08-08-2024, 10:50 PM
(08-08-2024, 12:32 PM)Raptured Wrote: I'm completely ignorant when it comes to radio transmitting/broadcasting on a personal level. What exactly is the draw of it that can't be accomplished using a telephone or internet forum?
not being critical -merely curious
I find transmitting somewhat less exciting than listening, personally. But with stuff like ham radio one of the draws is getting QSL cards and making contacts over extremely long distances. From a technical standpoint, there's mostly nothing this does that can't be accomplished by phone and internet in the year 2024, but that wasn't the case in the 90s and earlier. Probably why the hobby is somewhat dying out and I think this is a shame because we can easily have another Carrington Event at any time and long distance wireless comms will immediately become useful again.
QSL cards may sound lame, but you do have to remember that these transmitting rigs hams use are all for the most part "home built" and sometimes even the transmitting equipment itself has been built by the operator. So, there is a sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment one gets from knowing that what you built actually works or even works well. Kinda like the famous scene in Back to the Future where 1955 Doc Brown sees his working Flux Capacitor from 1985 and drops to his knees screamng "it works!"
