On Judgement Day the Terminators will not be able to track you because you will communicating with the Resistance over anlog radio waves.
I’ve heard them talk about the weather, the equipment they’re using, the next ‘on-air’ Hamfest. I’ve even heard a few of those Hamfests, where a guy goes down a checklist, looking for Hammers to “check in,” and they’ll pop up in a broadcast.
Well, when the power goes out (and the Revolution comes), you can still broadcast on batteries. You don’t need to be physically connected to anything to play. Why do people still knit when they can go to the store and buy a sweater? It’s a hobby, and some people like it. I like the ‘throwback’-ness of it, and its redundancy in a loss of power situation.
Besides, there’s more use in radio than you may think: airplanes talk to each other, TV stations still broadcast, satellite Internet still uses radio waves, it’s all around man. . .
Tripler
. . . it envelops you, it calls for you man. . .
when phone grid and power grid are disrupted you can do emergency communications through radio.
you can talk without broadband internet which everyone in the nation or world doesn’t have yet and you can do that away from your computer because the radios are mobile.
people play chess, talk about the weather and their radios, talk about literature, sports and any other thing people would converse about.
Interesting little thread here. I’ve got my Technician license. Used to chat a little bit with the local guys on the repeaters, then fell out of it. It was the romance of radio (think 1920s/30s if you’re having trouble seeing it) that got me interested in the first place. For me, that meant long distance communication on short wave–but I never had the bucks for an HF rig. (Nor, to be honest, the freedom or the space for large or exotic antennae. Plus, I never quite mastered the code…)
Now I’ve started dabbling into another interest, old tube radios. Naturally, that’s got me interested in amateur radio again. Unfortunately, my handheld seems to have a problem–hard to tell what happened. My guess (and hope) is that it’s just a bad battery. Plus, I’m looking at the old tube equipment that’s on ebay–heathkit stuff–with some interest.
Is there much ham activity in NYC? That’s where my job’s ultimately taking me in the middle range future.
Missed the edit window–meant to say: I’m a bit older and more realistic now–while the HF stuff is still especially intriguing, I’m willing to let my circumstances dictate my interests.
Is there much ham activity in NYC? That’s where my job’s ultimately taking me in the middle range future. Naturally not the best place for HF work, but there’s emergency services and stuff.
I’m a ham and have been enjoying a recent re-interest in the hobby. My particular area of interest is Motorola commercial/public safety HTs (handy-talkies) but… I finally got into HF last year and I’ve fallen pretty hard for it.
I also rent but my HF rig is easily packed up and stored. My landlord permits me to set up in my building’s backyard which is convenient but I do take it down after I’m done. My radio activity is basically a few hours at a time on weekend afternoons and evenings when I’m willing to take the weather. Pretty often during summer’s sunshine, less so during basically 7.5 months of dreary ice/bluster.
I like the idea of a packable HF rig to allow long distance comms in case of emergency. I can get a 50 foot vertical in the air in a half hour or so. This summer, I got a deep cycle sealed lead acid battery that will run the radio for some time. I can set up at a park or field, tug up the vertical, lay down some radials and really get out in short order. When the Big One* hits, I’ll be on the air.
My rig a few weeks ago
[tech]I run embedded ALE on HFNet. The vertical in the pic is only about 24 feet due to utility lines in all directions.[/tech]
*nuke exchange, zombie attack, massive blackout, self imposed hermitship etc.
Was reading online about how some Hams use what is basically a souped up potato gun to launch antenna wires over trees and such with a counterweight. Sounds like a fun way to set it up. 
I use something a bit more modest and safer.
My uncle years ago was a Ham operator, he was on Pumpkin Patrol on Halloween (to keep an eye and report on any “pranksters” who thought throwing pumpkins on cars going under bridges was fun.) That’s all I got, but I just wanted to put in here:www.wwmt.com/articles/radio-1368067-antenna-bay.html
so please be careful!
you should never put up anything that is more than 1/2 the height of the distance in any direction to a power line.