[olug] Homebrew wireless

[Sam Tetherow]

OBrien, Timothy wrote:

>First, to the boys who decided to jump down my throat for joking around on
>the list - you only need to send the email to the OLUG list; not to the
>list & to my own email address. I do not need you ragging my ass twice.
>  
>
apologies for hitting reply all instead of reply.

>Second, as much as I hate to say it Neal's post is correct.
>  
>
I can't speak to the Omaha metro area, but I believe his assessment of 
the environment.

>Third, after seeing big communications companies using the FCC like a
>puppet to do their bidding I have zero respect for them or the FCC. The
>FCC makes it illegal, for many reasons to benefit the bank accounts for
>those companies. Example? Look at Low power FM radio.
>  
>
Ah, so if I hate the RIAA and record companies then pirating music is 
okay and since I despise the BSA and Microsoft, software is fair game as 
well?  When it comes to part-15 rules they are there for the little guy 
and the consumer more than the big companies.  Those companies are also 
the ones who provide you cell service, HDTV, satellite TV and radio.  
And I would be willing to bet you would call up and complain if those 
services suddly stop working in your neighborhood due to excessive 
interferance.  While it may feel like the situation is geared toward the 
rich getting richer and the little guy getting squashed today, the 
part-15 and part-90 rules were originally written to keep things from 
getting out of hand and making everything a race to the bottom.

>The airwaves and airspace in the US is for & belongs to the American
>citizens, and should be used for the maximum benefit of the citizens. If
>as a hobbyist I want to make an antennae and use it I should be able to;
>as long as it meets the specification.
>  
>
Which it doesn't by definition, now if you have the equipment and 
knowledge to make sure that your homebrew antenna is operating within 
part-15 spec I doubt you are going to be wasting your time building 
parabolic dishes out of chinese cooking utensils.

In order for the airwaves to have maximum benefit for the citizens there 
needs to be rules in place that limit the amount of damage one person 
can do.  Without these rules, it is not the hobbiest that is going to 
fulfill the dreams up hacking together a new antenna, it is the cable 
co.'s and the telco's that will be spewing out RF to ensure the commons 
is useless to their only other real competition.

>
>Lighten up gentlemen, it was meant to be in jest. This is the OLUG list
>you know. If the old web pages were up I would point you to the OLUG FAQ
>regarding posting to the list.
>  
>
I went back and reread my reply to you, I didn't think I was 'ragging 
your ass', but if you feel that way then I apologize.  My initial post 
was in reply to someone who wanted to do an outdoor link and was 
thinking of manufacturing his own antenna.  For the novice, the net is 
filled with plenty of howto's and sites dedicated to homebrew wireless.  
I like hacking as much as the next guy and I enjoy the satisfaction that 
comes out of building something neat with my own two hands.  Very few of 
those sites mention the fact that it is in violation of FCC part-15 
rules and usually when they do, they exhibit the attitude that you 
represented with your joking reply.

Doing anything outdoors with unlicensed consumer-grade wireless 
equipment is challenging enough, a novice using homebrew gear more than 
likely is going to end up frustrated with their results and will not 
have the knowledge to understand what is going wrong.

    Sam Tetherow
    Sandhills Wireless

>--
>Timothy "Irish" O'Brien
>
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></i>
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