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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 11:07:34 GMT
Well, at long last those mysterious concrete bases appear to have a purpose - they are now festooned with antennas!
Does anyone know what the antennas are for? I'd think they were for Connect, except that this is an NR line and NR is currently investigating technologies like GSM-R and so on...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 12:06:40 GMT
Since the District is planned to be the next line to 'go Connect' I guess the antennas will be for Connect. Even if the line is NR, I can imagine District drivers will need Connect reception to be connected with the rest of the LU network. |
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Post by trainopd78 on Aug 29, 2006 17:33:16 GMT
They are our connect antenae. Each one of those antennae forms a cell which we need to get a signal so if any one of those fails, we get a gap in reception. Just like a mobile phone transmitter really.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 18:03:35 GMT
But why are there so many?!?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 18:24:38 GMT
But why are there so many?!? You should know what LUL are like by now, OneKEA! More is better... The more equipment which is needed, the more there is to go wrong! ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 18:36:18 GMT
But why are there so many?!? You should know what LUL are like by now, OneKEA! More is better... The more equipment which is needed, the more there is to go wrong! ;D Yeah, I had a feeling  What I was referring to was that the antennas can't be more than a train length or two apart on the straight(er) segments - surely Connect is not that low-powered? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 19:11:57 GMT
What I was referring to was that the antennas can't be more than a train length or two apart on the straight(er) segments - surely Connect is not that low-powered? Could it be that either we can't have powerful transmitters for fear of interfering with some NR system? Or conversley does interference from elsewhere mean we have to have lots of antenna in that area? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2006 21:47:36 GMT
Interference from what, though? AFAIK there is nothing in the area that could cause sufficient interference to require that many antennas...
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solidbond
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Post by solidbond on Aug 29, 2006 21:57:51 GMT
Bearing in mind that the Connect radio is supposed to have a maximum range of 50 metres, I would expect to see transmitter aerials approx every 100 metres or less, which I reckon is about the distance these antennas are apart  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2006 18:15:34 GMT
I had the chance to speak to one of the people working on Connect today, and this was how he explained it (IIRC).
The system operates across most of the line using a leaky feeder cable. On the Richmond branch there is no existing cable run to attach a leaky feeder cable and it was considered better to use aerials rather than construct a cable run just for Connect.
The aerials are directional and are mounted in pairs, one pointing one way along the track and the other at 180 degrees to it. This is intended to give coverage over a short distance in both directions.
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Post by trainopd78 on Aug 30, 2006 19:06:07 GMT
ADW and Solidbond beat me to it. I'm getting too slow in my old age!! Looking at them on the road i'd say they've put them roughly 100m apart. Thats why I said that if any of those antennae go defective, we'll lose signal for a few seconds if we're travelling.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2006 14:38:24 GMT
I was surprised to read that the range for Connect would only be 50m. I would have thought it would have been larger than that.
Is there any reason for this (the range, not my thoughts) or is that a pretty standard range for this type of equipment?
I don't know anything about this type of thing so perhaps this is a stupid question.
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Post by citysig on Aug 31, 2006 19:17:23 GMT
Ahem. Since the District could be one of the first lines to go onto Connect. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2006 19:32:06 GMT
Ahem. Since the District could be one of the first lines to go onto Connect. The East London has connect already. The District gets it next, on some date in October I think, though i forget the exact date.... was told it day b4 yesterday ! Apparantly my training (given in anticipation of the previous start date) runs out the day before the planned "district live date" so I have to be retrained before then  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2006 21:57:33 GMT
They still seem confident that 11th October will be the day for the District.
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