[cornholio]

I think a legitimate fear of radio amateurs is that encrypted, fully autonomous, long distance communication is such a killer application that usage would explode from commercial devices sold to take advantage of the ham space, leading to some kind of WiFi cacophony.

Perhaps some kind of compromise is possible, where all encrypted ham must broadcast their callsign in the clear every few seconds.

[apple4ever]

> Perhaps some kind of compromise is possible, where all encrypted ham must broadcast their callsign in the clear every few seconds.

My thought is that it would always include that part. Maybe not every few seconds, but the same as the current rule - end of every broadcast or every 10 minutes, which ever is shorter.

[bradfa]

With 2.8kHz of bandwidth, the requirements to obtain a license to transmit, and the restrictions on commercial use in the ham bands, I don't think your fears are warranted. I definitely think the ham bands would get more active for data uses, but I doubt they would get flooded with newcomers.

You must already broadcast your call sign at a regular interval when transmitting.

[shawnz]

It seems like that frequency space would be doing more good for more people if that were the case?