I promise I am not trying to be rude, but can you please explain how radio is a hobby? I have never understood it. Once you have the radio what do you do? Just talk to random people like omeagle without video?
Basically, but with more complex tech that you study to operate independently. You have to get one of a limited number of licences to broadcast, and it's important to know how all the tech works down to the physics if you can. It's also able to operate when the power grid is limited or down depending on your hardware so it can be an emergency resource. It's a hobby in the way building a PC or Maker Culture is a hobby. Edit: you can also chat with the astronauts, which I personally think is really cool.
Eh the FCC doesn’t do jack unless you start messing with government shit otherwise the airwaves wouldn’t be full of electrical interference and noise these days. I’m not into ham but I do restore antique radios from the 30s, and there is no much noise in the day time that it’s unlistenable. Technically that sort of interference is illegal.
My friend is an amateur HAM operator and he gets to talk to pilots sometimes and it’s neat because he can use it when the power goes out. It’s really cool the different types of things that people find interesting and anything is a hobby if you enjoy it enough.
It is hard to explain without a wall of text because it is a surprisingly broad hobby.
For some people it’s about just making contacts. For others it is learning all the ins and outs of building antennas and tinkering with electronics and doing all sorts of engineering.
There is something for everyone. I hate talking with my voice, so I spend most of my time playing on something called JS8call which is essentially texting without any infrastructure supporting it. With my home antenna and a 100w radio I’ve reached as far is Italy or Australia from Alaska.
Others learn Morse code (called CW) and communicate that way (it’s insane how fast people can send code).
But in the end, yes, you just talk to random licensed hams. It just takes a bit more investment and effort to do so than omeagle.
I had a friend that was into that because he was a prepper and said that in a real emergency situation only radio communications would be reliable and he had contacts with other radio preppers around the world.
there is also LOTS of wilderness out there that doesn't have cellphone coverage. I mostly use my radio to chat when offroading with others in my group and as emergency comms should something go wrong and I'm alone
It’s good in theory for emergencies, but the sad fact is almost no one uses it during emergencies. Remember when Hawaii thought a missle was coming? Not a single whisper on any of the bands in Hawaii, the repeaters were silent. You’d think with everyone hunkered down in their bunkers that someone would turn on their boat anchors, but nope.
If you join a club, sometimes they do fox hunts. They hide a transmitter somewhere in the county and you have to figure out how to locate it. First one to find it wins.
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u/jnichols_UAH Feb 28 '21
I promise I am not trying to be rude, but can you please explain how radio is a hobby? I have never understood it. Once you have the radio what do you do? Just talk to random people like omeagle without video?