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I have to wonder, what does it take for a #blind person to communicate using #ham radio? Like, I thought about taking the test and doing all that but firstly, I wouldn't really know what to do with it if I had my license and there are, to my knowledge, no talking radios blind people can reliably use.
in reply to Rook

I've a licence. Radio is a very big world. Depends what and how much you want to do. For example I have a small transceiver (transmitter and receiver) which does voice around the 144mhz band, so local range. It doesn't talk or have any significant accessibility aid, but you can learn the operation by memory.
in reply to modulux

@modulux I'm just looking to socialize with people. I hear there are some great groups for that. After all, if the only reason you're doing it is because of an emergency, it ain't worth it. Just use your phone, iPhones have satellite texting nowadays.
in reply to Rook

I agree there's no a very good practical reason to use radio these days. Even so, in emergency your own equipment might be more reliable than mobile phone towers, but that's not why I'd use it either.

The people in radio are interesting, though trend older at least in my local area. The internet and other things mostly ate it up.

in reply to modulux

@modulux I definitely don't mind talking to older folks. I knew a guy who was fully into Ham radio and seemed to have a pretty big setup. I wonder, is there a way to talk to people from let's say, the other side of the country?
in reply to Rook

Yes, definitely. There are a couple things to consider though:

In general, though not all frequencies behave the same, the further you want to go the more power you need, and at that point the sort of antenna you have makes a big difference. So bear in mind if you can install a large antenna or not.

Also, transmitting morse is a lot easier than voice, so you can go a lot further with less power, but it is also a hassle to learn.

There are also hybrid radio/internet systems where you can use repeaters from the internet and such, like EchoLink.

Disclaimer: my radio days are mostly behind me and I'm talking from memory.