How goTenna extends RF to the mainstream & adds to every Ham’s toolbelt

Yep, do not let other peoples post get you down. The wording on your original post made attackers attack.

There is more than one way to skin a Cat.


Good Luck on your project.

 

A mistake.

We all understand the'advancement of the radio art', and you are correct that there are plenty of hams-on-keyboards to tear this apart; stir it up; and so on. I personally have been through that for 20 years (a ham for almost 50 now) and it is not pleasant. But that's how it is--its (an) issue that all innovators need to deal with. Ham radio or not.

You still miss the point, which I was trying, cordially, to lay out for you--for your benefit. How is this device of ANY USE TO HAMS as end-users??

I dearly WANT there to be some, or even ONE. Just figure it out and TELL us.

Heck, I can even think of one--but that's not my job.

YOURS IS TO UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF THE END-USERS. Hunting and Guessing only P**sses people off.

Even me. And I wasnt' so inclined .

73
Chip W1YW

 

I've said it a few times, but I'll say it again: the applicability of goTenna to hams may be in order to enable communication between you and your non-ham loved ones using the phones you all already have on you. It's not meant to replace ham or interconnect with ham (which would be prohibited by FCC regs anyway).

As I said above: "So, in a nutshell, if there’s anyone in your community who you care about and is not a ham operator like you - goTenna could be for them. Hams know how reliable RF is - hams are capable of using it effectively. goTenna is for the spouse, the grandmother, the child, the neighbor, the best friend - who is NOT a ham. In case of an emergency, or if you go hiking or to a big event with degraded service, goTenna lets you communicate with the phone you have on you already and the Snickers-sized goTenna. "

EDIT: I guess the exception being goTenna will not be useful in any way to hams who don't have non-ham friends or loved ones.

 

Thanks a lot JLM! Appreciate the support.

 

goTenna will suffer from a limitation of present day cellular, namely coverage holes, unless these sell for a great deal less and become as common as fleas. I'm not expecting a useful mesh in SE Oregon, along I-5 between Albany and Eugene, OR, or on the drive from Denver to Albuquerque. It's an urban tool, much like a major 1900 Mhz cell network.

 

Several people here have given you a million dollars worth of advice.

Listen and learn.

W1YW

 

All joking aside...

Let's just pretend that Gotenna somehow makes it past the FCC rules on MURS store and forward, and becomes a real product.

1. The iOS texting app should work on an iPad as well, giving a real sort of console to work with. That's kind of cool. The 160 character limit is still a liability.

2. If the Gotenna is using an adaptation of AX.25, what's to stop the next iteration from having a spkr/mic jack that can interface right into any handie talkie, and with a few software tweaks and mode switch, become a portable amateur radio packet terminal using a phone or iPad for display and data entry?

3. What if there could be a Windows, OSX and [shudder] Linux software port that allows a PC user to Bluetooth or USB into the Gotenna? MUCH more useful as a "base station" for emergency scenarios.

Just saying...

 

goTenna is kind of a cool project but it is too expensive. Why not buy 2 inexpensive HTs and operate FM voice on the MURS channel 4 and 5? That would be the cheapest and easiest way for non-tech folks to communicate in the wild wilderness.

and they will work on FRS as well!

 

How does gotenna technology compete with wrapping a scribbled msg around a rock and slingshotting it to a nearby ham?

That barbie glamtext thing is pretty cool. Too bad it wasn't around 30+ years ago. My daughter would've loved it!

 

Really?

Digital TV? Wifi? ServalMesh? Bluetooth? Sea of Sensors? Mesh networking?

 

This is supposed to be about 'adding to the ham's toolbox' Not about my beloved (dead) grandmother. Skip the marketing silliness and tell me, the end user HAM, why I need this in my toolbox.

Don't try to make me feel like a poor provider if I don't buy a widget that has nothing to do with ham radio, and thus is not in my toolbox.

Why is it essential for the HAM's toolbox?

I have money to spend.

Chip W1YW

 

Isn't LTE going to handle device to device communication anyway? No need for towers.

Bill NE4RD

 

From an "Old Fart" three or four times a year, some company comes out with a new groundbreaking device that will revolutionize our life experiences. Let me tell you about revelutionize, when the doctor tells you "you have cancer" that changes every thing.

Now how does your new thing stack up to that, pretty dull.

Out where I live Cell phones barely work, dead zones every where, two meter FM will get a message out, if I am not down by the river. So how is this WiFi/bluetooth enhancement going to find someone to connect to?

Out here our population density is pretty high 25 houses/section.




Section = one square mile.

 

Has nobody on here heard of Firechat? If I understand the goTenna ads correctly, this niche is already covered by a free app that doesn't require any additional hardware. No WiFi network? No problem - your smartphone creates its own mesh with nearby devices, using its built-in WiFi and Bluetooth transceivers. The resulting connections support text, images, video, and - if anyone on the network can connect to the 'net - web browsing. Opposition movements in repressive countries (e.g. Hong Kong) are now using this to get around government censors, as it's infrastructure-independent and also has robust encryption. It's a working, field-tested solution.

Sure, the built-in transceivers in your smartphone don't have quite the range of a dedicated VHF transceiver, but they apparently do well enough for practical purposes and you're already carrying them. Game over.

 

In light of the LTE standard being changed to allow direct, peer to peer device communication between devices over their exiting RF (not Blue Tooth nor WiFi) radio, (LTE Direct) how will your proprietary device complete against this emerging industry standard which offers much the same functionality but requires no additional hardware?

Ref: http://www.qualcomm.com/invention/research/projects/lte-direct