Research for a writing project

General Discussion Radio 101
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Hi! I’m totally new here, and kind of completely don’t know much when it comes to radios- which makes it difficult when I’m trying to write a story that involves radios, hah. I know I can probably search up most of this, but I’d also like to ask people with real experience. I’m a bit young, so please be patient with me when asking for clarification.

Story details for context (optional)

I’m writing an audio drama/radio play/fiction podcast that centers around a kid using her grandpa’s old radio to broadcast messages to a friend, but it’s an imaginary friend who “went away” after her grandpa died. The broadcasts never get a response, and it’s basically just an audio diary. I’m also planning on having some episodes/chapters feature older broadcasts from her grandpa, if I can.

So, some questions I have for anyone who can answer (and again, please keep in mind I don’t know anything about radios!):

  • I know there’s radios designed for two-way broadcasting (ham radios, etc.) but would it be possible to have a radio originally designed for only receiving broadcasts to be modified into being two-way? How technically difficult would that be?
  • How common/possible is it to be broadcasting in an empty channel? or just to not get a response? Does it depend on the area/how many people can receive+send signals in range?
  • Correct me if I’m wrong, but would the protagonist’s broadcasts (since she has no license, being a child) count as “pirate radio”?
  • Is there an existing radio that you think sounds like it could work/fit for my story? (So I can do more research into that specific radio instead of doing broader, more complicated searching.)
  • I’ve heard there’s a bit of a micro-culture around two-way radios and radio hobbyists, if you have experience with this, please feel free to input! What is clearly apart of this community/hobby to you? What rules/behaviors/lingo have you adopted or observed from you and/or your fellows?
  • If you have 7-10+ years of experience with radios, please share your stories and experiences if possible!

And, Thank you all so much in advance- I’ll probably have more follow-up questions as I learn, so thank y’all for your patience! I’m really excited to be learning more about this, since hobbyist radio is such a fascinating subject, even outside of it being required research!

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I’ll bite: You will get as many different answers as the number of people who may respond.

The term “broadcast” normally refers to a one-way transmission intended for a large group of the public, think FM radio stations you listen to in your car.

When two or more people are using two-way radios to communicate with each other that is usually referred to as a “transmission”. All broadcasts are transmissions, but not all transmissions are broadcasts.

Transmitting to an empty frequency is possible. In HAM radio there are bands of frequencies open for use for licensed operators. Different frequencies are set aside for different modes of communication. Normally when an Amatuer operator transmits on a specific frequency they are expecting someone else to be monitoring that frequency.

People may or may not respond to someone transmitting depending on what they are using radio for. HAM operators will normally respond to others transmitting on HAM frequencies. GMRS users who use that service for family/friend communications may not respond to someone they don’t know. Business radio is another service that may not respond.

There are things referred to as “tones” that if used may make it so that radios won’t hear any other radios on that frequency that are using the same tone/code.

Converting a receiver (radio used for listening only) to a radio that can transmit can be very difficult to virtually impossible especially if you are talking about voice transmission.

A pirate radio station normally refers to a station “broadcasting” one-way transmissions without an FCC license. Again, think AM or FM radio you can tune into in your car.

There are many variations of two way radios and how far they can transmit depending on frequency and transmission power and antenna type/design. With a “repeater” a two way handheld radio is limited in communication distance.

As far as “micro-culture” goes, yes. There is Amatuer Radio (HAM), GMRS radio, CB radio and many others. It seems not all of them play well with each other. If you do a search for Amatuer Radio forums, or any other type of radio forum, and spend some time reading you will learn a lot about the culture.

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