[HamWAN PSDR] system usage

[Bart Kus]

An excellent point to bring up, and one I've struggled with in the past 
as well.

Short answer: read Article 0 
<https://www.hamwan.org/t/tiki-index.php?page=Constitution&structure=HamWAN#Article_0_Mission> 
of the Constitution 
<https://www.hamwan.org/t/tiki-index.php?page=Constitution&structure=HamWAN>. 
It describes HamWAN's mission.

Longer answer with rationale for HamWAN's mission:

A useful and vibrant computer network is one that allows like-minded 
people to communicate together.  In the case of the Internet, we have 
the ultimate wide deployment across geographical regions and social 
groups.  It is everywhere and provided to everyone.  From there, you see 
communities forming around their collective commonalities.  
Topic-specific message boards, mailing lists, IRC channels, web 
sites/apps, etc.  We cannot hope to compete with the speed of terabit 
fiber-optics, or the budgets of global ISPs to be all things to all people.

I, however, am a nerd.  And I enjoy the company of my fellow nerds.  It 
is these nerds that I would like to exchange data with.  I believe that 
passing a basic amateur radio license exam is a good filter for the 
quality of nerd that I'd like to see on the network.  Such a requirement 
also broadens the adoption of amateur radio itself in our society filled 
with computer nerds, who would love to play with digital networks, but 
don't have a ham license.  This is a good thing.  The compu-nerds might 
learn new things in the realm of radio along the way.  Voice net 
check-ins burn at my computer-literate soul, and the injection of 
computer-savvy nerds into the amateur radio hobby will fix these archaic 
procedures.  So there you have (part of) the rationale for requiring all 
participants to be licensed radio amateur operators.

I'm also a bit of an independent.  Why should I put my communications 
needs solely in the hands of large corporations and the Internet?  Most 
of my communication is local.  I would be very happy to achieve 
independence from the corporate teat for at least my local 
communications needs.  On this kind of independent network, WE define 
the rules.  Comcast wants to charge $200/mo for a 50Mbit downlink feed.  
I think we can beat that if we build it ourselves.  And make it 
symmetrical at the same time, so none of this 10Mbit uplink limit.  
Nerds are not just consumers, they're also providers of data services.  
The common Internet services target your typical mom & pop audience, who 
are dominantly consumers of data.  I'd love to live in a world where I 
can carry around a ham-phone 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NinjaTel_Van>, my car is a mobile 
ham-hotspot, and my house is tied into the HamWAN, all at a 
significantly lower cost than the for-profit commercial offerings, while 
being tailored to my nerdy needs.  And there you have some rationale for 
"free digital communication" as a goal.  I can go on for quite a while 
on this subject.  :)

I'm also a bit of a survivalist.  I like knowing exactly how my 
communications facilities work and how to fix them.  Should my Internet 
or cell service go down, I like knowing I have another completely 
independent system of communication.  The other emergency communications 
groups share this attitude, and it makes them great partners in building 
this network.  These are the driving forces behind the emergency 
communications part of HamWAN's mission.

Did I mention I'm a nerd? :)  Doing the R&D to bring this type of 
network to life is great fun.  A long focused effort by a group of nerds 
will (and already has) produced valuable results.  These need to be 
published so that others may benefit from our experience in building 
their own networks of this kind.  And there you have mission point #2, 
about conducting and publishing R&D.

The publication of this knowledge also ties in with point #4, of 
educating and spreading knowledge.  Point #4 is also supported by 
requiring participants to pass ham exams.

Lastly, I realize HamWAN will not be in control of all such like-minded 
networks.  These types of ideas (both technical and 
organizational/social) can spread like wildfire, and independent groups 
are sure to spring up.  When groups' networks grow and start touching 
each other, I want to be sure they are compatible. For this reason the 
last sentence of the mission statement is that HamWAN will act as a 
coordinator of interoperability.  The recent decision to go with AMPRnet 
block registration solves a large part of the interoperability problem.  
But there are other considerations, such as the universal adoption of 
the NV2 protocol which would make a roaming ham's equipment compatible 
with other groups' networks.  We may also have to implement an 
inter-network registration system for roaming hams.  There are analogous 
systems in the cellular telco world.  If we develop & establish a 
universal system of digital ham identity at least, that would go a long 
way even if we fail on the protocol adoption front.  Someone suggested 
using the LoTW client certificate, which is not a bad idea at all.  ARRL 
provides a rigorous identity verification system in LoTW signup, 
although I'm not sure how good they are at expiring said certs in a 
timely manner should the registration lapse or be revoked by the FCC.

Phew!  I'm out of words.  There's so much work ahead it's scary. 
Recruiting recruiting recruiting recruiting 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMU0tzLwhbE>!  There's no way I can 
implement the entirety of this vision for the future alone.

--Bart

On 2/12/2013 9:16 PM, Rob Salsgiver wrote:
>
> Ok..... time for more questions, now that the marathon meeting is over 
> <g>.
>
> A number of times I've heard potential uses that seem to blur the line 
> between amateur and commercial, so my question is -- how do we draw 
> the line?
>
> As an example -- connecting to the Seattle MeshNet.  As I read it, the 
> MeshNet is non-amateur.  Are we looking to be a generic carrier grade 
> ISP?  If so, then this will work, but we won't be able to use amateur 
> frequencies to do it.  Similar question for connecting firehalls down 
> south -- if we are sticking to strictly amateur uses, then the usage 
> by laptops and other devices at a firehall would be limited to amateur 
> related uses -- i.e. -- no non-hams using it.
>
> It may be that I'm just missing a big concept here, but I see a lot of 
> blurring of the lines in conversation, and I think it needs to be 
> better spelled out before we get in front of too many folks.
>
> I'll stop with this one for now, rather than continue to show my 
> ignorance and unfamiliarity <g>.
>
> Rob
>
>
>
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