So you’ve survived the horrors of the wastelands and managed to get your hands on a working radio handset. Lets take a moment and learn how to use it! There are a few fundamentals you need to understand in order to operate your walkie-talkie.
- Attach the radio to your belt! This step is optional, but makes setting up the device a lot easier.
- Open the “Device Options” menu by either using the belt hotkey it was assigned to, or by right clicking the radio from your inventory while it’s equipped in either hand, and selecting “Device Options.”
- Turn on the radio, and then click the add preset button. Adjust the slider until you reach the desired station you wish to add. Make sure to name and save your preset station!
- After saving, make sure the desires station is set from the dropdown context menu, and click “Tune In.”
- Ensure the radio is not on mute. It should be a long bar-shapped button. If muted, you will be able to hear broadcasts from the station, but will not transmit!
- Use the “Radio” tab on your chat box to send a message over the radio!
- You can mute, unmute or turn off any radio that is on your belt or in your main inventory with the icons that appear on your screen. There will be a green, red or grey circular indicator for any such radio set. Right clicking any of these icons will turn the radio on or off. Grey indicates the radio is off. Left clicking will mute or unmute it. Green is for unmuted, red is for muted. This is useful for quickly swapping between chat frequencies when using multiple radios.
- The quality of your radio greatly impacts its broadcasting range. You can view the broadcasting range of your radio by opening up your map and pressing the grid-shapped button in the menu on the bottom right corner, followed by the “Radios” button that should be displayed afterwards.
The server’s in-character public radio frequency is 100.00! This frequency is for general chatter intended for a wide audience. Talking on this channel is a great way to make friends and trade!
The dx-44 is a public, global frequency used for trade and reaching out to fellow survivors. Functionally, it is a public discord channel found at the link above. There are some basic rules you must follow when attempting to reach out to others on this channel.
- You must identify the character that is sending the message at the start of the transmission. The name of the sender should always come first, followed by any environmental sound effects, and lastly the spoken words in quotations. See the example message below:
Transmission from John Doe:
You can hear a car engine rumbling in the background as John speaks into his handset,
“I’m on my way, Jane! I’ll be there in twenty!”
- Under normal circumstances, images and gifs are not allowed in posts on the 44. If you are including coordinates and a verbal description of a location, it is okay to send a small clip of the map showing the precise location. You may not include a large-scale image of the map, only a snippet of the immediate area.
- When responding to another person’s message, create a thread. This will allow you to converse back and forth without Slowmode hindering the flow of conversation. It also helps to keep transmissions organized.
- All messages sent on the 44 are to be considered public. Everybody is able to act as if they heard any and all transmitted information, provided they have access to a radio in-character.
- There are no range limits on the 44, no matter what radio handset you have in-character. No matter the distance between two people, you may communicate using this channel so long as you have a radio.
¶ Rules and Etiquette for Radio Transmissions
There are a number of rules and guidelines that must be followed on all radio transmissions, whether in-game or on the dx-44 Discord channel. Familiarize yourself with these before sending any messages! Please keep the spirit of these rules in mind when reviewing them. Attempting to get around the rules for any reason is not allowed, and may result in disciplinary action being taken depending on the severity of the offense. If you have any questions on whether or not something might be violating the spirit of the rules, please consult staff via a general ticket before posting.
- Absolutely NO manner of masking or modulating your voice is acceptable. This is easily exploitable, so for that reason, it is never permitted. If you see someone attempting to alter their voice, you are free to recognize it so long as you’ve heard them speak before.
- Disguising your voice through traditional means is also NOT allowed. Even if you’re a well-practiced actor or actress, anyone is able to recognize your spoken voice even if you alter it. You’re free to emote that you’re doing so, but you cannot use this as a means to hide your identity.
- No manner of message encryption is allowed on the radio. This includes, but is NOT limited to; frequency inversion, noise overlays, and numbers.
- Morse code is NOT permitted during radio transmissions. The most advanced manner of communication permitted in this manner would be something akin to knocking once for yes, twice for no.
- Creating an entire made-up language for the radio ("yaba aba gaga daba do") to talk to friends
- Pinging an entire town for a basic business opening (you can advertise, just no ping).
- The use of languages other than English are allowed on the radio. In the event you are posting on the dx-44 channel, the post must be made in English while denoting which language the character is speaking. (e.g. John says in Spanish, “It sure is hot out today.”)
- Speaking normally, but with coded meaning is permitted. For example, you could arrange codewords with others and use them over the radio (e.g. “The sparrow sings at midnight,” to announce the beginning of an operation).
- You may play your own recorded tapes over the radio, but if they include anybody else’s voice then they require the express permission of that player. This must be granted OOC within a planning ticket on the WL discord server to avoid possible miscommunication and drama down the line.
- Forcing somebody else to speak a word or phrase over the radio is permitted, provided they agree OOC to it in an RP planning ticket on the discord beforehand.
- Music is permitted to be broadcasted over the radio, so long as it is sourced by your character. This could be a cassette tape or a musical performance done by the person transmitting.
- Pinging a town for a unique event.
- Creating a very rudimentary list of signals that represent no more than 10 words ("yes, no, stop, go, retreat, run", etc.). You must have these clearly laid out to other characters in-game or on a faction board before you can use them.
- Pig Latin is permitted because it’s fun.