Interstellar communications Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Posted my question here as it's about radio transmissions going beyond our solar system...
We all know the excellent opening scene of the hollywood movie 'Contact' which shows radio & television transmissions going beyond our solar system. But as it's Hollywood, there's certainly a catch. Do our regular TV & radio transmissions really travel so far? I have been working in remote areas and it was hard enough to catch TV signals from stations just 75 kilometers away! I'm sure I've read once that the only signals from Earth leaving our solar system are very strong military Radars and bundles of strong (military) satellite uplinks.

[imipak]

So I guess it's only in Hollywood movies...

I also remember the scene in the movie where they get a directional fix on Vega, at which point a heated debate erupts - Vega is a very young star, surrounded by a dense disk of dust; therefore the aliens couldn't possibly fly around the system to build the transmitter; therefore, the analysis is wrong. "Well, they could if they blasted the dust out of the way with giant lasers...!!"

The point is that the hypothetical entities capable of detecting the 30s TV broadcast, extracting the signal and then sending it back to us with enough power to be detected by the VLA can be safely assumed to have whatever pseudo-magic NotInventedYettium it takes to make things that are hard or impossible for us, practical (and move the plot along.) Reality doesn't have those constraints. That's why it's called science *fiction*... and now I'll take Mike's hint and zip it

[Juramike]

Back in the 80's there was a Michael Pare rock opera movie called "Streets of Fire". Although it bombed at the box office, it started with a beautiful introductory caption that allowed the storyline absolute freedom:

"...in another time, in another place..."

[Okei]

Back in the 80's there was a Michael Pare rock opera movie called "Streets of Fire". Although it bombed at the box office, it started with a beautiful introductory caption that allowed the storyline absolute freedom:

"...in another time, in another place..."

It was a beautiful film, and the first time I saw Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Willem Defoe, et al.

I worked in Defense and Aerospace electronics in the 80's as a technician, taking requirements for my BSEE at local community colleges. Some of which were in Silicon Valley.

In the 90's I began my BSEE courses, but it was quite evident that my heart and mind were pre-occupied with Aerospace and Space. I was part of various deployments of wireless networks and the propagation studies in the field. There just wasn't enough people and if you could spell "wireless", you had a good job.

BellSouth PCI in Atlanta had me looking and measuring how well different structures/venues received the 1800-1900 MHz signal from a single test transmitter. At that time, we tested something in RTC.

Yes, I believe that there was, is, and will be "...in another time, in another place..."

Cheers

P.S. to PhilCo126, as a woman I find that "Contact" is my favorite film; they got all of the details right with regard to the VLA, Arecibo. Not that it is used for this, but TRW built a Relay Satellite.