Sac, you know, I think you may be right. That digital is more of a way to control what goes out over the airways than just improving technology.
I may keep an old TV set for some piracy underground communication. And I’m not joking.
I also think I want to invest in a Ham radio except I wouldn’t even know how to start to buy one, much less operate one.
They said I already had two. Okay..I believe they scan your name, the box ID...the whole ball of wax...Trust me, they are "with you"...
Kinda same thing as the internet...People find you...You're a name, an account, a SS no, an address...And ten to 1....GPS is attached to every unit.
Like anything else these days, I’m sure there are ham radio forums and sites where you could read up and get up to speed pretty quickly.
I’ve looked into it in a cursory way in the past (5-6 years ago), and even then, you could get some pretty nice stuff that looked like a big walkie-talkie for pretty reasonable. Detachable small antenna for portability, that allows you to attach a serious fixed antenna.
The underground structure is already in place I believe. Although it will be hard for a tv station to broadcast analog signals without the good ol US permission slip from the FCC.
Ham is different, but still requires a license from, again, the FCC. But the intelligence world has signal trackers that can home in on “unauthorized broadcasts”.
You can pretty much rule out “unauthorized” broadcasts of a subversive nature in the digital electronic surveillance age. Are you aware that there is satellite coverage passing over the US every 8 minutes? And who controls those satellites?
What I’m telling you is that the government possess a vast network of covert electronic intelligence gathering capacity. Much of it is military and used for foreign intelligence. But who controls the military?
Ham radio? ARRL.net
(American Radio Relay League)