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    Broadband Wireless Internet Access and Amateur Radio

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    Ham Radio HSMM
    Amateur radio provided the foundation for the author's knowledge of wireless data communication, which has benefited his career covering broadband wireless internet access. Concepts from amateur radio like mesh networking and using nodes as relays predated their use in commercial wireless. The author's experience in amateur radio helped teach him about radio frequency principles before they were essential for the wireless internet industry. He encourages those interested in getting involved in their local wireless internet infrastructure to consider amateur radio for learning radio skills.

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    Broadband Wireless Internet Access and Amateur Radio

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    Ham Radio HSMM
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    Amateur radio provided the foundation for the author's knowledge of wireless data communication, which has benefited his career covering broadband wireless internet access. Concepts from amateur radio like mesh networking and using nodes as relays predated their use in commercial wireless. The author's experience in amateur radio helped teach him about radio frequency principles before they were essential for the wireless internet industry. He encourages those interested in getting involved in their local wireless internet infrastructure to consider amateur radio for learning radio skills.

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    Amateur radio provided the foundation for the author's knowledge of wireless data communication, which has benefited his career covering broadband wireless internet access. Concepts from amateur radio like mesh networking and using nodes as relays predated their use in commercial wireless. The author's experience in amateur radio helped teach him about radio frequency principles before they were essential for the wireless internet industry. He encourages those interested in getting involved in their local wireless internet infrastructure to consider amateur radio for learning radio skills.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    43 views4 pages

    Broadband Wireless Internet Access and Amateur Radio

    Uploaded by

    Ham Radio HSMM
    Amateur radio provided the foundation for the author's knowledge of wireless data communication, which has benefited his career covering broadband wireless internet access. Concepts from amateur radio like mesh networking and using nodes as relays predated their use in commercial wireless. The author's experience in amateur radio helped teach him about radio frequency principles before they were essential for the wireless internet industry. He encourages those interested in getting involved in their local wireless internet infrastructure to consider amateur radio for learning radio skills.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    BY STEVE STROIi, N8GNJ

    Packet Radio a n d Beyond

    Broadband Wireless Hrzter~zet Access and Afnate~cr RacEio


    n my day job of writing about developments and technology in the Broadband Wireless lnternet Access industry, I'm privileged to get to talk to some of the brightsst folks I've ever riiei. As part of my job, I interview Chief Executive Officers, Chief Technical Officers, and lots of people who have marketing and financial backgrounds. Because of the nature of my questions, I'm occasionally asked what my journalism or technical background is. That's when I confess to them that my "foundation" knowledge about wireless data communication stems from my experiences with amateur radio digital communications. That's almost always one they haven't heard before. Steeped as I am in both amateur radio digital communications and now Broadband Wireless lnternet Access, I'm constantly encountering "connections" between the two worlds. The most recent example of this is "mesh networking," one of the latest technologies to emerge in the BWIA industry. Ensuring a full-coverage area, especially at frequencies beginning at 2 GHz, is a challenge, and the BWIA industry has evolved a number of NLOS (Near, or Non Line Of S~ght) technologies that help enhance coverage, such as taking advantage of multipath. However, there are plenty of situations in which NLOS simply cannot help. Increasingly, mesh networking is the answer to such coverage issues, and a number of new companies in the BWIA industry are coming out with products that incorporate mesh networking. At a recent conference I interviewed several of these companies and we compared notes about just how many implementations of mesh networking there were currently. My version of that list ran considerably longer than others, and I included in that list amateur radio networking. I remember vividly the heady days in the late '80s /early '90s when NeUROM reigned supreme and we seemed well on our way to developing a national network of interconnected nodes. The overall concept of NetlROM-a wireless network with multiple dynamically formed links-is the essence of mesh
    P.0. Box 2406, Woodinv~lle,WA 98072 e-mail: <[email protected]

    networking. Before that, the inherent ability of each Terminal Node Controller (TNC) to act as a relay point (digipeater) or make use of a relay pointidigipeater was something we took for granted ... but is just now beginning to make its way into common practice in the BWIA and wireless data industries. There are numerous other examples that space doesn't allow me to delve into, such as The elegant short messaging system via internet that's grown to be an integral part of Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) before the rise of Short Messaging Services (SMS) on mobile phones. That the two big dedicated wireless data networks in the US: Cingular Interactive (formerly BellSouth Wireless Data, Mobitex) and Motient (formerly ARDIS) don't offer speeds much greater than 9600 baud, which amateur radio has easily achieved. APRS integrating Global Position System (GPS) receivers into "user stations" and transmitting the positioning info, predating such GPS receiver integration into cell phones for positioning info for 91 1 calls. That the innovative Ricochet wireless internet access system (another example of mesh networking often overlooked) was inspired by early NeUROM networks in California. That Dataradio Corporation, which claims to be "a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced wireless data products and systems for mission critical applications" was founded by Montreal amateur radio operators on the basis of the first amateur packet radio experiments. When I tell people in the BWIA industry about my "foundation" knowledge in amateur radio, I do so absolutely without shame or embarrassment. My amateur radio experience has served me very well, and continues to do so. In one of the most recent issues of my newsletter, "Focus On Broadband Wireless lnternet Access," Iwrote about what it takes to begin awireless lnternet Service Provider. One of the points I made was that RF knowledge is no longer optional. At one point it was possible to learn about RF as you went along. That's simply not the case in

    2002; mistakes are too costly in money, time, and customer satisfaction. Amateur radio is one place where you can, in fact, learn RF "on the job." I'm observing a small, but detectable rise in the number of amateurs involved in the Broadband Wireless lnternet Access industry and that's no surprise to me. It's a lot easier to teach a person who knows RF about networking than it is to teach a person who knows networking about RF. Extrapolating from a networking background, RF should be easy-just physics, right? RFshould be just a different type of network, right? We amateur radio operators know only too well, however, that there's a significant amount of "art" in RF. It's not "just" science. One last mention about BWIA: In many communities, especially small and rural ones, there's a dearth of broadband internet options. DSL and cable modems are only rarely available. Satellite-based Broadband lnternet Access is available, but it has irritating latency and congestion issues. That leaves wireless. If your community doesn't have broadband internet access and you'd be interested in being involved, talk to your local lnternet Service Provider. Chances are good that he or she is considering wireless and might need the help of someone who knows RF.

    56K Packet Radio


    Dale Heatherington, WA4DSY, debuted 56K technology to amateur radio with great fanfare in 1987, and it seemed like the wave of the future. In short order there were numerous addon developments: Gracilis debuted a PC interface card and standalone TCPJIP router intended for use with WA4DSY modems. Georgia Radio Amateur Packet Enthusiasts Society (GRAPES) offered the WA4DSY 56K modem kit for sale. The Packet Working Group of the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club debuted the Packet Interface (PI) card and later the much improved PI-2 card intended for use with WA4DSY modems. * The Awesome I/O Card, a high-performance PC interface card, and the PS-186, a high-performance standVisit Our Web Site

    62

    CQ

    April 2002

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