Amateur Radio: Not Just for Amateurs

By Earl Hunsinger

In Virginia a man uses a handheld two way radio to keep in touch with friends in Florida. A high school student in South Dakota uses his computer with his radio to exchange chess moves via satellite with a friend in Russia. A mother in Texas uses her radio to send pictures of her children to their grandparents in Canada. Volunteer radio operators in North Carolina work alongside other emergency relief workers to relay messages in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.

What do all these people have in common? They are all amateur radio operators. Amateur radio operators, also known as ham radio operators or just hams, have been around about as long as radio itself.

The first manmade radio signal was transmitted in 1895 in Pontecchio, Italy, by the physicist Guglielmo Marconi. The three dots (for the Morse code letter "s") that he sent that day were heard behind a hill three kilometers away, ushering in the radio age. In the following year, he received the world’s first radio patent.

In the years that followed, Marconi and other experimenters refined the equipment involved and various experimental broadcasts took place, leading to the transmission of the first program featuring speech and music in 1906.

By 1914 there were dozens of amateur experimenters and the first radio club was formed in Hartford, Connecticut. Because radio transmissions were still very short range, one of these amateurs got the idea that messages could be sent longer distances by relaying them. This idea led to the formation of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). In October of 1914, the league published its first callbook, which listed the call signs of some 400 stations in 33 states and Canada.
Today the ARRL, which now has 150,000 members, continues to take the lead in the field of amateur radio, with similar groups in other countries.

People become involved in amateur radio for a variety of reasons. This is a hobby that is fun, convenient, and useful. Some enjoy keeping in touch with other hams from around the world, or getting on the air and making new friends. Some have even talked to astronauts on space missions.

Others enjoy the technical challenges of the hobby, or the competitive challenges. As an example, there are annual contests where hams try to exchange call signs with operators in other countries, perhaps as many as 100 other countries in a single weekend. While equipment today is much better, even in the old days hams were capable of amazing technical feats, even bouncing radio signals off the moon. Amateur radio operators have always been experimenters. In the early decades of the 20th century, you had to have an interest in electronics and experimenting to be a ham. It wasn’t possible to go out and buy radio equipment. If you wanted it, you had to build it. This equipment was known as "homebrew." Although today it is easy to purchase very capable equipment, many still enjoy the challenge of building their own. AC6V’s Amateur Radio and DX Reference Guide lists a wide variety of homebrew sites

Traditionally, ham radio operators have also always been a public resource in times of emergency. Often over the years, when all other forms of communication have failed, amateur radio operators have been a vital link in relief efforts, or in relaying personal messages to loved ones.

As technology has improved over the years, ham radio operators have kept pace. Ham operators today are able to use electronic radio equipment to communicate in ways that would amaze Marconi. In addition to the traditional Morse code, other methods include voice communication, radio teletype, and even slow scan television.

With the rising cost of long distance and cell phone communication, perhaps more of us should consider the fun, convenient, and useful hobby of amateur radio. The National Association for Amateur Radio website will tell you everything you need to know!