RadNet
The Radio Echo Network (or RadNet for short) is a system of ground- and skystation-based radio repeater stations that spans most populated regions of the Manifold.
In Public Life
The RadNet is commonly used for both public broadcasting and private communications purposes. Using carrier signals and various forms of encryption to set authorized recipients for messages, (relatively) secure lines of communication can be thus established between points in the Manifold which would otherwise be unable to communicate due to physical obstruction or atmospheric interference. Once received, a message can be directed through telephone and telegraph lines to human operators or, in the case of data transmissions, directed to dieseltech computers and autonets for further processing. Most individuals cannot afford the equipment required to broadcast signals to the RadNet, though, in the case of international radio and television broadcasts, most may receive messages and public broadcasts at home. The experience most individuals have of interacting with the RadNet as a content creator is similar to that of interacting with courier posts or telegram offices in previous eras, though the turnaround time is much faster through the RadNet. A small number of individuals are gifted enough with electronics - primitive as electronics are in the year 10,000 AR - to create personal-use broadcast and recieving platforms. These private broadcasters range from hobbyists with antennae in their backyards to chat with similarly-equipped neigbors to full-blown pirate stations that can jam, alter, or overwhelm traditional broadcasters with the same cube. Unlike wired telephony or in-cube radio communications, the process of relaying messages between cubes via the RadNet introduces a degree of unavoidable signal lag. This delay increases in magnitude relative to the number of cubes between the sender and receiver. The lag in pre-scheduled RadNet signals can be used to gauge various aspects of the radio environment, such as the current network load. For example, if a garbled signal is repeated after an extended delay, this indicates that the signal is more likely to be an encrypted data burst than to be natural noise or distortions. Constant radio sources (such as the Navigator's Guild's Castle of Aurorae) serve as radio-spectrum lighthouses are useful for measuring distances, diagnosing equipment issues, and performing radio-based navigation.Utility
Because of the Manifold's unique geometry, even the most powerful radio transmissions become difficult to detect beyond their home cubes or tesseracts. Because skystations in the commissures and inflection layers often have direct line of sight to one another, installing radio repeaters aboard them allows direct line-of-sight transmissions. Ground-based repeaters can be used in lieu of skystations in the inflection layers, though more ground-based repeaters are required to achieve complete coverage between cubes.
Access & Availability
The most well-known RadNet broadcasters include:
- WGGR Guild Gazette Radio (GGR), a news and commentary channel run by The Guild Gazette and broadcast in every major language for the benefit of its numerous local translators
- WVXL Radio Voxelia, also known as Voxelia News & Entertainment (VNE), a Vozendi-language broadcaster based in Silkenvault
- WICR Island Currents Radio (ICR), an Iuxat-language entertainment and commentary broadcaster based in Eudoxia
- WRFM Radio Free Manifold (RFM), an Eliov-language news and entertainment broadcaster based in the municipality of Craterhold and with 'pirate' translators scattered throughout The Human Arc (including Parasol Private Holdings)
- WPVS Vale Voice and Variety (VVV or V3), a Valespeak-language variety channel based in the municipality of Petalcap Vale and with a translator in Godshead Rock
- WVOC Voice of Conservation (VOC), also known as Vox Continendi or Radio MCS, a news, music, and recruitment propaganda broadcaster based in Bunker Primus
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