Part 15 Intranet Radio

This is a spinoff from a previous thread (New Canadian CRTC Regulations).

An intranet is basically a private internet, with its own IP address space.

Ironically, you can create your own intranet with Part 15 devices - the same technology in many cases that allows you to connect to the Internet.  These would include WiFi routers, repeaters, etc.

An intranet generally refers to an internal network for an organization - if external parties are given access, as would be the case for the scenario being described, it can also be called an extranet.

So you would use over-the-air, Part 15 network devices to create this extranet.  You would stream your radio programming digitally to those who are in range of your network routers or nodes.  Part 15/RSS210 network transmitters in the 2.4 Ghz frequency range are allowed up to 1 watt in output power, and you can 'hook' together many of these transmitters in various topologies such as a star.  Generally, each node would have 2 transceivers - one for serving local users, and one to link up to other nodes.

The analogy of closed circuit radio is appropriate.

I was thinking of doing something like this on Bowen Island back in the 2000's.  While coverage of Artisan Radio in the upper ferry lineup was good, it started to fade in the village of Snug Cove and the bottom half.

There are, of course, issues with this idea.  One of the biggest is: where to put the various network nodes, and then how to get power to them.  Easy to solve if you're a company and just want to cover your own premises, but more difficult if you're expanding the coverage to municipal/private land.

There were also issues I envisioned with listening via a smartphone or even a computer.  You'd have to connect to the extranet wifi network, which would mean you couldn't be connected to your cellular or home network.  One solution to that is to allow internet connections for extranet users, but then you're talking about a lot of potential bandwidth, liability concerns, etc.

Apparently now there is a standard, at least on Android, called WiFi Direct, which allows you to connect to nearby devices (such as a network node) while still maintaining your internet connection.  It might take some interesting app programming, though.

I would imagine that the app would be provided free of charge to those who wanted it.

Right now it's just a thought experiment, but with increased government internet regulation, at least in Canada, you never know when thought might become reality.