Jul

29

Ham Radio Information

Filed Under Communications 

For radio hobbyists and people who spend a lot of time broadcasting independently for local communities, amateur radio means ham radio. The participants to the communication media enjoy the activity in itself while also doing services to the community, but it is also true that it is on their skills that emergency and disaster communications often rely if necessary. Estimations indicate that some six million people around the world are regularly part of ham radio, and although the purpose of broadcasting is not commercial, the profit comes from the joy of being on air. It is the non-commercial feature the one to distinguish ham radio from other radio stations, and not the lack of skills as one may believe.

Ham radio is believed to go back to the end of the 19th century particularly since at the beginning of the 20th there were around ninety amateur stations registered only in the United States and Canada. The appearance of ham radio is tributary to hobby practices and experiments, and very often the contribution made to science and public services has been preponderant. Moreover, plenty of emergency cases had a happy end because of the intervention of ham radio operators.

Ham radio uses the Morse code in its more classic forms, but basically, the AM and FM frequencies remain the most popular particularly for local or regional amateur radio stations. As for other technological improvements, ham radio meant the introduction of the packet radio and the use digital modes and computers for broadcasting. Last but not least, ham radio operators manage to use the low power communications on shortwave bands while staying in real-time mode.

Ham radio through satellite signal is no longer out of reach with the existence of the orbiting satellites carrying amateur radio (OSCAR); all one needs is a basic hand-held transceiver to make the broadcast possible. Another interesting aspect is that ham radio operators use the aurora borealis and the moon for the reflection of the radio waves. It was a real pleasure for some ham radio operators to get in contact with the International Space Station that counts licensed radio amateurs among the crew members. Discussions are in fact common practice among the individual hams who get on-air just to join one meeting or another.

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