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 Previous: In Brief |  Next: ARRL Executive Committee Updated on FCC, Legislative Matters |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 21, 2003--The ARRL High Speed Multimedia (HSMM) Working Group is surveying the amateur community to gauge interest in IEEE 802.11b "Hinternet" activity. The HSMM Working Group encourages spread-spectrum communication modes including such protocols as IEEE 802.11b operating on Amateur Radio frequencies under FCC Part 97 rules. It's adopted "Hinternet" (a contraction of "ham" and "Internet") as a way to describe the technology. The HSMM Working Group's survey is on the ARRL Web site.
 Just too easy: Mark Williams, AB8LN, holds an Intel 2011 802.11b radio interface card that has some of the shielding removed to show the electronics inside. |
"The primary goal of the survey is to encourage amateurs to get on the air and start playing with this cheap digital microwave gear," says HSMM Working Group Chair John Champa, K8OCL. Hinternet Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs) typically use direct-sequence spread spectrum between 2412 and 2437 MHz and are capable of simultaneously carrying audio, video and data signals. Hinternet aficionados adapt commercial 802.11b interfaces designed for Part 15 operation to amateur use.
The HSMM Web survey is brief and permits an opportunity for open-ended input. It asks if respondents have a IEEE 802.11 or "other high-speed digital station" running under Part 97. If so, amateurs are asked to register their stations. It also asks respondents to explain how they might use a high-speed digital system or network if they were to set one up.
Champa urged Hinternet-minded amateurs to
also report what they've learned and any new applications to the ARRL IEEE 802.11b
reflector operated by Texas A&M University (and linked from the "HSMM
Resources" menu under "Contacts").
 Find the antenna: A closer look at the radio interface card used by AB8LN. The dipole-based antennas have been etched right onto the circuit board. [Mark Williams, AB8LN, Photos] |
Asked if the Hinternet is catching on within Amateur Radio, Champa simply points to the more than 15,000 hits to the HSMM Working Group's Web site. The Hinternet also is the focus of the article "High Speed Multimedia Radio" by Kris Mraz, N5KM, in the April 2003 issue of QST.
Hinternet proponent Mark Williams, AB8LN, of Milford, Michigan, says he envisions growth of amateur 802.11b operation to cover all large metropolitan areas in the US, not just the few miles some contend is the outer limit for such point-to-point connections. "This is just too easy," he says. "With some of the Amateur Radio pioneering that we are famous for, we should be able to push this technology to its limits--50, 75 and 100-mile links at 2.4 GHz." He said wireless networks dedicated to Amateur Radio stretching across states and linking hams everywhere with high-speed voice and video are possible.
"File-sharing and e-mail, network gaming and
pop-up chat are just the tip of a titanic iceberg," he predicted.
 The "Spruce Tree Antenna" at the Hinternet station of Ernst Kiefer, N8EK, in Howell, Michigan. "It's a commercial 19-dBi parabolic with a 500-mW 2.4-GHz bi-directional amplifier mounted behind it," Kiefer explains. "The tree is 66 feet tall, and the antenna is 72 feet above ground level to get the signal above other trees." |
Applications abound for public service work too. Amateurs recently involved in the Texas search for debris from the shuttle Columbia used a 802.11b high-speed system on ham radio to link the net control station in Nacagdoches with the Internet. The link utilized directional antennas to provide a robust connection through the intense radio traffic in the area. The 2.4-GHz radio cards produced 100 mW. Net control operators utilized the link to look up call signs and for quick e-mail communication, weather-radar monitoring and weather tracking. Pictures of the link as well as other operations are available on the Richardson Wireless Klub, K5RWK, Web site.
An earlier ARRL Technology Task Force survey of ARRL members and other amateurs conducted revealed that the top interest in new technologies was in high-speed digital networks. Suggestions included high-speed data links (up to 20 Mbit/s), Ethernet at 2 Mbit/s on 10 GHz using Sofan Gunplexers, encouraging the development of a high-speed amateur digital network, and high-speed digital audio/video.
A little more than two years ago, the ARRL Board of Directors unanimously approved an initiative to develop high-speed digital networks for the Amateur Service. That initiative led to the formation of the High-Speed Multimedia Working Group.
More information is available on the ARRL High Speed Digital Networks and Multimedia Web page.
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