[GA ARES] More Digital Notes

[WA4DYD]

Greetings,

During a review with the ARRL's Chief Technology Officer this past Monday
evening of the ARRL's HSMM (High Speed Multi Media) working group's
activites this past year and plans for the coming year, it was reported that
the Texas group that has been working with the Hinternet (Ham Internet) did
a demonstration of it's capabilities to representatives of the Department of
Homeland Security.  They response was very positive.  The comments were that
the ability to support audio, both digital and analog, digital video, and
data (both high and lowspeed) were very critical to DHS plans.  The DHS
focus was on the short haul (30 miles or so) to get a reasonable IP data
path from the impacted area to reliable infrastructure.  The demonstration
used a D-STAR network with D-STAR repeater and permitted mobile coverage of
around a 30 mile radius around the repeater.

It was also reported that progress is being made on a new digital modulation
technique (ODFM - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) for Amateur
Radio that would potentially allow 1.5 Mbps data, potentially down to the 6M
band.  This would be a major breakthrough for Amateur Radio digital
communications.

Hopefully more will be published on these topics soon.  In the meanwhile,
you can go to the ARRL webside and do a search on Hinternet and HSMM to
obtain more information.

Just a few more tidbits to consider on the digital front.

Regards,
Stan, WA4DYD

PS  Paul Pescitelli, K4UJ - Gwinnett AEC for Technology, is participating in
the HSMM Working Group and the report comes via his participation in the
conference call meeting.  If you did not see it, Paul proposed an
alternative plan that expands the digital infrastructure for the Georgia
Section.  If you missed it, it can be found in the message archives for
area at gaares.org.