[OpenRelief Developer] Ham Radio Operators

[Shane Coughlan]

Hi Alan

On Apr 28, 2012, at 4:37 PM, al Hart wrote:
> Just to add to my profile, I am a Ham radio operator in Australia, to become a foundation operator is very easy as it now requires no morse code. Australia and I gather most other countries have Emergency Communications Training . Looking through all the posts I can see where a lot of the modules if cheap enough could be attached to current Ham Radio operators Radio Shacks, Rigs, Antennas etc Powered by a couple of simple solar cells. I could see hundreds of thousands of these around the world attached or waiting ready for local deployment  and would also have a higher legal radio transmitting range etc. This is what the ham radio community do best :)
> http://www.wia.org.au/members/emcom/about/  then it would be just a matter of the drones doing a fly through to gather the data as well.

Perhaps you could help us dig into this a little more. It sounds promising. Two questions spring to mind.

What would be the regulations for getting HAM-enabled drones into the air? Would the operator need to be HAM-licensed or the organization deploying them?

What would be the smallest, cheapest, longest-lasting off-the-shelf HAM transmitter/receiver that is readily available and might be suitable for testing?

Regards

Shane