On Sat, 6 Jul 2013 12:08:10 -0700, Eric Fort eric.fort@gmail.com wrote:
What kind of records need be kept though? It would seem to me that for 802.11 type stuff the needed records would be minimal such as the KEY and SSID. Note intent is a major piece here as some would argue that using a key is cryptography and cryptography is not allowed.
In SS the chip sequence is pseudo-random, usually a LFSR with known taps. IIRC the FCC specified the register length and taps of acceptable sequences for amateur use but it's been years since I last researched it. I was investigating a CDMA scheme for voice UHF multiplex links in 1992 or so but I abandoned it.
Yes, the chip sequence is related to crypto but it's not crypto for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of the communications and is specifically allowed by the rules.
You're looking at the entirety of 97.311(c)(3) "Maintain a record, convertible to the original information (voice, text, image, etc.) of all spread spectrum communications transmitted."
IANAL, but I interpret that to mean you must maintain a "record" of the emitted signal and all the content and methods used to produce that signal. Which makes it fairly useless for something like TCP/IP traffic of any volume since you'd have to keep many GB of "record" if you are doing it full time or automatically. My guess is that when FCC promulgated the rules they perceived hams to be experimenting with and researching SS rather than using it for actual traffic or mass producing devices for it. In that scenario hams would be sending brief messages in a lab or across town and measuring performance.