Basically you encode data in a digital stream and send it over the air as a radio transmission. Here a very brief overview: https://www.arrl.org/digital-data-modes
I'm not actively involved in radio but I do have my license. Last I looked hams in general really poo-poo'd digital modes.
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.
Do you think people are made of money? I'm not spending $100 on a hobby I don't even know if I'll like yet. Out of touch indeed. My dude if I can manage to put $50 in my savings account on any random month, that is a fantastic month for me.
One dude in the article spent $25,000 on his gear, that's more than twice what I spent on my car!
My budget is $20 max to start. If and only if I enjoy it will I possibly consider spending months and months of savings to buy better gear. You want more hams, start here.
And all of this is just for the transceiver! None of your costs account for antenna, wiring, coax, antenna tuners, etc. etc. and it assumes you have SPACE for these giant antennas in the first place, which I do not.
My problem with forums is that they spiral out of control. Forum lovers see this as a huge plus but I'm not reading 1700 pages (not posts) of bullshit across three posts just to get to the current info.
Any time I see
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..., 653
At the bottom of a post I just click off the website and go somewhere else.
Embrace digital modes.
This really showcases how out of touch most hams are. $800 just to get your foot in the door is completely unreasonable. OR you could buy a broken piece of junk for $300 that you have to fix yourself? Good god.
Oh well if everyone is doing it then I guess its OK.
Oh no! Anyway...
Don't kid yourself, they're here. Make sure they know they aren't welcome.
Personally I'm more interested in Taylor Napier. Or maybe both of them at the same time 🤔
Very nice! I really like the direction Gnome is headed in.
You can pry Vim from my cold, dead hands!