Olivia spreads a small amount of data over a wide bandwidth and many tones, which makes it extraordinarily resistant to noise, fading and interference. It will carry a conversation through conditions that break everything else.
The cost is speed — it is slow enough that people tend to use it deliberately rather than casually. Popular with operators working marginal paths and with emergency communications groups.
At a Glance
- Category
- Digital data
- On the air since
- 2003
- Bandwidth
- 500 Hz to 2 kHz depending on settings
- Speed
- Slower than typing
- What you need
- A sound card interface
- Where to listen
- Olivia calling frequencies, often on 20 and 40 meters