[SFDXA] Ham Radio and The "Hinternet"

[Bill Marx]

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The ARRL Letter
Vol. 22, No. 03
January 17, 2003
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==>HIGH SPEED MULTIMEDIA HAMMING COULD BE THE NEXT BIG THING

High-speed multimedia hamming via the "Hinternet" could be the next big
thing for Amateur Radio. That's the hope of the ARRL High Speed Multimedia
(HSMM) Working Group, which is adapting the highly popular IEEE 802.11b
Part 15 wireless Internet protocol to Part 97 amateur operating.

"We expect it to be nothing less than revolutionary!" says John Champa,
K8OCL, who chairs the ARRL HSMM Working Group--a subset of the League's
Technology Task Force. The Working Group's new "High-Speed Digital
Networks and Multimedia" page <http://www.arrl.org/hsmm/> recently
premiered on the ARRL Web site.

Champa's team is calling the specific techniques, software and hardware
involved "the ARRL 802.11b protocol" to distinguish it from the
unlicensed, commercial protocol. Systems employ direct-sequence spread
spectrum techniques and operate in the 2.4 GHz range. The term "Hinternet"
(ham + Internet), Champa says, is a user-friendly way to refer to the
development of high-speed Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs) capable of
simultaneously carrying audio, video and data signals.

"The development of the ARRL 802.11b protocol will significantly enhance
Amateur Radio, especially with respect to emergency communication and
support of public service activities," Champa predicted. He and his HSMM
Working Group colleagues also expect that it will attract many technically
oriented users of the Internet and wireless LANs to get their amateur
tickets.

In addition to emergency communication, Hinternet applications could
include two-way streaming video, full-duplex streaming audio, Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications such as eQSO, EchoLink, iLink and
IRLP, and digital voice. As on the wired Internet, communication can be
point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and multicast at high bandwidth.

"An emergency volunteer equipped with a laptop or a wireless PDA (personal
digital assistant) with a microphone and a small video camera now has the
tools to be a mobile set of eyes and ears in the midst of a communications
emergency," says Working Group member Kris Mraz, N5KM.

In Michigan, the Livingston County HSMM Experimenters Team already has
three HSMM access points--called "APs" in the commercial world--and about
a dozen stations on the air centered on 2437 MHz. Another group of Amateur
Radio 802.11b enthusiasts has recently organized in the San Antonio,
Texas, area.

Although other amateur allocations also would be appropriate for Hinternet
operation, the use of 2.4 GHz was an easy choice, since Part 15 WiFi
(wireless fidelity) devices already operate in that part of the spectrum,
and inexpensive commercial equipment is widely available. Acting on an
ARRL petition, the FCC has proposed elevating amateurs to primary at 2400
to 2402 MHz.

The ARRL publications catalog now includes the book 802.11 Wireless
Networks: The Definitive Guide
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?category=&words=802.11> by Matthew S. Gast.
The book covers the topics of creating and administering wireless
networks.

Champa says that taken in a nationwide context, the meaning of the term
Hinternet goes deeper than just an amalgamation of words. "In nautical
terms the word hinterland is 'the land beyond the coast,'" he said. "And
so it is with us. 'The Hinternet' is the radio net beyond the Internet."