On Mar 17, 2:19�am, "Dee Flint" wrote:

My question on this is why would we be sending large amounts of data on
amateur radio? *

I can think of a couple uses for it, Dee.

First there's emergency/public service comms. The served agencies
are used to being able to send emails with sizable attachments through
the usual networks. A mode that would let them do that via amateur
radio
when the usual networks are not available would be a really good tool
in the emcomm toolbox. IMHO it's the thinking pushing WinLink.

Second, there are plenty of times in an ordinary QSO when it
would be good to be able to send a picture, station description,
article, a sound clip, etc. directly by radio, and have it in digital
format at the other end. In the past, such modes as SSTV have
gained limited acceptance because they required lots of extra
apparatus, but with the widespread acceptance of PCs today
the big limitation is software, not hardware.

The need for it doesn't exist in general.

In some cases, if something is presented to people, they
will find a use for it. Look back on predictions about
computers - in the early '50s it was predicted that a half-
dozen or so general-purpose computers would serve all
the needs of the USA, and in the '70s it was said that no
ordinary person would ever need a computer in their home.
Both pronouncements were made by knowledgeable
professionals, and at the time seemed quite reasonable.

Of course "if you build it, they will come" doesn't always
work out.

*If it did,
someone would have developed the appropriate digital mode by now.

I disagree. One of the big problems is that such development
tends to be protected by the developers, and *not* made
open-source. PSK-31 and Linux are exceptions, not the rule.

In the bad old days, the focus was on hardware, and the
idea of controlling a mode-concept wasn't taken too
seriously. SSB, FM, SSTV, RTTY, AX.25 packet,
etc., all came to amateur radio essentially as freebies.
The standard was widely and publicly
available, just meet it and go on the air.

But you can't homebrew
a Pactor 2/3 modem today the way you could homebrew
an SSB rig 50 years ago.

The "bell-the-cat" question is still *who* is going to develop
such new modes and then just give them away for free.
Groups that have tried (TAPR and the spread-spectrum idea)
have taken years without much to show.

All IMHO

73 de Jim, N2EY