[RTTY] Implications of remote control

[Hill, Don]

Bill & others who are subscribed to the WriteLog reflector
know that I am doing remote control RTTY over the Internet already.

I think this is a pretty neat concept and
I made my first ever remote control RTTY contact over the 
Internet Saturday night using WriteLog & my TS870 on my shack PC and
controlling it from a PC with a high-speed Internet connection
in the next room.  It was all over the Internet and not on
the LAN.

I called CQ on 20M RTTY and JA1BHK came back to me.  We had
a 10 minute QSO.  It was pretty cool.

The implications are pretty far reaching.  I'm sitting here
at work and calling CQ on my home station over the Internet.
Yes, I'm doing this today.  I hope to have a sked with George,
W1ZT, later today on RTTY.

Any one of you with a high speed Internet connection could
operate my station.  However, the setup is far from
perfected at the moment but I'm working on it.

I think Bill is right.  With more advances in technology and
software, you will be able to operate stations anywhere in the
world from a website.  The problem with that may be legal
issues.  Part 97 says remote operation is legal.  It also says
the control operator must be at the control point.  Whether this
is legal in other countries could be an issue.  I read part 97
yesterday to make sure what I was doing is legal and it is.

You can already talk all over the world on 2 meter links to the
Internet.  There is a station (in VA I think) where you can
operate SSB from over the Internet.  And now you can control
your own station over the Internet quite easily.

In the future, you will be able to access other Amateur's
stations.  Will it work for contesting?  Hard to say but probably.
Will it work for DX'ing?  Yes - it already is.

As long as it is legal to do so, I think remote operation
is a fun way to use Amateur radio.  I don't think it will
ever replace actually sitting in front of the radio - but it
might.

I plan on putting pages on my personal website with all the
information concerning my remote control station.  It is
functional today, but I've yet to add audio to it.  It sure
is hard tuning RTTY signals with no sound!  Depending on how
serious I get into it, the possibility of rotor control,
antenna switching and even a web cam to be able to look at
the radio could be included.

BTW, I have no plans of using this remote operation for contesting.
It's for fun and DX'ing only.

73, Don AA5AU @ work


-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Turner [mailto:w7ti@dslextreme.com]
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 10:14 AM
To: rtty@contesting.com
Subject: [RTTY] Implications of remote control


I can see the day coming when a person will no longer need a "station"
in the usual sense.  With internet control, he can simply operate a
station of his choosing - anywhere in the world.

Imagine a few years in the future:  Enterprising amateurs in various
countries have set up stations for rent all over the world.  You just
log on to their website, pay a modest fee by credit card, and operate
just as if you were there.  TX/RX, antenna selection and rotator
control, the whole thing, right there on your computer screen.  

The technology already exists to do this; it's just a matter of time,
IMO.  What a different world THAT will be.

Comments, anyone?

73, Bill W7TI
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