Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) as Fast As Possible

Despite the growth of the Internet, ham radio is still a popular hobby. How does it work, and how is it still relevant in the digital era?

[ric]

Years ago i was playing guitar. One time when i set the guitar down i started hearing a creepy distant slavic voice coming from my amp (i live in the netherlands)
Being 12 at the time i almost started thinking i was intercepting some kind of shady KGB business, now i know it was most likely a monologue about why kotlet is better than hamburgers from halfway across the continent.

[Perhael]

I am a ham operator. Thank you Linus for putting this out there. The gps is called automatic packet reporting system or aprs.

[TheRXStudios]

I went to get my license when I was 13, and everyone there looked at me like I was lost or something.

[TheHumanEwok]

when I was in Greece I found a ham radio station of an old man telling stories

[NSSC]

I'm so happy right now I can't even. This is what ham radio really needs - big names in social media talking about it to help us increase awareness. It's really an amazinf and fascinating hobby. Awesome!!!

[macgyver]

Amateur/ham radio: It's kind of a "smart people" hobby, because when EVERYTHING ELSE "BREAKS", we can take a random bin full of scrap parts, throw a wire in a tree or even tap into old phone landlines and use those as an antenna to talk around the world!

[WAQWBrentwood]

9/11 proved the worth of "ham" radio, and in a SHTF situation regular radio is still vital, Even good 'ol C.B. (it's in the SW band, so with proper equipment, you can get more than "caugh, caugh" legal distance.

[hobbycollectibles]

walking dead is proof you need ham radio in your life

[jaut-]

This video reignited the flame for HAM radio inside of my during 2020 so when my exams were cancelled i decided to take the plunge an get my licence. Thank you for this and talking about this as we need more young people like me in this hobby.
M7BLJ (UK)
Jake

[heartfthedragn]

That....actually sounds like a really fun hobby. I've heard of amateur radios before (mostly about how they can communicate with the ISS on certain frequencies), but I haven't given it any serious thought until now. It seems like a lot of fun involving lots of learning, challenges and a dedicated community.

[kilroywashere]

As a ham it's great to see someone advocating the hobby to a larger group of the general public on the internet. One thing that you have done Linus, whether you realize it or not, is get many more interested in a hobby that desperately needs young people to help keep it sustainable in the future.

[robertfulton]

Nicely done with a balanced perspective.
Thx, N4RLM

[elonburgers]

The Canadian on 14.313 shitting up the airwaves is actually Linus

[senix]

I was early.. Came down to comments to find early jokes. Found a bunch of educated replies. Wat

[Dreadlk]

I just found a link to your video on a amateur radio forum.
I just wanted to say it's an excellent video that gives a nice intro into the Hobby.
A few things that I would love to add is that Amateur radio users can talk all the way across the Planet both day and night with anywhere from 5 watts of power to 1500 watts. We do not need moon bounces or anything else to make this happen. Our frequency allocations give us frequency ranges that work in the day and ones that work at night. We can do this kind of thing with home made antennas made from wire that we string between trees.
These kinds of antennas can be rolled up and thrown in a back pack along with 100 Watt radios that only weights about 8 pounds. Almost all our equipment runs from 12VDC, so we can always use car batteries or 12v UPS batteries to power them.

 We have digital modes that allow us to communicate much like tweeting. We also have digital modes that allow us to use a laptop to send HD pictures to one another on any part of the planet.

It's a great Hobby and yes I agree with the other poster, if Rick and the other members of the Walking Dead had a Ham Radio they would know exactly where to go and what area is safe and what area was not. Negan would have a very hard time trapping us :)

73s

[trevader]

this video makes me happy to see on my feed. I am one of those 700, 000 US ham radio operators. I actually just learned morse code for the sake of more operating area (I'm only a technician, but plan to go to general, then extra). I was actually able to build my first dual band j-pole yesterday (deseret design). any other hams here?
~KI7EDJ

[vkfrik]

Thanks Linus for the video on Ham Radio. I am a Ham Radio Operator in Australia. It is good to hear that companies like yours are aware of the benefits of the Hobby of Amateur Radio.

[superotterboy]

I had no idea Linus covered Ham until I saw this this morning! After the last year and a half, I've become more interested in crisis management and survival. I got into radio through a nerdy fascination with shortwave. Seems to be a slight resurgence in interest for the radio hobby online recently too so I know I'm not alone. I think the hobby needs more coverage like this, by individuals people of my age group and younger relate to. Not to disparage the expertise of the older, wiser and clearly more proficient HAMs that have kept the hobby alive but there can be an air of an elitist "old Boy's club" about certain radio clubs and groups these days. I think with the current spate of crises due to climate change and all, the importance of radio in a true emergency needs to be emphasised! You never know when some loon will burn down your local 5G tower! Haha!

[trains]

As a "ham" radio operator myself, I would like to say good job! This video is very accurate compared to most videos about the hobby.

[stephenwilliams]

Yea nothing beats putting a radio together. Out of scraps. First radio made when I was 7 years Old. 61 years still doing my thing.