When you are operating under Part 97 rules using 802.11 modulation on 2.4 GHz you are required to use some method of preventing Part 15 stations sharing the band from automatically associating (connecting) with your station. This is well established.
The FCC, under non-emergency situations does NOT want stations of one service routinely communicating with stations of another service. So you must operate one one set of rules or the other..., no mixing. Either operate under Part 15 or Part 97 rules (if you are a Ham you have a choice here). Now there are several ways to prevent Part 15 stations from connecting with a HSMM Part 97 station. The method I used for years was simply WEP encryption with a published security key on the ARRL website. Some would say that is neither security nor encryption as anybody can go to the ARRL website, find the key, and then connect to my node. However, in the five-years I have operated the node and tracked its traffic, only hams have passed traffic thru it to the Internet. All the users were clearly identifiable as Hams (w8xyz-2, etc.). The are other methods to simply prevent unauthorized access, and Part 15 stations use them all the time (MAC filtering, etc.) but such methods are unacceptable for Ham use as they require the other service to connect first, then be rejected. So encryption is required to be used, and the League attorney asked the FCC if that was acceptable and they said "yes". The FCC's reasoning was that it was NOT our INTENT (an important legal concept) to obscure the communications. Our intent is to PROTECT our HSMM Network (The Hinternet) from unauthorized users (Part 15 stations). There is nothing I can point to our extremely out-dated regs that covers this specific situation, but I do have a copy of the League's correspondence on the matter. Hope that helps. As I stated, times are changing (VERY FAST) and there is no way on God's green earth that FCC regs will ever be able to keep up with technology....not even close. So we must adapt to perish.... while still trying to maintain the SPIRIT of our service regs. John - K8OCL ----Original Message Follows---- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Re: Hams should have encryption Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:25:25 -0500 Are you saying that when using the amateur bands for digital operation such as on 2.4 GHz we are not only authorized to use encryption, but that we must use encryption? Or what are you saying here? Could you point to Part 97 rules that cover this? 73, Rick, KV9U John Champa wrote: > Bruce, > > Encryption is a requirement in Ham Radio whenever a band is > shared with another service AND there is automatic data connection > capability enabled, e.g. the use of 802.11b modulation on 2.4 GHz. > >
