Hey /g/, is ham radio still a viable hobby?

>>58998421

no fuck off stop sending me your tech support questions about our set top boxes and if they will scan your shitty frequency, of course it will jesus christ please go

>>58998421
ya it's pretty kewl
rawr

>>58998421
Yes, of course. It's just not cheap, generally.

>>58998421
Sure, I just started getting into it. Only have a chink handheld for now, looking into desktop models now. Don't have my license yet so I just use it as a police scanner and listen to local repeaters

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>>58998421
if you are an actual autist

>>59000634
ebin

>>59000634

That gif is raping my eyes.

Nah it just old man and autism.

>>59000666

Satan gets it.

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>>58998421
There's also the SDR meme hobby that you can get into pretty cheap

>>58998421
>viable
Viable in what regard?
Do you have fun doing it? If so knock yourself out.
Stop using words that you don't know the meaning to

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>>58998421
>Hey /g/, is ham radio still a viable hobby?
Why, of course!

>>59000650
>That gif is raping my eyes.
Pic. related is more soothing.

>>59000666
>autism
Requirement for ultra high speed morse code.

All hobbies are viable if you like it, imo

>>59000716
>SDR
>meme
You really dont know its potential there m8

Time for the pasta:
http://pastebin.com/9uYXMhVm

>>59000611
What is stopping me from doing it with no license?

>>59003109
Hams are a vigilant bunch, they will find out you're unlicensed and you will be reported to the FCC. Fines start in the upper four figure range and easily work their way to five figures.

>>59003175
That and a federal record. Avoid.

And it is easy to stay legal.

>>59000716
>pretty cheap
True. Just check rtl-sdr to make sure you get a good SDR since not all are made teh same.

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>>59003175
and this is what i mean with autism :)

>>59004495
If you get your radio license anyone can look up your dox with your callsign.

>>59006151
Can't you be protected, like a private Whois?

>>59003109
the government sending you to fuck me in the ass prison for your entire life, basically.

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>>59006151
>>59006193
This is what deterred me from ham. I thought it was cool and started studying the book, then I realized I could be d0xed by anyone that's listening. You have to say your call sign every single time.

http://www.arrl.org/advanced-call-sign-search

Anyone, and I mean anyone, can input your call sign into this FCC database and get your name, home address, everything. It's all public info.

You can use a PO box instead of your home address (it just has to be an address where the FCC can reach you), but still. Your name is definitely always shown, and anyone with an internet connection can use that to find your home address in a few minutes, including google satellite images of your house.

It's just creepy as fuck, especially when you consider the kind of goobers that do ham in the first place. Not the kind of people I want to talk with, especially if I have to indirectly tell them where I live.

>>59006291
also wanted to add the reason it's creepy is because when your do ham, it's likely the people listening are in your region if not the same town.

so them visiting your house is trivial. It's not like the internet where someone 2,000 miles away finds out your name. They're less likely to show up at your door like a ham guy who lives 10 miles away.

>>59006378
>some HAMburglar listens in to find out who has the most expensive stuff so he can rob them
Absolutely terrifying

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>>59006425
There's a lot worse things than robbery anon lol. I'm more worried about being raped or murdered by some hillbilly with a shotgun. Especially when I don't agree with their "Trump is God" political views

>>59006144
The fact that they pursue assholes is my favorite thing about ham operators

>>59006425

>HAMburglar

fucking killed my sides

>>59006291
>ot the kind of people I want to talk with
You know there's far more to amateur radio than talking to random people, right?

>>59006291
Kill yourself, you dumb fucking shit stain.

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>>59006452

>>59006893
>getting political on HAM
they have your address and will find you

>>58998503
did you even read the thread? fuck you, dude.

>>59006291
You realize that you only need to receive mail at that address, right?

You can use a PO box, and really you should for public things like that.

>>58998421
Yes. I'm in the UK and got my foundation licence. Enjoyable course. I also go to the local meetup group and everyone is like 60-80 years old. It's cool hanging out with the old people though . I chat with them on my local repeater with my baofeng hand held.

It's pretty cool as long as I resist my urge to troll. I don't say or do anything naughty so I'm not worried about being doxed.

I don't have very many friends so it feels nice to be part of a community.

I basicly hang out with a bunch of autistic men two generations older than me.

>>59006425
I only have a cheap baofeng, plus selling stolen radio equipment would be a nightmare as the community is pretty good and word would get out

>>59006291
just say your mom when asked for a call sign or make one up.

im sure you'd really go to terre haute supermax for life for fucking around with a radio.

people give a fake name to the police and people are afraid of giving out a bullshit handle on fucking ham radio.

>>59007912
its not like running a pirate rig off a housing estate the dti wont come round for some bellend with a chinese ham without a license.

if you dont give out a name or give out a fake name no one will care.

>>58998421
>ham thread
>somebody mentions licenses and everything turns into an autist shitstorm

Why must everyone argue about stupid shit in every such thread?
Please keep it on a purely technical level because laws differ by country.

>>59008313
Let me guess, you do not know what harmonics are, right?

>>59006425

>there are bears using HAM radio to scout for prey RIGHT NOW and in your state.

>>58998421
yep

i just had a contact earlier on psk31

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>>59008414
autist detected

>>59007912
>It's pretty cool as long as I resist my urge to troll. I don't say or do anything naughty

wow, so you have to do self-censorship?
<sarcasm>
ham radio sounds like a ton of fun
</sarcasm>

>>59011456
>it's not fun if I can't be an asshole
I'm glad you don't like it.

>>59011456
It's absolutely fine. It's not audio 4chan, it's about having a communication network for if the jntenry goes down

>>59000464

Things have changed a lot. You can now get on the air VHF/UHF with a decent radio for < $100. Get on HF for the same if you don't mind kit building.

>>59013463
>It's not audio 4chan
14.313 would beg to differ

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>>59011433
On milforum one guy declared that the very best signal service guys were autists. He might have included himself.

>>59006291
Why would you have a problem with that?
It's a two way street. It's creepy and weird how anon people can be on the internet and say shit they wouldn't say to your face. Why would you trust anything anyone has to tell you if you can't look them up and see if they're a reliable source of info?

>>59015902
This guy gets it.

After all, alphabet soup agencies have already stated they collect metadata. One general is on record stating they also kill based on metadata.

So what is metadata?

Basically whenever you pick up a phone, landline or mobile, your voice prints are collected, perhaps the ultimate in what falls under the wide umbrella "metadata". This is correlated with time, place, line, IP number and more. Much more. Metadata such as mood is already used by commercial companies on automated help lines to detect anger or rage to connect a live human in quickly - that is if you are a valued customer. Cattle gets the prod.

One thing is to be careful Another is to be naive.

>>59000650
The best thing is, those patterns can burn into your retinas if you stare at them long enough

>>59006452
You can't talk about politics on the air anyway, libtard

>>59000634
AHHHHHH MY EYES

>>59001619
>30wpm Morse code
>Not computer

Ya OK.

No OP

Unless you like old people autism and retardedly crazy levels of over-regulation.

Ham could be better but ultimately it's held back by the above.

Also enjoy expensive shitty radios.

>>59018641
>shitty radios
They may be expensive, but shitty they are not

>>59018641
This

I love how this is a technology board but any tech related hobby outside of grownup Legos gets shat on nonstop

>>59003031
>http://pastebin.com/9uYXMhVm
>no mentions of pirating FLTSATCOM like real drug trafficking mafioso would

is this even /g/ ?

>>59006452
no hillbilly is desperate enough to rape some shit eating liberal hippie. you're safe.

>>59018886
Considering the misused potential for the frequency blocks. Yes they are very shitty.

>>59018945
>is this even /g/ ?
The operative phrase here is "Primer".

>>59018582
What?

Time to submit before the masters: http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/mcelroy.html

>>59019022
You will have to be much more specific with your criticism. Every gen they get better, which is something you can't say about cpu's.

>>58998421
I have my general license. No idea what ham radio's are used for, except emergencies?

>>59019185
>No idea what ham radio's are used for
Transmitting and receiving data.

>>59019185
The whole point is scientific experimentation. Radio waves and shit.

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>>59019185
>>59019234
Especially antenna technology is a popular topic.

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>>59019219
the anon who will save /g/

>>59015893
Radio's a hobby and occupation which caters to autistic people.

>>59019219
>Transmitting and receiving data.
If only.
Mostly they are used for spreading gossip and/or requesting QSL cards from places less than 100 miles away.

>>59022088
Literally all of that is transmitting and receiving data.

>>59021995
There are many kinds of people having radio as hobby or occupation. voice/telephony is rather pedestrian. high speed morse code is where the patricians are.

Where I served in the .mil I think less than half were autistic but nearly 100 percent played a musical instrument. A sense of music and rhythm is essential to master morse code.

Ah yes, those were the days.

A little more traffic can be had at Stackexchange's Ham board.
http://ham.stackexchange.com/

>>59022252
There's a lot of data traffic on HF,but VHF and UHF data radio never really caught.
I got some pretty far contacts with thor22 and feld hell,but now there seems to be very powerful interference on 7MHz so I can't hear shit most of the time.
It sounds like those "diplomatic services" links but it's all over the place and it makes it hard to get any contacts most of the evenings.

>>59023084
tell us more stories about 'Nam, grampa

>>59024248
So do you just sit on /g/ and call people grampa all day or is this some shitty new meme?

>>59011456
>self-censorship
you know the lack of a filter between the brain and mouth is one of the defining characteristics of tourette's syndrome

might want to get that checked

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>>59000634

My eyes, you son of a bitch!

>>59024248
I never went to Vietnam. Not even American. Around here in Europe we have this thing called national service.

You might think of it as summer school with a lot of loud explosions.

>>59013506
<$50 even

>>58998421
There's occasionally a HAM radio general on /diy/ you might be interested in.

>>59000728
cool it man

Who /SWL/ here?

I just listen to international broadcasters and hams.

>>59033854
SJW GET OUT REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>59006291
I've been licensed for 15 years with an accurate name and address in the FCC database to go along with it. People do use the database to """"""dox"""""" you.

Do you know what these sick fucks do with the information they find? They send me catalogs. Oh god the horror and violation! Now I have free stuff to read while I'm on the toilet. It's easy as fuck to figure out who lives where. Nobody gives a shit.

>>59034134
>ever being on the toilet
>not squatting on a special stool and being done instantly because you eat right

>>59034180
>being this autistic

>>59034180
>pretending your lack of toilet time is caused by anything other than an anus loosened by nigger cock
>missing out on the comfiest reading experience

>>59034215
My comfiest reading experience was in a hostel in Barcelona. I was reading a book about anal sex.

>>59007188
USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION GOD DAMNIT

>>59006291

It's easy as shit to find out your home address as is. Do you think your special? Give a good private investigator a few minutes they'll have your info. Think your identity is completely erased from the internet? Old school, they'll just follow you from your workplace to your dwelling.

The point I am trying to make is that you will get found if someone wants to find you in a first world country.

>>59034180
Hello Pajeet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p38FTOetax0

>>59034668
You missed my follow up post (the one immediately after) >>59006378

Someone who lives within range of your radio (e.g. 10 miles away) is more likely to visit your house than an internet user who lives 2,000 miles away.

>>59006291
I have a friend who's a HAM, he's 74, he uses a PO Box because he doesn't want people showing up at his house. This dude is the shit, though. He can use computers as good as me, and doesn't just use his shit for email and YT.

>>59030751
><$50 even
A lot less. Just google for "cheap hf transceiver kit" and Chinese companies will sell you kits for under 3 dollars.

>>59038269
Well I was talking more along the lines of works out of the box things but yeah, a diy kit would be much cheaper

>>59038530
If you have a license you should have no problems putting those kits together.

If on the other hand you want something more open source-ish, you could go for Tentec Rebel. At 200 dollars it is a bit more costly but you get also quite a bit more. Also easier to modify.

It makes me laugh when radio autists claim we will depend on them in the event of a nuclear holocaust....

I own a couple of high powered handheld radios, know enough to use them in a pinch, and have no license at all. Do you think that in the event of a catastrophe I'll decide not to use my radio because I don't have the proper license?

Until then they will accumulate dust in my drawers

>>59039565
If you actually had a license and had done some experimenting, you'd know your "high powered" 8W Baofeng isn't going to do you much good in a natural disaster. Much less knowing about setting up a proper antenna, what bands to use, and so on.

>>59039565
>Do you think that in the event of a catastrophe I'll decide not to use my radio because I don't have the proper license?

It's well documented that in the event of a catastrophe, the FCC's job first and foremost is to fine those who are trying to help without having paid a fee first.

>>59039565
>Do you think that in the event of a catastrophe I'll decide not to use my radio
you're likely to be worse than useless and hams will not pass traffic with you or likely engage with you other than to shut you down for fucking with emcomm, probably not using the fcc but the local cops who won't take kindly to some pirate larping as a disaster communications bro

best to get your license and do it the proper way

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>>59039565
>high powered handheld radios,

>>59042494
i can use my kx3 handheld, and wear a large battery and the kxpa100

>>59040674
you seem to forget how little band space hams get
the anon you replied to never even mentioned using ham bands

>>59016198
Probably
Unrelated side note:
Don't go fucking nuts and test doing a bunch of crazy shit in hopes that it obscure things because it's fucking nuts

Its not even hard to get the license. Admittedly I had electrical experience going in to it, but I studied for a day to pass tech, a month to pass general and then it took a year and some learning to get extra.

>>59006291
and then you get a license plate with your call on it.

fortunately the only people that know about the FCC database are fellow hams and not likely to fuck with you.

Regarding the whole "emergency communications" deal; why do most hams stick to tech as ineffective as analogue voice when there's digital tech available that makes much better use of the limited bandwidth of ham bands?
If they really want to be useful during emergencies,shouldn't they focus on making reliable,high-bandwidth radio networks instead of spending most of their time making smalltalk on 30 year-old radios?
I got my license 3 years ago and I was all excited about being a part of the community,but it really made me lose my shit when I found out ham clubs in my city receive millions of euros from the government every year but they cannot spare a few thousand to get decent repeaters.

The repeaters we use (and have been using since the 70's) are rusty buckets with corrosion where the cables used to be.

>>59006836
>You know there's far more to amateur radio than talking to random people, right?
...no, there really isn't. Don't pretend ham is anything more than fat, old autists who are too stupid to use /g/. It's like people who still use IRC vs people who use FB Messenger, Face Time, and Discord. One group is young, intelligent, etc.--the other group is old and autistic and/or have toxic personality traits.

>>59043475
Are you aware of the complexity of the backend system for a P25 or TETRA system? There's a reason municipalities pay millions of dollars for them.

Sure you could have a simple repeater network with all the radios sending digital signals, but what's the point?

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>>59006452
>There's a lot worse things than robbery anon lol. I'm more worried about being raped or murdered by some hillbilly with a shotgun. Especially when I don't agree with their "Trump is God" political views
You sound like your entire worldview is informed by stupid Hollywood movies or something

>>58998421
No, it's a harmful hobby that affects hundreds of thousands of people for several peoples gain.

>>59043475
like aredn? aredn . org

>Ammeter Radio
>Not domestic terrorism
http://www.arrl.org/dsl-interference

>>59043664
It doesn't have to a trunked.
Digital systems could use authentication to prevent outsiders from using repeaters,hams could exchange vital info in the form of short bursts to minimize air-time,they could use lower output power to maximize battery life etc.
Digital comms have gone a long way.

>>59003175
First of all how would you be tracked down? Especially if you just listen. I would like to mess around with a cheap handheld one.

>>59044474
Nobody's going to track you down if you just listen, that's perfectly legal. But if you're broadcasting and pissing them off don't be surprised if your location is triangulated and reported.

>>59043475
>when there's digital tech available that makes much better use of the limited bandwidth of ham bands?
It appears you are not aware that hams develop and use new and improved digital modes, all open specs. You should have known that there are band plans that allocate the bands for different use and modulations.

Also, do you have any idea about the bandwith efficiency of a high speed telegraphist?

>>59003175
It's retardedly easy to find out they're not licensed. From what I recall when I got my license in 2010, you have to tell your callsign every 10 minutes, and when one person does it, the rest of the people on the repeater will do it too. You don't do this two or three times and they'll catch on.

>>59047093
Can't you just use the callsign of someone else, who's gone inactive?

>>59047208
Why not just get your damned license? Why are you so hellbent on avoiding such a trivial thing that would actually make what you're doing legal?

>>59047208
A license is not just a piece of paper to put up on the wall. It documents you have the necessary skills. And if you don't you will be noticed for small things like lack of command of Q-codes etc.

Did you even read the pasta:
http://pastebin.com/9uYXMhVm

It's about ten times more fun if you're into electronics and fun data stuff like APRS. It's also nice to take one hiking so you can talk with other people doing the same thing.

>>59043475
Two big reasons
1: Analog is piss easy to set up and use with other people
2: Some people really don't like digital, such as that one autist who has spent ELEVEN YEARS going into every single echolink thread on QRZ and posting things like "something something echoSTINK not real radio computers :)))"

Every thread the license troll gets his guaranteed replies. Same troll as the 'i'm a radio pirate' troll.

fucking pathetic

>>59050126
I wouldn't doubt it one bit that there are dumbasses hellbent on avoiding getting licensed.