B-Netz was an analog, commercial

mobile radio telephone Mobile radio telephone systems were mobile telephony systems that preceded modern cellular network technology. Since they were the predecessors of the first generation of cellular telephones, these systems are sometimes retroactively referred to ...

network that was operated by the Deutsche Bundespost in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(at first only

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. 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 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. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

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 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, rea ...

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, BS) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service." A base station is called '' node B'' in 3G, '' eNB'' in L ...

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 ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

alone. The network was vastly oversubscribed and finding an available channel could prove difficult. The connection between base station and handset was unencrypted, 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 ''eave ...

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, 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� ...

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

Channel spacing Channel spacing, also known as bandwidth, is a term used in radio frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate o ...

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

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

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

References

Mobile radio telephone systems {{telecom-stub

Technical details

See also

References