Daniel Alberts

@ScienceDaddio @MCCCANM DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection) is a technique used to avoid interference between license-free 5GHz WiFi systems and radar systems, including certain weather and airport radars. Worked in ISP carrier wireless a few years ago, would occasionally have to deal with this.

@MCCCANM I always wondered. Aren't weather radar satellites using close to the same frequency as well? And have been forever?

Putting your phone on airplane mode isn’t pointless, but it’s not much of a safety risk either. In extreme circumstances, it’s possible, but not probable, that signals the phone emits when searching for a tower can bleed into our headsets. I’ve had it happen on the KC-10, but only because it was my own phone in close proximity I hadn’t turned off. There was a slight issue of 5G interfering with the radio altimeter recently. The two work on parts of the frequency spectrum that are very close. That has been mostly resolved by better shielding, but was a threat that needed to be taken seriously. The FCC wants your phone off because 200 phones in the air, searching for signal, can all connect to multiple towers at once & strain the grid. Now throw a couple more jets in the area full of 200 phones, too, and it could be a problem. The FAA looked at eliminating this rule & decided to keep it. At least in part, to keep people from having annoying conversations at a time many people are already aggravated from delays & whatever else. The best reason I’ve found to tell people, though, is that it will rapidly drain your battery, as the phone keeps trying to search for towers to connect to.