RADIO COMMS

[Skvez]

I'm beginning to see the reason why "the community has been pi$$ing around for at least 15 years" without coming to an agreement on what equipment to use.

CB is cheap, simple to use and requires no licence but doesn't have the range for country wide transmission.

Ham is a little more expensive, harder to use and requires an exam and a licence. But it has the range for country wide transmission.

If we had thousands of people perhaps we could make CB work, although it would be shambles in practice (imagine a hall with 1000 people in, each whispering to the person beside them to pass messages from one end to the other). But we don't have 1000 people unless there are 990 lurkers (*) out there; which I very much doubt. Even if we did, lurkers are unlikely to participate in a message relay.

Ham doesn't appeal to too many of us due the time and effort involved to get the licence and the OPSEC risks.

(*) Lurker: Someone who reads forums or listens in but doesn't voice an opinion.