slomobile
Newbie
I'm having trouble parsing FCC rules, band plans/freq coordination, etiquette. Could use an Elmer.
I build mobile robots for personal non commercial use; mostly to explore my local world where wheelchair can't go, or perform some chore.
I got my ham license specifically to experiment and get telemetry/video and remote control these devices. Most information I find on this topic is from non hams abusing ham equipment and frequencies. It is not respectful of any kind of rules. Or it is extremely outdated.
I'd like guidance on how to properly use my callsign and AE freq privileges to send large amounts of data between my machines under program control. I write the programs and monitor transmissions but they are initiated autonomously and often only communicate with each other, not other hams or myself. It would be useful if (once proven) they could continue to run autonomously while I sleep. It would be hard to exert "control" while sleeping. Can these robot stations operate under the same rules as a repeater? One use case is deployment of a repeater system in remote areas. Robot autonomously seeks out higher ground or coordinates, relaying images, telemetry, coms as it goes, accepting navigation and rig control commands when authenticated.
There are part 97 rules for automatic station control, remote rig control, remote model control, telemetry, etc, which all partially apply but are not obviously compatible with each other within the same device; using different bands or appearing to be mutually exclusive according to the rules.
Do I need to use several different frequencies for the different purposes within 1 machine or can I just choose a UHF frequency or 2 and substantially occupy it continuously? APRS is the one existing amateur protocol I am aware of which could send all the different types of messages it would need, but the large volume of messages is potentially disruptive to other users on the national call frequency. Previous questions on this topic have suggested intervention from local frequency coordination. How is that done?
Is there a corner of local UHF spectrum where I can experiment freely without disrupting anyone?
I build mobile robots for personal non commercial use; mostly to explore my local world where wheelchair can't go, or perform some chore.
I got my ham license specifically to experiment and get telemetry/video and remote control these devices. Most information I find on this topic is from non hams abusing ham equipment and frequencies. It is not respectful of any kind of rules. Or it is extremely outdated.
I'd like guidance on how to properly use my callsign and AE freq privileges to send large amounts of data between my machines under program control. I write the programs and monitor transmissions but they are initiated autonomously and often only communicate with each other, not other hams or myself. It would be useful if (once proven) they could continue to run autonomously while I sleep. It would be hard to exert "control" while sleeping. Can these robot stations operate under the same rules as a repeater? One use case is deployment of a repeater system in remote areas. Robot autonomously seeks out higher ground or coordinates, relaying images, telemetry, coms as it goes, accepting navigation and rig control commands when authenticated.
There are part 97 rules for automatic station control, remote rig control, remote model control, telemetry, etc, which all partially apply but are not obviously compatible with each other within the same device; using different bands or appearing to be mutually exclusive according to the rules.
Do I need to use several different frequencies for the different purposes within 1 machine or can I just choose a UHF frequency or 2 and substantially occupy it continuously? APRS is the one existing amateur protocol I am aware of which could send all the different types of messages it would need, but the large volume of messages is potentially disruptive to other users on the national call frequency. Previous questions on this topic have suggested intervention from local frequency coordination. How is that done?
Is there a corner of local UHF spectrum where I can experiment freely without disrupting anyone?
