Ham radio A ham radio is a small radio transceiver popular among amateur radio enthusiasts . Amateur radio began as a popular hobby and ersatz disaster relief service in the 1940s and 1950s in North America , and remained a popular pastime up until the Great War . Numerous transmitter towers can be found throughout the Capital Wasteland . Despite the passage of time , many of these units are functional . Most broadcast in Morse code , although some broadcast live or recorded loops of audio . Ham radios are mostly useless and serve no real purpose , bar a few exceptions . They are almost never tuned to any particular signal and just emit static . Finding a Ham unit station . Few radio stations are active by default . For whatever reason , most transmitter towers upon which the ham radio stations rely for range have been shut down . Transmitter towers are easily located in the wasteland . Their tall , spindly structure is easily spotted even when near other wreckage . Most towers have a transformer station either directly at their bases or nearby . Typically , one of the transformers will have a breaker box attached , or one will be mounted in a control cabinet nearby . Throwing the breaker will reactivate the broadcast . Unlike real radios , the signal received by the player ' s Pip - Boy 3000 is not broadcast from the above ground tower , but rather from the actual ham radio unit itself . Typically , these transmitters are located nearby in sheltered areas such as drainage cisterns , tunnels , or caves . Finding the transmitter ' s lair is a matter of simple radio direction - finding . Begin by walking in a circle around the above ground tower , preferably at a distance of thirty to fifty feet . Note at which points in the circle the signal is clearest and least clear . Begin moving in a line away from the tower at the point where the signal clarity is best . Walk in a zig - zag fashion , revising the route to keep moving towards the clearest signal . When the signal loses all of its static noise and the broadcast is clear , the transmitter ' s location is nearby . Typically , the entrance to the transmitter station is a manhole cover or other small access point . In many cases , these manholes are tucked close to a cliff face or in a crevasse . Some are drainage culverts under roadways or even manholes built into a road surface . At this point , check the local area map on the Pip - Boy 3000 and you will be able to see the entrance . The broadcasts . While a few stations broadcast in clear audio , most of the ham radio stations in the wasteland broadcast looped Morse code messages . Translated , they follow almost the same pattern without variation : This translates as follows : Uses . Generally , ham radio stations are only useful in that they broadcast a radio signal and serve as a beacon to lead a player to an otherwise difficult - to - find location . Players cannot affect a ham radio apart from turning the signal on or off . Ham radios are indestructible . Since all ham radios are set to the off position by default , they can be used as " breadcrumbs " for the player , turning them on to mark where he or she has been . Only two ham radios have a more significant function in the game . One is set up as part of the public - address system in the Super - Duper Mart . Raiders using the store as a base use the PA system to alert others in the building . In the " " add - on , Chinese technicians use ham radios to call for backup .