On Thursday September 10 2020 09:44, you wrote to me:
MV>> In The Netherlands using HAM radio for Fidonet is illegal. It MV>> violates the rule that it may not be used for third party traffic. MV>> AFAIK there is such a rule in most of Europe. In the US the rules are MV>> different.
CP> Well that is certainly disappointing. I tend to like a lot of options CP> and backup options for things.
It may be disappointing from your POV, but I think it has saved HAM radio.
The rule was originally meant to stop HAMs from competing with the then State monopoly of telephone and telegraph. Had there not been such a rule when the state monopoly was dropped and everyone could become a telecom provider, it would have been the end of HAM radio as we know it. Frequency space for mobile telephony is auctioned and prospective providers pay hundreds of millions for it. If HAM radio was a competitor in the race, we would have to pay for our frequencies by the laws of supply and demand. No way us HAMs couls have raised that amount of money.
Background information:
Back then the minimum age for a HAM licence in The Netherlands was 18 years. I got my first (VHF and up) licence at the earliest opportunity in 1964. Got my full license in 1969. I have been a member of the committee that negotiates with the govenment on behalf of the Dutch HAMs for some 25 years.
35 years ago I pioneered with data over HAM Radio. I did 4800 Baud on 144 MHz by directly frequency shift keying the transmitter with 5 KHz shift, so that it fitted in a 12,5 KHz FM channel. On the receiving end the bit stream was directly taken from the discriminator. Those were the days... ;-)
In the haydays of Fidonet there was a large overlap between HAM operators and Fidonet sysops. Now I am the only HAM left in Fidonet R28. I think now I am the only one in R28 who is technically capable of creating a Fidonet link over HAM radio.
But I am not going to do it. Even it were not illegal (and it is enforced here) it is just not worth the effort.
