So… I found out a way to send encrypted messages using amateur radio.
There is an app called Rattlegram that lets you convert a string of text into soundwaves that plays though your phone’s speaker. If I just use an app like Secure Space Encryptor (SSE) to encrypt a text, then copy-paste it to the Rattlegram app, then transmit that over radio, then using the same app to record the sound and reverse the process on the other end. Voila! Encrypted long(ish) range communications without a centralized server!
But I looked it up and apparantly its illegal to encrypt communications over the amateur radio bands. What are the odds of actually getting in trouble? 🤔
(To the FCC agents reading this: this is just a hypothetical, a thought experiment, I’m totally not gonna do this 😉)
Its absolutely not illegal to send encrypted messages over 802.11 radio. I’m doing it now with this message.
It’s not illegal to use encryption if your transmission is below 1 watt, such as normal Wi-Fi. If you want to use more power, then you need to get a license and your traffic can’t be encrypted. Licensed amateurs can use orders of magnitude more power and cover areas city wide, rather than barely within the confines of a home.
Depends on the country
OP asked about amateur radio bands, which are mutually exclusive of 802.11 bands.
Amateur radio shares the Wi-Fi frequencies. Amateur radio is allowed to use more power than your Wi-Fi router. So to use more power, you must be licensed and no encryption allowed.
It’s at the bottom of that chart.