What's a product or service you can't believe hasn't been invented yet?

@HumanEarth

Would cell phones work if they did not know our locations? Would we be able to receive calls and texts?

That's not a rhetorical question. It's something I wonder about.

In the case of broadcast radio, the signal is transmitted into the atmosphere in all directions, and if my radio is within range, I will pick it up. The radio station does not need to know where I am. But that signal is not intended specifically for me.

If someone sends me a text message, the network needs to know which cell tower to route it through in order to send it to me. It needs to know, at least roughly, where I am.

But does it need to know precisely where I am in order to get the signal to my phone? I honestly do not know. And for that matter, I might be wrong about the cell towers. Maybe a message for me gets sent to all cell towers everywhere, and I only need to be within range of one of them. I don't know the answer to that either.

Maybe someone here with more expertise in electronics can answer this.

@DrWatson You are 100% right. I'm kinda like a radio guru in the radio world. I hold extra class amateur radio and a commercial radio licenses.

That means not only can I use radios that transmit, I can also repair them and so much more. Plus I'm also a ARRL Register Instructor to teach new comers to amateur radio

What's I have bug up my ass about is how they're using the same stuff to spy on at the same time. And they made it where you can't turn it off. The only way to turn it off is to pull the battery and they made it so you can't pull out the battery.

It also don't help that I'm paranoid about corporate & government spying and I'm always fighting and finding new ways to block them from from spying on me.

I want to keep and save our right to freedom of privacy.

@HumanEarth So is amateur radio still going strong, as a hobby?

I had friends in high school who were doing that. At the time, I thought ,"That sounds interesting, but I would be terrible at striking up conversations with complete strangers."

And now we have the internet. 😄

We're strangers and we're talking

It's not as strong as it used to be. I have been involved in radio since the 1970s

@HumanEarth Yes, we are strangers and we are talking. That was my point when I said "and now we have the internet" -- where I am perfectly comfortable, at least in text form, communicating with strangers. 😄

I am glad to hear people are still involved in amateur radio, even if not in the numbers of the past.

I still talk on the CB radio as well. But nobody says "Breaker Breaker anyone got Smokey report eastbound" anymore

@HumanEarth I had a CB when I was in high school. I eventually lost interest in it. Again, because I couldn't think of anything to say!

It seemed to me that a lot of conversations were along the lines of "whoa! You pinned my RF meter!" 😅

I think them people drank too much Everclear and Miller Beer

Wait I was one of them people. Maybe I should rethink what I said 🤣🤣🤣

After all I am a (Well used to be)

[media=https://voca.ro/12qVsCJSQ97E]

[media=https://voca.ro/1h1UcCyJzyLB]

@HumanEarth Just turn off location

Turning location don't stop the cell towers from finding your cellphone location. Turn off location and you can still make phone calls. How is that possible if location is turned off?

@HumanEarth It stops tracking

Trust me, It don't

@DrWatson It needs only know you 'phone (not you, the instrument) is within range of a given relay station. If that is omnidirectional you can be in any direction from it, so can be in a sizeable area.

The syetem only needs identify what telephone is near which relay, not why, not where within a large circle, or what its user is doing.