Originally Posted by
ira d
I would say at the vast marjority of events it is very unlikely to have 100 radios on at one time. Also I dont think there have been any problems that proved to be caused by saturation,
I do think however it would not be a bad idea for the AMA to request that all radios manufactors test and certify their radios as to how many can operate at one time.
IMO with all the different transmission protocols used by the different manufactors it would be diffcult to tell how many radios that can operate togather when different brands are used.
I am not an RF engineer and have already been told I am asking stupid questions. However I have always believed that the only stupid questions are the ones that don't get asked, so I will continue the discussion.
I guess there are two questions here. One is related to how well individual protocols within 2.4 can handle a busy site. That is a very important question but not the one I am focused on. I think Bruce Johnson at RCReviews does a really good job of reporting on that.
My focus is on whether the band can become so saturated that none of the protocols can be reliable. At some point the radio and receiver have to have a clear enough link to pass data.
It has been suggested, and it makes sense to me, that lock out when using a hopping protocol, is unlikely. However reduction in range is likely, and delays or sluggishness in response as the system hops from slot to slot trying to get through could be an issue.
For a glider working a thermal at 2000 feet up and 2000 feet out range would be an issue but latency might be less of a concern. But intermittent loss of connection due to range reduction could cause a pilot to lose confidence and come back to the field earlier than normal.
But for those latency sensitive situations like 3D heli and airplane flying, pattern, pylon or other high speed formats, increasing latency due to RF band congestion could become a concern.
Or, are our radio systems so good that we don't have to worry about how large the events get since we will never lock out, never have a range issue and and never have enough latency to be concerned.