[Freedombox-discuss] Japan

[jonathan d p ferguson]

hi.

I joined this list a few weeks ago because I was inspired by Eben's FOSDEM talk. I was very pleased to discover that the project had started in August: Go Debian!

As an Amateur Radio operator, I've long been interested in emergency communications and decentralization. What can you do with Amateur Radio? Using only a 5 watt handheld transceiver, I've spoken with astronauts.  Using a 10 watt 6 meter radio, I've spoken with people more than 5000 km away. Amateur Radio operators the world over have developed expertise in extracting maximum gain with minimum power. Amateur Radio operators are licensed for many of the same bands that run WiFi, and can run WiFi at much higher power than typical consumers (albeit, without encryption). :( 

See: 
http://www.unwiredadventures.com/unwire/2005/12/defcon_wifi_sho.html and http://www.cisar.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=242&Itemid=111

As a Debian user/sysadmin since Debian began, I am very excited by the possibility of a set of packages for accomplishing such decentralized communications over wireless means: mesh, wifi, etc. Thanks again for starting, and working on this project!

In the vein of emergency preparedness, I wanted to point out that Amateur Radio has a lot to offer to such projects--- in terms of core radio technology and emergency communications processes. Amateur Radio is a well established, ad hoc, decentralized, and not infrequently, the only communications network during emergencies. 

In an aim to help this project, I encourage interested parties to learn how aspects of Amateur Radio might help inform or assist Freedom Box, Serval, etc.

Thanks.

have a day.yad
jdpf



On Mar 14, 2011, at 4:26 AM, Paul Gardner-Stephen wrote:

> Hello Thomas, Dave,
> 
> Disaster preparedness is exactly the stimulus behind Serval Project
> came into being.
> It was following the Haiti earthquake that I sat down and thought
> never again should this happen.
> I couldn't stop the earthquakes, but I could stop communications being
> taken down whenever an earthquake strikes.
> My gut feeling is that phones will have a more important role to play
> in disaster mitigation than plug computers, but it is not a 100%/0%
> thing, and this is one of the reasons I am so keen that FB and Serval
> tech should interoperate.
> 
> On the state funding front, we have had some nibbles, but I think we
> will need to get a full prototype up before governments will be
> interested.  They are rather risk averse, which does create some
> paradoxes when dealing with mitigating risks from disaster :/
> 
> Paul.
> 
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 5:30 PM, Dave Crossland <dave at lab6.com> wrote:
>> On 14 March 2011 01:51, Thomas Lord <lord at emf.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> We're interested in mesh networks.  For earthquake preparedness."
>> 
>> Sounds like an interesting way to get state funding... :-)
>> 
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