[Suicide Junkie]

Don´t EM transmissions fade at 1/r^3 ?

No, because when you send out a signal pulse, it moves out in a spherical shell. The area of the shell is proportional to r^2. Dividing the signal out along that surface, you get 1/r^2.

For a Cylindrical wave it goes down 1/r (think a long light bulb filament blinking on and off)

Plane waves maintain constant intensity. (1/r^0)