Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site harvard.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!winkler
From: winkler@harvard.ARPA (Dan Winkler)
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: Ham Radio and Computer Networking
Message-ID: <312@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 23:26:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: harvard.312
Posted: Mon Aug 19 23:26:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 15:21:34 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard
Lines: 44

Hello Hams,

I'm a complete novice to amateur radio who is currently totally amazed
and enthralled by the high level of expertise and knowledge I see among
hams.  I'm sure glad you guys are out there and if I can find out how to
get started I hope to become a ham too.

I'm not a novice with computers though and I can see that packet radio
would be a great replacement for some of the expensive phone links used
by usenet.  It can cover great distances for almost no cost.  (Right?)
But in order for that to be responsive under heavy network traffic, it
would have to operate automatically so messages could be forwared at
least every day and prefereably more frequently than that.  A computer
would have to be able to contact and communicate with another computer
on its own, with no human supervision.  I don't believe we'll ever get
good throughput at a low cost if we need humans to show up and spend
time for every transfer.  Is such automated communication possible?

It would also be great to allow remote login over the airwaves.  This
would definitely provide some security problems.  Anything private can
of course be encrypted (if there aren't laws against that -- are there?).
Sending a login password can even be made secure using digital signatures
-- the host sends you a random string or the current date and you reply
with a digitally signed message containing that time or string.  The idea
is that since the same time or string will never be used again, noone can
enter your account by playing back a previously recorded login.

Public key encryption also seems to offer interesting possibilities for
private communciations with strangers in distant countries.  You send
them a public encrypting key over the open airwaves and they can then
send you encrypted messages that only you can decrypt.  Noone else can
decrypt the message even if they know the public encrypting key and
they cannot derive the decrypting key even if they know both the clear
text and the encrypting key.  You are thus able to establish secure
communications without ever having a secure channel.  However, from the
very small amount I know about ham radio, I can tell this is not in
keeping with the spirit of the hobby and would probably be interpreted
as an incredibly anti-social thing to do.

But regardles of whether anyone wants these services, I'm asking if
they're possible.  Can the airwaves serve as a cheap, fast, secure,
computer network?

Dan.