• MissJinx@lemmy.world
    19·
    6 days ago

    I would lo e fo get into radio chat hobby. But I don’t know.anything about it so i just listen to radio recordings of ppl chating on YT

    • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
      14·
      6 days ago

      You can listen live without a license. Baofeng is the standard entry-level radio and they are great for listening and super cheap. Odd UI but you can use CHIRP. They are decent for transmitting low power local, but if you do want to transmit seriously the Baofeng is pretty shitty. I have a Yaesu FT5D that was damn cheap for how well it performs and it’s in the HandiTalk format so I can carry it around. I can also slot it right into a real antenna in my shack and that’s where it really shines.

    • onyxjet@lemmy.world
      3·
      6 days ago

      Or build this fun thing my dad once showed me. You can turn a phone into a HAM receiver. (I dont remember if it could transmit too, if it does you would need a license for that)

  • atx_aquarian@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 days ago

    There is just something really amazing about being able to communicate directly between two points on the planet by bouncing EM waves off layers of the atmosphere. Like, imagine two people hundreds of miles apart are shining flashlights (or torches, if you prefer) at the distant sky, just above the horizon, and seeing the sky glow from each other’s beams signaling each other. At the right frequencies and with the right conditions, certain atmospheric layer boundaries become reflective, like the boundary between air and water, so imagine that distant sky looks a little glossy up there, like water’s surface reflecting your beam.

    But then run that light source through a machine that does that flickering signal fast enough to encode your voice in the pattern of flickering that’s glowing in the sky over someone else’s horizon.

    That’s pretty closely analogous to what amateur (“ham”) radio operators are doing when they play with the HF range of the radio spectrum. The electronics are less sophisticated than cell phones, but our usual gadgets rely on many other devices to relay info across the Internet (which is also amazing, in a different way). Ham radio, on the other hand, is like a fancy version of talking through two cans on a string, sometimes up to thousands of miles apart, but using fast flash lights instead of string and cans.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
      8·
      6 days ago

      I just tuned in on a web listener. The first conversation I heard was about a guy in Gainesville Florida going to a picnic tomorrow.

      Mostly they talk about their health problems.

      The second conversation where two guys talking about the health problems of one of the women in his life. “She’s going to need an epidural!”

      • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        When you’re in chronic pain and that actually solves the problem, my goddess it’s sweet relief. It feels like you are you again. Had one for shoulder pain the other year.

        Oh my God I’m one of them.

  • seathru@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    8·
    6 days ago

    Just trading one scroll wheel for another. “Surely the next channel won’t be another crazy preacher.” (It was).

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    6 days ago

    For real? I got my GMRS license a few years ago, and sometimes I just put a radio on scan to see which construction companies are violating FCC regs. Haven’t found a rando to talk to yet, but the range is pretty small. I’ve been mulling over getting my HAM license and Baofeng to dick around with.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    23·
    6 days ago

    …or you could just use a PC with a secure operating system (Linux) and use a secure voice chat (Matrix) to achieve the same result without needing a loicense.