You know how sometimes in a show or a movie there is a character that has a “radio friend” that they talk to? Yeah that’s what I want to do.
But I do not know how to so I came to ask you! Cheap, preferably.
Out of curiosity, I found this app on IzzyOnDroid, (which gave me the idea in the first place) Codec2Talkie that seems to be what I’m looking for but I’m unsure due to my ignorance.
A radio modem seems to be required as the app description dictates. I can find one somewhere no issue. But is this the correct approach? Is there a better way that I don’t know of?
It can be daunting to get into the hobby, there are a ton of niches.
To start: where are you? I’m in the USA, so that’s where my experience is.
License: required to transmit on the ham bands; you can listen without a license.
Range: are you looking to talk to people in your city/region? If so, a cheap “walkie-talkie” style (called “HT” in the biz — best avoid “walkie-talkie”) is a good place to start. These VHF/UHF (very/ultra high frequency) radios are affordable — something from Baofeng(~$30) or similar will work just fine, though they are often looked down on (I have one — for the price, it’s great). You will have the most luck if there is an active ham scene in your area, in large part because they may have a repeater, which can greatly extend your range. Many regions will have scheduled “nets” where you just go around and chat.
If you’re looking for the ability to chat with folks on the other side of the world, you’ll want to look into HF (high frequency). This is much lower frequency, thus longer wavelength, than the handheld VHF/UHF HTs. So…the antennas take up a lot of space. Mine is 52 feet long, in the attic. And the radios are much more expensive (more like $1k new). ICOM 7300, Yaesu FT710 are popular entry level units (but you also need power supply, cables, and antenna).
That said: if you just want to listen to HF, the antenna doesn’t matter as much at all, and you can use an SDR (RTL-SDR probably works?) for listening. You can probably also find a used shortwave radio that covers some of the HF ham bands.