Amateur Radio

2026-07-13

This idea is still very fresh (or is it really?) and very much "for the plot." I don't need a radio for work, I'm not part of any organization, I spend most of my life in the city... And yet, ever since I was a kid, I've been drawn to walkie-talkies, push-to-talk, radio, and that whole vibe.
I created this folder because maaaaybe I'll finally do something about it. If not, the folder will slowly sink to the bottom of the ideas list without any updates :P

I was inspired by Firewatch and the two-way radios in that game. It turns out that getting the qualifications and a license to use a radio like that (specifically, to transmit) isn't actually that expensive. And the idea of having the ability to transmit somewhere in reserve is more tempting than just buying a receiver. Curious to see what comes of it.

Evening update: ehh, both two-way radios and scanners are expensive, and unfortunately I'm not really sure what I could do with them. I wouldn't have anyone to use a two-way radio with in any meaningful way, and when I watched videos about scanners, people were mostly picking up Ukrainian- and Russian-language CB radio transmissions :p
Maybe someday I'll just buy some walkie-talkies when the kids are older.

2026-07-14

So I ended up buying a Baofeng UV-5RM Plus after all. I had doubts about whether it was worth buying a Baofeng radio because they're supposedly low quality, but I can see that quite a few people use them and even speak highly of them, and they're not particularly expensive, so maybe they'll be good enough for learning.

2026-07-18

I took the radio to the seaside, listened to a few transmissions, and decided it was pretty cool and that I'd like to transmit myself, so I signed up for the exam on August 10. At the same time, I started working through the exam questions. I'm making flashcards and stuff. With the momentum and my burst of short-lived enthusiasm, there's a chance I'll pull it off.