[Cu-wireless] visited w/ hams this afternoon

[David Young]

The ham radio operators I talked to today did not sound too enthusiastic
about greater use of Part 15 devices. They perceive that it is a major
interference threat.  They fear that with widespread adoption of Part
15 devices, the tables will be turned on licensed operators such as
themselves: while Part 15 operators have to accept everyone's interference
today, if tens of millions of unlicensed Part 15 users perceive that they
receive unacceptable interference from ham operators, or that they are
unacceptably limited in transmit power, then they might sway the FCC to
give them greater privileges on the airwaves than the hams.

It seemed to me that amateur radio operators would be excited by
an innovative use of spectrum, household to household communication
instead of household to major corporation to household communication,
etc. Maybe not....

The hams seemed convinced, too, that 2.4GHz was dangerous even at the
power levels we're using.

I got the idea from one guy that the ARRL is really against Part 15,
and so maybe their propaganda wing is spreading the word that Part 15
spells the end of amateur spectrum?

Also, one guy seemed to think that radio modems could be home-built or
badly built.

So, as polite and interesting to talk to were most the folks at this
event, I was surprised how cool they were to the idea of our project.
Maybe a more charismatic member of our group should attend next time?
(There is still time today and tomorrow: there is a potluck at the park
tonight, 6PM; Field Day lasts until 1PM tomorrow).

Dave

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung at onthejob.net     Engineering from the Right Brain
                        Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933