Slashdot Mirror

ARRL also gave some notice about possible health risks related to ham radio activities. It seems that risks associated with strong RF fields should not be underestimated, indeed.

so I'm going to dust off my old BBS software and install another landline.

Better yet, get your Amateur Radio license and practice using Packet Radio and PSK31.

"When all else fails" does not mean that there will always be a way to get pr0n or post some video of your car after a tornado parked it on the roof of your house. It means that net neutrality goes down the tubes and traffic gets severely "shaped". Most, if not all "traffic" will go through formal "nets", to and from official government jurisdictions and maybe NGOs such as Red Cross and Salvation Army. See http://www.usraces.org/ and http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/pscm/sec1-ch1.html, respectively.

I haven't seen an RFC regarding TCP/IP via one of these http://www2.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/RADIOGRM.pdf yet ;)

"When all else fails" does not mean that there will always be a way to get pr0n or post some video of your car after a tornado parked it on the roof of your house. It means that net neutrality goes down the tubes and traffic gets severely "shaped". Most, if not all "traffic" will go through formal "nets", to and from official government jurisdictions and maybe NGOs such as Red Cross and Salvation Army. See http://www.usraces.org/ and http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/pscm/sec1-ch1.html, respectively.

I haven't seen an RFC regarding TCP/IP via one of these http://www2.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/RADIOGRM.pdf yet ;)

Actually, there is a portion of the 802.11b/g 2400-2450 MHz wifi band that falls within FCC Part 97 rules. Amateurs have the ability to use high power and very high gain antennas on a couple channels (-1 and o, iirc) using WRT-56G and the like. There is a page at ARRL regarding "the hinternet" and HSMM at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/high-speed-digital/ and http://www.n5oom.org/hsmm/index.htm has some good technical links. The ARRL seems to have dropped the HSMM ball, perhaps due to pressure from the WISP lobby.

Yes, D-Star and other VHF packet setups are slow, up to a whopping 9600bps or so. The band is only so wide, we gotta share the bandwidth. There is more elbow room elsewhere.

But in case of a real emergency, amateurs will loose all non-emergency communication privileges within the bits of the radio spectrum covered by Part 97 rules.. Maybe hardcore /. users can lobby for creating an internet equivalent to http://www.usraces.org/ (cough cough)

Steam?!?! Isn't that VERY HOT DHMO!?!?! That can't be good, according to http://www.dhmo.org/ !!

Seriously, amateur radio operators are subject to FCC Part 97 rules, and specifically, http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/e.html#407 (b). "In the event of an emergency which necessitates invoking the President's War Emergency Powers under the provisions of section 706 of the Communications Act of 1934..." amateur radio as a hobby would be put on hold. That rule applies only to frequencies that amateurs are licensed to use. Obama, and any other president since 1934, could invoke said Powers, but I don't see how they could apply to non-wireless or unlicensed wireless communications. The Gov can shut down it's interstate highways, international borders, airspace, licensed radio spectrum, etc at it's discretion. When governments shut down cell phone networks, well, see the recent events in Iran.

Would or could the government jam the unlicensed spectrum that wifi uses? If "no", wireless mesh networks FTW! Otherwise, maybe we'll be saying "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a backpack full of usb flash drives," as long as some state borders are left open.

Good thing we'll still be able to build steam-powered spark-gap generators, tho! ;)

Secondly, using a limited communication system just to tell someone is ok is most likely a bad idea in the grand scheme of things. It may seem cold, but emergency situations and the communications related to life and death situations should always take precedence over "Hi mom. I'm ok."

If your ok. Then there are ok. No matter of lack of communication will change that.

You can always tell them the story when the ordeal is done. If you don't stay safe then that is the real problem.

The ARRL National Traffic System prioritizes messages between routine and emergency. We've been doing this for a while now, so a lot of those little details have been worked out. http://nts.ema.arrl.org/node/31 links to the training manual for a NTS operator. Also, It might be further down in the comments, but the DoD still places value on the amateur radio network with the 9th Signal Command's MARS Program. Hams handle health and welfare traffic and phone patches for service members abroad. Yeah, your kid can tell you he's OK when he gets home from the war, but wouldn't you like to hear from him once in a while when he's there?

Lastly, on satellite coms... Bandwidth & Throughput. If either were plentiful, they wouldn't cost $3.00/min.

Or even the ARRL.

The AARP regularly has hams calling in weather info, assisting in areas with poor cell phone signals and traffic issues.

Are you sure you don't mean AARL instead of AARP? AARP is a senior citizens' group.

http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/press/happenings/amateur_radio_operators.shtm

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/06/24/2/

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=3412

http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/amateur.html

It's almost as if you're speaking out of your ass...

Like it or not, the "asshole with the fugly antenna" had it right.

If you look in the manual that came with your TV, you will see a little bit of small print talking about "FCC part 15 regulations". These essentially say that your TV cannot unintentionally radiate a signal that will disrupt any licensed radio service, and, more importantly, that your TV viewing IS NOT PROTECTED against interference by licensed radio services, as long as said stations are operating within their legal requirements (power output, spectral purity, etc.).

In short, you don't have a license to watch TV, but the ham DOES have a license to transmit up to 1500W of RF on various frequencies, whether it screws up your TV or not. If you don't like this, you are free to buy a better quality TV receiver, that incorporates all those "frivolous" features like proper shielding and filtering, that usually get "value engineered" out in order to sell the set for fewer bucks at WalMart.

A good summary of FCC Part 15 available here:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/part15.html

BTW, you could be subject to FEDERAL charges for damaging a federally licensed radio transmitting station, , if your "asshole" neighbor wanted to press things. Generally, hams are more than willing to work with their neighbors to resolve interference issues (even if not legally required to), but when said complaints become abusive or threatening, we are fully within our rights to tell you to take your cheap Chinese TV set and stick it where the sun don't shine. And the FCC will back us up, every time.

I remember the ARRL actively seeking the dropping of the code requirement. And hear they refer to the change as long awaited...

I agree with your overall assessment of the current state and likely future of the craft, but I've always considered the ARRL to be good stewards of the science.

Considering the expense and investment of time necessary to start in amateur radio, and the fact that the internet duplicates and extends its functionality to such an extent, the Hams decline seems an unfortunate inevitability. It really is too bad. IMing someone in Japan is not the same as shaking the air from Chicago to Kyoto.

That and I'm pretty sure I got an erection the first time I bounced a transmission off the atmosphere. That did not happen with my first e-mail.

Ok, there are lots of ideas here about what to build. You still need parts to build it out of.

Are you a ham radio operator? If so you probably already know this but if not look for a local Hamfest. http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html All but the smallest ones usually have vendors selling components at prices very similar to EBay only without the shipping fees. You might not find every part you need for a specific project but you can usually find the majority of them and then you can order the rest later. Often vendors will sell large quantities cheap, sometimes buying a vendor out of an item is cheaper than buying just a few because they don't want to haul it all home. This could work out well for you if you want the whole class to each be able to build their own.

As for a project... In the back of Getting Started with Electronics (another Forrest M Mims III book) there is a little organ that I am kind of partial to. The buttons are the only relatively expensive part. you might find someone selling a sack full of push buttons at a hamfest, if not then you an always use tin strips and screws to make buttons at those power levels. I had an ex-girlfriend some years ago who saw me building stuff and wanted to give it a try. She was in to music and I remembered seeing that in there so I bought all the parts, taught her to solder and she did it. It worked the first try.

I'd recommend a simple oscillator project. You can use it to either flash two LEDs or create tones for a speaker. It covers the use of transistors, resistors, and capacitors. The cost should be very low, and the project can be put together without solder in several different ways. Here is one article with an example.

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2003/10/30/1/

A lot of the stuff that's getting thrown away still works! Even if it doesn't someone might want the parts. Before sending it to some recycling company which will probably send most of it to third world kids to cook the lead out over an open hotplate, give it to someone who can use it.

You could...

• List it on FreeCycle
• Donate it to a thrift store
• List it on Craig's list
• Put it by the curb with a free sign
• Have a garage sale
• Donate it to a local HackerSpace or Ham Club
• Take it to an auction house, people like to buy electronic junk. Just wait till you have a car load and the auctioneer will probably sell it in one or two bundles. The buyer will probably sort out what he wants, pile up the rest and sell it again. Eventually it's all or mostly re-used.

http://arrl.org/

The FCC just doesn't barge into people's houses in a manner suggested by TFA. They don't have a fleet of yellow trucks like in "Pump Up The Volume."

There is a very, very long history of FCC enforcement actions for things like CB operators using amplifiers, businesses using amateur radios for communications, amateurs abusing repeaters, etc.

Here's a smattering of recent ones.

Anybody who is so egregious as to actually come to the notice of the FCC generally has gotten to the point where "inspecting" their house wouldn't be necessary - there would already be ample evidence of the problem available simply by monitoring them from a distance.

Such is the nature of RF - you don't have to actually be inside the premises to detect it.

It's often not the FCC that visits folks anyway. This is a cute story about someone causing unintentional interference. In this case, it wasn't the FCC that got to the bottom of it, it was a bunch of hams.

Exactly right. In fact, the relationship is even closer than the parent states. Telegrams have a true packet structure, with a header and payload. Further, the headers have distinct fields, including a unique message ID, message types, source and destination addresses, detailed QoS (Quality of Service) provisions, timestamps, and message length, just to name a few.

The Western Union network used location-based routing, with smaller, local-area lines connected to hubs having dedicated point-to-point links to other hubs. When a link went down, control messages were sent announcing the problem to other hubs, and paid messages were re-routed.

The ARRL National Traffic System, an amateur radiotelegraph network established in 1949, has many, many features "rediscovered" in modern wireless data networks, including:

-A hierarchical network structure (a "network of networks")
-A master-slave structure in each network, with a beaconing master (the "net control station", or NCS)
-RTS/CTS channel access
-Multicast messaging ("book" messages)

Some of its other features, including the separation of control and data functions into separate logical channels (data is exchanged between hierarchical levels by designated representatives, not by the NCS, which controls each network), could still find application in wireless data networks today.

Try http://www.arrl.org/ for original stories. If we had another 4 years of Bush we would be in a world of hurt. Do nothing, tell nothing. The court made an 180 degree turnaround after reading the FCC's non-redacted script, just as anyone will. A small group of geeks can make a difference.

By definition any device operating in the 2.4GHZ UNLICENSED BAND is an unlicensed device!

Close, but not exactly correct. Technically if you get a amateur radio / ham radio license you can operate on a secondary basis in that band up to 1500 watts as per FCC 97.301 with special notice of 97.303(j)2(iv) and 97.303(j)2(B). Note that there is a heck of alot more to following FCC part 97 than just these two little sections. You probably mean any device operating under FCC unlicensed rules is an unlicensed device, but thats not saying much, more or less?

(B) Amateur stations operating in the 2400-2417 MHz segment must accept harmful interference that may be caused by the proper operation of industrial, scientific and medical equipment.

(iv) The 2417-2450 MHz segment is allocated to the amateur service on a co-secondary basis with the Federal Government radiolocation service. Amateur stations operating within the 2417-2450 MHz segment must accept harmful interference that may be caused by the proper operation of industrial, scientific, and medical devices operating within the band.

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/

It's non unusual for multiple services to be allocated on one frequency or frequency band with some being licensed and some not being licensed and some being primary allocations and some secondary allocations.

"Any links or info for someone looking at picking it up?"

http://www.arrl.org/

http://www.hello-radio.org/

While you're at the ARRL site, you can find links to local amateur radio clubs all over the place. Just show up for a meeting (usually monthly) and let them know you're interested. Not all of them are comprised of old farts. (Only one of the four I belong to is that way.) One even has a seven yo girl and her eight yo brother, among other young people. And even the old guys in that one don't qualify as farts.

Here's the latest report from my sunspot guru.

You can get it for free here.

There's more information at http://www.hamuniverse.com/, but for people who are too lazy to follow the link, here is the basic gist:

Yes, you too can join the exciting world of amateur radio. Thousands of people around the world have done it, and millions around the country! I'ts the most exciting thing you can do with. Talk to astronauts on the ISS!!! Most of the astronauts are hams, not literally like the flank of the pig, but in the amateur.

We are the backup system of communications for the Federal Government and that's why we are in front of them, and everyone in the world, including floods, hurricanes, and sending live pictures all around the world, just like TV!! Also imagine talking to astronauts. You will learn how!

This is called a whip antenna because it's long, like a whip, and it also whips back and forth, like a whip. It's basically a whip made out of metal that you can't curl up or swing across ravines with. Imagine, talking to astronauts on the ISS, and during natural disasters?

Please come be one of us. We will basically give you the answers to the test because we want you to pass! And be one of us. IMAGINE, talking to astronauts on the International Space Station! Many of the astronauts are hams and that is exciting!

"Any links or info for someone looking at picking it up?"

http://www.arrl.org/

http://www.hello-radio.org/

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/history.html#ham

"Ham: a poor operator. A 'plug.'"

That's the definition of the word given in G. M. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor even before radio. The definition has never changed in wire telegraphy. The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession.

In those early days, spark was king and every station occupied the same wavelength-or, more accurately perhaps, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other's receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working each other across town, could effectively jam all the other operations in the area. When this happened, frustrated commercial operators would call the ship whose weaker signals had been blotted out by amateurs and say "SRI OM THOSE #&$!@ HAMS ARE JAMMING YOU."

Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and wore it with pride. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely disappeared.
-Louise Ramsey Moreau W3WRE/WB6BBO

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/040209-obama-cybersecurity-bill.html

A federally enabled Internet kill switch will place an Internet Off Button in the White House which can be used to instantly deactivate the Internet in case of an emergency, such as the plebes getting riled up. This bill, introduced to the Senate on April Fools, is expected to pass.

The guy in the white house may soon be able to take out the Internet when those who inhabit it publish information that is embarrassing to him, but there are other methods of digital conversation, such as Packet Radio, Ham Radio satellites, and other Amateur Radio communications methods.

We will truly know that we are an occupied nation when the white house declares ham radio to be illegal. One of the first steps of any tyranny is the control of information

I agree some swear by different platforms. I get riled and carried away myself when I hear or read people say they need Windows because they have to be able to run MS Office or something else not realizing Office is available for OS X and there are other apps that can do the same for both Linux and OS X.

I'm actually platform agnostic, I'll use every OS under the sun. Ironically, when I stopped trying to tell people about using other platforms (not forcing people, just letting them know they exist), I've had much more interest when people see me actively using a alternative platform. I do however get annoyed when people tell me random non-sense about other systems like: Linux can't run games, Linux can't do ms office and so on.

I heard Morse Code was dropped but I couldn't confirm it.

Hopefully you trust these sources:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/01/24/100/?nc=1
http://www.navagear.com/2007/02/morse-code-requirement-dropped-for-ham-radio-license/

Was the requirement that you design and build your own transceiver dropped too?

Actually, that's to do with building some kind of device, you can't build a transceiver, because you're not licensed to use it, so you can't test it - Most people build receivers using some build-your-own kit thing. Additionally, to get the first license level in the US (Technician Class) or UK (Foundation License), it's not needed. I believe when you get to the second level US (General License) etc. that it's required you build something.

You could have them monitor HF propagation beacons to track the effects of the new sunspot Solar Cycle on the ionosphere.

You could have them do balloon launches.

It basically covers the idea of putting a net-capable computer into or on your dash. For Prior Art, you should probably watch "The Jetsons".

Or talk to the ARRL since radio amateurs have built and used such gear for a long time.

Can't we wait till the interference issues with radio communication are sorted out? See The ARRL site on this issue.

Amen to zappecs! When I was a teenager, I think a good number of us built a) crystal whisker receivers, b) diode receiver radios, c) transmit and receive radios.

Its no big deal. Wait a minute, nothing big for a kid to do. It might be special for a college student twice a kid's age in today's non magic world. A world that has never heard of the venerable ARRL (American Radio Relay League).

Like others, I wonder why no one thought about "ARISS". http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/

And zappecs is right so many times about the lack of specifications. They might have done it the hard way and made their own resistors and capacitors out of regional minerals (i.e dirt). The video had the students using an oscilloscope. Oscilloscopes help greatly to tune your antenna.

Cheers,
Jim

I call bullshit on this. The power required to reach the ISS is fairly low and easily within what is the allowed Maximum transmitting power (Typically 1500 Watts, but depending on the frequency may be lower). In any event you can bounce a transmission off the Moon and pick it up on about 100Watts on the low end.

Depending on the antenna they probably wouldn't have required any more than 5-10 watts to do the transmission. Though with a smaller antenna power power would have been required.

An unlicensed transmission is an FCC, or the Canadian equivalent, violation and would have gotten them in trouble with that organization.

Here's a guide from the AARL on contacting the ISS http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2004/10/06/1/

ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) program has been around for years. Probably hundreds of schools have built radios to talk to the space station for 10 minutes and ask whatever questions they want. If any of you want to talk to the space station here is the link. http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/ I think it is mostly a high school program though, I am glad to see Humber students are doing what high school students around the world are accomplishing.

You can find ways to encode most anything over text only "no attachments" email.
Even if you're using a central terminal to send from, you might be able to plug in a USB
stick flash drive or something to be able to copy/paste the message contents from/to.
In that case you could just prepare pre-encoded (e.g. UUENCODEd RAR archives) messages
which are split into sub 1MB size encoded pieces on a convenient PDA/netbook/laptop/server and then copy the ASCII text of the messages as the "body" text of your email.
There are email proxied methods to do things like post to blogs (as others have mentioned), and even email mode access to FTP files and such (though you might need to modify the setup a bit to get them to send the files as non-attachments).

Finding a good deal on cellular data e.g. the blackberry / t-mobile / international roaming options mentioned above is a good idea. Maybe some places offer prepaid calling cards that can also be used to get a good deal on the data charges. Check on howardforums.com forums I'd imagine that people there would know of about every possible deal that would be applicable to your locales. I have heard of the t-mobile international roaming option mentioned above, though, previously from that site, so it probably isn't a bad option. I'm a bit surprised it's listed in conjunction with blackberries, though. maybe it is a BB specific plan, I forget. The point is, though, that you'd probably find more flexibility of programs and I/O options on an Android phone these days than many blackberries, assuming attractive rate plans are offered equally for both.

Anyway the option that I can add that I haven't seen mentioned is using radio modems with the amateur radio service. Depending on your location and equipment / usage choices you could transmit data over short distances (dozens of miles) over VHF/UHF directly to local (coastal?) repeater stations which may exist in range when you're close to land. With the appropriate antenna and gear you could use free satellites for packet mode radio connections over UHF/VHF or HF which would work almost anywhere at sea of course. You could also with the appropriate choice of gear / frequencies use HF to directly communicate over hundreds or thousands of miles and use digital packet transmissions and/or voice. You'd need an amateur radio license from your country of citizenship, which generally are trivially easy to get. For the USA it's just a multiple choice question test with a few dozen questions and the question pools (questions AND correct answers) being public information you can study in advance of taking the test.
You'd also have to do it in a way that is permitted by the ship's captain, but that's just as true as any other activity you might undertake aboard ship -- don't get in the way / be a nuisance and I'm sure it'd be fine. You'd have to constrain yourself to sending information that isn't indecent/obscene (no porn surfing) and not conduct business over it (don't be running ebay auctions), and realize that the contents of your messages might be heard/seen by others (probably not much worse privacy than using a cell phone or university email these days).
In the USA a 'Technician' license will get you any UHF/VHF privileges, useful for point to point transmissions to a repeater within dozens of miles, or useful for satellite access in some cases.
If you get a 'General' license (just a dozen or so slightly more complex test questions than for the Technician one) you can use most HF frequencies as well to allow you more world-wide direct communications.
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html
http://www.eham.net/exams/
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/license-requirements.html
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml

For $14 (IIRC the current test fee) and about 3 hou

You can find ways to encode most anything over text only "no attachments" email.
Even if you're using a central terminal to send from, you might be able to plug in a USB
stick flash drive or something to be able to copy/paste the message contents from/to.
In that case you could just prepare pre-encoded (e.g. UUENCODEd RAR archives) messages
which are split into sub 1MB size encoded pieces on a convenient PDA/netbook/laptop/server and then copy the ASCII text of the messages as the "body" text of your email.
There are email proxied methods to do things like post to blogs (as others have mentioned), and even email mode access to FTP files and such (though you might need to modify the setup a bit to get them to send the files as non-attachments).

Finding a good deal on cellular data e.g. the blackberry / t-mobile / international roaming options mentioned above is a good idea. Maybe some places offer prepaid calling cards that can also be used to get a good deal on the data charges. Check on howardforums.com forums I'd imagine that people there would know of about every possible deal that would be applicable to your locales. I have heard of the t-mobile international roaming option mentioned above, though, previously from that site, so it probably isn't a bad option. I'm a bit surprised it's listed in conjunction with blackberries, though. maybe it is a BB specific plan, I forget. The point is, though, that you'd probably find more flexibility of programs and I/O options on an Android phone these days than many blackberries, assuming attractive rate plans are offered equally for both.

Anyway the option that I can add that I haven't seen mentioned is using radio modems with the amateur radio service. Depending on your location and equipment / usage choices you could transmit data over short distances (dozens of miles) over VHF/UHF directly to local (coastal?) repeater stations which may exist in range when you're close to land. With the appropriate antenna and gear you could use free satellites for packet mode radio connections over UHF/VHF or HF which would work almost anywhere at sea of course. You could also with the appropriate choice of gear / frequencies use HF to directly communicate over hundreds or thousands of miles and use digital packet transmissions and/or voice. You'd need an amateur radio license from your country of citizenship, which generally are trivially easy to get. For the USA it's just a multiple choice question test with a few dozen questions and the question pools (questions AND correct answers) being public information you can study in advance of taking the test.
You'd also have to do it in a way that is permitted by the ship's captain, but that's just as true as any other activity you might undertake aboard ship -- don't get in the way / be a nuisance and I'm sure it'd be fine. You'd have to constrain yourself to sending information that isn't indecent/obscene (no porn surfing) and not conduct business over it (don't be running ebay auctions), and realize that the contents of your messages might be heard/seen by others (probably not much worse privacy than using a cell phone or university email these days).
In the USA a 'Technician' license will get you any UHF/VHF privileges, useful for point to point transmissions to a repeater within dozens of miles, or useful for satellite access in some cases.
If you get a 'General' license (just a dozen or so slightly more complex test questions than for the Technician one) you can use most HF frequencies as well to allow you more world-wide direct communications.
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html
http://www.eham.net/exams/
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/license-requirements.html
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml

For $14 (IIRC the current test fee) and about 3 hou

You can find ways to encode most anything over text only "no attachments" email.
Even if you're using a central terminal to send from, you might be able to plug in a USB
stick flash drive or something to be able to copy/paste the message contents from/to.
In that case you could just prepare pre-encoded (e.g. UUENCODEd RAR archives) messages
which are split into sub 1MB size encoded pieces on a convenient PDA/netbook/laptop/server and then copy the ASCII text of the messages as the "body" text of your email.
There are email proxied methods to do things like post to blogs (as others have mentioned), and even email mode access to FTP files and such (though you might need to modify the setup a bit to get them to send the files as non-attachments).

Finding a good deal on cellular data e.g. the blackberry / t-mobile / international roaming options mentioned above is a good idea. Maybe some places offer prepaid calling cards that can also be used to get a good deal on the data charges. Check on howardforums.com forums I'd imagine that people there would know of about every possible deal that would be applicable to your locales. I have heard of the t-mobile international roaming option mentioned above, though, previously from that site, so it probably isn't a bad option. I'm a bit surprised it's listed in conjunction with blackberries, though. maybe it is a BB specific plan, I forget. The point is, though, that you'd probably find more flexibility of programs and I/O options on an Android phone these days than many blackberries, assuming attractive rate plans are offered equally for both.

Anyway the option that I can add that I haven't seen mentioned is using radio modems with the amateur radio service. Depending on your location and equipment / usage choices you could transmit data over short distances (dozens of miles) over VHF/UHF directly to local (coastal?) repeater stations which may exist in range when you're close to land. With the appropriate antenna and gear you could use free satellites for packet mode radio connections over UHF/VHF or HF which would work almost anywhere at sea of course. You could also with the appropriate choice of gear / frequencies use HF to directly communicate over hundreds or thousands of miles and use digital packet transmissions and/or voice. You'd need an amateur radio license from your country of citizenship, which generally are trivially easy to get. For the USA it's just a multiple choice question test with a few dozen questions and the question pools (questions AND correct answers) being public information you can study in advance of taking the test.
You'd also have to do it in a way that is permitted by the ship's captain, but that's just as true as any other activity you might undertake aboard ship -- don't get in the way / be a nuisance and I'm sure it'd be fine. You'd have to constrain yourself to sending information that isn't indecent/obscene (no porn surfing) and not conduct business over it (don't be running ebay auctions), and realize that the contents of your messages might be heard/seen by others (probably not much worse privacy than using a cell phone or university email these days).
In the USA a 'Technician' license will get you any UHF/VHF privileges, useful for point to point transmissions to a repeater within dozens of miles, or useful for satellite access in some cases.
If you get a 'General' license (just a dozen or so slightly more complex test questions than for the Technician one) you can use most HF frequencies as well to allow you more world-wide direct communications.
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html
http://www.eham.net/exams/
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/license-requirements.html
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml

For $14 (IIRC the current test fee) and about 3 hou

Check out the book Emergency Power for Radio Communications. It is really more about emergency power for your home, as it helps you determine what size electrical supply you'll need and then discusses different ways to generate power.

The first part(sterilizing on purpose) may or may not be true, but the second part is true for both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. See this or google for other examples.

Broadcast antennas may not "spew toxic waste" but they do emit non-ionizing RF radiation. There are are safety issues working around high wattage RF. There is a good article about this on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/rfsafety/lapin/2000/08/29/1/index.html

"The amount of energy that impinges on an object depends on the size of the object and how much the energy has spread since leaving the antenna. To take this additional factor into account, a new unit of measurement is introduced, power density, or power per unit of area, measured in watts/m2 or millwatts/cm2 (10 W/m2 = 1 mW/cm2)."

Believe it or not, there are good safety reasons we can't just go and setup our own broadcast TV towers where ever we want.

I think most antenna designs fall into the category of public domain:

http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?category=Antennas%2C+Transmission+Lines+%26+Propagation

, which hosts an onboard amateur station using the callsign NA1SS:

http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/

Many of the astronauts have ham radio licenses.

We have seen many spotless months in the last year. See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ http://www.solarcycle24.com/ and various parts of the propagation reports and predictions at http://www.arrl.org./

Typical Slashdot- publishing crap without verifying a shred of it.

Most of them (and perhaps their neighbors) have been in high RF fields for as many years as they have been licensed. I remember my station was on the second floor, so an AC safety ground was easy, but an RF ground was only possible at the lowest of frequencies. In fact if the ground wire is 1/4 wavelength long, it looks like an open circuit. So I used to have many problems where I would touch my equipment and get a very minor RF burn "ouch."

Moreover, in these cases, the exponential nature of EM fields with distance does not apply as energy appears at the station as well as at an antenna that might be far away.

I do have to note, that most of these problems have occurred in the 1.8Mhz to 50Mhz specturm, perhaps in the worst case only a 17th of the frequency that cell phones operate on. But hams have also routinely used UHF handheld transcievers for many many years, which is much more comparable to the cellular situation.

I don't know of any study relating ham radio to cancer, but then probably no one has ever studied it. But the national ham organization, the ARRL, http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfexpose.html, has been increasingly warning about potential hazards to hams, which I think is a good thing as it least in encourages proper technical practices.

Getting Started in Electronics is starting to show its age, in so far as some of the parts used (UJTs) in the projects are not so easy to find, and neglects the large growth area of microcontrollers which can be cheaper than discontinued ICs.

Practical Electronics for Inventors suffers from a large number of errors, mostly typographical, but as a self-taught learning aid, this is frustrating.

My personal favorite beginning book for electronics suitable for adults is Guide to Understanding Electricity and Electronics by Randy Slone (ISBN 0071360573). Not without its own flaws, but contains a nice balance of theory and hands-on practical learning exercises that I feel comfortable recommending it. Another which I do not have a copy of myself, is Understanding Basic Electronics by ARRL. It may be somewhat geared towards RF topics, because it is published by the national USA amateur radio organization, but because they have most of the amateur radio topics covered in another textbook, it should be suitable for general electronics.

The next part is usage of discrete digital logic is now minimal being replaced by programming logic devices like PALs, FPGAs, or microcontrollers like Atmel's AVR and Microchip's PIC, to name only two of the most popular 8-bit microcontrollers available.

Jameco is maybe the most beginner friendly mail-order storefront. Their dead tree catalog is small enough you can find what you are looking for, even if you don't know everything about it. Their prices are reasonable, far cheaper than buying everything from Radio Shack, and you can easier expand to use Digikey, Mouser, Newark, and the hundreds of various surplus (typically new overstock / old stock, but not always) electronics websites. Octopart.com and FindChips.com help finding parts. There is another meta-search but I don't find as useful to amateurs.

Looking at hobbyist robotic, and amateur radio websites, as they have sub-interests within them that are oriented towards electronics. You may even find a local club in your area.

Magazines like Nuts'n'Volts, Servo, and CircuitCellar, Make magazine are good sources for hobbyist friendly resources.

No one kit, and no one book is enough to satisfy most people's self-taught education in electronics. Just as no one book will teach you everything to know about computers (TAOCP?)

For the basics, you can earn your Amateur Radio Licenses. They require you learn some basic electronic principles that are beyond most of the kits.

I have played with the kits and they did not help. What I had to know to earn my amateur extra radio license required more knowledge. No morse code anymore, just 3 multiple choice licenses where all the questions are published.

What you learn is also specific to radios. Filters, amplifiers( sound and power), transmitter and receiver circuits. You learn what it means to apply Kirchhoff's laws. Also to put resistors, capacitors and inductors in serial or parallel configurations. The basics of analyzing power through circuits.

The basic books from amazon work well with the kits from radio shack. Make sure what you get has a breadboard. So I do not think that the snap electronics kits are good for adults. At the makers fair, there was the kit from sparkle labs, http://kits.sparklelabs.com/. The initial parts from sparkle labs are great, but the instructions are bad. But this kit, along with purchasing a reasonable digital multimeter and a book from amazon would be a great start. The kits sold by make magazine are excellent, http://www.makershed.com/. Make magazine is also a great resource,http://makezine.com/magazine/.

For the meter, spend the $50 for one that will test your components, resistors, capacitors, diodes and transistors also.

If you dive in and buy a soldering iron, do not cheap out. Spend the $40 for the basic Weller red soldering station or $110 for the basic blue station. Buy a pointy tip, $5. The chisel tip that comes with it is not good for soldering boards.

There are plenty of books that cover the topic with sample circuits. Look at the books offered at http://arrl.org./

A book "Hand's On Radio Experiments" is an excellent book. It publishes the first 60 articles written for ARRL's QST magazine. You can also buy a kit with all the parts needed to do the experiments. The book (http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1255) and the parts kit (http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1255K) is $100 from the ARRL.

Most of the above covers analog electronics. For digital electronics, there is a lot of support for digital electronics. The basic stamp kits are great for that. They sell very proven kits, http://www.parallax.com/ with very well written manuals that will take more than a weekend to go through. Also through the make magazine site you'll find project sites for other micro processors used by hobbyists.

Also, to have guided lessons, a class with lab at the local community college is also a great way to go if you have the time. After all the long winded crap above, if you really want to learn and want more than to look at a board and know what the parts are, this is probably the best way to go. Either way, depending on the depths of the knowledge you are looking for, it is between months and a couple years of learning.

Hope I see you at a booth selling a kit at the maker faire in a couple of years.

Long ass winded sermon over.

As a Federal Agency, the FCC can ask for proprietary information & trade secrets, but they cannot disseminate that information to the public.

From ARRL, a 18MB downloadable presentation tutorial about basics of electronics: Basic Electronics for the New Ham

Outline:

-The Elements of Electricity
-Volt-Ohm-Meter Basics (Measuring Electricity)
-Circuit Diagrams Basics (Electronic Roadmaps)
-The Resistor
-Ohm's Law
-The Capacitor
-The Inductor
-The Diode
-The Transistor (Electronic Valve)

http://www.arrl.org. Even if you're not interested in a ham license, they have quite a lot of good books on analog electronics for newbies.

ARRL has a story about it on their site at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/28/10067/?nc=1 Cool stuff...