The technical name for a “ham”
operator is amateur radio
operator, in which operators pass a test, acquire a license and
call sign from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and then spend their days chitchatting across the globe.
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The term “ham” was once an insult, a name
professionals gave amateurs with clumsy Morse code skills. Ham
radio is partly the chase of and reward of the contact: Operators
engage in contests to contact someone somewhere, or they compete to
talk with a voice from some far-off land. To confirm conversations,
some still send each other a personalized postcard, called a QSL
Card. Today’s hams can use the Internet to confirm their contacts
through The Logbook of the World (LOTW).
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Before current communications methods became commonplace, when a disaster struck, the ham radio community was quick to respond. Operators became community lifelines, with hams talking to each other and working with emergency officials to relay local conditions. There's even the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®), a volunteer-based group. Disasters still happen, and
ARES activities are still viable today.
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What is the state of ham radio in today’s high technology world? There are now almost 725,000 licensed hams in the U.S. alone (over two million worldwide), an increase of almost 200,000 in the last twenty years. New technology enables communications on previously inaccessible frequencies, with numerous digital modes in use or being developed every day.
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To encourage newcomers, the FCC discontinued any Morse code requirement several years ago,
but interest in this original digital mode has actually increased.
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There's even smartphone apps such as EchoLink, that patches hams into transmission repeaters, devices that receive weak signals and retransmit them with more power.
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Licensed amateur radio operators are granted, with few restrictions, the opportunity to design, build, and operate communications equipment, on frequencies usually assigned solely to them. This ability is not generally available to others outside scientific or commercial experimentation.
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What’s GOOD about Ham Radio? Whatever your license class, and whatever your callsign, there are numerous
types and modes of
operation to keep you interested!
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