Could packet radio replace my Internet connection?
 

I have recently canceled my home Internet connection.....trying to
reduce expenses.

I have high speed Internet at work...and use it there all day....so
didn't see a real need for it at home as I live alone.

Having said that....Im a general class ham.... but haven't been on air
in years and currently have no equip.

Im wondering if getting into digital radios such as packet would allow
me some "connection" with like minded people such as Usenet groups do?

Advice? Opinions?

I haven't gotten into internet gateways because of... well, I just haven't
been able to go digital for quite a while. Digital modes will definitely
connect you other hams but won't replace the internet. I'll try to give a
little insight as I understand it.
Portions of amateur comms may be transported via internet just like it can
go over hard line. Sure, it's legal but sometimes defeats the purpose.
Having said that, I think that linking a local repeater with another on the
other side of the world could be cool just to chew the rag when your own
repeater's dried up. Whether or not all this will replace your internet
connection is a different story.
Is it technically possible to get internet via ham radio? Sure. Could we
go so far as to make our own ISP and put it out there free? Sure. But...
Every time an advertisement is on a web page, you'd be "breakin' da' law"
since there can be no commercial or pecuniary interest. Besides, I'm pretty
sure that it'd be miserably slow. Here's some brainstorming.
Hams could, if they wanted to, use TCP/IP protocol and send text, graphics
and html; a'la webpage. But why? You want to talk with someone and you
can't serve up the internet via ham. Retrieving a webpage could still be
useful, though. Here, I'm talking about a clean, compact, commercial-free,
ham-approved webpage.
Filtering out the web would be simply impossible, so, don't even try.
It's feasible, albeit labor intensive, to add webpages of/by/for hams to a
firewalled server that could be used to retrieve those files remotely. I
don't know who would do it and it's more than what I'd like to take on. So,
digital modes are the way to go if you'd like something closer to chat or
file transfer.
Getting into digital modes would definitely put you in touch with other
hams. You could find a packet BBS perhaps that you could even connect to
and retrieve from a mailbox. Packet BBS', PSK-31, RTTY, AMTOR, Clover, Slow
Scan TeleVision (SSTV), etc, all give you different benefits and uses. All
this isn't the internet but it's a better way to chew the fat with other
hams. Hope this helps.
P.S. The fact that this entire exchange took place via internet doesn't
make it less true:) We'll just call it a pre-arranged communication
schedule...
o_o_o_o
Best Regards, /| ,[_____],
Jim, WP3JQ |¯¯¯L --O|||||||O-
()_)¯()_) ¯¯¯¯¯ )_)
EM60qk 30.447439N 086.628959W
wrote in message
...
I have recently canceled my home Internet connection.....trying to
reduce expenses.

I have high speed Internet at work...and use it there all day....so
didn't see a real need for it at home as I live alone.

Having said that....Im a general class ham.... but haven't been on air
in years and currently have no equip.

Im wondering if getting into digital radios such as packet would allow
me some "connection" with like minded people such as Usenet groups do?

Advice? Opinions?

I haven't gotten into internet gateways because of... well, I just haven't
been able to go digital for quite a while. Digital modes will definitely
connect you other hams but won't replace the internet. I'll try to give a
little insight as I understand it.
Portions of amateur comms may be transported via internet just like it can
go over hard line. Sure, it's legal but sometimes defeats the purpose.
Having said that, I think that linking a local repeater with another on the
other side of the world could be cool just to chew the rag when your own
repeater's dried up. Whether or not all this will replace your internet
connection is a different story.
Is it technically possible to get internet via ham radio? Sure. Could we
go so far as to make our own ISP and put it out there free? Sure. But...
Every time an advertisement is on a web page, you'd be "breakin' da' law"
since there can be no commercial or pecuniary interest. Besides, I'm pretty
sure that it'd be miserably slow. Here's some brainstorming.
Hams could, if they wanted to, use TCP/IP protocol and send text, graphics
and html; a'la webpage. But why? You want to talk with someone and you
can't serve up the internet via ham. Retrieving a webpage could still be
useful, though. Here, I'm talking about a clean, compact, commercial-free,
ham-approved webpage.
Filtering out the web would be simply impossible, so, don't even try.
It's feasible, albeit labor intensive, to add webpages of/by/for hams to a
firewalled server that could be used to retrieve those files remotely. I
don't know who would do it and it's more than what I'd like to take on. So,
digital modes are the way to go if you'd like something closer to chat or
file transfer.
Getting into digital modes would definitely put you in touch with other
hams. You could find a packet BBS perhaps that you could even connect to
and retrieve from a mailbox. Packet BBS', PSK-31, RTTY, AMTOR, Clover, Slow
Scan TeleVision (SSTV), etc, all give you different benefits and uses. All
this isn't the internet but it's a better way to chew the fat with other
hams. Hope this helps.
P.S. The fact that this entire exchange took place via internet doesn't
make it less true:) We'll just call it a pre-arranged communication
schedule...
o_o_o_o
Best Regards, /| ,[_____],
Jim, WP3JQ |¯¯¯L --O|||||||O-
()_)¯()_) ¯¯¯¯¯ )_)
EM60qk 30.447439N 086.628959W
wrote in message
...
I have recently canceled my home Internet connection.....trying to
reduce expenses.

I have high speed Internet at work...and use it there all day....so
didn't see a real need for it at home as I live alone.

Having said that....Im a general class ham.... but haven't been on air
in years and currently have no equip.

Im wondering if getting into digital radios such as packet would allow
me some "connection" with like minded people such as Usenet groups do?

Advice? Opinions?

There can be no commercial or pecuniary interest _for the operator_. Merely
passing an unsolicited commercial blurb along with your desired content
while viewing a web page would not constitute a violation.


Every time an advertisement is on a web page, you'd be
"breakin' da' law" since there can be no commercial
or pecuniary interest.

There can be no commercial or pecuniary interest _for the operator_. Merely
passing an unsolicited commercial blurb along with your desired content
while viewing a web page would not constitute a violation.


Every time an advertisement is on a web page, you'd be
"breakin' da' law" since there can be no commercial
or pecuniary interest.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 15:21:32 -0600, "Drink" wrote:

Retrieving a webpage could still be
useful, though. Here, I'm talking about a clean, compact, commercial-free,
ham-approved webpage.

That would be very cool

However.....I don't really care abt web pages..... but REALLY miss my
Usenet groups at home.

Like I said I still have Net access here at work for researching and
looking at web pages... or downloading files.

What I was hoping was some ham way of accessing Usent-LIKE
groups.....and ham email. Basically a way for like minded people to
discuss various "topics" via jam radio.... just like we do right now
using Usenet on the Net

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 15:21:32 -0600, "Drink" wrote:

Retrieving a webpage could still be
useful, though. Here, I'm talking about a clean, compact, commercial-free,
ham-approved webpage.

That would be very cool

However.....I don't really care abt web pages..... but REALLY miss my
Usenet groups at home.

Like I said I still have Net access here at work for researching and
looking at web pages... or downloading files.

What I was hoping was some ham way of accessing Usent-LIKE
groups.....and ham email. Basically a way for like minded people to
discuss various "topics" via jam radio.... just like we do right now
using Usenet on the Net

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:01:14 -0600, "S. Miller"
wrote:


There can be no commercial or pecuniary interest _for the operator_. Merely
passing an unsolicited commercial blurb along with your desired content
while viewing a web page would not constitute a violation.

Agreed


But Im not in the least wanting to view web pages via ham radio.
Instead Im wanting Usenet-LIKE groups and email

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:01:14 -0600, "S. Miller"
wrote:


There can be no commercial or pecuniary interest _for the operator_. Merely
passing an unsolicited commercial blurb along with your desired content
while viewing a web page would not constitute a violation.

Agreed


But Im not in the least wanting to view web pages via ham radio.
Instead Im wanting Usenet-LIKE groups and email

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 07:31:37 -0600, me6 wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:01:14 -0600, "S. Miller"
wrote:


There can be no commercial or pecuniary interest _for the operator_. Merely
passing an unsolicited commercial blurb along with your desired content
while viewing a web page would not constitute a violation.

Agreed


But Im not in the least wanting to view web pages via ham radio.
Instead Im wanting Usenet-LIKE groups and email

It is possible, some of my first usage of the internet was via
packet using a program called jnos - tcp/ip encapsulated within
packet protocols, I had a gateway available to me, it's
fairly easy to set up, but unless you're willing to fork out
some coin for high speed packet gear, it's dreadfully slow,
I used to pass email, some news group stuff (usenet) and even
dabbled in downloading the occasional ftp file (tiny ones, 1200
baud is awfully slow) this was before the web held anything
more than a few dozen sites, archie and gopher were still
widely used.

So it is possible, but you're going to have fork out some coin
to make it happen.

Ken
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