Amateur radio

Since I see no problems with having to stir the pot from time to time, I have published an open letter to the amateur radio community. I know that Redditors have strong opinions on many subjects, therefore I'm also sharing my letter with you.

I outlined some of the biggest problems effectively keeping our hobby away from technical advancement. Here's a few questions to ask yourself before reading it:

• Why all the new radios released by major manufacturers offer almost nothing new?

• Why is the ham radio world kept in sustained, artificial technological stagnation?

• Is there any way to change the status quo and start being independent from major manufacturers?

Here's the letter (PDF):

For me it was last year and I bought a cheap sdr dongle and started picking up hf transmissions and the further I looked into it the more I found it fascinating. And boom a year later I'm licensed and really enjoying the hobby and the grand old age of 38 😉.

I basically over-studied for my Technician test and only missed 2 questions. Passed General at the same session without studying and made it by 2 questions. But Extra feels like an entirely different hobby. I love the stuff I’ve learned in the process of studying, it has really helped me wrap my head around how radios work. But it feels 10x harder to pass. Anyone else feel the same hurdle? The first 2 draw you in to a sense of security, and then Extra just slaps you in the face. Also, if anyone here passed all 3 in one sitting, you deserve a firm PoB.

Some guy was being rude to OP, so I called him out about it. He hit me with the “iT’s A jOKe” so I told him jokes were funny. Rude guy just insisted on continuing to rant, so I started just replying to everything he said with “Ok boomer”.

5 day ban. Jfc this site some days friends.

The UK law on listening to transmissions other than ones specifically meant for you is quite strict (and shown below). Other parts of the world seem mostly to allow listening to anything - police, ATC etc.

For example if you visit ATC and police radio websites, often the UK is an obviously missing location.

Is the UK unique with this rule, or is it widespread elsewhere?

The UK law:

It is an offence for an unauthorised person to use wireless telegraphy apparatus with intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any message whether sent by means of wireless telegraphy or not, of which neither the person using the apparatus nor a person on whose behalf he is acting is an intended recipient.

I’ve seen people here both claiming that amateur radio is a crucial disaster response tool as well as people completely dismissing it. This guy has real life and recent experience with a few disasters and the reality seems to be somewhere in between. Neat podcast.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has been working on banning hand held cell phone use (the discussion of which is off topic for here under rule 10) via . It was passed in the PA Senate, and then went to the PA House. There some amendments were added, including :

a mobile or handheld radio being used by a person with an amateur radio station license issued by the Federal Communications Commission

This passed the State House April 9th, and was then sent back to the State Senate for reconsideration due to the text changes.

If this passes the State Senate and is signed by the PA Governor, this means mobile amateur radio use will be illegal unless used via handsfree (which only very new radios have).

I learned about this late, and contacted my State Rep asking why - his staff just said we are covered under the "emergency use" exception, which doesn't make sense since that would only be valid during an actual emergency.

I then phoned my State Senator and expressed my opposition and hope she will get that language back in.

Have you ever been required to provide proof of your amateur radio license? For example, use of a scanner in a vehicle? Have you ever had an officer question the legality of your operating? Ever had equipment confiscated?

The way I understand it, we're supposed to physically have a license in our possession when operating mobile. Have you ever had that challenged? But then how does that work if all we need is a license issued online being "good enough" to operate?

Is there any discussion about adding our license to Google Wallet or even a screenshot on our phone?

Ham radio started out as my pandemic hobby, partly out of interest in packet radio and partly for emcomm purposes given the sorts of storms we see where I live on a periodic basis. I've been a licensed ham for about a year and I'm just exiting the HT stage and setting up an HF station soon. I'm not yet middle aged but most of the hams I meet in my area are firmly geriatric. It can be genuinely interesting to meet and talk to people in their 80's, 90's, and 100's, but when the room is full of people in that demographic range it's feels depressing.

I'm most active on my local NTS and ARES nets, because I think these nets have value to the community in times of need. I'm just starting to get involved in packet radio and don't have a firm grasp on it yet. Packet radio may have a different crowd, I don't know.

I would have expected the ARES/RACES to attract some of the younger more able-bodied prepper types, but that's not what I'm seeing. Where are the younger hams? I enjoy this hobby and do not want to see it die out because the last real Elmer shuffled off his mortal coil.

I know this is last-minute but I don’t think it’s too big of a problem. In three hours I’m being interviewed on the local NPR affiliate for a 19 minute section on amateur radio, and also on the vintage radio, and communications museum, where I volunteer. I thought just as a last-minute thing I would put it out to you guys any points that I should make for people new to amateur radio, the target audience here are people who don’t have licenses and trying to get them interested in the hobby. Thanks in advance.

In your opinion, what's the most cutting edge technology in Amateur Radio today which has the most potential to transform how we operate, and why?

TL;DR is a website that offers radio model-specific DMR contact list downloads for a $12 per year "donation" (i.e. fee). I sent the admin a request to have my account closed because I discovered that the site is either storing passwords in plaintext or, in the very least, not properly hashing them, and he decided to ban me from the site and change my name associated to my DMR ID to "BANNED" in the DMR database he distributes to all his customers.

I got my first DMR radio today and was looking to download the latest DMR contact list. I found through online tutorials and created an account. I paid the $12 yearly donation to gain access to the Digital Contacts Wizard.

After creating my account, I noticed that I received a welcome email containing my full password in plaintext. I then logged into the website and noticed that the account details displayed my full password.

For those that aren't familiar with website security, this is a huge no-no. Passwords should be hashed before they're stored. This means that there should be no way to decrypt the stored password. Instead, at the time of login, the password entered is run through the same hashing algorithm, and if it matches the hash stored in the database, then the passwords match and login is successful. If a website can display your password, it means they are not properly hashing your password, and they may even be storing them in a database in plaintext. Since people re-use passwords on other websites, if an attacker would gain access to the database, he would have the keys to the kingdom (bank accounts, social media accounts, online shopping accounts, etc.).

I immediately tried to change my password while logged in, but found that I could not even change the password I initially created. I logged out, and chose the "Forgot Password" option, hoping my password would reset and allow me to set a different one. Instead, the "Forgot Password" option only showed me a password hint (i.e. the last 4 characters of my actual password). The site said that if I needed any other password help to please send them an email.

I sent an email asking for my account to be deleted and sharing my disappointment that the site isn't following responsible website security standards. The guy (Marshall) responded by refunding my $12, banning my DMR ID, and marking my name as "BANNED" in his DMR database. This means that anyone who downloads their DMR DB from will see my name as "BANNED" on their radios.

He finished his email with

You can explain to people why your name shows up on their radio as"BANNED" for your DMRID.  :)

I attached the entire email chain for full transparency.

I'm super upset about being banned, especially since I only got my first DMR radio a few hours ago, but the behavior of the guy who manages the website seems so childish. I didn't even ask for a refund. Frankly, a website as popular as should do a better job with handling people's password data, especially since thousands of people are likely paying the $12 per year "donation" to use the Contact Wizard. I don't think it's out of line to expect that donations to maintain a website should go towards maintaining the website, security included. Though I definitely would agree that I could have been more professional in my original email, I don't think I deserved to have my information banned from the database, and it's kind of crazy that one guy has the power to do so.

I'm on my 30s and I just got my license, I have a DMR radio and I've listened to some TG. I have no more experience than that, but what I have observed is that there are no young people in this hobbie (everybody I listen to is much older than me) and most of the conversations are about trivial topics (where I am on vacation, what is the weather like, etc...).

So that's all? I am an engineer and I like communications, but talking for the sake of talking without any specific professional purpose I just don't see the grace in it.

I just don't get the point in the DMR either. If I communicate with the nearest tower and all the towers are connected to the internet... aren't we reinventing the wheel but worse? We have LTE for this, don't we?

Maybe this is not for me or maybe I am still too inexperienced and I don't see where to continue.

Any advice?

Thank you so much.

EDIT: I did not expect such feedback, thanks! I'm adding what led me to get my license:

- I always liked the powerful Motorola Tetra firemen and policemen use

- I would love to be involved in the frequency coordination of large events such as concerts or football stadiums.

- I also like the survival aspect where the radio is the only system that can work in remote areas

Hi everyone! My name is Noah and i’m a software engineer. I spent time in the Marine Corps as a radio operator and always wanted to contribute to the radio community. I am currently developing a mobile app for radio operators and enthusiasts. As of now, you can create stations that display on a map, the map shows your all other stations world wide, with each station view a calculated azimuth, chat for troubleshooting purposes, view weather in a specific area or from one station to another, and some other features. The app will be completely free and is actively under review at apple, i can post here when it gets approved. My question is, if you could have an app to help you in your amateur radio endeavors, what would you like it to have? I’m asking because whatever insight i get here, i will put into the app. Edit: Just posted in this sub with links to the current version