this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
304 points (98.1% liked)

Technology

59587 readers
2470 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
304
How ham radio endures - and remains a disaster lifeline - in the iPhone era (www.zdnet.com)
submitted 1 month ago by shortwavesurfer to c/[email protected]
52 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I’m really close to being ready to do the test for my HAM license. It’s been enlightening to see all the applications and components tied to it. For anyone interested, even just getting started with a simple SDR setup can get you going on learning the basics about the various bands and intricacies involved.

[–] shortwavesurfer 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I saw the most amazing thing. You know those meshtastic devices? Well, apparently, somebody has made something like that. Exactly for amateur radio operators, and you can text message and location share, etc. with one watt of power. I think the meshtastic devices are probably limited to 0.1 watts of power. So that would be a major, major improvement. You just plug this tiny box into the USB Type-C port on your phone and it becomes a one-watt HT with voice and text capability. Or at least I think it said it had voice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh that’s really neat. It would be extremely helpful for situations like the hurricanes in the US these past months.

[–] shortwavesurfer 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, tell me about it. And apparently, it only takes $35 worth of components and a 3D printer to build it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Have a link for it? Or some specific keyword I can search for? I have tons of components sitting around and a 3D printer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

In preparing to get my ticket in 2020, I hopped on the Utah WebSDR and even got a shortwave listener (SWL) QSL card from a guy in the Cook Islands (E51JD).

Earlier this year I made a two-way QSL (contact) with him using my rig and 100W.

There’s a ton to learn, do, or accomplish if you want. So many facets to amateur radio.

I’m working on CW now!