How do new cars connect to internet ?

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mtbadbob

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I have seen those antennas about 3 inches long sticking out from cars, but it's hard for me to believe they can transmit/receive satellite signals.
It is satellite as those shark fins are the antenna's for the signal, and a regular mast is still used on the trucks for am/fm. Onstar can unlock the new vehicles by sending a signal from above.
 

fast 99

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NO GM didn't retrofit old point systems to HEI,....BUT they took the HEI out if some and put point systems back in. I personally did at least 2 of them at our Chevy dealership in a couple of of C10 454 rigs. They had MANY problems with the early HEI rigs. On my 2015 Tahoe I am wondering about installing a newer module from a 2017 or whatever in it for a retrofit??
Remember those days, never went anywhere without a spare module in the glove box and tools. Same with Chrysler ignition resistors.
 

Turbo4whl

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Remember those days, never went anywhere without a spare module in the glove box and tools. Same with Chrysler ignition resistors.

I must be really old, I remember the days you just needed a finger nail file and a match book.
 

idahovette

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Do you remember the Echlin "Gold" points. Heavy duty and be sure to use the lube on the distributor cam, or they were gone quickly!!!
 

Catbox

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Do you remember the Echlin "Gold" points. Heavy duty and be sure to use the lube on the distributor cam, or they were gone quickly!!!
My son asked why I had such a big tube of points grease for the VW.
I told him that was the only size they had.
It is 15 years old and is barely 1/4 used, but the old bug still runs points.
So we keep it around.
 

fast 99

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My son asked why I had such a big tube of points grease for the VW.
I told him that was the only size they had.
It is 15 years old and is barely 1/4 used, but the old bug still runs points.
So we keep it around.
I have a tube that's been around forever. Still 1/2, don't need much. Used to be able to set points visibly and very seldom had to do it twice. Can't do that today.
 

80BrownK10

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I have seen those antennas about 3 inches long sticking out from cars, but it's hard for me to believe they can transmit/receive satellite signals.
Satellite antennas can be little puck things stuck to a roof? Ever seen a GPS antenna for a held held unit? Ever seen a boat GPS antenna, there like round bowl things. Ever seen a satellite radio antenna, the one on my wife's care is a little magnetic puck like about 2"x2" and not an inch tall. We don't have that stuff but it was on the car when we bought it . You don't have to have a satellite dish strapped to your vehicle to communicate with a satellite.
 

Snoots

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They don't have to communicate with a satellite. BION, they only have to communicate like a smart phone. If you work it backwards, the signal goes to a cell tower, they get their signals from phone lines (copper or fiber) back to a Low Earth Satellite Uplink dish.
They work differently from the military sat phones you've seen/heard about.
 

mtnmankev

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So when all is said and done, all those cars using the service, plus people on their smart phones suck up all the bandwidth here and leave me without any service at all, phone or internet.
 

SquareRoot

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They don't have to communicate with a satellite. BION, they only have to communicate like a smart phone. If you work it backwards, the signal goes to a cell tower, they get their signals from phone lines (copper or fiber) back to a Low Earth Satellite Uplink dish.
They work differently from the military sat phones you've seen/heard about.
Snoots.... I'm impressed.
 

CheemsK1500

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The biggest fear generated from all of this, is the ability for someone with the right access to brick a vehicle at will. Someone with programming experience could likely make a bricked car run again, but it would take much time and effort to do every vehicle. A skilled cyber terrorist or government hell-bent on limiting transit could cause a giant mess by making millions of vehicles inoperable at once. Everyone with vehicles old enough to be unaffected, would have to guard them with their life in such a scenario...
 

fast 99

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The biggest fear generated from all of this, is the ability for someone with the right access to brick a vehicle at will. Someone with programming experience could likely make a bricked car run again, but it would take much time and effort to do every vehicle. A skilled cyber terrorist or government hell-bent on limiting transit could cause a giant mess by making millions of vehicles inoperable at once. Everyone with vehicles old enough to be unaffected, would have to guard them with their life in such a scenario...
I got a lot of guarding to do.
 

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