HAM or Amatuer radio works just like a cell phone or wifi device. It uses RF energy to transmit data over the airwaves. Most commonly, people think of HAM radio as people talking to other people, but it can be for transmitting anything. including transmitting data. Data can be modulated onto RF waves across most spectrums and broadcast out for anyone to receive. With some basic equipment, you can send and receive text messages OTA (over the air). Since you can send text, you can send anything really since text is just a representation of binary combinations. In the video I previous linked, @nvk demonstrated sending a bitcoin transaction OTA. Which is then broadcast on the internet using normal bitcoin channels over the internet. This could be email traffic or other data. Amatuer radio is generally regulated to certain bands and frequencies based on geographic justrisdiction, but with certain bands and equipment, I could talk across the world.

Combining amature radio with bitcoin seems ripe to make the protocol more censorship resistant.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

To begin, look for a handheld VHF radio. There may or may not be repeaters (towers/stations that pick up and retransmit (usually at higher power) traffic from stations using the right frequency and radio settings.

nostr:note1havg7ffm38pzxz3cm99wax667g8lj9hkan89ahy0qmlcjfqpaknq9dxurl

Do you have an idea of the range of satslink?

https://docs.arduino.cc/tutorials/nano-esp32/esp-now

~220m for the ESP to ESP protocol. but 2.4GH wifi can reach pretty far with the right antennas (I've personally been effective at ~2km with an Alfa card and yagi directional antenna)

📝

This one?

That looks like cell band. But it could be wifi band.

Look for one that’s 2.4GHz and looks like a pringles can.

🗑️📡

that looks more like what I've used in the past.

Agreed. But, how would one get around or address data in the clear in transit.

who said it had to be in the clear?

The FCC, if you are talking amateur bands. Now technically cold one ignore that, sure.

you can lug a radio around pretty easily too so you're not broadcasting from your home or work. because if there's one thing governments are good at, it's radio direction finding and geolocation.

Exactly. And bouncing off of repeaters and natural objects, and using only minimal power, etc. It’s (amateur regulation) is limiting item to consider when discussing GPRS and other civilian packets methods.

Receivers don’t even need a license.

LoRa and mesh might be something to tinker with as well in some cases.

This is a nice idea. Not just for Bitcoin. I have a HAM lying around somewhere. Is there good open source software?

No idea yet. Just coming back into the hobby. Was a radioman in the Navy for a decade so learned the craft but haven’t done much in the hobby side. Hoping to change that.

Sounds like a good way to lose your ham license. The amateur service bands aren't supposed to be used for commercial activity, and packet radio transmissions have to be in the clear. *Maybe* you could get away with syncing a Bitcoin node over the airwaves, but I can't see, e.g., connecting two lightning nodes that way.

Now, running a nostr relay over packet radio, *that* might be doable…

Define “commercial”.

I’ll have to look into the FCC’s definition.

See, e.g., this, from their FAQ. At the end of the day, it's probably "stuff the FCC doesn't approve of". But my interpretation is that syncing Bitcoin nodes would be OK, since you're not receiving compensation. But routing fees would be verboten, even if encryption were allowed.

What might be interesting would be broadcasting blocks and/or transactions a la Blockstream's satellite service. Or, if that's too bandwidth-intensive, maybe setting up a service where your node could accept transactions submitted via packet.

I like your last idea there. Was where I hope to take it. You don’t need a license to receive