Surf Web on DStar Ham Radio

[presw]

I wonder about the legality of this idea. You are not supposed to use ham radio for any commercial traffic. It's hard to avoid anything commerical in the Internet. Technically it seems Chris did not hit any commercial sites but sites have ads in them etc...W2PW (WD2NY D-star & WR2UHF analog IRLP)

[BlueLightRhyno]

Great Vid!  Thanks.......

[MichaelJE2]

A slightly more efficient way to get power to the wifi router would be to just wire it directly to your car's battery, that way you can skip the DC to AC and then straight back AC to DC conversion. I'm 99% sure that linksys router takes 12V. ;) (Just don't hook it up backwards!)

[fyrfyter33]

@GetTFC perhaps you should read up and note the line of sight issues and shared bandwidth problems. 1.2GHz DD D-Star is an infancy technology. It speaks volumes when an East Coast state is setting up a statewide D-Star network, and says the data transmission quality or even worthiness of 1.2GHz is dismal at best, and they opt to omit it. Furthermore, if someone wants to kill of the DD side of things, it is not going to work at all. Maybe you should read the D-Star spec again?

[chang343343]

do you need the icom id-1 specifically to browse the web? is this possible through their other dstar compatible mobile TRs?

[TheMoneyIsMyMine]

awesome.

[GreatPurification]

D-Star NEEDS to have DD capabilities in the VHF bands!!! It's nothing new you can even get WiFi equipment in 900Mhz that will penetrate better than 1.2Ghz, and give you over 3,000kbps compared to the 128kbps. Does D-Star have any DD plans in VHF?? And, its 2011, 128kbps is like dialup. VHF DD + 500kbps is what we really need. Espeically for the price of this gear. Oh, and where's the handhelds that support DD? None yet....

[TheMoneyIsMyMine]

@GreatPurification 128 kilobits per second is like a slow dsl/old ISDN line. The only "dial up" that ever touched that was shotgun modem configuration with an ISP running radius capable of being compatible with that modem configuration (which wasn't exactly common). It's packet radio done over HAM though. That's quite a bit better than having no Internet at all in an area that has no 3g/3gs/LTE coverage... That's still awesome even almost 3 years later.

[ilanmordechai]

do you have to pay for a repeater service / other subscription?

[howden123456]

to frigging compicated i hate it. andy m0mca

[luther349]

you can pick up the handheld for around 200$ i believe it has all the features as the base station model. they outlawed them in euro due to d-star not being withen the standerd ham rules. d-star is ham evolved and will attract a new gen of users. its sad the old men agenst d-star will only kill off ham as a hobby if they get there way in other country's.

[kb1thm]

Neat. Thats all through DSTAR? Do you have to use 1.2GHz to do the internet or can you use 440 and 2 meters.

[fyrfyter33]

@kb1thm You have to use 1.2GHz and have that data repeater in your area with a gateway as well. There are two 1.2GHz repeaters. One for data and one for voice. They also have to have the D-Star gateway setup, to allow internet access.

[cleosimble]

the only problem is under the seet it can overheat on highpower

[cdirado]

From where are you getting your internet connection? cell phone ? are you near a starbucks ???

[yy5ogu]

Ham radio.

[luther349]

@cdirado no hes getting it threw the d-star band its a new feature to ham and is outside the standards but thankfully the fcc ignores it. ham has always been able to send data fax pics emails text normally around 9600 bud. d-star is that ability evolved able to go slightly above 56k speeds enough for a web browser. 75kbs isn't much faster then dailup. its because d-star uses wifi on its own network to give you no range limits. as long as 1 tower is in range your worldwide.

[fyrfyter33]

@luther349 That is not even close to how it works. D-STAR in this case, is using a 1.2GHz radio in digital data mode. There is no WiFi component of D-STAR. He is using the ID-1 ($1k in US) to pull the digital data, and then a WiFi router, to make his own remote Wifi AP. One big problem with this. Trees can block line of sight for 1.2 GHz, so that can kill the speed and signal. Also, bandwidth is shared. So 2 people pullling digital data 128kbps is split in half for each user.

[GetTFC]

@fyrfyter33 Yes this is how D-STAR can be used and YES your not even close :) Don't use it, do you? Connecting any wifi AP gives it a "wifi component". The connectivity is there, if you don't understand it don't comment on it ;) 

[fyrfyter33]

@cdirado Nope. The internet is coming though the Ham Radio in data mode.

[thescallykiller]

im new to radio hobby but this is damn impressive

[piplol2468]

like is there a cheaper radio that could get me on the web?

[fyrfyter33]

@piplol2468 Nope. You could buy a wireless USB 3G connector, and pay lots of data every month for $60/month to equal the 1k the radio will cost, if there is even a 1.2GHz data repeater in your area. Currently, there are not a lot of these.

[piplol2468]

ok so you can get internet conection with radio nothing else involved exsept for the router but your receiving the signal through the radio right?

[kc0nnt]

Great post Chris! Neat stuff!!