[stuff about possible power sources and transmission media]
A television report on 'Beyond 2000' described meteor-bounce radio. The technique extends the idea of bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere (for distance), to bouncing off the atmospheric trails of micro meteors.
Are these particularly common? Or only when there are meteor showers...
Reported applications are economical (at least run-time economical, start-up cost was not discussed) weather telemetry stations in remote areas. A solar panel provides the power, a small computer is needed to direct transmission.
Right. what sort of computer? Would it be possible to run this sort of setup from an 8088? They are pretty cheap at the moment. :-)
This technique may not be feasible in the context you are describing, but the telemetry application was parallel in that it also comprises many independent, self-contained transmitters.
Ahh. Well, I'll have to look into it. Dwayne.