Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="BigBird, post: 2430763, member: 4247"] You asked the wrong ham, I guess. Amateur television, like its predecessor slow scan TV was a clever adaptation of a mass medium (TV) to communication between individuals that requires no public or corporate facilities. Its function is somewhat more fairly compared to Internet apps like Facetime or Skype. But even with these examples, Internet infrastructure is required. Hams work to have reliable communications in many forms when disaster or worse knocks out all those corporate owned microwave towers. In the days after hurricane Katrina, amateur radio operators had most of the only communication systems that still worked. Today, hams use digital modes like PSK31 to communicate world-wide with something that resembles Internet chatting, but without the Internet. It’s a great hobby, and it has an important public service component in the background, waiting for the next call to duty. [/QUOTE]