Amateur Radio is a fun, world wide hobby that you can find down the street, around the corner, the next town over, across the country, or even around the world!
Secondly, let’s dig into some of what Amateur Radio is.
Most of us are aware of many Professional radio services:
Police, Fire, EMS, and other Emergency Response agencies fall into the ‘Public Service’ radio area;
The US Military has several sections of the spectrum for their radio needs;
There’s Government and Business services;
There’s also Aircraft, Marine (boats, not Uncle Sam’s kids) and Broadcast Radio that all have their own dedicated radio services.
There are also other non-professional, or non-commercial radio services, such as FRS, GMRS, and CB, which are all personal radio services, and there’s MURS, Multi Use Radio Services, there’s a few different sections of radio service for Business use, and there’s cellular radio (Cell phones).
In Amateur Radio, we operate radios for the fun of it, as a hobby, as a service, or as explorers in modern science. The key distinction for us is:
1) We do not provide radio communications for profit or compensation,
2) We use our own sections of the radio spectrum (with some exceptions), and,
3) We do not broadcast, we communicate.
We generally start by communicating with other radio enthusiasts just for fun, whether it be local chatter through the repeaters around town, or just seeing how far we can reach someone esle directly (Simplex), and then expanding into the lower frequency, longer wavelength bands to reach farther away, whether it be the next state or two over, or even across the ocean to another continent!
From there we can work our way into a few different common areas of radio:
Contesting.
In contesting, the goal is to make as many contacts as possible in a specific time period, or, under specific circumstances, such as a specific mode (CW only, voice only, etc), or getting into geographical contests, such as making contact with every county in the USA from our home county, or, making contact with someone FROM every county in the USA (a HUGE difference in contests!).
There are many kinds of contests, and many of each, which we’ll dive into more in later posts.
Public Service.
In Public Service, we use our skills, resources, and capabilities to serve the General Public. We do this in times of peace and calm by providing communications for bicycle rides, foot runs or races, and other such events.
In times of emergency or natural disaster, we also provide communications as needed and ad-hoc, that is, without the need to use the local or exisitng infastructure, as we can create our own support system.
Education.
Many Amateur Radio operators will provide practical appplication of the science of radio to a variety of educational institutions, from elementary to high schools, so that students can learn more about the practical applications of the science(s) they’re studying.
Experimentation.
Another exciting facet of Ham radio, we do a lot of experimenting, tinkering, and ‘trying stuff out’. From things as simple as making a directional antenna out of some copper wire and a soup can, to bouncing a signal off the moon and talking to someone else far away in another part of the world, we’re always working on something interesting somewhere!
Preparation.
A category that I find is recently ‘up and coming’, many people have realized the value of Amateur Radio for backup communications when things aren’t going well, so being prepared to communicate with your family and friends, locally or long distance, without the internet or cell phones has become a valuable tool to many people looking to increase their capabilities and preparation.
These are not categories that you get sorted into and have to stay in, but rather different common areas of Ham radio you can find in almost any club or radio gathering. Most Hams (Amateur Radio Operators) will participate in all of these, and many other, categories depending on their current interests, resources, and wants.
So, what about Amateur Radio is interesting to you?
Drop a comment below to let me know what brought you here, what you’re looking for, or what you’d like to read more about!
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