[H-GEN] radio modems - the story so far.

Michael Anthon mca at tams.com.au
Tue May 18 00:34:26 EDT 1999


(Note reply-to: being general at humbug.org.au vs Michael Anthon <mca at tams.com.au>)

I have an opinion !!

Did you read the FAQ referenced by John Elliot?
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~andrewd/hamradio/hamfaq.html#packet

It seems to me that ANY interaction between the internet and the packet
radio system is a bit of a Norty Thing [1] except for the situation outlined
in the FAQ about tunnelling packet traffic via the internet between two
separate segments of the packet system.  

I think that running IRC over packet would be acceptable, BUT it would need
to be a standalone network with no connection to any of the "regular"
networks.

Putting it bluntly, the SMA and the regulations that are set for Amateur
Radio pretty much negate any practical use of packet radio connected to the
net (using amateur bands).  Pretty frustrating really.

You could set up a WAN and send each other files (as long as these files are
not commercial programs), you could set up an IRC network, but not connect
it to the real world (a bit like the UQ IRC system really 8^), you could set
up mail and news systems, but gatewaying these to internet mail and news
systems would be breaking the regs..... pretty useless really.

I looked into this some time back and decided that it would be a waste of
time and money to even attempt to set up something like this.  As for
playing games, forget it, the latency in any packet system will be far too
high, unless you want to play things like Go and chess.

Cheers
Michael

[1] According to the SMA (Spectrum Management Agency), or whatever TLA or
FLAT they go by these days [2]

[2] In the Good Old Days, this was the DOTC (Dept. of Transport and
Communications)

-----Original Message-----
From: David Wood [mailto:dwood at plugged.net.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 18 May 1999 1:40
To: general at lists.humbug.org.au
Subject: Re: [H-GEN] radio modems - the story so far.

<snip> 

As far as I can see, there shouldn't be any problem using this network for
IRC.  Any opinions?

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