[ExI] Oil will never run out

[Jordan Hazen]

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 09:42:18PM -0500, Bryan Bishop wrote:
> On Sunday 29 June 2008, hkhenson wrote:
> > At 08:39 PM 6/29/2008, Bryan wrote:
> > > On Sunday 29 June 2008, Kevin Freels wrote:
> > > > A cell phone without civilization is just a paper weight.
> > >
> > > That's not true ... just throw up some towers/antennaes, a few
> > > electrical generators and also some distribution equipment. you can
> > > make a rudimentary hydrodynamic power generator with wires (or less
> > > optimally other shapes) of magnetic materials wrapped around other
> > > conductive metals basically, etc. etc.
> >
> > I was going to just punt this one, but what the heck. ?Bryan, how
> > much do you know about what's involved in a cell tower?
> 
> Although I am sure that there is a lot of proprietary electrical 
> circuits that you can call me out on, I still don't see what's so 
> difficult. Hell, I have a few friends that get their connectivity via 
> tin cans and wraps of wire. Kind of like this except more technically 
> competent: http://binarywolf.com/249/

Sure, building antennas is well within the range of individual
endeavor.  That would be the easy part.  Antennas can be quite simple
compared to all the microelectronics, UHF radios, GSM or CDMA encoders
and decoders, precision filters, etc. required at a modern cell site. 
The real complexity is in indoor equipment racks, often housed in a
small "hut" down at the tower's base.

Consider that while many ham radio operators still custom-build
antennas, very few try to construct their own radios any more,
particularly for the UHF and microwave bands.

Without some vestige of modern civilization, or access to advanced
nanotech, how would you hope to fabricate even the simplest integrated
circuit (or discrete transistor, for that matter) ?

btw, cellular sites usually don't have any local autonomy for handling
calls if they're cut off from their central-office switching system
(MTSO; basically a specialized computer; one per carrier in each city
controls many towers).  So, with a conventional design one must add
that, and the fiber-optic lines, muxes, etc. in between to the list of
necessary infrastructure, which is more fragile than most people
realize.

-- 
Jordan.