[Ham-Mac] WiFi

Mon, 18 Feb 2002 09:04:50 -0500

Hi Gerry,

on 2/18/02 07:31 AM, Gerry Curry at [email protected] wrote:

> I have been subscribing to this list since the beginning and it seems that
> almost all the topics revolve around typical Ham/computer projects. But
> there is a whole new wave of development going on that is right up a Ham's
> alley but seems to be attracting little attention from Hams.

I'm glad that you have discovered Spread Spectrum digital data transfer
Gerry, but Hams have been pioneering SS digital transmission techniques for
years. Starting with Paul Rinaldo's article, "Spread Spectrum and the Radio
Amateur," in QST, pp. 15-17, Nov 1980,  Hams have been at the forefrount of
SS development.

Have a look at <http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/ssf.html > or "TAPR's Spread
Spectrum Update"  <http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/pubsf.html>

It's worth mentionning, that untill 1999 it was illegal in the US for Radio
Amateurs to experiment with Spread Spectrum in all but the most rigorously
controlled situations. Thanks largely to TAPR these regulations have been
relaxed.

> IEEE 802.11 wireless networking is growing at an exponential rate. Gone are
> the days where people are just trying to do wireless in their office or
> classroom. Today whole cities are being linked via outside Access Points and
> directional antennas. And yet almost all the development work is being done
> by ingenious computer geeks with little or no knowledge of RF or antenna
> design.

Ummm, well actually, if you are referring to the Lucent cards themselves,
the RF development is being done by RF engineers who well understand
microwave generation, reception and transmission principles and software
engineers who well understand spread spectrum, software radio and forward
error correction techniques.

> It's time Hams got involved. What a perfect union of the two hobbies.

Hams have been involved right from the start, and TAPR would be glad to have
new enthusiastic members.

> We're talking 11 MIPS at 2.5GHz with full roaming capability. This stuff
> makes packet radio look like two tin cans and some string.

Well no, actually while it's interesting flame bait, none of what you have
mentioned invalidates anything in Packet Radio - or perhaps someone should
tell NASA that AX-25 is dead and stop them from running it on the
International Space Station :)

> If you're interested in finding out more, start by checking out:
> 
> http://www.seattlewireless.net
> 
> Any other Hams doing this stuff?

It's hard to tell what you are referring to - the link was down when I tried
it - hope it wasn't wireless :)

But as I understand it, the Seattle Wireless group is using off-the-shelf
802.11b hardware. This is interesting, but somewhat less so than TAPR's
approach of actually designing digital Spread Spectrum radios and modems.

Each to his own I guess.

Cheers,
Don Agro VE3VRW

D o g   P a r k   S o f t w a r e   L t d .

email: [email protected]
  www: http://www.dogparksoftware.com