B-Netz was an

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

, commercial mobile radio telephone network that was operated by the

Deutsche Bundespost The Deutsche Bundespost ( German federal post office) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

(at first only

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) from 1972 until 1994. The system was also implemented in neighboring countries

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Nether ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

. The B refers to the fact that it was the country's second public mobile telephone network, following the A-Netz. As opposed to its predecessor, it featured direct-dialing (so that human operators were not required to connect calls). The

frequency plan A frequency plan, bandplan, band plan or wavelength plan is a plan for using a particular band of radio frequencies, that are a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each frequency plan defines the frequency range to be included, how chann ...

originally included only 38 channels (with one call possible per

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from '' angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is ...

channel), but it was upgraded to incorporate the A-Netz frequencies when that network was retired in 1980. The upgraded network had 78 channels and is sometimes referred to as the B2-Netz. A major limitation of system was that, in order to reach a subscriber, one had to know his location since the

handset A handset is a component of a telephone that a user holds to the ear and mouth to receive audio through the receiver and speak to the remote party using the built-in transmitter. In earlier telephones, the transmitter was mounted directly on ...

would assume the local

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, re ...

of the base station serving it. Handoff was not possible and calls were dropped when cells were switched. Roaming was possible between the implementing countries. At its height in 1986, the network had 158

base station Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless c ...

s and about 27,000 subscribers in Germany and 1,770 in

. At the end of 1988, there were 1,078 participants in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

alone. The network was vastly

oversubscribed Overselling or overbooking is sale of a volatile good or service in excess of actual supply. Overselling is a common practice in the travel and hospitality sectors, in which it is expected that some people will cancel. The practice occurs as an in ...

and finding an available channel could prove difficult. The connection between base station and handset

unencrypted In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted. Overview With the advent of c ...

, so

eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...

was easy and common. In rare cases, additional devices were added by both participants to encrypt conversations (such as discussions of important politicians). The B-Netz would eventually be superseded by the technically superior

C-Netz The Radio Telephone Network C (German: Funktelefonnetz-C, abbreviated as C-Netz), was a first generation analog cellular phone system deployed and operated in Germany (at first West Germany) by DeTeMobil (formerly of Deutsche Bundespost Telek ...

, which was put into operation on May 1, 1985.

Technical details

Multiplexing In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: Frequency division multiplexing ** Bandwidth per channel: 14 kHz **

Channel spacing Channel spacing, also known as bandwidth, is a term used in radio frequency planning. It describes the frequency difference between adjacent allocations in a frequency plan. Channels for mediumwave radio stations, for example are allocated in in ...

: 20 kHz * Duplexing: Frequency division duplexing ** Duplex distance: 4.6 MHz * Transmitting power ** 20

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s for stationary stations ** 10 watts for mobile stations * Frequency ranges

References

Mobile radio telephone systems {{telecom-stub

Technical details

See also

References