Dear Editor:
Some SurvivalBlog readers are really into ham radio; some are not. I think you’ll all find this YouTube video link very interesting as it concerns various modes of digital radio transmissions that ham radio operators use daily and enjoy. It shows you, and lets you hear, what a digital mode is like if you come across it on your shortwave receivers, or your ham transceivers.
There are advantages in recognizing that what you’re hearing is a digital message, and knowing the type of transmission. If you have a shortwave receiver that can discriminate the frequencies you can even decode these messages with out the need of a license. You just cannot partake in the conversation in a reply. A high quality receiver with an audio output jack and a link between your computer sound card and free demodulation software such as Digipan and many others will let you listen in on virtually all of these types of digital transmissions.
I hope you will find it interesting and education and even more so motivating to either get into ham radio, or to upgrade your license to become more active in to higher frequencies offered with the General and Extra class tickets. 73, – Mike H.