🙂
I’m a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and last week, I passed my Technician license exam for just this reason.
Alohagrown on
My grandfather was really into ham radio and was a master of Morse code. He had this big map where he marked the location of all the people he communicated with, sometimes they would send each other little souvenirs. I guess ham radio folks don’t really use Morse code anymore, I just remember whenever we’d visit I’d hear all these rapid beeping sounds late at night.
no_regerts_bob on
“And, on that note, 73 SK.”
Is the author trying to say that he’s dead?
no_regerts_bob on
Most local radio clubs will offer free classes to get you started. It’s a good way to get a feel for what the hobby is and meet some nice people. If you’re interested at all, I recommend looking up your local amateur radio club and going to a class.
thatfreshjive on
For the uninitiated, HAM radio is a decentralized communication network for trading bacon.
tacticalcraptical on
My dad and uncle are huge hams and so are many people I work with. I have had the value of it explained to me 100 times and even though I am totally convinced, people still love to tell me why we need it 🙂
My uncle in the mid-western U.S. was able to communication via ham with a ham operator in Japan with no middle-man… unless you count the moon. Apparently they bounced the signal off the moon
david-1-1 on
SK means the QSO (conversation) is over, and the operator is leaving the air. Has nothing to do with death (silent keys).
david-1-1 on
Ham radio is still done the traditional way, along with electronic/Internet nodes, moon bounce, repeaters, and lots more.
Cheap but excellent shortwave receivers are now available through tiny hardware that is controlled by software.
It will be around forever. 73, K3MLP.
operator-- on
Too bad the majority of hams are unbearable people.
catwiesel on
when shit really hits the fan, and even if its not a permanent issue, people will quickly rediscover that simple and crappy basic solutions are resilient and can be macgyvered together with a spool of wire and a nail, where as the bestest samsung iphone with unlimited itunes gdrive and enterprise level chatgpt multi messenger support will turn out to be a very bad and short lived flashlight…
Tenocticatl on
Electronically simple, but more importantly, *decentralized*. You could probably build a pretty reliable LoRa network or something, it’s just not as established.
Gnarlodious on
I even argue that the current sad state of FEMA can be blamed on George Bush Jr because he expelled ham radio (in fact all civilian volunteers) following the 9-11 attacks. If you paid attention to the Katrina fiasco you could see it happening then.
SeeingEyeDug on
Now that the new iOS adds texting over satellite, it somewhat reduces the need during disasters, right?
As a sometimes ham radio operator myself, setting up and preparing for emergency communications is a big part of what we are all about. We could use more members 😕
Field Day is ham radio’s open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio
PuckSR on
During one of the Florida hurricanes, I had a sister living down there. I told her to get an FM radio so she could get weather updates
She told me not to worry. She had an app on her phone for radio and a walkie-talkie app. She said that even if the cell towers went down, she would just send us messages on the walkie-talkie app
People really don’t understand how stuff works
mashed50 on
My folks retired, bought a sailboat and did a 12 year odyssey around the world. We both got our licenses and we were able to “chat” just about every weekend. I ran lots of calls for other sailors in my spare time.
The perfect application.
eporter on
I didn’t read it, but I’m guessing the answer is nerds?
18 Comments
🙂
I’m a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and last week, I passed my Technician license exam for just this reason.
My grandfather was really into ham radio and was a master of Morse code. He had this big map where he marked the location of all the people he communicated with, sometimes they would send each other little souvenirs. I guess ham radio folks don’t really use Morse code anymore, I just remember whenever we’d visit I’d hear all these rapid beeping sounds late at night.
“And, on that note, 73 SK.”
Is the author trying to say that he’s dead?
Most local radio clubs will offer free classes to get you started. It’s a good way to get a feel for what the hobby is and meet some nice people. If you’re interested at all, I recommend looking up your local amateur radio club and going to a class.
For the uninitiated, HAM radio is a decentralized communication network for trading bacon.
My dad and uncle are huge hams and so are many people I work with. I have had the value of it explained to me 100 times and even though I am totally convinced, people still love to tell me why we need it 🙂
My uncle in the mid-western U.S. was able to communication via ham with a ham operator in Japan with no middle-man… unless you count the moon. Apparently they bounced the signal off the moon
SK means the QSO (conversation) is over, and the operator is leaving the air. Has nothing to do with death (silent keys).
Ham radio is still done the traditional way, along with electronic/Internet nodes, moon bounce, repeaters, and lots more.
Cheap but excellent shortwave receivers are now available through tiny hardware that is controlled by software.
It will be around forever. 73, K3MLP.
Too bad the majority of hams are unbearable people.
when shit really hits the fan, and even if its not a permanent issue, people will quickly rediscover that simple and crappy basic solutions are resilient and can be macgyvered together with a spool of wire and a nail, where as the bestest samsung iphone with unlimited itunes gdrive and enterprise level chatgpt multi messenger support will turn out to be a very bad and short lived flashlight…
Electronically simple, but more importantly, *decentralized*. You could probably build a pretty reliable LoRa network or something, it’s just not as established.
I even argue that the current sad state of FEMA can be blamed on George Bush Jr because he expelled ham radio (in fact all civilian volunteers) following the 9-11 attacks. If you paid attention to the Katrina fiasco you could see it happening then.
Now that the new iOS adds texting over satellite, it somewhat reduces the need during disasters, right?
Here’s a pretty interesting thread on ham radio I bookmarked from a few years ago – https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/nga1vp/whats_a_hobby_thats_dying_in_popularity/gysbk59/
As a sometimes ham radio operator myself, setting up and preparing for emergency communications is a big part of what we are all about. We could use more members 😕
Check out this : https://www.arrl.org/field-day
Field Day is ham radio’s open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio
During one of the Florida hurricanes, I had a sister living down there. I told her to get an FM radio so she could get weather updates
She told me not to worry. She had an app on her phone for radio and a walkie-talkie app. She said that even if the cell towers went down, she would just send us messages on the walkie-talkie app
People really don’t understand how stuff works
My folks retired, bought a sailboat and did a 12 year odyssey around the world. We both got our licenses and we were able to “chat” just about every weekend. I ran lots of calls for other sailors in my spare time.
The perfect application.
I didn’t read it, but I’m guessing the answer is nerds?