01:23 AM

I'm all for making using a cell phone while driving/riding legally the same as driving/riding while drunk. I really don't see the difference. You are impaired either way, and in both cases it is intentional and unnecessary. Start charging cell phone using drivers with DUI. It will make the roads a lot safer, and make the govment a lot of money in the process, part of which should go toward making things better for motorcyclists, including FREE rider training. Jerry.

**mad hatter** · 05-30-2010, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JunkyardDog

I'm all for making using a cell phone while driving/riding legally the same as driving/riding while drunk. I really don't see the difference. You are impaired either way, and in both cases it is intentional and unnecessary. Start charging cell phone using drivers with DUI. It will make the roads a lot safer, and make the govment a lot of money in the process, part of which should go toward making things better for motorcyclists, including FREE rider training. Jerry.

completely agree

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