Ham Radio/GMRS vs Zello

[cigars]

Well here we go folks. The walkie talkie app Zello is going woke along with the other big tech. The merits of why they are doing what they are doing is quite debatable and I'm not going in that direction here. However, this is one of the reasons I don't trust set ups like Zello or SDR for ham. For those of you who don't follow, Zello kind of came in where Nextel left off with the instant-on walkie talkie. Nextel saw the writing on the wall and sold their dedicated network to Sprint and it disappeared when communication apps came on the scene. Zello let's you do the same thing as Nextel but via an app and phone instead of a dedicated bulky cell phone/walkie talkie. Like all things existing over the Internet, the tech gods giveth and the tech gods taketh away. IMHO, best to stick to actual radios rather than software where you can be tracked and controlled depending on which way the wokeness blows that day. Now I'm not siding with militias or any causes or purposes for using tech like Zello. All I'm saying is that if they can target and shut down them, they can and will do it to you when they don't like what we say either.

Zello confirms use of walkie-talkie app during Capitol riots, will 'ban all militia-related channels'

Zello, the popular walkie-talkie app, has confirmed the use of the app during last week's Capitol riots and said it would "ban all militia-related channels."

www.foxnews.com

Read More

 

[citizen a]

The great thing about radio is that it avoids the need for the Internet. Keep it simple.

 

[EHJ]

Well here we go folks. The walkie talkie app Zello is going woke along with the other big tech. The merits of why they are doing what they are doing is quite debatable and I'm not going in that direction here. However, this is one of the reasons I don't trust set ups like Zello or SDR for ham. For those of you who don't follow, Zello kind of came in where Nextel left off with the instant-on walkie talkie. Nextel saw the writing on the wall and sold their dedicated network to Sprint and it disappeared when communication apps came on the scene. Zello let's you do the same thing as Nextel but via an app and phone instead of a dedicated bulky cell phone/walkie talkie. Like all things existing over the Internet, the tech gods giveth and the tech gods taketh away. IMHO, best to stick to actual radios rather than software where you can be tracked and controlled depending on which way the wokeness blows that day. Now I'm not siding with militias or any causes or purposes for using tech like Zello. All I'm saying is that if they can target and shut down them, they can and will do it to you when they don't like what we say either.

Zello confirms use of walkie-talkie app during Capitol riots, will 'ban all militia-related channels'

Zello, the popular walkie-talkie app, has confirmed the use of the app during last week's Capitol riots and said it would "ban all militia-related channels."

www.foxnews.com

Big reason I'm not a die hard DMR / APRS / WinLink fan.
And why my 2M/440 stuff is focused more on longer range simplex with a nice beam than just relying on local repeaters.

But my first love is skipping waves off an angry inner ionosphere. HF baby.

 

[citizen a]

Big reason I'm not a die hard DMR / APRS / WinLink fan.
And why my 2M/440 stuff is focused more on longer range simplex with a nice beam than just relying on local repeaters.

But my first love is skipping waves off an angry inner ionosphere. HF baby.

It would be cool to reach out across the world with no infrastructure in between, but I need another gear intensive hobby like I need a hole in the head.

 

[cigars]

It would be cool to reach out across the world with no infrastructure in between, but I need another gear intensive hobby like I need a hole in the head.

10M isn't that hard to get in to if you want to play with skip. I bought a 10M set up for my kid but she hasn't done much with it. I would take up her slack but I really don't like talking to people that much. But we have it if we need it and can take it mobile.

 

[EHJ]

.

 

[AshWilliams]

Nothing wrong with SDR. All of the stuff I played with is open source including the firmware so everything is transparent.

I think there's a place for traditional ham radio as well as SDR.

 

[cigars]

Nothing wrong with SDR. All of the stuff I played with is open source including the firmware so everything is transparent.

I think there's a place for traditional ham radio as well as SDR.

You missed my point. The point was that there are gatekeepers. Even with repeaters having a back haul over th Internet there are gatekeepers but with handhelds, mobiles and base units there are no gatekeepers. Basically in this day and age you can not trust the Internet or anything depending on it.

 

[AshWilliams]

cigars said, "this is one of the reasons I don't trust set ups like Zello or SDR for ham."

I was just pointing out the fact that there's no dependency on the internet or closed software for SDR. It can be trusted and is a completely viable solution provided you use open source tools, if you're concerned about vendors compromising their products that is.

 

[cigars]

I trust nothing digital, especially in this day and age when all things digital are designed to implement control over us.
Now it's time to ignore my own thread.

 

[AshWilliams]

I trust nothing digital, especially in this day and age when all things digital are designed to implement control over us.
Now it's time to ignore my own thread.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯