In the context of this site, we are mostly referring to the hardware, software and technologies
that are used by the average consumer.
The main focus here will be on using WiFi as a way of sending data via RF.
Is this real ham radio?
That really doesn’t matter in the least.
A pencil isn’t ‘real ham radio’ either, but it sure is a useful tool to fill out your logbook
in the shack. So too WiFi can be a useful tool to transfer large amount of data quickly and
inexpensively purely using radio waves (no Internet required).
Hams have a long tradition of taking readily available hardware and making it suite their purpose,
be it military surplus or even consumer hardware.
Here we are looking at using commercially available hardware to suite ham needs.
And rest assured: although this is ‘Internet technology’, the Internet is not required for the
operation of these devices.
What frequency do WiFi devices operate on?
The IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g specification is for unlicenced devices that operate in the
ISM band,
which amateur operators in the U.S.A. have on a secondary basis.
This is our 2390 to 2450MHz (13cm) band allocation.
Each channel is assigned an overlapping 22MHz BW slot.
In the U.S.A. that actually leaves only three non-overlapping channels for non-licenced users (1, 6 and 11).