SuperPacket

New web page - A Brief Survey of Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio

This is a paper I wrote for the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference 2022.

A Brief Survey of Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ¹
ARRL and TAPR 2022 Digital Communications Conference Charlotte, North Carolina, USA 2022-09-16 thru 18

Abstract

In recent decades, the perception of Amateur Radio within the general public has shifted from Amateur Radio being useful, innovative, and an interesting technical activity, to Amateur Radio being perceived as an anachronism and largely irrelevant (except in the direst of communications emergencies). Summarized: “Ham Radio – that’s still around?”

Amateur Radio’s service to the public for emergency communications is being supplanted by improved commercial and government communications capabilities such as improved Iridium² satellite phones, the FirstNET³ public safety cellular system, and most recently, the nomadic capability of the Starlink⁴ broadband satellite system.

Amateur Radio has continuously developed unique technological innovations in radio technology, and that has not only continued in the modern era but has accelerated. However, that ongoing, unique contribution to technological society is, increasingly, unrecognized. That is unfortunate. If regulators, lawmakers, industry, the general public... and the Amateur Radio community itself understood the unique contributions to technological innovations in radio technology that Amateur Radio continues to develop, perhaps such recognition might improve Amateur Radio’s perception that it remains a valuable part of society, worthy of continued access to portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Keywords

Amateur, Radio, Operator, Ham, Wireless, Technology, Innovation, Spectrum, Digital, VHF, UHF, SHF, Microwave, Communications, ARDC, Techies, Makers, Hackers, Zero Retries Newsletter, Experimentation, Research and Development, FlexRadio, Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Background

For decades, I have been an admirer of technological innovation in Amateur Radio. Not just new technologies like Packet Radio emerging in the 1980s, but new techniques for old problems such as digital techniques enabling reliable communications via unreliable mediums such as the High Frequency (HF)⁵ (aka Shortwave) portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Amateur Radio’s unique culture, the varying characteristics of various portions of spectrum allocated to (or shared with) Amateur Radio operations, and the many highly capable and skilled Amateur Radio Operators, have resulted in a fertile, and welcoming “experimental zone” for technological innovation in radio technologies. Until recent decades, that culture of technological innovation was widely recognized, and encouraged. In the last few decades, the recognition of

1 Email – [email protected]
2 https://www.iridium.com/network/
3 https://firstnet.gov/network
4 https://www.starlink.com/rv
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_frequency

A Brief Survey of Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio

Amateur Radio’s utility and contributions to technological innovation have been deprecated to near irrelevence... at least in popular perception... by ubiquitous Internet access, mobile phones, caricatures of Amateur Radio as “Grandpa sitting in the basement tapping on a Morse Code key”, and most notably, the removal of old barriers to individuals communicating across international borders.

A primary reason that this is a concern for society is that it has become irrevocably dependent on radio technology as the primary method of communications for mobile devices, most notably cellular technology, wireless local area networks (Wi-Fi), and most recently, direct-to-user satellite communications. For many people, their mobile phone is their only method of communications and media consumption. Much of that technology has been developed and manufactured in China. Dependence on China for such a critical infrastructure function is proving to be fraught with peril. To counter that peril, the US and other Western nations must quickly develop additional expertise, and personnel, “in nation” to better develop and support this now-critical wireless infrastructure. Amateur Radio can be a “training ground” for developing familiarity and expertise with radio technology, leading to careers in developing and supporting radio technology... but only if Amateur Radio is recognized as a useful and interesting.

The rise of technology specialists, especially those trained in Information Technology (IT), the “Maker culture”⁶, and the “Hacking Culture”⁷ have breathed new life into Amateur Radio. “Techies” have discovered Amateur Radio as an enabling technology for supporting experimentation with Information Technologies (such as building hobbyist / not-for-profit wide- area microwave networks). Makers have discovered that there are incredibly interesting things that they can add to their personal knowledge base and practical projects based on capabilities Amateur Radio has long taken for granted, such as long-range communications via VHF / UHF repeaters. Hackers have discovered Amateur Radio as a fertile “playground” for their experiments and expansion of knowledge about radio technology, such as Software Defined Receivers... and Transmitters (with an Amateur Radio license).

I started the Zero Retries Newsletter⁸ in July, 2021 out of frustration that the totality of technological innovation in Amateur Radio wasn’t being recognized by the Amateur Radio community, its regulators, and especially the public at large. Specifically, I was worried about the growing public perception that Amateur Radio is irrelevant, or worse, an anachronism. Such a perception, if it is to continue for much longer, may prove catastrophic to Amateur Radio, most notably in the loss of Amateur Radio access to various portions of spectrum. To date I’ve published more than fifty weekly issues of Zero Retries, and each issue highlights some aspect of technological innovation in Amateur Radio.

Literally, Amateur Radio is a license to experiment with radio technology and a welcoming “innovation zone” to develop new and exciting technological innovations in radio technology. I hope to make that point with the vignettes in this paper.

 

6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture
8 https://zeroretries.substack.com (will eventually migrate to https://zeroretries.org)

...

Read the rest of the paper at:

https://www.superpacket.org/n8gnj_dcc_2022_final_for_web.pdf

 

Multipurpose Remote Nodes - Paper and Presentation

On Saturday September 18th, 2021 at 11:30 (AM) Pacific (tentative schedule at the time I post this), my coauthor Andy Sayler KF7VOL and I will be doing a presentation at the 2021 ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) on Multipurpose Remote Nodes.

As part of the DCC, we published a detailed paper about the Multipurpose Remote Nodes in the Proceedings of the 2021 Digital Communications Conference - TAPR DCC 2021 - Multipurpose Remote Nodes (PDF). Abstract:

In Whatcom County, Washington, in the far Northwest corner of the continental US, a group of Amateur Radio operators that are enthusiastic about data communications have created a number of Multipurpose Remote Nodes (MRNs) in key locations within the county for Amateur Radio data communications nodes that can reconfigured as needed by remote control via Internet.

Most Amateur Radio Operators are familiar with single purpose data communications nodes such as APRS digipeaters / IGates, or Winlink Radio Mail Servers (RMS), or fldigi (fsq) relay nodes.

Typically, such nodes are placed in “practical” locations. For example, APRS digipeaters are typically placed on high locations such as mountaintops or towers. APRS IGates are placed in locations that have reliable Internet access. Winlink RMS stations are usually at an individual’s home where a Winlink RMS station will have Internet access.

A Multipurpose Remote Node (MRN) effectively combines all of the above. Because MRNs are multipurpose, and fully remotely configurable (via Internet), they can be placed opportunistically at locations that offer good coverage of a specific area, Internet access, and provide services in a specific area. When the need arises, such as an Winlink RMS is needed in a communications emergency, an MRN can be reconfigured remotely to provide a new service

The MRNs in Whatcom County can also be remotely reconfigured to different frequencies either in the 2-meter band (144-148 MHz) or the 70-centimeter (440-450 MHz) band.

Here is a link to our presentation - Whatcom County WA Multipurpose Remote Nodes FINAL (PDF).

In the (prerecorded) presentation, Andy and I discuss the Multipurpose Remote Nodes, and interview Holly Woll-Salkeld of Western Washington University about being a host of one of the Multipurpose Remote Nodes. The presentation runs 20 minutes, and then we'll be taking questions for ten minutes.

For more information about the DCC, including registration, please see https://tapr.org/digital-communications-conference-dcc/.

Andy and I offer our profound Thanks to Budd Churchward WB7FHC for his great video editing work (and fast turnaround) for our prerecorded video!

 

Thanks for reading!
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Bellingham, Washington, USA
Copyright © 2021 by Steven K. Stroh