Could also be ham radio enthusiasts, there are quite a few ham radio clubs in Germany (Amateurfunk).
Discussion
just did a bit research on this topic.
there are in total 2.7 million ham radio stations. and it's quite easy to pass exam and get a license from government. awesome
Just toying with a 16€ usb dvb-t receiver from Aliexpress and GQRX, really interesting seeing what's going on in the local frequency spectrum :D
cool. how many non-encrypted signals are in the air👀
all of it must be unencrypted in a bunch of countries in ham spectrum
or anything that “obfuscates” a message’s intent, but it does not apply to authentication of messages
damn perplexity shares whole thread😂
anyway, government not allowing encrypted ham radio is wired
Yeah but you can use e.g. sth like reticulum with LoRa which should legally allow encrypted wireless communications even in germany iiuc.
looks like in ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical, license-free) bands, encryption is permitted and legal for personal use.
ham bands are strictly encryption prohibited.
tricky point is, ISM and ham share some frequencies, however ISM has priority if conflicted.
ISM you can do anything within legal limits, unless it’s jamming
sometimes you are forced to cooperate as well with other devices (TPC or something like that)
looks like a loophole but good👀
if encryption was illegal within ISM then WiFi would not exist
I've been meaning to work on figuring out reticulum on 7mhz ISM.
The big win would be NVIS type coverage, kinda like 40m js8 without a #hamradio license. Massive range with a single transmitter, hundreds of miles to global with the right atmospheric conditions.
The big downsides would be antenna size compared to 900mhz ISM like #meshtastic and much more coverage variability over the course of a day and day to day.
Might be better to run something like that is an NVIS. That way your main coverage area would be several hundred miles out, but it would be more predictable.
7mhz is nvis possible. Predictable 400 ish mile circle if I remember correctly. That is mostly at gray-line though. 7mhz will come and go depending on solar activity and time of day though. Roughly 40m band but ISM.
I had to check to make sure apparently NVIS can be used on 40 meters but it's at the upper range of what you would want to use to do so
Here's a cutout from what Nano-GPT.com told me.
"Ionospheric Conditions: The ionosphere's behavior can vary significantly with solar activity and time of day. During periods of high solar activity, the ionosphere can reflect higher frequencies, making NVIS possible on the 40-meter band. During the night or during solar minima, the ionosphere may not reflect 40-meter signals effectively."
I do 40M nvis all the time. Not nearly as close or good as 80, but 300-700 miles is normal for me on 40
I’ve been contemplating a wide area reticulum network for a while as well now so very interested to hear if you manage to get anywhere with this