Baofeng UV-5R
Post Date: 2024-09-17
Original Post: LinkedIn
On Al Jazeera they are now reporting that an attack has been performed on Hezbollah members in Lebanon that caused hundreds of pagers to explode simultaneously. They are reporting that 1,200 people have been injured. I have not heard of any deaths, but some people have lost their fingers. I believe I heard them report that the devices were somewhat new and were purchased in the last year, though I am not completely sure.
On my website, below the Al Jazeera feed on the homepage, I have a suggestion that people buy the Baofeng UV-5R:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baofeng_UV-5R
It is not really a replacement for a smartphone, but at least with amateur radio it is easier to build your own device that you can be sure does not contain an explosive mechanism or surveillance device, and it does not require a central tower.
Reply 1 - Shane O'Connell
By the way, I do not consider myself an amateur radio expert, so maybe an expert would suggest a different device. However this is the one I bought, and so I have the programming cable and software.
Reply 2 - Shane O'Connell
Also, technically you are supposed to have a license to transmit on amateur radio frequencies. I personally do not have a license, but I like the idea of building my own radio, and it seems like people who build their own radios usually use amateur radio. I intend to get a license before transmitting, unless there is an emergency of some kind before then where it would be useful.
Reply 3 - Shane O'Connell
Al Jazeera is now reporting eight people killed and 2,750 people wounded by the exploding pagers
Reply 4 - Shane O'Connell
Al Jazeera is now reporting that there has been a second wave of explosions today, however this time handheld radios similar to the one I suggested above were targeted. This is obviously concerning.
These explosions seem designed to injure and scare the general population in Lebanon, and so I would call this a terrorist attack. It appears that it was likely Israel that did the attack. On my LinkedIn wall, I have posted about the events in Gaza and have been critical of the things Israel is doing. Should I be concerned that the amateur radios that I have purchased will explode? They probably will not, but at the same time I do not understand the limits of this game.
Right now, the mindset I have is that a possible way to solve the problem is to create an alternate Internet with some kind of open source mesh radio network, with an alternate world government and election system, and alternate currency. Reasonable people will prefer to use a reasonable system, and most people are reasonable people. If this alternate system is popular enough, then it should have enough influence to dictate to real world governments what to do.
If this system actually already exists, then those that are in the system, please include the rest of us.