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 Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update |  Next: Surfin': PSK31 On Line |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 10, 2003--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.
 Taking your antenna to lunch: (L-R) Mark Williams, AB8LN, Randy Beard, KC8MSB, John Champa, K8OCL, Neil Sablatzky, K8IT, Larry Dopkowski, KB8QJE, and Ernst Kiefer, N8EK, at a gathering of the Livingston County HSMM Experimenters Team. The antenna between Champa and Sablatzky offers a horizontal polarized omnidirectional pattern for 2437 MHz. Built using microwave waveguide and slot antenna techniques, it exhibits an average gain of more than 12 dBd, Sablatzky says. The antenna was designed by Trevor Marshall. |
"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 recently premiered on the ARRL Web site.
Champa's team is calling the specific techniques, software and hardware involved "the IEEE 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 term was coined by HSMM Working Group member Alex Fraser, N3DER, who, Champa says, has since become known as "Mr Hinternet."
"The development of the IEEE 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.
 A closer look at some slot antennas suitable for amateur 802.11b use. |
"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. An article by Mraz on amateur 802.11b is scheduled to appear in a future
issue of QST.
 San Antonio IEEE 802.11b Group Members (L-R) Joshua Davis, KD5LSX, Walt DuBose, K5YFW, John Riegel, N5JAK, Jason Beens, KB0CDN, Ray Ware, W5MLW (kneeling), and Ray Martinez, N5VRE. The group was gathered at Sense Technologies where KB0CDN showed off one of the firm's 900-MHz ISM radios. |
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. The Michigan group held a workshop January 4.
"Once we got configured to associate all the HSMM stations in the test network on 2437 MHz, we went almost immediately to two-way streaming audio and streaming video modes--more like regular amateur voice and ATV contacts," Champa said.
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 devices already operate in that part of the spectrum, and inexpensive commercial equipment is widely available.
Champa says the Working Group eschews the
term "WiFi"--a media buzz word that stands for "wireless fidelity"--in
connection with HSMM Amateur Radio as a mode because it implies the operation
of FCC-certificated, unlicensed Part 15 devices. "We, on the other hand, are
licensed users of the technology under Part 97," he explains.
 Wishful thinking: ARRL High Speed Multimedia Working Group Chairman John Champa, K8OCL displays a spoof cover of a future QST issue purportedly devoted entirely to amateur 802.11b applications. Note the month on the cover of the mock issue is April. |
That doesn't preclude the potential for conflicts between unlicensed and licensed users of the 2400-2450 MHz band, where amateurs have primary and secondary allocations. Acting on an ARRL petition, the FCC has proposed elevating amateurs to primary at 2400 to 2402 MHz. Part 15 users have no legal standing when it comes to interference, but that's not widely understood or appreciated among the WiFi community
Dewayne Hendricks, WA8DZP, the CEO of the Dandin Group, a Silicon Valley wireless technology firm, says unlicensed WiFi users are in denial. "They have no rights, but they're starting to act as though they do," he said. Hendricks, who started experimenting with 802.11b amateur wireless networking in 1996, says WiFi users have come to believe that their vastly larger numbers give them more rights than those of the current handful of licensed users, such as amateurs. The WiFi industry doesn't always make clear the implications of the regulatory environment either, Hendricks maintains. If there's interference, "ham radio becomes the bad guy," he predicted. Beyond that, there's the problem of illegal Part 15 users who have deployed enhanced high-power systems and high-gain antennas to broaden the reach of their wireless Internet nodes.
Mraz suggests the answer is friendly coexistence--perhaps to the point of attempting to lure Part 15 WiFi users into Amateur Radio. "Reach out when you can," he suggests. Amateurs also must avoid interfering with each other in an environment where band plans are behind the curve in terms of accommodating such applications as 802.11b multimedia.
Antenna manufacturer M2 already is planning to produce an antenna designed specifically for amateur 802.11b work. Champa says the new M2 antenna will be a adaptation of an experimental HSMM antenna built by Ernst Kiefer, N8EK, for the ARRL HSMM Experimenters Team. It will consist of four horizontal turnstile antennas protected by a radome.
The ARRL publications catalog now includes the book 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide 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."
Welcome to the future of Amateur Radio!
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