“Is anyone out There?” - HamRadio

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Blondie@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

Is anyone else thinking about going back to old school tactics of the ham radio. With the build up of fediverse, Meta, flock, Alphabet and now LG tv’s now spying on us in our own homes, getting a ham license and building one of these from scratch would not only gain some different kind of knowledge, but maybe if internet/cellular networks were to fail or get “taken over” there would be a backup system of communication. The old string and can trick only works with your neighbors. I know there is some serious ramifications if you don’t get licensed and tap into ham radio frequencies, and it doesn’t take much to get one… I don’t know if ‘tuning that dial” is dying out. But we may need to. Maybe it’s a dooms-day prepper kinda thing for me to say, and I don’t consider myself one at all since I only have 3 rolls of toilet paper in my house albeit I am a Costco member. I’m just curious if anyone else that is pulling away from the fediverse is also thinking about learning the Ham radio Trade also?

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eleijeep@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

With the build up of fediverse, Meta, flock, Alphabet and now LG tv’s now spying on us in our own homes

I’m just curious if anyone else that is pulling away from the fediverse is also thinking about learning the Ham radio Trade also?

What’s going on with the Fediverse that makes you put it in a list with these companies?

Is this concern trolling?

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- BottleBoardBakon@lemmy.ml ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  The fediverse was made as a decentralized alternative to all those companies they listed 🤣
  
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floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
There’s a whole new technological niche born in the space between the modern internet and old school AM/FM radio. AX.25, meshtastic, meshcore, reticulum, just to name a few. You are absolutely not alone in wanting to build a resilient, grassroots communication network that relies on good old radio waves from and to your antenna rather than 8 layers of “providers”.

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- beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  The mesh stuff looks so interesting. I wish I had the money to experiment with it, but like 3d printing, fpv racing, and Arduinos before it, I’m too broke and too much of an antisocial loner to really participate.
  
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  - floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Meshtastic/core is the cheapest hobby listed here by far, you can get a Heltec on AliExpress for like 20$ and it has no running costs. You also don’t need to be social, you can just lurk and help expand the network by being a repeater station :)
    
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farmgineer@nord.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’m a licensed HAM. I basically never touch the stuff at the moment. I want to get a good HF radio, but it’s so expensive and I might also be losing my job.

If you are in the US, do not use it unlicensed unless you want a visit from the FCC and I think federal charges.

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- NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  To just get in the air if you can’t borrow one, look into QRP radios. They’re under 10W, but thats enough to go thousands of miles in good conditions with even a halfway tuned antenna. You can get kits for under $40 if you dont mind soldering, and not much more if you want assembled.
  
  Listening alone is fun, and you do not need any license for that!
  
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CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
!amateur_radio@lemmy.radio

Plenty of people do are still doing ham radio.

There isnt much risk being unlicenced, enforcement seems sporadic and unreliable. I own a bunch of handheld radios that ideally I should have a licence for, but for road trips it hardly matters.

But at the same time, getting licenced isnt expensive or difficult, so you may as well just do it. The only reason I haven’t is that I don’t want to waste a bunch of Sundays going to a class to listen to year 10 electronics.

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- 667@lemmy.radio ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  There isn’t much risk being unlicensed
  
  This is awful advice considering how utterly simple it is to get licensed.
  
  Speaking for US licensees, one only needs to memorize the question bank (legal and encouraged) and take the exam.
  
  It can be done remotely. I did all of mine remotely, and have never set foot in any club or classroom.
  
  Operating without a license will quickly become apparent to any experienced operator. Do not do this.
  
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  - CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I agree in general, but not every country has a simple and easy licencing system. And if your just acquiring radios for shit-hits-the-fan scenarios, rather than regular use, expending the effort for a licence doesnt make sense to me.
    
    In Aus, its a multiday in person class, with exams at fixed times during the year. And I’ve seen the course work, its mindnumbingly easy, it should be an online multiple choice. I would do it in a heartbeat if it were online.
    
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