1. Neat, now can you hook up a family radio and transmit data? The old ones I have have about a mile range. Is it legal?

Posted at 12:21AM on Dec 14th 2007 by t0ny

2. See also:

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/peterfr2/QAM.htm

I've used it to send text between two PC's via audio cable. supposedly it can send video with FM transmitters, but I've not gotten it to work yet.

Would also be cool to get something like that to work over on the voice channels of a cell phone.

Posted at 12:47AM on Dec 14th 2007 by Ed3

3. Sound cards are now the de-facto way to implement digital modes in Amateur Radio. See for instance http://www.kc2rlm.info/soundcardpacket/ or Google 'PSK31'. Any of these programs could easily be used with a low-power iPod-style transmitter.

Of course it's not really _that_ hard to get your Amateur license these days. See http://www.rac.ca/regulatory/arast.htm or http://www.hello-radio.org/whatis.html

Posted at 2:23AM on Dec 14th 2007 by Greg Trasuk, VA3TSK

4. if anybodys interested on the eeepc front, a friends pointed me in the direction of this:
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home

looks pretty good for getting wireless/wired LAN stuff working easily.

Posted at 5:45AM on Dec 14th 2007 by }{itch

5. Digital on FRS Family Radio? No, not legal. GMRS is another story...the answer there is Depends...Refer to the FCC rules. I beleive some digital is allowed.

BTW - If you really want to try this and use Linux, there are a dozen or so good sofware packages (generally available for most distros) that are free and do a lot more than just AFSK...RTTY, CW, Hellschriber, etc. Google hamradio software for linux and take your pick.

How about a nice retro radio-teletype or RTTY "rf-modem"? Hook the output up to an old Daisywheel printer, and you are set.

Posted at 7:06AM on Dec 14th 2007 by daddyo

6. The first thing I thought of was sending NEMA data from my GPS unit (serial out) over GMRS radio's and then decoding it on a PC. Would make a great tracking system for rocketry or UAV's

Posted at 12:06PM on Dec 14th 2007 by Dax

7. As VA3TSK mentioned, coupling soundcards to FM transmitters is already very common. I have done it multiple times, although the power and frequency are a little higher than the transmitter mentioned in the article. I have also built a couple tiny-trackers that connect to a GPS on one side and a radio on the other that transmit location of the unit (including my car - kc8ufv-14) on the (US/CA) standard frequency of 144.39MHz

Posted at 4:00PM on Dec 14th 2007 by KC8UFV

8. I have that same computer case!

It is a Antec p160! =P

Posted at 10:10PM on Dec 14th 2007 by epicelite

9. Anyone wanna explain to the dummy what exactly this does? Transmit data between 2 computers using radio waves?

Posted at 6:23PM on Dec 15th 2007 by an idiot

10. I like this wireless transmission idea! I was thinking, why couldn't you simply use this circuit http://www.grynx.com/projects/simple-skype-voip-analog-adapter/ attatched to the modem and a teminal program. This gives you control over baud rate and you don't need to write any fancy programs.

You could also record the output of this circuit to a cassette and play it back to the computer to have an ultra secure way of storing data! (who uses tapes anymore?, who would even check?)

Just my thoughts...

Posted at 8:36AM on Dec 16th 2007 by compwiz

11. Solemn article. It make me lost in thoughts.

Posted at 4:28AM on Dec 21st 2007 by Lucas

12. Informated Article... Appreciated!

Posted at 6:08AM on Feb 23rd 2008 by Shabby