Awesome! We really need more interfaces on nostr. It can't all depend on an efficient, but centralized solution like TCP-IP.. Does your relay already support HAM radio? nostr:nprofile1qqsthdwa5rs42euhnuz5xsrmmssr84hshwes7uj392vpeldj7z0zw3cppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg3waehxw309ahx7um5wgh8w6twv5hsef7u3d has a NIP for this.. Have you considered using e-cash to rate limit radio access to your relay? nostr:nprofile1qqspp9hkhc9y6lcwesklfmfvs6plzsl0eq0whglvumd2m5hu5ax8anqprpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezucmgv95k6cfwd9hxvme0qyt8wumn8ghj7mmjv9hxwetn09hxxtn5v43kstcpr3mhxue69uhkymmnw3ezummjv9hxwetn09hxxtn5v43kstcsa3stq uses WiFi captive portals to rate-limit MAC addresses' ability to access an internet gateway. However, you have an opportunity to manage traffic using npubs instead of MAC addresses. This is huge, because npubs can sign stuff...
Alright nostriches. I finally have enough done and feel comfortable to share my progress on HAMSTR.
You are about to witness perhaps the first ever(well outside of the 2,000 ones I have done testing, lol) nostr note retrieved exclusively over HF packet ham radio.
There is no Internet access on this browser at the moment at all.
It is a client - server setup. The client is fully off-grid. Only the server can connect to the internet. For this test, the server is was roughly 500 feet away using dummy loads on my radios putting out virtually zero watts. Yes, not far, but in theory it would similar at hundreds and even thousands of miles away as well.
This test pulls my most recent notes from my fake dev account following list. In this case 1 note. The number of notes is configurable, but keep in mind HF Packet Radio is SLOW. This one note takes quite a while for just tiny note from nostr:nprofile1qqsywt6ypu57lxtwj2scdwxnyrl3sry9typcstje65x7rw9a2e5nq8sprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuumwdae8gtnnda3kjctvqydhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnzd96xxmmfdecxzunt9e3k7mgpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mq9hxafw. Future versions will have FM Data packets as well, but line of sight FM was not my goal. Global coverage was. HF radio is the only way for that.
Most functionality is now working, just ironing out some things and lots of bugs. Following, global, search, hash tags, npub search display names, are all basically working. Soon replies.
What started out as a project for me to use some social media and take camping and do some off-grid nostr stuff has now morphed into something that I believe will be able to help millions of people be able to bypass oppressive regimes, firewalls, tyranny, and allow them to interact with the nostr network using nothing but ham radios. This could be massive for learning, comms, and overall freedom. Could have a server running in France, and connect to it from Russia or Afghanistan for example. Easily within HF radio reach for half the world.
Much like the winlink email network, I hope people will be able to take my project and setup servers all around the world for people to access, read, write notes, send DM's, use various nostr kinds and even send Bitcoin(on chain offline transactions over HF radio and nostr coming soon).
Lots to come!
Note: pardon the phone screen cap, it isn't quite working fully android Firefox or chrome yet.
#hamstr
#Nostr
#development
#hamradio
https://video.nostr.build/1830960c328baad59ce74bfb23e7d3ea12bb26ea09f085e8a14762bb2cac88d4.mp4
Discussion
I am not at this time running my own relay, rather using standard ones. You could easily run a custom one though. I built a custom packet system based on KISS AX25 packet specs. It handles the connections, disconnects, packet splitting, CRC checks on each packet split, retries, lost packet request, automatic detection of a bad packet and a bit more. I know nothing about wifi protocols however.
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with most radio protocols (yet). Does the tool you built translate nostr events to analogue signals and back?
My hope is that I can send nostr events to a local relay over TCP/IP from my phone without any extra hardware and your relay can receive that nostr event directly from my relay over radio. Thanks to negentropy, we might be able to cut out the ISP without needing to attach radio equipment directly to our phones.
You will need to charge other relays for events that you send them over radio, because spectrum is a scarce resource.. nostr:nprofile1qqsypwwgtll74lqu4huvxzjwtjyxvrlkujt35rw8y026ke6ttesmg5gpzemhxue69uhkummnw3ex2mrfw3jhxtn0wfnj7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7wzpxlr, does negentropy require a lot of bandwidth?
Technically, yes. That's what the software modem does. Data to sounds, then the other side does the opposite.
Looks like someone made a relay interface for meshtactic. This is super exciting, because reduces our reliance on TCP-IP without us needing to have analogue radio equipment in our pockets:
