I wish there was more digital computer networking going on like AX.25 or something similar but encryption is forbidden and the population of ham radio is not interested.
I for one would love an HF slow speed "irc" mesh network or something similar.
I for one would love an HF slow speed "irc" mesh network or something similar.
The ban on encryption isn't to stop hams communicating, but to stop the commercial users taking over.
The licensing authorities allow Ham radio to exist only because it is self regulating. And self regulation can only exist if there is no encryption.
And FWIW there is an enormous amount of slow speed digital traffic on HF now. Mesh networking is also popular.
Encryption for the purposes of obscuring the meaning of a message, which provides a bit of wiggle room. For example it should be permissible to send a message signed with a private key and then include the public key to decipher it along with the transmission to prove the transmitter is the identity associated with the keys. That should be enough to have something IRClike on AMPRnet...