[tb_technical]

Some equipment is drop in - hooking up an audio output to a keyed radio is only occasionally difficult. You see a lot of these solutions in the HAM radio space.

The actual radio equipment is a tad more sophisticated - and in poor areas (where it's barely hanging on) is held together with spit, glue, and prayers (exaggeration, joke, but aspects of it are true).

Believe it or not, the RF cables are (in many cases) more expensive than the radios themselves.

Background: Computer systems, radio systems, General class HAM, but certainly not an expert.