> If, by "texting", you mean either a handheld radio attached to a laptop with a serial cable, or one of two (three ?) models ever produced that allowed you to key in APRS with T9 typing...
Actually, you can do a good amount of digital modes radio stuff using nothing more than a radio and a smartphone. For example, I myself have made a lot of contacts with people using PSK31 without a cable, using my iPhone speaker and mic near the radio handset.
Digging into how these digital modes work is interesting intellectually. It's doable to implement the signal processing to implement these modes in code. And once you have one mode well-understood, it's also doable to come up with ideas on how to improve upon them and make new modes. Lots of HN readers would be able to do both of those things, and probably enjoy it.
("Modes" here means a way to communicate information over the radio.
Yes, that's true.
If, by "texting", you mean either:
- A handheld radio attached to a laptop with a serial cable.
- One of two (three ?) models ever produced that allowed you to key in APRS with T9 typing on a number pad.
Yep, it's awesome.