Meshtastic

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HAM mode question (midwest.social)

submitted 3 weeks ago by 7toed@midwest.social to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz

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Hello meshers, I have a friend who is a licensed US HAM operator, I'm curious if they're then required to use their meshtastics in HAM mode, or if that's only for airtime and power limitations. Certainly has been a fun hobby ro pick up

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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

AFAIK, you only need to use it in HAM mode if you want to use licensed frequencies, a higher power transmit (assuming the radio supports it; US 915 can transmit up to 1W/30db unlicensed and many radios can only transmit at 22db max), or to go beyond the airtime limitations (there no limitations on airtime for US 915). HAM mode also disables encryption if I recall. Also AFAIK, you're not required to use HAM mode just because you are a licensed HAM operator.

Sources: Have read the docs but am not a licensed HAM.

[–] ryokimball 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, ham is not allowed to encrypt.

[–] 7toed@midwest.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sweet, thank you. That's basically what I figured, but the arcane rules may have had something else to say, especially things like the HAM encryption restriction, you never know 🤷‍♂️

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

My knowledge is incomplete as to what powers and restrictions you get with an amateur license, but I think the only real reason you'd want to use HAM mode in the US is if you wanted to operate on US 433 or maybe the 868 MHz block. Not sure if HAMs have access to the latter one or not, though. The 915 block is pretty permissive here for unlicensed use, so that's usually sufficient.

Also, if a node is operating in HAM mode, it may not be able to mesh with other nodes not in HAM mode due to encryption being disabled. I could be wrong about that as I haven't read into that specifically, but to my knowledge it tracks.

[–] 7toed@midwest.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yes on that second part, which really makes me wonder what purpose it serves, unless you had a bunch of HAMers in an area that want to set up a mesh.. but they all already have HAM so whats the point almost 😅