Global Ham channel?
We should find someone to work with the OUTERNET folks to add an amateur radio channel to their downlink. Their satellites could provide connectivity to 99% of amateur radio operators on earth. In addition, Ham Radio can bring to OUTERNET an uplink capability that they currently don't have. And the uplink can be from the same remote areas where there is no service...
How? Like this. They simply take the APRS packet data stream from the global APRS Internet System (APRS-IS) and stream it in their downlink for hams. Then hams anywhere on earth can transmit traffic via HF back into the system. Since the APRS-IS is one of the world's largest HF receiver-diversity receiver networks in the world, then a packet transmitted from almost anywhere on earth has a reasonable chance of being heard at least once at least somewhere and interjected back into the network, where it gets to the OUTERNET and then in the downlink.
The only question, is the atrophy of our HF IGates? Years ago, the HF channel on 10,147.2 MHz had receivers all over the world. I have not listened much recently, but maybe there is still a viable network there. And if not, maybe we could re-invigorate it if it meant global APRS connectivity for ham travelers and hams in remote areas. An HF packet transmitter can be as small as a cigar box and solar powered.
Has anyone tuned in the OUTERNET downlink? I have heard anyone with OUTERNET's free ORxPi software and a Raspberry Pi can get the OUTERNET content when plugged into a DVB-S tuner.
Then there is of course the arm-chair-lawyers concern of rebroadcast of amateur radio content on a non-ham network?
Bob, WB4APR
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thane Richard Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 1:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Free content from six satellites via Outernet
Hello everyone,
My name is Thane and I lead content and business development at Outernet. Some of you may be aware of us but I suspect most are not. I am writing this email to introduce Outernet to AMSAT.
Outernet broadcasts a DVB-S signal https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Coverage_and_transponder_settings from six different satellites covering 99% of humans on Earth. We created this information service to reach the 4.3 billion people who do not have Internet access and designed it to overcome the problems the Internet presents, namely download speed and recurring cost. Our datacast is completely free to receive, our bitrate is 90 Kbps (~1 GB/day of content), and you can even build your own receiver with a Raspberry Pi http://store.outernet.is/.
Right now, the content we send is curated by us and a group of editors but we are working on a Reddit/Wikipedia/YouTube mashup where the contents of our broadcast can be decided publicly. Currently, we broadcast Wikipedia, 30,000+ ebooks, PLOS One journal articles, Khan Academy, CK12 textbooks, music from SoundCloud, and more.
I want to invite this community to be involved in Outernet and help us build this project. Our current focus is on developing channels to get devices into schools and generally into countries/areas where Internet penetration is very low.
Our forum http://discuss.outernet.is is very active with users and Outernet staff. Please stop by!
Avidly, Thane
-- Thane Richard https://twitter.com/thanerichard Content and Business Development Lead Outernet http://outernet.is/
*Outernet in the press:* WIRED http://www.wired.com/2015/07/plan-beam-web-3-billion-unconnected-humans/ , Inc.com http://www.inc.com/dev-aujla/a-library-for-all.html, TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/13/outernet-joins-the-space-race-for-intern et-accessibility/ , Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-outernet-and-is-it-the-future-of-the-inter n-1659647614 , BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29593734, CNN http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/tech/internet-for-everyone/, Fast Company http://www.fastcolabs.com/3027663/all-about-google-loons-low-cost-space-b ased-competitor-outernet , LA Times http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-g-outernet-explained-201 40808-htmlstory.html , Motherboard http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-outernet-plans-to-broadcast-free -internet-from-space
Our receiver, Lighthouse, is now available! To show how revolutionary Lighthouse is, we installed one in a remote school in Uganda. Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQFoGK1aWQ. _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb