Today while our ARES group was deployed with our county EMA in support of an air show our EMA contact asked if we could set up a way to have various internet-connected PC users to chat and transfer files during a deployment or excercise. ?I showed him D-Rats, and he liked the solution. ?We talked about setting up a ratflector for the county. One thing he asked, though, deserves some extra thought. ?
Can non-hams use D-Rats? ?I think he wants dispatchers on the county MCV to have access to it. ?My first thought is yes, since we are talking about internet connected devices, it would be ok for non-hams to use our ratflector. ?
But, what if we eventually tie in RF connected stations? ?The radios will certainly have to be operated by hams. ?But, would we be legal if we had non-hams using D-Rats on internet-connected (not RF connected) PCs set up with tactical callsigns?
Dan Ozment