3.6GHz 802.11y for Competitions

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by yash101

By the way, this is a tad off-topic, but why does 5GHz not penetrate walls so easily, where 2.4GHz will cover my entire (large) home?

More than a tad. Nonetheless: Different frequencies have different propagation characteristics. At 3.5 MHz you can communicate around the world with one watt of power, while at 400 MHz you can't go more than a hundred miles with 1500 watts*.

The higher in frequency you go, the more the radio waves behave like light. 2.4 GHz passes right through wood, plaster, etc with only a little attenuation. 5 GHz is affected much more. 10 GHz is even worse in that respect.


*There are some very specific exceptions, such as tropospheric ducting, but I'm discussing 'normal' propagation here.

[seg9585]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

The higher in frequency you go, the more the radio waves behave like light.

Like light? Radio waves are light.

Anyway, many of you are forgetting that FIRST is a worldwide activity, and just because the United States has permitted licensed usage of the 3.6Ghz band doesn't mean the rest of the world has. Would you really want our Brazilian, Israeli, Mexican, etc teams getting into trouble with their local regulators over FIRST hardware?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels