Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
I'm a ham as well. The hobby has been getting a bit of a resurgence among Preppers. Sort of like vinyl records among hipsters. But ham has always had a strong base in emergency and community service comms
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I'm an Extra Class ham and occasionally work HF, although the atmospherics have sucked for a long time now. I mostly use the VHF/UHF bands these days and mostly for Skywarn stuff. I hate that most of the resurgence is because of digital voice via modes like DSTAR, DMR, etc. that require internet repeater systems. Not my cup of tea and not really radio, mosty just internet which I can do with my phone much easier. Besides that digital voice uses such little bandwidth that it is often impossible or nearly impossible to understand. I taught a friends Boy Scout Troop a class on radio technology and 98% of them showed little interest, but Gen Z kids were born with a smartphone in one hand and an Instagram account in the other, so no surprise there!