High-speed multimedia radio

High-speed multimedia radio (HSMM) is the implementation of wireless data networks over amateur radio frequencies using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware such as 802.11 access points and D-STAR equipment. Only licensed amateur radio operators may use amplifiers and specialized antennas to increase the power and coverage of the 802.11 signal.

The idea behind this implementation is to use the Amateur bands, namely 420 MHz (70 cm), 900 MHz (33 cm), 1270 MHz (23 cm), 2.3 GHz (13 cm), 3.4 GHz (9 cm), and 5.8 GHz (5 cm) under the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Part 97 rules (amateur radio service) instead of the Part 15 rules (unlicensed). This enables licensed amateur operators to legally use higher output power for wireless devices and allows for longer-range communications. Such communications can be used to assist in emergency communications and disaster relief operations and in everyday amateur radio communications.

HSMM can support most of the traffic that the Internet currently does, including video chat, voice, instant messaging, email, the Web (), file transfer (), and forums. The only differences being that with HSMM, such services are community instead of commercially implemented and it is mostly wireless. HSMM can even be connected to the Internet and used for web surfing, although because of the FCC regulations on permitted content, this is done only when directly used for ham radio activities (under Part 97). Using high gain directional antennas and amplifiers, reliable long-distance wireless links over many miles are possible and only limited by propagation and the radio horizon.

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