To join in on the newest Amateur Radio digital mode all you need is the ROS software, which can be downloaded for free from http://rosmodem.wordpress.com/, a transceiver and a PC with a soundcard interface, however, if you don't have a transceiver you can still tune in to ROS transmissions using the University of Twente Software Defined Radio with the ROS software installed on your PC.
Amongst the advantages of this digital mode is it's exceptional efficiency under marginal signal conditions, thus making it ideal for communicating using very low power. An option on ROS also allows the email reception report to be sent automatically over the internet, thus SWL's can actively participate and provide licenced Radio Amateurs with valuable reception reports.