3 ms·
Maybe three years ago I dove into cheap SDR receivers for a few months, exploring different SDR devices, different frequency bands, different decoders, etc. On
by tasty_freeze 7y ago
Maybe three years ago I dove into cheap SDR receivers for a few months, exploring different SDR devices, different frequency bands, different decoders, etc.
One really surprising thing was how little morse code was to be found. And when I did find it, the decoders (like fldigi) were unreliable in decoding. I'm not sure if it was because of their decoding algorithms or if the senders simply had too much variance in their timing.
The bit of traffic I did decode was simply exchanges of contact so each could log a new call sign in their books. I'm not sure what I was expecting to find: because the bits seemed to be "secret" due to my ignorance of morse code, my brain heuristically assumed information they hid must be important.
- thepete2 7y agoA while ago I dove into ham radio a bit. I think what you saw was the 40m and 80m bands (HF band, very high range) which are used mainly for "competitions" (essentially exchanging callsigns). I still find it intriguing because it's such a simple way of communicating. You can build the circuits yourself and with a license communicate with others over kilometers (with a good antenna sometimes thousands of kilometers). Think about it, without cell phone towers, satellites and all that commercial infrastructure it's really the only way to reach anyone.
- thepete2 7y agoby the way here are the IARU bandplans [0] with the beacon frequencies if you need to find them again. [0] http://www.iaru.org/regions.html http://www.iaru.org/regions.html