(untitled)

Ham Radios >been getting interested in alternatives to internet-based communication What alternatives are available to civilians besides Baofengs? I know they are deployed in Ukraine currently and preppers seem to be fond of them. I think the features they offer are appealing, but I hear they are somewhat unreliable and prone to breaking. Obviously, I would prefer this not happen and am willing to shell out for something that will stand up to some stress. I'd appreciate advice on headsets and other peripherals too, all I know is "COMTAC gud",, pretty unsatisfying to me(USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST, You should always elaborate on your opinions rather than just spilling the soykaf.)

>>85797 >Ham Radios >been getting interested in alternatives to internet-based communication >What alternatives are available to civilians besides Baofengs? Let me tell you all about btech. Generally they are okay. I have 4 or 5 Baofengs ranging from the uv5r, f8hp, to the dmr6x2. You can get them ip67 rated or whatever X feature for a fraction of the price as name brand. Audio and build quality is on par with radios 2-10 times the price so cool for learning and beating up and trying to break. Btech has pricier radios that are more rugged and cost more than the $15 uv5r. Get a genuine Nagoya NA-771 on top, you have a $30 system that gets you on the air and only the most autistic waterfall pixel peepers will notice you're using Chinese road kill. The firmware is super hackable and programming software CHIRP generally easier to use vs icon and me wood, no idea about yeasu. All that aside, my great grandmas Kenwood st-520 is my daily runner and I haven't had any issues with any of kenwoods radios. I got the TH-D75 for around $650 vs $300 for the btech version which IMO is more solid than the Kenwood and I use it more because I'd rather break $300 vs $600.

>>85827 What do you use it for on a regular basis? Do you have regular group that you talk to? It seems to be one of those self-propagating things where all everyone does is talk about radio or radio-adjacent hobby stuff all the time. My vague impression is that it's a mix of extremely autistic children and 70 year olds who sperg out over band etiquette. I find it really interesting as a communication medium, but lack the motivation to pursue it much more as no one I talk to gives a flying fuarrrk about it.

>>86511 There are also ham radio contests and many ham radio operators collect different countries to their log. Some also experiment with antenna design or even build their own little transceivers.

>>85827 >genuine Nagoya NA-771 Do you know any reliable places to buy it? Preferably in Europe. I have some concerns about originality of Amazon offers.

>>86512 The electronics side of it is a definite attractor as it feels like a good way to get more involved with electronic design, similar to mechanical keyboards but moreso. The contests seem a lot less interesting from the outside though, but i'm sure they have an appeal when you get really into high-end equipment and gambling on the ionosphere. Personally I am probably a little too interested in communication mediums in general, and most suffer from that same problem where they devolve into discussion of the medium itself but that's to be expected with niche stuff like that. Radio definitely rubs that part of my brain the right way, something about being able to communicate with just electricity using a fundamental property of the universe without need for the complicated infrastructure that computers rely on.

>>86514 Your last sentence is pretty much the main reason I want to get into radio. And I'd also like to try to understand electronics better. But still a bit hesitant and unsure where to start.

>>85797 check out Meshtastic https://meshtastic.org/ it's firmware that you can upload to several different development boards. They create a mesh communication network between them for sending text messages and/or data. You don't need a license in most places and you can even [, in some places, legally] encrypt the data. Fun stuff. There might already be a mesh in your city.