Discussion: SBAY Wireless Network and Amateur Radio

Following the August 16, 2000 presentation of the SBAY Wireless Network to the West Valley Amateur Radio Association, we were asked more about it by Jim Maxwell W6CF, the Pacific Division Director of the American Radio Relay League, who had attended the presentation. After learning that Amateur Radio rules forced us to look at IEEE 802.11 wireless ethernet under FCC Part 15 Rules, Jim had a fair question: What rules prevented us from using Amateur Radio for this hobby wireless data network? (It would otherwise seem to be a project that Amateur Radio was meant for.) And how could the rules be changed to make Amateur Radio more palatable for projects like this in the future?

This will not affect SBAY Wireless repeater and client site plans which are already in progress. But it could lead to as much as ARRL helping obtain a "Special Temporary Authority" from the FCC to experiment with specific new rules which could then be used to change the Amateur Radio rules. So there could be new opportunities to experiment in the future.

Everyone seems to have taken Jim's question and challenge seriously. This could help change the shape of Amateur Radio for well into the 21st Century. But in the process it may need to challenge some early-20th Century assumptions which are currently built into the rules.

Discussion from the SBAY Pizza meeting of August 19, 2000
Meeting notes by Ian Kluft

In the discussion it quickly became obvious that this question is too big to answer in one evening's discussion. We'll have to plan on some rounds of discussion and getting feedback from ARRL in pursuit of this issue.

The purpose of the SBAY Wireless Network is to set up high-speed data links between our houses, linking our home networks as if they were wired together. The machines directly connected to the SBAY Wireless Network are firewalls to protect our home networks just much as from the public Internet. Though there are many experiments we've discussed for the future, the current usage during the early construction phase of the network falls into several categories as backups to our mail Internet connections at home:

These are backup e-mail delivery systems. If Dave's DSL line goes down, the sbay.org nameservers on the Internet have an "alternate MX record" for his site which will direct his e-mail to his parents' system via their cable modem. The mail is then delivered over the wireless network to Dave's system. The mail is forwarded automatically over the wireless network.
These are backup outbound connections. In case of a failure in one of our Internet connections, we can direct our web browsing through another site's Internet connection, if permission has been arranged from that site.
These are backup login paths. In order to prevent getting our passwords or other sensitive control information "sniffed" of the data link, we use a cryptographic login protocol called "SSH" (secure shell). We can log into our own home machines via the wireless network from work or elsewhere on the public Internet, by going through a friend's machine. (This access requires we have a login on one of the other machines.)

The original problems that prevented SBAY Wireless from considering Amateur Radio from the beginning are rules so basic to the service that anyone who has passed the exam for the entry-level Technician class license should be familiar with them.

Cryptography

Last updated: July 31, 2006