How ham radio endures - and remains a disaster lifeline - in the iPhone era
How ham radio endures - and remains a disaster lifeline - in the iPhone era
When disaster strikes, and conventional communication systems fail, amateur ham radio operators step in to bridge the gap, providing a crucial link between those in affected areas and the outside world.
You're viewing a single thread.
I was actually surprised to know that data transmission is doable on ham radio. Not sure why I was surprised since data transmission is possible through pretty much any protocol but it was cool to know the versatility of what many see as pretty basic radio.
Used to work with a radio enthusiast on sailing ships, he’d make posts to social media and check his email literally 1000 miles out to sea via radio.
Where do I start for this rabbit hole? That sounds mind blowingly cool.
I believe it would have been winlink or amprnet. I think winlink really only does low bandwidth things like email and weather bulletins. Not sure about amprnet
Oh yeah, there are modes like DMR and YSF that are completely digital data. That really helps a lot because with analog, the further you got away from the repeater you are using, the scratchier your voice would become until you just weren't understandable. With digital, you either make the system or you don't. There's no real in-between. You're either able to be heard or you're not. But if you are not able to be heard, your radio immediately notifies you.
Check out "slow scan tv" if you haven't already. I have my amateur license and was surprised to learn all of the ways in which radio waves can be utilized
The International Space Station was transmitting slow scan TV pictures last week. You can receive them with a handheld radio and the stock antenna on the high elevation passes, but a handheld yagi antenna works much better.
I first learned about SSTV over a decade ago from Portal! I remember I had to get a two sided 3.5mm audio cable to plug my computer's speaker. https://youtu.be/DlIvnc-AZJQ (Video of someone decoding it.)
That's freaking cool, I never knew that. Appreciate the link
No worries! I think this was before Portal 2 and meant as a teaser. The person in the vid clearly has an interesting setup but you could do it with just a normal PC very easily.
Im seeing more sstv memes lately and im all for it, about time I say.