14 chris sullivan: ham radio: it's not about talking to pork products (but we're working...
DESCRIPTION
Amateur radio is still alive and well, and coming into the 21st Century as a playground for the technically curious. In addition to the work hams do in disaster relief communications, there is a lot of place for experimentation and learning. Ham radio is pushing the envelope in digital voice communications, high-speed "Internet" over incredible distances, and providing a fertile playground for the technologically curious. Understanding our wireless world and how it works starts with an entry-level ham radio license: where you take it from there is up to you..TRANSCRIPT
Ham Radio:More Than Talking to Pork
Products Chris Sullivan, NØDOS
What is Amateur Radio?
The legal version:
"... A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." -FCC Rules, Part 97
What is Amateur Radio?
My version:
Geeks playing with radio.
It's supposed to be a technologist's playground.
It's supposed to be about learning new
things.
It's supposed to be about fun.
When was the last time the government did something specifically for techno-geeks
to play around?
Who are these people? It's a conspiracy!
We all know this about ham radio, right?
Disaster communications (OR/WA floods, Katrina)Talking to distant placesIt must be cool, it's big in Japan!
DIY is alive and well in ham radio
Even today, the homebrew scene isalive in amateurradio.
Experimentation is encouraged.
You are encouraged to try different things, test theoretical designs and experimental equipment, hack, turn knobs, and generally try to break things. And yes, void your warranties.
The Distant Past (the early 1990s)
Packet Radio gave slow (typically 1.2k/sec) access to the early Internet It didn't stop there.
WiFi.. across miles, not feet
Channel 1-6 is in ham radio spectrumHams are using off-the-shelf hardwareHomebrew and commercial amplifiers add range90 mile WiFi?
Montana MultiMedia Network
First experimental link was mountain top to mountain top, Red Lodge to Crazy Peak, near Bozeman MT.
The most amazing thing?
IT WORKED.
2-4 Mb/s, 90 miles
1.2k/sec.. 1200 baud.. remember those days?
Google's new Latitude service? Hams were doing it in the 1990's APRS uses GPS, packet radio to transmit positions to other hams, the Internet
APRS - Brightkite, unplugged.
APRS can relay more than location: telemetry, weather information, short SMS-style messages.. all automatically!
And guess what?
It does all of this using 1200 baud modems, the likes of which were "obsolete" in the 1980's.A modern modem is 50x faster, and that's WAY slower than most people's Internet connection now a days... yikes!
It's just the tip of the iceberg.Amateur Television"Impossible" communications - slow modes near noise floorExperimental modesSoftware-defined radiosStore and forward packet radioTalking to the International Space Station / Space ShuttleAmateur radio satellitesEarth-moon-earth and meteor scatterPortable communicationsMicrowave and NanowaveLight beam communicationsNarrow-bandwidth digital voiceAuroral / coronal discharge Radios in used pork product tins Talking to arrogant windbags on 7.290 MHz
Modern Ham Radios
The basement room of equipment? Largely gone!
There are a few rules.
No commercial useNo profanityStay in our yard Don't be a jerk.
There's plenty left to do!
It's never been easier to get startedNo more Morse code requirementsBasic electronics, operational knowledge
Longer notes, pointers to more information at my website:http://nødos.org/#ip5