[rescue] Radio...

[James Fogg]

> I've actually got a HAM radio too! I just never use it. A few friends
got
> their licenses, and they don't use theirs either. As a hobby, is it
not
> dying? I see the use, but it seems like there are more efficent ways
of
> communications now.
>
> DSTARS seems neat but waaaay too expensive.


Instead of the Industry defined DSTAR, try Echolink, the open source
radio VoIP system. From a PC you can link to node 1118 (K1JY-R) and hit
my local repeater (I'm KB1QFF). I often monitor it since it's the only
UHF machine I can hit here in the mountains of NH.

Echolink can also work in the reverse (radio to PC), or radio to radio
for tricks like repeater linking.

You can also remote-base your home radios.

You can also get on a repeater with echolink and use the DTMF pad of
your radio to raise an ad-hoc link another repeater. Using a radio and a
local echolink repeater you could dial 1118 and link my local machine
and we'd chat radio to radio with a VoIP link.

Some hams have a cute email sig that says "if it were just about talking
I'd be using a cell phone". The hobby isn't dead, but the hobby is
mostly about technical exploration.