For me… yea that’s gonna be a challenge. I’m glad a text-based social platform exist, I hate talking. Maybe I’d just use morse code…?
Tbh I’d probably just stick to books and stuff if ham radio would be my only option. I was reluctant to get into social media in the first place anyway.
Morse code.
Plus there are all the digital modes, and back in 96? I… genuinely found interest and joy in packet radio.
Plus there were dial up BBS’s, and through the magic of FIDOnet you could still reach an amazingly long range.
Then there is the fact that if you had an account and access number to the local server node. There was Usenet.
Asking what happens without the internet misses and disregards all of these more localized digital communities.
Hard no.
It’s not so much lack of courage as it is I don’t want to talk to you. I certainly don’t want to hear all of you. Hell I avoid spoken social media now as it is.
Yeah, there’s days I can’t even listen to podcasts or the radio with people I actually like hearing because I’m so sick of listening to people talk. No fucking way I’d be interested in listening to randos and I hate talking.
Ham Radio has APRS, which could be considered a “text based social platform”.
FT8 for pretty maps and SSTV to xmit memes sounds pretty good. Winlink if I’m feeling adventurous.
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email.
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You’re a couple layers off in the protocol stack, but yes. AFSK (Audio Frequency Shift Keying) is a method by which digital data can be encoded on a narrow audio stream. It’s basically an old-school dial-up modem.
You can create and/or interpret those audio streams on a smartphone or computer via a headphone jack to pump them to/from the radio.
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These days there is FT8, where the whole conversation follows a template (callsign, callsign, signal strength on a scale of 1 to 9, goodbye) and is just a few dozen characters long. It can be completely automated, so you can have one to one contacts with hundreds of total strangers in just a few hours, with your radio doing all the talking so you don’t have to show your vulnerable side. You can sleep or play tetris through the whole session, and then get a list afterwards showing the different countries where your radio has gotten to know people (or at least other radios). It is great for shy hams.
Am trans, crippling anxiety of having to explain my voice to people. In person I can at least hide behind my titties and give people who accidentally misgender me the eyebrow raise
You just flipped that whole thing on its head pretty well… And also reminded me of one of two most cringiest times in my life where I misgendered someone. She worked at my local grocery shop and I had known her throughout her transition, but as an immigrant in Texas I was really keen on my “yes Ma’am” and " yes Sir" and I pulled out a “thank you sir” when visiting after a long time and she called me out on it as she should have… I felt like a dick, yet somehow did it again with a student of mine years later. I wish I had my wife’s excuse (she comes from a language that doesn’t have gendered pronouns and goes about her day confusedly dispensing he or shes in a totally random pattern 😂)
Nope. Before the (widespread) internet, I ran my CB/Ham mic through a guitar pedal or echo box.
I’m still a radio nerd, but I have zero interest in talking to anyone. I just want to hear what’s out there.
A large subset of introverts won’t use text based communications such as this; they lurk so whatever negative response here need a multiplier applied.
The 90-9-1 rule would indicate the factor is 9.
90 lurkers, nine commenters, and one poster?
lol, I’m currently licensed and have never put my voice out on radio.
Same. I’m still a bit dysphoric about my voice. =/
The only thing stopping me from using my voice over the Internet in games and shit is the fact I do not have a microphone.
I’d still be able to limit how much time I spend interacting with people.
No, but only because I have a slight speech impairment that I am self conscious about.
I’d probably just stick to Meshtastic if it ever gets out of the beta stage
Speaking as someone who fits the description and currently working on my license for UK Ham (direct to full) I will be using voice. Reason being calling a CQ is pretty structured and you can read it off a script, the response is fairly structured as well, and you can just do that if you want, no obligation to branch off into actual unstructured conversation unless you want to.
Plus as others have mentioned there are plenty of ways were you can still participate without having to physically speak to other people, RTTY or automatically translated morse would be ok.
No.
