Detection of 20 watt trasmitter at 11 Billion miles

[sideranautae]

Now, this also means that if your players are hiding on/in some asteroid they have to be careful using ANY radiating EM source. Even a Vacc suit radio is powerful enough to be detected system wide if there is a TL 7+ civilization with radio scopes pointed skyward. Or, SDBs on the prowl

 

[GypsyComet]

radio scopes pointed skyward.

Which is itself an open question. We have a lot of detection pointed outward because we can't simply go and look firsthand in anything less than years, centuries, or forever. A world settled by a fusion/thruster/jump civilization may not bother except for traffic control. They don't have to be content with watching from afar, and in busier systems the sheer amount of orbital and in-system traffic will make observational astronomy frustrating at best. The big observational astronomy installations will be in the outer system, and will be pointed outward, when they are present at all.

Navy and Scout bases are possible exceptions, of course. The Navy because security is their raison d'etre, and the Scouts because looking outward is what they do.

 

[sideranautae]

radio scopes pointed skyward.

Which is itself an open question. We have a lot of detection pointed outward because we can't simply go and look firsthand in anything less than years, centuries, or forever. A world settled by a fusion/thruster/jump civilization may not bother except for traffic control. They don't have to be content with watching from afar, and in busier systems the sheer amount of orbital and in-system traffic will make observational astronomy frustrating at best. The big observational astronomy installations will be in the outer system, and will be pointed outward, when they are present at all.

Correct. If you are in a system that has NO military watching/monitoring for enemies and/or pirates that is a possibility. In the spinward marches that isn't likely to be the case. (as an SDB will pick this up also) More likely in non-frontier areas of the Imperium will it be not a problem.