Field Day 2004 152
pa3gvr writes "This weekend many Amateur Radio operators (HAMs) throughout the US and Canada will take their equipment to public parks, campgrounds and Emergency Operation Centers. With all the coverage that BPL has gotten lately it might be interesting to see what this Amateur Radio thing actually is. Field Day is setup as an exercise for HAMs to test their readiness and ability to operate under less than ideal (emergency) conditions. Besides the training and exercise aspect, this is also a social event. Visitors are welcome to have a look and maybe even operate some of the equipment. K4FAU, Florida Atlantic University ARC and Boca Raton ARC will be setting up their Field Day station on the Boca Raton, FL FAU campus."
Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Insightful)
If the event of a thermonuclear war, they may provide us with our only mean of communication.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:1)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Interesting)
Coincidentally, I'm actually planning to take my technician's license test this weekend.
As an outsider, it seems to me that there's a connection between the lack of popularity of ham radio and the severe restrictions placed on what can be done with it.
For instance: sure, I can check my email over ham radio, but I'm not allowed to use encryption. So, to check my email I have to either a)broadcast my IMAP password to everyone within hundreds of miles, or b)disable passwords altogether and leave my mail account wide open.
Neither of these options seem very appealling, In the networking community, cryptography is seen as a great thing.
What do most ham operators think of these kinds of restrictions (no crypto, no music, no commercial traffic)? Do you like having the openness that a no-crypto policy implies, or do you prefer to keep the airwaves uncluttered by non-ham radio related personal/commercial traffic, or do you all grumble at the FCCs outdated restrictions?
-jim
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Informative)
The specific ruling that I am too lazy to look up
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Informative)
(4) Music using a phone emission except as specifically provided elsewhere in this section; communications intended to facilitate a
criminal act; messages in codes or ciphers intended to obscure the meaning thereof, except as otherwise provided herein; obscene or indecent words or language; or false or deceptive messages, signals or identification
One-time passwords and challenge/response authentication are indeed used in some ham applications. Many hams have a knee-jerk reaction to any mention of cryptography, though, so be prepared to quote chapter and verse. The key phrase there is 'intended to obscure the meaning'. You're not obscuring any information, just proving who you are.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:1)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Informative)
Good luck!
Some of the restrictions have annoyed me as well, but much of this is only due to current FCC policies. These can be changed, and there are ways of changing the policies. In fact, some HAMs have proposed elimination of the morse code test (CW) since it is now no longer required by international law. FCC is taking comments on the proposals now. I'm just too lazy to learn it.
However, if they allowed encry
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe an acceptable compromise would be to allow encryption and/or commercial use, but only for digital communication methods that don't use much bandwidth (such as PSK31 [psk31.com]). That way, the people who want encrypted email or ssh from the boonies, and want it bad enough that they'll get a license and live with low speeds, can have i
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:1)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Informative)
As the other post says, encryption is acceptable for authentication, but not for the message contents. Whether that addresses your concern is a good question(grin)...
The prohibitions on music and commercial traffic date back to the 1920s, and commercial stations' fear of competitions. Many of the earliest broadcast stations were hams transmitting music - once it became obvious broadcasting would be popular there was a fear that the ham bands would be filled with low-power broadcasters.
Comme
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
You can't do that on FM though (there's about a quarter mile limit), and part 15 broadcasts on AM have some pretty severe antenna restriction
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
They don't want commercial interests taking over a hobbyist-based system and obscuring their intent by encrypting all transmissions.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:4, Informative)
I have to speak up in response to this. I'm proud to have been active in amateur radio for 27 years.
The Amateur Radio SERVICE was never intended (nor needed, IMO) as a path for checking one's E-mail. If you want to do that via radio link, you need only invest in a wireless network card for your laptop, and hook up with any WiFi hotspot [wi-fihotspotlist.com] in your part of the country.
Permit me to quote from a few of the sections of FCC Part 97, in response to your specific queries regarding the "outdated restrictions" you refer to.
More specifically, let's start by looking at Section 97.1, Paragraphs a through e. [gpo.gov] Pay particular attention to Paragraph a:
"Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications."
While it is possible to extend the term 'Emergency communications' to include E-mail, keep in mind that this is amateur RADIO, not amateur E-mail. We already have a perfectly usable infrastructure in place for E-mail, and I don't see why amateur RADIO needs to supplement it.
As to encryption, yes, it is prohibited for use on amateur frequencies. That point has been debated many times in many places, and the reasoning is simple enough. Given the service's strong emphasis on support of volunteer communications assistance, in times of disaster or other emergencies, the FCC believes (rightly so, IMO) that the use of encryption in amateur radio is contrary to fulfilling that basic purpose.
In short: Encryption is simply not necessary for any part of amateur radio, with the single exception of satellite command and control signals transmitted from an earth station. The FCC allows encryption for that signal type alone for reasons which should be obvious.
If I may be so bold: You appear to be trying to fit amateur radio into the mold of something that it is not (wireless data networking, specifically Internet connectivity), and was never intended to be.
Also remember that another of the primary purposes for the existence of the service is to foster experimentation and ongoing learning in the realm of radio and communications theory (in short: a whole lot of tinkering with electronic goodies -- yes, that means learning how to solder), as spelled out in 97.1 paragraphs b, c, and d.
If you're going up for your Technician license exam, you should already be fairly familiar with Part 97, and have (hopefully) taken at least section 97.1 to heart. Based on your statements in your post, I get the distinct impression that you have not.
My questions to you are: Why did you decide to get your ham license? What do you expect to get out of the hobby? What are you planning to contribute to it?
Amateur radio, like any other hobby -- for that matter, like Life itself -- is a near-perfect mirror. You get out exactly what you put into it.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Interesting)
How about this... Phone lines are used for talking with voice! Why the hell would we ever want fax machines?! Theres another well setup infrastructure for sending documents, its called THE POSTAL SERVICE! Or why would we
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:3, Insightful)
Did you ever imagine that there might be a reason for not letting you run commercial services over your amateur frequency?
RF is a scarcity model universe (and concepts such as UWB only 'help themselves' to those frequencies with an alleged 'limited' impact to other frequencies and services). Licensees such as AT&T have paid heavily for PCS, cellula
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:3, Insightful)
Essence Above! I believe I've set a record for myself. NEVER before, in the entire time I've been posting to
To start with: If "crap like this
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
I think you realize by now just how damaging you are to our great hobby. Part of what makes amateur radio great is that people come up with new functions and uses all the time. Can't stand digital modes, huh? After 27 wonderful years making terrific contributions to the hobby like this little gem, you must have learned the phrase "use it or lose it". Did you know that we have frequency allocations above 30MHz
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Of all the people that replied to this thread, your post struck me as the most angry and short-sighted.
What in the multiverse did I say in my original post to the effect that I "can't stand digital modes?" I operate APRS frequently, I'm getting the gear together even as I type this (receivers, compu
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
You basically told th
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
I think you have a bit too much faith in 802.11 if you think it's a drop-in replacement for a ham radio. I have used 802.11 at five miles with 24db antennas and direct line of sight. I wish there was a happy medium - I can either use high-throughput 35mw radios that go a few miles at best, but I can do anything I want with them, or I can
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
I'm well aware of the digital modes, and radiogram handling. In fact, during the time I was living in the Bay Area in the late 70's, I was on the honor roll for radiogram traffic handling with one of the local voice nets, and a regular participant on the Mt. Tam RTTY repeater. I was working for Western Union at the time, and I'm proud to say that I had a fully-restored Teletype model 28ASR to handle traffic with.
I never sa
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
As an outsider, it seems to me that there's a connection between the lack of popularity of ham radio and the severe restrictions placed on what can be done with it. For instance: sure, I can check my email over ham radio, but I'm not allowed to use encryption.
I've been following the work of the ARRL High Speed MultiMedia (HSMM) WorkGroup [arrl.org] and they found a nice hole in the law. You can actually use encryption as long as you publish the key. If someone (the FCC) wants to listen to your broadcast, they onl
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Interesting)
Voices talking or packets flying, it's still magical to pull stuff out of the thin air and today's WiFi geek gazing at his Kismet data is like yesterday's HAM operator putting push-pins in a map on the wall.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
I think European hams have taken the lead in bringing the open source movement to the hobby. It's strange that it's taken so long in the states, since the communities seem to have so much in common. I've got my own open source project [n1vg.net] going, and I'm happy to see that my efforts have apparently led to at least a couple of other projects being open sou
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Actually, learning about packet radio was one of the reasons I got my ticket... I was deeply dismayed to find out that a) packet radio is way, way behind the technical curve, and that b) it's dying out anyway. Kinda sucked the wind out of my sails.
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Insightful)
This gets kicked around a lot on ham forums. Mostly, the most accurate answer is that ham radio is changing. The era of becoming a ham because you want to talk to people around the world has changed. At the same time, there are many young hams who want to learn not because of the hobby aspect as much as the challenge of the radiofrequency theory, science and technical challenge. Quite honestly, there are enough "passengers" in the world and not enough "drivers" (802.11/wifi of today and CB radio of yesteryear is a perfect example of this).
Compare it to the era of the "home computer programmer" of the late 70s and early 80s. Where are they today? People typing in BASIC codes in the latest Byte magazine. A hobby, yes, but not much more. Today's open source developer is a different breed, just as today's new ham operator is. It's a serious professional interest. I know weather spotter hams who have self-educated to levels beyond the local TV weatherman, for instance. While the number of "hobby hams" has declined, today's new hams take the practice to a new level and are pioneering new applications. At some point, we'll discover a hobby application that will probably attract the masses again, but mass interest validate the practice? As long as amateurs are professionally operating disaster control networks, providing trained weather spotting services, and quietly operating other important services, the lack of countless hobbyist users is visible but not critical.
Slashdot readers should know this dynamic by now. The model rocketeer of the 1960s is no longer sufficient; private commercial rocketry is today's "hobby." Typing in 300 lines of BASIC does not make one a developer; learning and contributing to the F/OSS world does. In light of cell networks, packet switching and other technologies, should amateur radio be exempt from this dynamic?
The thanks go mostly to the internet and cell phones. As long as you are content with riding on someone elses network. Care to know what really is going on within the RF? An amateur license will teach you a great foundation necessary for learning all those things you've taken for granted (while one of us is running things).
*scoove*
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Informative)
Let me provide some suggestions. I work with F/OSS development for network security and wireless applications, and have spent a few years working with low-cost embedded systems that support Linux. With a Linux kernel and OS in a small box, there's not much you can't do per amateur/wireless development.
My current favorite foundation is:
o RouterB [routerboard.com]
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
The real problem is on the RF side. Ham radio operators need radios. All the crusty old farts who sit around ragchewing on HF and 2 meters all day at least keep hardware sales going. When there are fewer of them, the rest of us are going to suffer from increasing prices as volumes dro
I am a little sad to see this post as number 1.. (Score:4, Interesting)
There are lots of other ham radio areas that offer geek challenges, too. You can still "homebrew" your own gear. It doesn't take thousands of dollars to have fun. Microwave distance records fall regularly as do records at the opposite LF end of the radio spectrum. Data communications using packet techniques on VHF/UHF and other digital modes, such as packtor, on the HF (shortwave) bands predate the Internet as we know it we know today. In 1962 I had a teletype machine and a "terminal unit" AKA modem tied to my shortwave setup and was routinely communicating with friends around the world digitally. Now we hook our computers to our radios
Ham radio has been VERY good to me. In 1969 and 70, I got to travel to parts of the world I'd never have seen without ham radio. I was with Project Hope and I used ham radio so that the doctors, nurses and volunteers talk to their family and friends back in the states via phone-patch without it costing $13 for the first 3 minutes via landline.
Being involved with ham radio also encouraged me to go to college and get a degree in Electrical Engineering which has provided me with a very interesting and satisfying career that has consistantly paid me well on top of being fun.
I've watched ham radio evolve over the course of almost 50 years and it's still evolving. I'm not ready to declare it a dinosaur just yet.
73 & CUL
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:5, Interesting)
There are 2 new (relatively) systems called IRLP [irlp.net] and another called EchoLink. [echolink.org] These use the internet to link Ham repeater sites all over the world, using streaming audio (like "RealAudio") between stations.
There are nearly 1000 nodes in IRLP, my repeater uses that protocol, and I'm not sure but EchoLink probably has a similar number of nodes as well.
This is helping to unite Ham radio interests with those related to the internet. This is also providing new Hams, most of which are Technician class and have no "HF" or long-distance communications privileges, a means to talk outside of their local repeater area for a change.
Previously, operating on Field Day or going over to an "Elmer's" house and having him let you work the low bands was the only DX (long distance) exposure most new Hams would ever get. These new internet linking systems are helping to make that experince more readily available. Before the internet became popular, talking to someone in a strange and foreign land was a rare and exciting experience.
Oh, yeah, by the way... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh, yeah, by the way... (Score:2)
I also believe there's a EchoLinux available as well.
The unique thingh about Echolink is you do not need a radio to use it. The Echolink server and their admins verify you inb the callbook and then you sign into the server....no radio needed, IRLP requires a radio on each end (I think).
Ham radio's biggest problemm now, besides BPL and besides declining intrest is that the older hams will poo poo technology such as Echolink and say it's not Ham Radi
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
You (geezers) shouldn't be. You recommended keeping code requirements even AFTER the maritime service licensing dropped ALL code requirements. Most clubs I've seen are the same old repeater fools protecting (not developing) the same old shit! Just plain ignorant.
There are the movers and shakers in the hobby today(they're just not represented by the ARRL).
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2, Interesting)
The one thing people need to keep in mind is that, when all other forms of communications fail (e.g., the Internet, cellphones, public service radios -- remember 9/11) ham radio gets through.
73,
GJ
(at the
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/ [orcon.net.nz]
Case in point, above.
Ham radio's not dying, it's just constantly evolving. It all just depends on your definition of radio and whether or not you continue to experiment with it. Most newer Hams aren't experimenting, and if the "I buy my radios off the shelf and talk on them" aspect of the hobby dies off, I won't shed a tear. I'll still be experimenting with radio, with or without a
Re:Going the way of the dinosaurs (Score:2)
Pretty cool (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the real attention grabber would be to show how these HAM radios have been around for so long and still continue to get the job done. After all, you can communicate around the world with technology developed before the Internet!
--
11 Gmail invitations availiable [retailretreat.com]
Re:Pretty cool (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe we should hold a race in some remote area to see who can deploy and communicate fastest in an unknown environment.
Re:Pretty cool (Score:4, Informative)
--
11 Gmail invitations availiable [retailretreat.com]
Re:Pretty cool (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure both Ham radio operators and wireless networking enthusiasts (note that those two groups aren't mutually exclusive!) could get connected to each other pretty darn quickly if a catastrophe were to occur.
WiFi operators are pretty much restricted to the low power transmitters and short wavelenth that the off-the-shelf equipment provides. Good antennas, amplifiers, and path design can make for links that extend dozens of kilometers, but the HF Ham rig in my
Blackout 2003 (Score:1)
But going to public parks and using HAM equipment would mean portable power and thus blackout-resistent.
More than I can say for heavy resource based Wi-Fi.
Re:Blackout 2003 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Blackout 2003 (Score:2)
Re:Pretty cool (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually... in our small town ham field day setup, there's both (why not?) Regarding first to be connected, there's much about ad hoc wifi that doesn't play in the real world of disasters. Running a fixed wireless company, I can tell you there's a niche certainly for gigahertz services, but nothing can replace the value of true slow NLOS services.
So while speed might be impressive at times, reliability trumps all in a disaster.
*scoove*
Re:Pretty cool (Score:3, Informative)
I've been preaching the benefits of this for several years now and the local ham community is starting to come around. More and more local Amateur Radio Emergency Service / Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (ARES/RACES) groups are becoming involved. 802.11 networks linked via packet radio TCP/IP based networks, with gateways to the internet as well as radio links amongst themselves.
See http://wetnet.net for details about our local Field Day plans.
N7
Re:Pretty cool (Score:2)
In Minnesota, there's a guy on a crusade to completely cover the state with two separate text chat only networks (no mailboxes).
Fire in the BWCA? Amateur radio won't be replacing overloaded or destroyed infrastructure - there's none to begin with. Fire up a portable packet station and type in real time to the state EOC in St. Paul.
The project can be found here: h [14567.org]
Re:Pretty cool (Score:2)
Re:Pretty cool (Score:1)
Even after -- all the lights go out.
KFG
BPL Info (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/
Seems wireless internet would be far cheaper and more effective. Plus, some BPL solutions rely on 802.11 for the last 25 feet or so.
CQ FD CQ FD CQ FD (Score:2, Informative)
73 de KC2KVY
Re:CQ FD CQ FD CQ FD (Score:2, Interesting)
Providence Radio Association (Score:1, Informative)
Field Day in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Score:2, Informative)
Ham Radio isn't dying exactly--the numbers have stayed fairly static for the last several years, and in fact have risen in the last 10 or so, with the 'no code' Technician license. But it needs more
Re:Field Day in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Score:1)
Re:Field Day in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Score:2)
-Adam
Yeah.. (Score:3, Insightful)
father was. I went to plenty of HAMFests
and Field Days with him. Field Day is quite
fun, especially when you camp as well.
Before he died I managed his site with the
equipment he (mostly) used.
http://k2pts.home.comcast.net/
Field Day is fun, even if you're not into
HAM/radios, check it out!
its not an acronym (Score:3, Insightful)
Ham Radio is Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Palo Alto Field Day and Ham Instant Messaging (Score:5, Interesting)
at the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association [paara.org] field day. Non-hams are welcome to come to the GOTA station in Saturday after 11AM and get on the air.
I will be helping demonstrate something called "PSK-31" which is
kind of amateur radio Instant Messaging. With your laptop
computer and a small radio running on AA batteries and a piece of wire,
you can talk halfway around the world, instantly.
Read all about it at my PSK presentation for non-hams [wa5znu.org]. And if you are in the Bay Area, come check us out, or
one of the other area Field Day sites such as
Field Day in Greenville, MS (Score:2)
73,
KD5ZEF
Fun if done right! (Score:2, Informative)
My last field day a friend and I arrived in an air conditioned motor home with lots of food and cold drinks in the fridge. We also had our Macs hooked up to do digital communications like Packet, RTTY and the like. Good thing, it was the hottest Field day they ever had.
Ham in Search and Rescue (Score:3, Interesting)
At least in New Mexico, Ham radio has saved countless lives.
73 de KD5ZPL
Independence Day anyone?? (Score:2, Insightful)
My personal ham site [qsl.net] where I have a few pictures of the first and second field day I participated in. The first one, I was 17, organized the whole event in about 3 days. The second
Why Ham should Matter to /.ers (Score:2, Interesting)
Its both fun and very educational. For those of you stuck in the digital realm, events like Field Day expose (yet again) how flexible/adaptable analog comm can be compared to internet or any other digital environment.
Downside: many operators now seem hun
My Pet Peeve (Score:3, Informative)
PLEASE stop writing HAM as if it were. There is more than one etymology for the word, but none of them are acronyms.
Field Day In NYC (Score:1)
Re:Field Day In NYC (Score:1)
Reagan Funeral (Score:2, Interesting)
Bad weekend (Score:2)
Seriously, I would like to go but seeing as its Gay Pride festival weekend I dont think there will be any space for amatuer radio.
Re:YAAA (Score:1)
Re:YAAA (Score:2)
Oh, BTW, first post.
Re:YAAA (Score:1)
Re:YAAA (Score:1)
Having many miles of unshielded wire overhead (i.e. a very, very large antenna) will, and does lead to interference. It's bad for radio, astronomy and people who enjoy listening to short wave.
Plus, it would be the responsibility of the electic company to eliminate any reported interference.
Re:YAAA (Score:4, Insightful)
Hams are playing this like it is some game, and it isn't. You are fighting people with lots of money and power and making snide little comments will not buy you ANY friends.
I used to be on the hams side, till I realized they where acting like a bunch of spoiled kids and spining every piece of info to make their side look perfect and the other side look like the devil.
You are also overlooking the large push to move all those emergency services over to different systems that are much more resistant to interference (digital and encrypted links, look at the ads in mags targeting those useres)
Re:YAAA (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason these frequencies are used is because of ionospheric propagation. (Over the horizon propagation.) You can use digital and encrypted links via ionosphere, but to use another part of the spectrum requires infrastructure that can fail.
The HF spectrum is a natural resource. We should not pollute it simply because it can be used to deliver broadband internet access.
Re:YAAA (Score:4, Informative)
A number of services use a technique known as NVIS (Near-Vertical-Incidence-Skywave.) NVIS is basically sending your signals nearly straight up, with a well-chosen frequency that gets reflected almost straight back down by the ionosphere. These frequencies are nearly always in the HF bands (~3-30 MHz).
This particular mode of communications is really helpful in situations where there is no infrastructure and no line of sight. A classic example is forest fires -- the fire often knocks out communications repeaters, and often mountains/hills isolate pockets of firefighters with no line of site communications; NVIS overcomes this as the signals are usually coming in from directly above. It also works well for islands or really any regional communications with limited support infrastructure.
As mentioned elsewhere, you can run pretty much any modulation scheme (digital data, voice, whatever) using NVIS. But both sides need to hear the signals, and the concern is that BPL could prevent one side (likely the home base/communications center side rather than those in the field) from being able to hear, thus preventing any useful communications.
Re:YAAA (Score:2)
Re:YAAA (Score:1)
A funny thing about the list of corps that oppose BPL, a lot of them have invested a lot of money in other methods of broadband delivery..
Our goverment is huge, I bet you could find sections of the goverment that like bpl (have any links to backup what you said?)
If this is too hard for you to understand I will try to find a 6 year old to explain it to you.
Re:YAAA (Score:5, Informative)
Which all users of RF technology of any kind consider a boogyman unknown because power lines weren't meant to carry any sort of signaling at all and therefore are completely unshielded. It's just plain a theoretical nightmare if this technology were to be widely deployed... nobody's quite sure how bad the problems for other applications would be.
This may be a nothingness, or it may be the death of ham radio depending on who you listen to.
Re:YAAA (Score:3, Informative)
According to the laws of phy
Re:YAAA (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't forget the ones located in your walls and feed power to your radio equipment
Re:YAAA (Score:1, Funny)
Mods on crack (Score:2)
I also like the fact that the very first mod was "-1, Overrated". How does that work?
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:4, Informative)
The reason Ham radio has it ALL OVER any internet technology is that it requires exactly TWO pieces of equipment to communicate effectively across great distances.
When the 'net goes out, Ham radio will still work.
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:4, Informative)
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:1)
Not a troll, just a truth-teller. The two are commonly confused, especially by zealots.
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:5, Insightful)
A large part of the hobby is about the medium. We really don't care what information is sent - we're interested in the method used to send that information.
Isn't that essentially the same motivation that drives kernel hackers? Who don't really care about what computing gets done, just that it can be done on a kernel they built themselves...
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:1)
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:2)
Open source software is also an instrument of social change - improving the linux kernel empowers the masses in addition to having a direct effect on other people being able to get their work done. This is a significant motivating factor for a lot of people, and is one reason why Linux is popular and Minix is not.
Wire
Re:why ham radio isn't popular (Score:2)
Re:I'm interested but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Packet radio has been around a long time, in fact, that was my first connectivity to the Internet.
That's why its FUCKING COOL. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:My first Field Day Experience (Score:2)
Even that won't kill Amateur Radio. Yes, it will put a severe crimp in it, especially for those that like "plug & play" radio, but there will always be groups world-wide that continue on with older gear, or small home brew radio equipment.