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High-Speed Multimedia Hamming

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dit-da-dit-dit-dit dept.

Skuld-Chan writes "I noticed a few days ago that the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) formed a working group to promote use of 802.11 protocols on the amateur radio bands."

5 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. woohoo! by vorovsky · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Oh wow, this is GREAT news for me! I've been a radio operator for about 7 years now and tried to dabble a bit in the "data links" before the days of 802.11 at all. Just recently I had a renewed interest with all of the 802.11 products but was having a hard time integrating them into ham radio more. Woohoo!

  2. Replacing the internet? by KDan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not an expert in Ham or this, but I'm curious: is there any possibility, in the medium to long term, for replacing most of the internet infrastructure with an amateur-operated wireless net, free of corporate or governmental intrusion? ie does this technology go in this direction?

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  3. Emergencies by gibbonboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As others have said, in a real disaster, the normal public networks are quickly overwhelmed. Amateur operators who can use their networking equipment over longer distances can transmit all sorts of vital information in and out of a disaster area. I am playing with these systems at home, with hopes to have them ready for emergency use soon. More experimentation leads to technical jumps not possible when design is only driven by limited power and profitability for the manufacturer.

    KB3HQX, Susquehanna County ARES Coordinator
    EMA/911 Database Analyst

    --
    "Never pet a burning dog."
  4. How about 802.11a? 5650-5925 MHz anyone? by Skapare · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hams also have 5650-5925 MHz. Of course, RF parts for this portion of the spectrum are more expensive. But antennas are smaller for the same directionality and gain, and the bandwidth is greater. It can open some additional channels, too. Anyone know of any amateur work being done with 802.11a in this area?

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  5. Re:Why ham? by AvantLegion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those examples are interesting, but of seemingly little use.

    What is the overriding importance of having the "only reliable method of communication" during Oklahoma City, or 9/11?

    CNN, Fox News, etc., told me that planes slammed into the towers. I didn't need a Ham radio for it.

    Perhaps you're implying that the important thing is to communicate about other things during those times, but I sure didn't find myself feeling cut off or devoid of means for important communications during those times.

    I can see the use of Ham if we're, like, invaded by China, or Raelians and their extraterrestrial buddies, or something like that. But I don't see any real useful advantage of Ham in those other examples.