[Land-speed] IN Car Communications

23weldon 23.weldon at comcast.net
Thu Jan 19 11:30:48 MST 2012


Mayf - We've successfully used radio communications in ships at sea for a 
century.   Sea water is just as conductive for all practical purposes as 
salt brine.  I think the real issue is that salt corrodes electrical 
connections and also it is readily transported in microscopic form through 
the air.  Once landed on a surface the property of sodium chloride to 
attract water from the air, especially in the cool of the morning when 
relative humidity is high starts the electrical mischief.
Navy and merchant marine radiomen have had a long time to figure out how to 
deal with that.  And given the criticality of radio communications at sea 
they no doubt pay serious attention to what has been learned.  Ditto the 
SCTA/BNI communications and computer team with respect to their stewardship 
of Bonneville operations.
One could hypothesize that the regularity of bumps in the salt surface or 
the tendency of car chassis/suspension at speed to move at constant 
frequency could when combined with electromagnetic induction effects some 
interference.  Seems a stretch to me.  But I hasten to add that I'm a 
mechanical guy, not a "sparky".
Ed Weldon

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Mayfield" <drmayf at mayfco.com>
To: <land-speed at autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 8:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Land-speed] IN Car Communications
>I have not been in the land speed activity very long, but a recurring
> theme does seem evident. And that is electrical stuff seems to
> malfunction or misbehave when out on the salt.
> So, perhaps a side lobe to the communication question can be explored:
> "What the heck is going on?"
............. So, could the lack of good communication be attributed to
> the fields generated by a moving electromagnetic field over a conductive
> sheet of damp salt? And would the current generated mimic the shape of
> the communication signal to the point where interference occurs?  How to
> easily test?  Or how to shield?


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