IDigit modes like P25, DMR, NXDN, DStar and YSF all can be used with out the aid of the internet.
Once you get accustomed to digital modes, with out the static and picket fencing, it's hard to go back. Again, all these digital modes work just fine with out the internet.
Some years ago, someone came up with the idea to have an Event several times a year which is a simplex event. while I don't necessarily agree with all of the guidelines, DMR, D-Star and Yaesu's C4FM is included as well as analog FM. One of the most frequently asked questions was " Wait, you mean you can do digital without the internet?".. It's sad people didn't even know this and were literally shocked to find out yep, hook that radio up to something other than a rubber duck or magnet mount on a pie plate and see what happens.
The average ham doest understand this.
Our club is in the beginning steps of doing this. We are building a brand new site, that will allow us to do PtP networking to our 2 rural sites. Once complete, we will be able to expand our digital modes footprint, and hopefully have P25, DMR and DStar at all 4 sites.
The average ham (or at least some) didn't understand you don't need IP "anything" or internet to make digital voice work. These guys honestly didn't know you could talk from one radio and base antenna to another radio and base antenna without any infrastructure what so ever. They were quite surprised several times during some nice 2 meter openings getting ranges of 100 Mile plus. I know we did it back in the earlier 2000s frequently on D star, with a group of guys up around Quincy, IL from the St. Louis Area when the band was open a bit.
yes i agree at 70 we are thinning the herd of our generation down ,not by choice but age. january im 71
I hear what your saying but with Ham Radio its not just about having clear communications and it is an experimental scientific hobby after all, so with that said analog should always be available and not totally replaced with DMR. I like DMR but I also like analog for different reasons. Its the same as some people who like to do Morse code on HF when you can do voice communications or those who like vinyl records when there is MP3.
Some of the problem is until someone has a reason or desire maybe, to use it, it won't be. In our case near St. Louis, a fellow put together an event where scores are kept and D-Star, DMR, and yaesu's C4FM was included as modes as well as analog frequencies to make contacts on. So.... people bought mobile radios, hooked them up to power supplies and outdoor antennas and thus DMR simplex happened. Some went to hooking up HT's to an outside antenna for contacts which did yield them more than just a rubber duck, but it was the higher power stuff that got the contacts made.
I suspect that always-on links to reflectors are the death of repeaters. While certainly a technological accomplishment, having the local chit-chat of hundred of repeaters duplicated across the country has to have people reaching for the Skip button.
On occasion I like to listen to the wide linked stuff on our DMR repeater but, more often than not, that radio isn't turned on. There's a once a week net I occasionally try and catch but it's getting rarer and rarer I even try, so many different modes linked in and about 1/2 the time some don't work right.
This is a major part of the answer to the question posed by this thread. 11 meters is not as active as it once was, but on average, you have a better chance of finding someone to communicate with vs a 2 meter repeater or on simplex.
Exactly, sitting here this morning on 6 & 2 SSB handing a few points out for the September VHF thing, lots of static and fading there, but still fun.
Static and fading is real radio to me.
Ya and I forgot that was going on this weekend or I would have switched some antenna's around. I only have some loops for 6, 2 & 70cm but they still work better than the vertical stick I have up on SSB when everyone else is horizontal. My 6 meter par loop is on a painters pole on my back deck but, it works for what it is.
Crank that volume up, adjust that RF gain, get that signal in there!
Sure, just buy a pre-configured package from one of the people that sell them, add internet, and you're on there. At 70, I still go help others put antenna's up and have had a lot of people help me thru out the years. To me, that's all part of it. Even when I lived in an apartment many years ago I managed to sneak up a wire antenna and used my Drake TR-4 and work some HF. Where there's a will there's usually a way. I don't have any monster antenna's up now highest is about 25 feet but, I still prefer that to Internet HF. We did Skype years ago over the internet only difference now is they seem to justify it by adding a radio (most often an HT) to the mix.
