Because you use light to communicate in sign language, and light is just an electromagnetic wave like radio but on another frequency. You just need to be in line of sight

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[–] 93 points 3 years ago (3 children)

Really, radio communication is about creating and transmitting those radio waves. Sign language relies on reflected light waves so it’s actually a form of RADAR 😀

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Alas, RADAR relies on transmitting and then reading the reflected waves.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    RADAR: RA(dio) D(etection) A(nd) R(anging)

    It doesn’t rely on self transmission. It can but you can detect and range other sources without generating it yourself.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    That’s just what the acronym means, it doesn’t describes the actual process. I don’t think there is a single RADAR that doesn’t have a transmitter. At that point it would just be a… radio.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 years ago (1 child)