This sort of follows on from my semi-satirical “real” ham radio post. I first heard about QSO1 while lurking on the Brandmeister Worldwide talkgroup. It’s a very nifty app to be sure, but sometimes I do wonder if I’m fooling myself. Like what separates the average QSO1 experience from, say, Discord, besides worse audio and fewer text chat features.

Yes, you are potentially transmitting over any number of repeaters on RF, but if QSO1 becomes the path of least resistance for rag chewers like myself and everyone ends up using it, what makes it “real” ham radio?