[BARC-List] (no subject)

[jchutch@attbi.com]

In response to my HSMM question yesterday, several people on the list have 
asked "What's 'HSMM'?"  Sorry, acronyms strike again.

I'm no expert, so view this strictly as a layman's summary, but HSMM stands for 
high-speed multi-media, in effect using radio to create Internet-like 
capabilities on the air (the ARRL has dubbed the term "Hinternet" for this, 
which is a little too gimicky for my taste, but it gets the point across, I 
suppose).  Anyhow, the idea is to develop ways to use wireless digital 
technology to develop high speed digital radio applications.  By high speed, 
we're talking about something along the lines of 9,000 times faster than 
regular old 1,200 packet we see on 2 meters.  This is a project being supported 
by the ARRL, and is envisioned as offering the ability to deploy digital video 
streaming, full duplex audio and other applications that could be very 
effective for emergency communications (even in the face of landline Internet 
disruptions), not to mention plain old fun.  

Existing Wi-Fi devices using 802.11b (and, if I have this right, the 
experimental 802.11g) under part 15 of the FCC rules overlap with amateur 
frequencies on 2.4 GHz.  What that means in plain English is that you or I 
could buy a wireless access device for fairly short $, set it up with an 
external antenna (with encryption disabled, of course, to comply with Part 97 
rules) and do some happy hamming that would make packet look downright sleepy. 
We hams can use higher power than what's allowed under Part 15, but that's 
subject to automatic power control requirements which go way beyond where I am 
at this stage.  If you already have a home network (mine is hard wired), sounds 
like it's just a matter of running Cat 5 cable up to a point near an outdoor 
2.4 GHz antenna (to minimize coax losses), hooking up an off-the-shelf wireless 
device (WAP) and having a go at it.  I gather that reliable links in the 5 to 
10 mile range are achievable with off-the-shelf devices.

In addition to an ARRL taskforce, hams in several areas of the country (San 
Antonio, TX and Minnesota, among others) are starting to experiment with 
wireless technology.  I believe plenty of computer people are doing this under 
Part 15 FCC rules already, so there could be a happy convergence of interests 
here (and also some interesting spectrum tensions, where we hams appear to have 
primary rights, but I'll leave that topic for another day).

As must be obvious by now, there are better information resources on this than 
me.  If you're interested, I encourage you to read the article in the latest 
QST or to browse to the following URL on the ARRL's site: 
http://www.arrl.org/hsmm/project.html (which also has a copy of the QST 
article).

There also is an active 802.11b e-mail list sponsored by the ARRL on a Texas 
A&M server, which you can join either by:
-- browsing to http://listserv.tamu.edu/archives/arrl-80211b.html and 
selecting "JOIN"
or 
-- sending an e-mail to listserv@listserv.tamu.edu and in the BODY put 
SUBSCRIBE arrl-80211b firstname lastname or SUBSCRIBE arrl-80211b firstname 
lastname-callsign. 

All this is a longer winded way of asking if anyone else is interested in 
trying to experiment with this some.  I haven't set anything up yet, but I may 
do so shortly.  Hope this helps. 

73,

Joe, KB1CJ