Encrypted Radio

[RocMat1]

Ok, I know there are 201 channels for radio, but listen.

This is how it would work. When you made your radio, it would have an input
for password.

With this radio it only has one channel, but, the only people that can hear it at all are people who put the same password in their radio and vice versa.

So, this would also be a huge step towards phones, as you could put as your password 251-798-2222 or something, which would be your phone number.
Then someone would "call you" by inputting that as their password.

So we could build a huge phone system just by building a bunch of repeaters.

I think this idea rocks, and I am a sophomore in college going for a computer science major and think that it wouldn't be that bad to implement.

What do you think?

[chase02]

I think it would be pointless as soon as someone forgot their password. So you'd end up with >9000 useless teleradio's in the game that noone could use. and you can't destroy.

[Idriveayugo]

Might as well just have cell phones if we utilize your idea. Where people just dial numbers to spread specific information.

[Tiamo]

What is the difference between using a password and using a frequency?

[chase02]

I am assuming that it would be unchangeable (set as the radiophone is built) and thus making it near impossible (due to sheer cost) to discover by brute force.

Or, I could be wrong. XD

[fishfin]

I don't think this is needed in the game. You could just as easily have your characters speak in code whenever transmitting a message.

[joo]

It does not really make sense technologically for radio waves to be able to be "encrypted" like you suggested. For data to be processed in such a way, it would have to be in a digital format, which requires a much higher frequency than 100-300 Hz, and also much more advanced electrical components than would be used by a basic radio. The very principle would be entirely different.

The only way this might be applicable is if telegraph machines were implemented which allowed series of signals to be sent which represented letters of the alphabet (or dots and dashes), and there were mechanical devices like those used in WWII which ciphered or deciphered the discrete signals. However, as fishfin pointed out, this could be done manually with little effort by players themselves when sending sensitive messages.

On the subject of having telephone numbers to allow direct contact between two phones, this would require the phones to be connected to some kind of regional exchange or control center that coordinates telephone messages. The whole system would need to be maintained by lots of people spread over large distances staying awake and keeping in contact which each other, and frankly I don't think the population of any region is capable of achieving this at the moment.

[RocMat1]

Ok, but this is different. This is only partly about encrypting things.

And no, there wouldn't be a lot of useless radios, all you have to do
is change the password on it, you wouldnt have to know the password.

And this is very different than doing channels because the password you could set it up as anything, up to like 12 characters or so.

OR actually...now that I think of it, we could do the same thing with just having more channels.

We need to have like 9999999999 channels. And then people could write phone books as notes that they would spread.

This is probably the easiest way to implement it because channels are already set up. So the radios could be the phone system. So eventually the cantr society would communicate with areas that would have what area code and such.

So if you wanted to call somewhere about getting a shipment of material and what not, or just whatever, you would have the radio and just set it to that channel.

Then setting up the phone system is just setting up a bunch of radio repeaters.

[Jos Elkink]

I'm going to move this to reject - sorry ... This is pretty much what we have already and with 200 options, there is at least a nice chance that you accidentally pick up cool communication; having 999999 channels is too secure, which makes it less fun ...

[chase02]

having 999999 channels is too secure, which makes it less fun ...

AHA! the real reason behind creating cantr is finally revealed!

[joo]

having 999999 channels is too secure, which makes it less fun ...

So in other words, having over 9000 channels is too secure, which makes it less fun!!!

AHA! the real reason behind creating cantr is finally revealed!

*chuckles*