Rabbit1251 Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 I've played a lot of Fallout for many years ever since the first one. At least starting with Fallout 3 there have been shortwave radios cropping up here and there across the Wasteland. Throughout my experimentation I have never gotten one to work except for the "Agatha's Violin" quest. And I'm not even sure about that. So, except for turning them on and off do they actually DO anything. I have started Mrs. Rabbit on Fallout 3 and she asked me this, but damn my eyes I didn't have an answer. Any clues, people? The Rabbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucksteel Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 In Fallout 3 they were intended to inform Three Dog of what you were up to. Clicking a radio would update his announcements. (Or it was intended to from what I understand) I'm not sure it ever really worked properly. I don't think they have a use in FNV or FO4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robhartman9 Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 there is one in Newvegas you use to interrupt the broadcast from black mountain. It is the only one I know of that you actually talk to anyone with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucksteel Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 Your right I forgot about that one. Edit, and come to think of it in FO3 it may have been the radio mods that messed them up. I can remember using on in Underworld and then Three Dog saying something about me finding a city of Ghouls. Don't get me wrong I love "GNR More where that came from" it may just have been an oversight in the mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wunderbot Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 In Fallout 4, if you activate radio towers you'll start receiving the signal from several of these radios. I haven't really looked into most of them, but a few I've discovered lead to old hideouts and such where you'll find some loot and tiny stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levantinium Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 The ham radios give you distress signals if you activate a radio tower in that region. You listen to them and the signal gets louder, clearer, and faster as you get closer to its location. You then turn them off to deactivate the signal. If I'm not mistaken, when the cells reset, the distress signal comes back on. I can't tell if this is a bug or intentional, because it could be intentionally letting you know "hey, I reset and my loot is back, come and grab it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montky Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 an EXCELLENT question! in-game/game mechanics wise;they provide a prompt for a quest,usually a tracking quest "home in on the signal source'or, 'jam the signal'/'match the wave-form'... break the jammer, restore communications.or 'answer the distress call'.- if the signal is interrupted or returns a different tune, it alerts sentries and robots to that area, which can be handy as a distraction.Sadly, most are a one-time play event at the start of the signal, and then they're a dead slot in the radio part of the menu... other ones, like Freedom Radio,provide a rough range estimation for artillery -if you can hear that radio station, chances are you can use artillery.if you cannot hear the radio station, chances are you cannot use artillery support.you deploy the artillery beacon near where you hear the radio station, and run in the direction of where you cannot hear the radio station hehe. It was the same for the institute radio -if you can hear the classical radio station, then you can use teleport to institute base (you need to be outdoors cell).if you cannot hear classical radio station, you infer you cannot teleport.it was to have included the relay towers more... if you hear 'pre-war marching tunes' or 'hello folks, I'm president John Henry Eden..."you generally infer the Enclave is nearby, and that danger is close. in FONV, with the arcimedes zapper, from Poseidon Weapons...if you're outdoors, you hear the 'bleep' from the targetting signal, which indicates you can fire.if you do not hear the bleep, you cannot fire (the bleep doesn't play indoors). in FO3 and FONV, some quest arcs such as black mountain radio ornew world blues, mothership zeta etc, those were prompts started over the radio.----lore wise,the short waves are a dual edged sword - they let folks communicate over a longer distance,though they can be found more easily, and aren't always reliable etc...think 'crybaby' from Firefly, or distractions/traps...every potential signal found could be a hazard or trap, so people would be on edge.assume that if you're talking on an open channel, whatever you say has been overheard(cue sheldon allman - 'big bother is watching you') some secret areas have a wi-fi or shortwave 'tune' as the entrance code;handy to rapidly enter the area, though vulnerable...some roller doors and such could be hacked if you can find the key emission and sample it+ have a high-enough fidelity speaker with the right response range...car alarms could be set off or over-ridden via a lockout code... handy as a distraction... I never got why FO4 didn't feature different kinds of hacking,sorta like in Myst, Arkham Asylum or watchdogs etc, so you can hack at a distance,or closely like Han hotwiring the bunker door... with manual leads and trying to short thething. rather than a tedious RobCo kernel hack to password match. 'find the source of interference" as a radiant ambient quest would be fun -sometimes, it is Raiders or Robots,other times, the Glowing One ghouls are so radiant, they disrupt communications. "Navigational beacons" would be great -you tune in, and can place radio-station objects at settlements,a particular song plays if you face a certain direction on a certain channel,or a tone...or a Protectron reading "the time at the tone is x,y,z at the bleep. bleep. this message repeats." "Vault-Tec Patented Universal Mean Time Repeater |Boston CBD| *vault-tec theme plays* Why, at the tone, it will of course be |XYZ time|. Thank you for tuning in! This wonderful repeater has been made possible by, Vault Tec! Vault Tec - Who else will you turn to, for total protection, against mutually assured atomic annihilation?" "Caution: Mutant Infested Cordon Ahead. Enclave Advanced Operators Only. All Other Personnel Off Limits: Shot On Sight. You Have Been Warned."---- In zero-vis or in some situations, having those for orienteering would be awesome!You know that x,y,z song plays in a northerly direction from your location, etc. "This thing on? Ahem! You hear this, you come here. You come, we have meal! We share! Plenty for everyone!" - supermutants baiting wastelanders with a 'dinner invite' over the radio... sadly, some hungry folks fall for it... rad storms were also supposed to disrupt communications and radio in-game,so if you are out during a rad-storm,you can't call for artillery or reinforcements, but neither can enemiescall ahead and warn anyone or call for backup.making rad storms a tactical choice -risk some slow rad-death, friendly fire, or a lightning strike andincreased chances of critter attacks...vs, ambushing hardened targets... -------thanks for this thread -it's awesome to see the ideas other folks come up with,as well as their reflections on the game :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGadget1945 Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 It's always struck me as funny that Preston Garvey and some other characters have what appears to be a radio mouthpiece on their lapel with a toggle switch on it. It never works though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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