Amateur Radio aka ham radio...
I've always been fascinated with electronics and 2-way radio communication. Some of the geeky kids in electronics class were licensed radio operators as teenagers. My uncle got a license while he was in the NAVY and could send and receive messages on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!The difficulty wasn't the rules and regulations, for me, it was the code. You need to comprehend 5 words per minute to pass the exam.
Before radio communication, there was the telegraph. A device where wires strung for thousands of miles could carry faint signals from station to station. A device called a key was tapped on and a speaker on the other end captured clicking sounds. Inventors around the world were beginning to use this device and inventor Samuel Morse devised an alphabetical system of varying spaced clicks. dit and dah is the easy way to describe the sounds. dits were short and dahs were long! This was knows as Morse Code.
Wireless radio communication, didn't have voice capability in the beginning. Radio receivers could only detect clicks and Morse Code was used to send and receive message over the air. It worked so well, that a watt of transmitting power could be heard half-way around the world.
Receivers became more elaborate and voice communication became possible. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maintained that radio operators be proficient in Morse Code to get licensed.
My friends were using Citizens Band (CB) radio where the FCC allowed people to use low power 5 watt radios for voice communication and no testing was required for licensing. The CB radio was only good for a few miles. That lead to bigger antennas, more power and the ability to talk farther/further. It was a hobby I had for at least 10 years.
Not far from my home is a county park and in a fenced area is an antenna farm of many different sized antenna arrays. I rarely see any cars at the compound until one day last week, about 20 cars were out front. They were having a BBQ for an open house to attract new members.
I was curious and stopped in to ask a few questions.
It's been years since I talked on a 2-way radio and since then, the FCC (realizing new membership had fallen off) no longer required the operator to be proficient in Morse Code.
I still have some vintage ham radio gear. Two of the transceivers were fully restored by a technician 5 years ago. Do I want to do this?
Groan... I'm living in a condo and not allowed to mount an antenna on the roof.
All this to talk to a bunch of guys my age who discuss their radios and the money invested in this hobby.
My thought 5 years ago was to sell the gear I have and not bother with amateur radio.
Maybe I'm of the same mindset today.
Comments (17)
I doubt any of the people who ready my blogs would have the slightest interest in amateur radio, why bother? With internet, you can communicate globally any time of the day with voice and video. So why attempt to convert someone away from something so powerful?
The inquiry at the radio club confirmed I have lost interest in that hobby.
From the top of the blogs page:
"A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned."
Thanks for your comment.
I have a friend here in Cebu who has a radio setup back in the US that we can access via the internet and then transmit/receive at any time day/night.
Amature radio s not just about chatting with like-minded people, it is about designing antennas and making electronic additions to benefit the Ham World, especially in emergency situations.
My advice would be to dust off your old rigs and get a simple antenna such as an active loop and then just listen to various ham radio bands, if you find it boring then as said above just sell your radios and forget about becoming a licensed Radio Ham Operator.
But I think you will be fascinated and want to join the Amature Radio World.
such as Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood
Events run most weekends and POTA (Parks on the Air) is well established and makes for a very interesting weekend. All you need is a transceiver, a 12V battery and a long-wire antenna to start with.
If you have a balcony you have an ideal place to construct an antenna for a home base.
I've never cared to operate a base station but I have enjoyed my handheld radios. Presently, I only use an Icom ID-52A 5W D-Star VHF/UHF Digital Transceiver. The D-star aspect keeps me interested in ham activities. You don't need a license to operate a ham radio in an emergency though. I probably will always have a working handheld around for emergency situations, if for nothing else.
It does sound like you should sell your ham gear.
Utah has the best antenna array in the US and allows you to listen to every amateur band.
if you have some time try listening
Thank you for bring back happy memories
It was an excellent radio used across the world b those Amateurs that wanted a cheap transceiver that they could build and learn about electronics at the same time.
Heathkit was the forerunner in Electronic kits, they were based in Gloucester until they closed up.
International Morse or German Morse is used today by the US military/UK military and NATO as well as the Maritime Navy and of course Amateur radio operators.
It was an excellent radio used across the world b those Amateurs that wanted a cheap transceiver that they could build and learn about electronics at the same time.
Heathkit was the forerunner in Electronic kits, they were based in Gloucester until they closed up.
My dad used to borrow my nail varnish to make his own circuit boards. He'd paint the copper he wanted to keep on the plastic backing board before soaking it in some solution. He was ridiculously nerdy.
I once dragged my daughter around a museum of packaging and advertising in Gloucester. Is there a nerd gene?
Utah has the best antenna array in the US and allows you to listen to every amateur band.
if you have some time try listening
1975 a group of model helicopter enthusiasts would meet on weekends at a county park.
At the time, the radio control hobby was using 72mhz with limited 12 channels of FCC allocations.
Radios were crystal controlled and you had to wait to fly if your frequency was in use. Often some careless person would turn on a transmitter and the aircraft who had authorization to fly would get jammed and crash.
We decided to get technician class licenses so we could switch to 6 meters and have crystals cut on private frequencies.
27MHz AM for general use (identified by colour, rather than channel number).
35MHz FM for aircraft use only.
40MHz FM for surface vehicles only. (cars/boats and hovercraft)
....then later, when I was about 18-19 years old my handle had changed to Lady Ice. An old Arcadia song that I felt I related to at the time. Boy, was I young
....then later, when I was about 18-19 years old my handle had changed to Lady Ice. An old Arcadia song that I felt I related to at the time. Boy, was I young
I had friends in Venezuela who would talk every day after work and conditions were so good I could talk with them from my car!
The locals with base stations would get into group chats, movie reviews, trivia and lots of fun. Probably 20 of us. I asked my neighbor if he wanted to go to dinner. I suggested a place and to my surprise a handful of other people came to meet us.
BLUEBIRD... WHERE ARE YOU??
She was a local who would be up half the night talking to anyone who would listen.