[Scottish] Apologies - can't talk this month

[Andrew Back]

On Wed, 16 Oct 2002, Graeme Mathieson wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 16, 2002 at 10:40:59AM +0100, Andrew Back wrote:
> > Has anyone ever done a talk on Amateur Radio Data Modes? I'm not
> > volunteering but someone from the West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society
> > may know of a potential speaker. I could make enquiries.
>
> Sounds interesting.
>
> Is it still the case that you are not permitted to broadcast encrypted
> traffic?

AFAIK yes. And you can't provide a service to non-licensed people either.
But the novice license isn't hard to attain. So for a bit of effort and a
few hundred quid you and a group of friends could set up a non-LOS IP
network with a number of miles between nodes. Or thousands of miles if you
can deal with 300baud and links that are only active at certain times of
the day :o)

The non-encrypted thing is a pain, but prevents people carrying commercial
data. Would be a shame if dodgy licensed amateurs started operating
microwave nodes for companies. *Much* cheaper than BT, Equant etc..

Andrew