Radio Senses

[quotemyname]

I am thinking of upgrading Eddie's Radio senses and communication skills this month. But in order to know what I want and should get, I feel that I need to be better aware of what it is that I actually have and can do right now.

Since most radio towers broadcast a signal, if we assume they can broadcast it about 10 miles before it becomes unclear, then it would seem that they would have Communication (Radio) 12 or so, right? This would allow them to broadcast out to 50000ft (or just under 10 miles).

So does that mean that anyone within 50000 feet of a radio tower with Super Senses 1 (Radio) can pick up that signal? Would I need either Acute or Analytical to be able to "scan" or "switch" between frequencies and get different stations? (Rock station, Jazz station, etc.)

Also, how does the Extended PF interact with a broadcast radio frequency? If the original range of the frequency is 50000ft from the transmitter, and Breakdown has Extended 3 (which he does) does that mean he can pick up the radio frequency if he is standing up to 10000 feet outside of the broadcast range (or 60000ft from the transmitter)?

How explicit are we with the "communicator" equipment piece? Does it broadcast a signal? Or can it merely receive signals? (Does it give you communication or super senses? Or both?)

Explicitly, what I am trying to go for with BD's communication powers is this: A] I am trying to turn him into a natural communicator, and B] I am trying to make it so that without headphones he can still access his different forms (by scanning the radio frequencies of Freedom City's FM radio towers).

My questions are: Do I need to bother with Extended on my Super Senses? Do I need to purchase Acute or Analytical or both on those senses? If I am to have him communicate with other characters wearing a communicator, how many points would I need to buy in Communication to make this possible?

Any help is appreciated :)

[angrydurf]

Not sure how the ranges interact. Radio sense as a reciever seems like it might not apply extended at all since extended really just adjusts your range increment for taking penalties to the check.

An option that makes sense to me is that if you are outside of the broadcast range but that range is within your sensory range you can detect the radio signals but they are too faint to pick up what is being comunicated across them (since that is a limitation on comunication)

I think comunicators are 2 way radio comunication basically. So you can talk back and forth on the same frequency. radio senses would pick up the signal unless the comlink is subtle IE scrambled.

So are you looking at dropping the powerloss drawback from the forms then? Being able to use radio signals basically means he'd always have access to them making it worth a complication more than a drawback.

[quotemyname]

Yes, that is one thing under consideration. But first I want to see if I CAN do it. It's now pretty apparent, that Extended is not necessary. Would I need acute, analytical, or both to be able to sense radio senses in this way?

[angrydurf]

Well analytical seems overkill IMHO as that would give you more detail than needed it seems. Not sure on acute, it seems the best fit but I'm still not certain on that.

Basically all the radio signals are just playing and you "hear" them all at once. So it woudl be kinda cacophonus, acute woudl let you ID specific stations I guess but I'm not sure how they deal with the level of EM saturation the average city.

[quotemyname]

Maybe I should use Accurate, since accurate lets you 'target' with the sense. That way I could simply target a single radio station and listen to only that one?

Analytical would let him understand what frequency a station was. This would be useful for telling others to tune into that frequency, however it would be rather redundant for identifying the frequency of certain radio stations, (his obnoxiously high knowledge [pop culture] would already cover that IMO).

Acute does seem necessary here.

So the question remains: Do I need Accurate to filter through the cacophonous amount radio signals in FC? And do I WANT Analytical?

[angrydurf]

Accurate would be for using it to target in combat you deffinately don't need that.

Really for filterin the cloasest is counters radio obscure. But even that may be a bit much for listening into radio stations. I think Acute would cover tuneing to specific frequencies when needed. Really it might do what you want out of the box. Analytical lets you analyze signal strength and probably even triangulate (if you move around some) the origin as well as distance etc.

I think just to listen in though all you need is super sense (radio). And to transmit it would just be communication (radio).

With that you could certainly get away with explaining that Breakdown can use his forms all the time and give him a "its so quiet" complication to be activated in the rare circumstances he can't get any kind of music going. Of course without the drawback and with his perform skill he could get away with it just by singing ;)

[quotemyname]

Okay, I think I'll go with Acute and Analytical. Just because the abilities afforded my by Analytical seem pretty useful once in a while.