UPDATE: As a reader pointed out, the frequency would not give the coverage area of AM radio as indicated below, but would go about 230 miles if pointed very precisely and used for high-volume wireless communication, lending credence to the idea that it's a wifi system.



Spaceport America, outside Truth or Consequences in the deserts of New Mexico, has been retooling its tenant list in recent years. The facility has one big advantage for the non-rocket crowd. It has lots and lots of fiber optic communications cables just waiting to be used. It seems Google may be making some good use of them, but exactly what they're doing is still under wraps.

According to an FCC document unearthed by Brian Benchoff at Hackaday, the internet giant applied for an experimental radio license to be built in the New Mexico desert. Much of the report is redacted, thanks to a request for confidentiality by Google. But a few details can be sussed out: It will work in ranges typically utilized for communications devices (the 2.5 GhZ and 5.8 GhZ band), but includes higher millimeter bands.

As Benchoff points out, there's a transmitter in the 70-80 GHz band. That band isn't regulated much by the FCC, and is typically used for high-bandwidth communications, and frequencies just under that range (60 GHz) may indeed be utilized for high-bandwidth wireless routers. But whereas those devices will use power in the watts, Google wants a 96.4 kilowatt transmitter. AM radio stations top out at 50 KWs, which can reach at least 38 states. But whereas that's omnidirectional, Google wants something that also concentrates on very narrow widths.

Benchoff suspects it may be tied to Google Project Skybender to bring internet by drone, while others suspect Google Project Loon and other experiments in bringing internet access worldwide. The InfoWars crowd will probably suspect mind control, especially with HAARP under utilized now. My guess? Aliens. The nearby spaceport provides a perfect landing spot, and our overlords know New Mexico by well know, having crashed so many flying saucers there.

Source: Hackaday

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