this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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[–] extremeboredom@lemmy.world 220 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Fascist/authoritarian scum the world over are TERRIFIED of the concept of regular human beings having the ability to communicate with each other without being censored, coerced, and surveilled. This is a nightmare scenario for them: people speaking freely

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 50 points 4 days ago (1 children)

agree on uncensorable but keep in mind ham radio is antiprivate by design - every time you say your callsign you sign off

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 15 points 4 days ago (4 children)
[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 59 points 4 days ago (1 children)

you're also a shining beacon every second you transmit and even states with moderate capabilities record their radio spectrum 24/7 even during peacetime

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

I've seen tests where a reasonably equipped military vehicle could not detect a drone in the air near them transfering video, because the data link was roving through a band of several gigahertz at a thousand hops per second.

If you stay close to the noise floor, especially if you use parts of spectrum that others are using (very impolite, but people who don't want to be caught are unexceptionally impolite)... good luck to the catchers. Especially if the signal occurs at a pre-agreed time and remains short (read: don't try sending video, send something SMS sized).

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

yes i know how spread spectrum schemes work, but this is not really practical or relevant here

for spread spectrum things to work you need some wide bandwidth, this works great for microwaves where you can spread your 90GHz band signal so that it covers 5GHz, you can't have a signal centered on 5MHz that is 5GHz wide; HF is relevant because while microwaves work with this microwaves are line of sight only and most people's line of sight still terminates in their own country. if you live on a lone hill next to border good for you, but the rest would need to use HF to get out, and there's simply not that much bandwidth available in the first place, which would make any scheme like this extremely slow if at all viable. and you can still jam it

i don't assume that satellite repeaters would be a viable option because satellite, or any other receiving party for that matter, would need to be aware of modulation scheme to receive it in the first place, so it only works if your international contacts are pre-arranged, and even then you need radio that has much larger bandwidth that is usually available. yapping on LSB or narrow digimodes will get you heard within continental range, but also it will get you noticed, but if you hide from your adversary you also hide from everyone else not in the know. and even then, you can still get noticed, because it's under noise level only at some distance from you

also some of these schemes require precise time to be known, and if you have gps jammed you'll get extra problems from that

[–] northface@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

You could also resort to good old code books and hide your communication in plain sight, instead of trying to evade surveillance with technical tricks that are easily detected.

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[–] village604@adultswim.fan 14 points 4 days ago (13 children)

It's laughably easy for them to track you down if you don't.

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 8 points 4 days ago

ranked competitive version is called foxhunting and even kid can do it

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[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Pretty stupid when you are literally broadcasting a radio direction finder beacon directly from your home out to the entire world.

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

...broadcast it upwards with a reasonably directional antenna, reflecting off the ionosphere.

...broadcast it from a solar powered relay station which you access via optical link from distance.

(Not a ham radio operator, but an anarchist, but I can draw a Doppler radar in GnuRadio and have implemented a monopulse tracker... with lots of help from other people who know better. My assessement: it's easy to track powerful signals on an expected frequency, but very hard to track weak signals which do agile frequency hopping with a random key, or hide among other traffic.)

I feel sad for the Belarusian ham radio operators, however. In case of crisis, they would be the people who could help develop something interesting to help others. They were practising their hobby openly and became targets because of that. People who do clandestine business don't exchange contact information openly.

I guess KGB (they still have it) decided that nothing interesting is ever needed in their land. :(

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago

Not a ham radio operator

agile frequency hopping with a random key

No kidding.

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

You don't seen to understand what the word "broadcast" means and you should probably stop pretending to understand how radio transmission works.

Your recommendation is essentially to not transmit in a way that anyone can receive and therefore you can't be caught. I can give you a simpler plan to achieve that: turn off your radio.

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[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

you super stealthy nvis signal might not be noticed by anyone, including intended recipient, but your antenna farm made form 40m long wires certainly will

[–] btsax@reddthat.com 1 points 3 days ago

I operated on 40m with a dipole I strung up in my attic, so this isn't really true. In WW2 radio operators would build their antennas into plaster walls and other parts of buildings. Very easy to hide even long, large antennas

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Dude you can just encrypt a radio broadcast if you want to do private comms over radio

[–] northface@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Yes, and immediately become subject for closer surveillance by doing so.

My take, as mentioned in another reply: Retain plausible deniability by communicating in plain sight and use good old codebooks or similar techniques for the secret parts of your messages.

[–] TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Most hams do, its part of the culture, experience and fun.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think HAMs are required to?

[–] gallopingsnail 15 points 4 days ago

It's the law, every 10 minutes in conversation and at the end of every contact, at least in the US.

It's also worth mentioning that the bandwidth requirements of actual, honest, information and news, are appallingly low. The level of slop and waste in our current social media landscape is in no way representative of what it takes to communicate effectively.

100 years ago we used to get the word out to broadcasters at 100 baud over teletype.

So, imagine a network that uses less than 1% of the bandwidth we currently use. It's a pocket-sized situation that almost disappears into the noise of everything else, yet is free, accessible, and effective. Radio and mesh networks are absolutely up to the task, even if they have to be covert and/or mobile.

[–] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Right, this doesn't get enough attention. Either weirdly or completely understandable. Especially since the Egyptian uprising I think scared a lot of governments.

Make no mistake. The Arab Spring also taught governments around the world that "shut off the internet" is a crucial element in crushing mass dissent.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Coming soon to a US state near you!

[–] Soulg@ani.social 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm seeing a suspicious lack of Belarusians shooting Lukashenko. Guess they deserve it!

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I can't condone the further division of people with this kind of speech, but damn it if it doesn't prove the point.

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[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 49 points 4 days ago (5 children)

My ex's dad was a ham radio guy but this seems excessive.

I should start making some meshtastic/meshcore devices...

[–] miked@piefed.social 19 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I got my Meshtastic node running tonight for the first time. I expected to be out of range because I have line-of-site to very little. My node currently shows 160 other nodes online. Woohoo!

Already looking at another client for Meshcore.

edit - now at 285 nodes

[–] northface@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What's your antenna setup for that kind of coverage?

[–] miked@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago

Basic external antenna. Sitting on my desk with all my computer stuff.

I thought I'd have to climb on the roof to see another node.

Bought two haltec v3 last night so I can also try meshcore.

[–] cobalt32@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I got into MeshCore after Benn Jordan mentioned it in a recent video. Turns out there's already a network spanning hundreds of kilometers in my area. I'm making a couple companion nodes so I can communicate with my partner, who lives an hour away, in the event of an emergency where there's no power or internet. Also making some solar repeaters to improve coverage in my area.

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[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

My grandfather was a Ham guy, amongst a great many other brilliant things.

One of many things I wish he'd have lived long enough for me to experience with him.

[–] lankydryness@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Great time to. I just got into it and while I never was interested in HAM, meshtastic is fun

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

we really need reticulum to take off. it cleanly spans multiple mediums and is incredibly adaptive.

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Telling us what it is would be a good start

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

https://reticulum.network/

its a higher level mesh networking software that can make use of many different transports to make custom networks of most any sizes

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That fucking toothbrush mustache dictator is on his way to exceed Fat Boy Kim.

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