2 ms·

People use a lot of different construction materials and techniques across the country, but I don't think this "sarking" is common for residences. People don't

by jzwinck 12y ago

People use a lot of different construction materials and techniques across the country, but I don't think this "sarking" is common for residences. People don't want to live inside Faraday cages though, for the reason you already mentioned: their mobile phones wouldn't work. Not to mention broadcast television, AM/FM radio, garage door openers, etc.

comrh 12y ago
I've thought about living in one, I only use radio in the car and TV comes in through cables. On the plus side my wifi would be protected from wardriving (or an outside access) as it would never leave the house. Cell service would definitely be a problem though.
- _cudgel 12y ago
  While this is admittedly off-topic to this thread, I too have given this some thought. I'm coming around to the opinion that losing cell service wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I prefer to live in a rural area, and a landline would definitely be cheaper. Ditching the smartphone in favor of a feature phone, which could remain off, battery disconnected, and in it's own little faraday cage in the car -- because being prepared for an emergency is a thing we should all do -- well, it all seems very appealing. Nothing in my pocket, no wifi sniffer gathering the hardware address off my phone, no location tracking services, etc. Best of all, the people in my life would adjust to me not being available 24x7x365. I think that would be highly beneficial when compared to the constant stream of interruptions that seem like an invasion of privacy all on their own.
- mikehotel 12y ago
  Cell service could be provided with a femtocell.
userbinator 12y ago
The response of materials to EM radiation and its attenuation is highly frequency-dependent (at the very high frequencies, this is why we see things having different colours), so it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing; a material could be transparent to most frequencies but appear opaque to the ones radar use - essentially, the filter absorbs all the energy at particular wavelengths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notch_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notch_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atmospheric_electromagnetic_opacity.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atmospheric_electromagneti...
pavel_lishin 12y ago
I'm already living in a Faraday cage - we had to have AT&T send us a microcell because we had zero reception in our apartment. Plus, if my phone could place calls over wifi, I wouldn't mind if other signals couldn't get in - I don't even think we have a TV antenna, or anything that would pick up an AM/FM radio signal.
- ridgeguy 12y ago
  Me too, maybe. We have a stucco exterior that was applied over a wire mesh. While the mesh isn't necessarily electrically contiguous (SIGINT/stealth wasn't part of residential construction specs in the 1940s), we have very poor cell reception inside and pretty good reception if we walk ten feet so we're outside the exterior walls.

by jzwinck 12y ago

comrh 12y ago

I've thought about living in one, I only use radio in the car and TV comes in through cables. On the plus side my wifi would be protected from wardriving (or an outside access) as it would never leave the house. Cell service would definitely be a problem though.

_cudgel 12y ago
While this is admittedly off-topic to this thread, I too have given this some thought. I'm coming around to the opinion that losing cell service wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I prefer to live in a rural area, and a landline would definitely be cheaper. Ditching the smartphone in favor of a feature phone, which could remain off, battery disconnected, and in it's own little faraday cage in the car -- because being prepared for an emergency is a thing we should all do -- well, it all seems very appealing. Nothing in my pocket, no wifi sniffer gathering the hardware address off my phone, no location tracking services, etc. Best of all, the people in my life would adjust to me not being available 24x7x365. I think that would be highly beneficial when compared to the constant stream of interruptions that seem like an invasion of privacy all on their own.
mikehotel 12y ago
Cell service could be provided with a femtocell.

userbinator 12y ago

The response of materials to EM radiation and its attenuation is highly frequency-dependent (at the very high frequencies, this is why we see things having different colours), so it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing; a material could be transparent to most frequencies but appear opaque to the ones radar use - essentially, the filter absorbs all the energy at particular wavelengths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notch_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notch_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atmospheric_electromagnetic_opacity.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atmospheric_electromagneti...

pavel_lishin 12y ago

I'm already living in a Faraday cage - we had to have AT&T send us a microcell because we had zero reception in our apartment. Plus, if my phone could place calls over wifi, I wouldn't mind if other signals couldn't get in - I don't even think we have a TV antenna, or anything that would pick up an AM/FM radio signal.

ridgeguy 12y ago
Me too, maybe. We have a stucco exterior that was applied over a wire mesh. While the mesh isn't necessarily electrically contiguous (SIGINT/stealth wasn't part of residential construction specs in the 1940s), we have very poor cell reception inside and pretty good reception if we walk ten feet so we're outside the exterior walls.