Radio Days Are Back: Ham Radio Licenses at an All-Time High

[REO 54]

Could be that it's also apart of the new preparedness activities that have been ramping up over the past couple of years.Naw,they would'nt
mention that comparison.

The newest trend in American communication isn't another smartphone from Apple or Google but one of the elder statesmen of communication: Ham radio licenses are at an all time high, with over 700,000 licenses in the United States, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Ham radio first took the nation by storm nearly a hundred years ago. Last month the FCC logged 700,314 licenses, with nearly 40,000 new ones in the last five years. Compare that with 2005 when only 662,600 people hammed it up and you'll see why the American Radio Relay League -- the authority on all things ham -- is calling it a "golden age."


Nov. 16, 2011: Joe Carcia mans the mic at W1AW at the American Radio Relay League Headquarters in Newington, CT.
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"Over the last five years we've had 20-25,000 new hams a year," Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the group, told FoxNews.com.

The unusual slang term -- a "ham" is more properly known as an amateur radio operator -- described a poor operator when the first wireless operators started out in the early 1900s. At that time, government and coastal ships would have to compete with amateurs for signal time, because stations all battled for the same radio wavelength. Frustrated commercial operators called the amateurs “hams” and complained that they jammed up the signal.

People like John Pritchett have used the slang term ever since.

“It takes an inquisitive mind that wants the challenge to speak with the rest of the world,” Pritchett told FoxNews.com. “I meet a lot of people as a result amateur radio. It’s a fascinating experience to meet somebody who you’ve talked to for years -- when you finally meet them and go, wow, that’s you.”

Pritchett has been a ham for over 35 years. He sits in his ham shack slowly turning the dial on his amateur radio and listening attentively for a voice through the high radio frequency. But he’s not looking for aliens: Pritchett is dialing in to make contact with someone around the world.

“W6JWK, This is John in Fresno, California,” he says.

Pritchett can communicate with people around the globe or even astronauts in space by talking through his microphone or using Morse code.

With more people joining the hobby, local ham radio businesses are growing as well. Amateur Electronics Supply in Las Vegas sells everything to do with ham radios, from transceivers, amplifiers and antennas to handhelds.

“We have clientele from all walks of life," manager Luke Rohn told FoxNews.com. "We have church groups who are interested in ham radio for a viable source of communication in times of natural disaster. We have young kids that find ham radio interesting. Maybe they’ve heard about it through their father and grandfather and it’s a lot of fun for them.”

According to the American Radio Relay League, retirees and emergency groups are among the main reasons for the nearly 30,000 new hams that pick up the hobby each year.

Ham is a boon for safety as well as a fun pastime: When normal communications methods fail and cellphone towers are jammed, ham radios will still work and can help out in disaster situations, because they don’t require towers to relay the signal.

“Amateur radio came into play very much during the major earthquake in the Bay Area in 1989. The only thing I had was a little handheld radio. Nothing else worked, telephones didn’t work, cellphones didn’t work, amateur radio just kept right on working,” Pritchett said.

Looking to ham it up a bit with some friends? Try a fox hunt -- the radio equivalent of ham-to-ham combat. In a fox hunt, local amateur radio clubs search for a transmitter (called the fox) using their homemade antennas.

“The fox hunting is really fun -- the thrill of the chase, the competition of being the first to find the transmitter,” said Rob Mavis, president of the Clovis Amateur Radio Pioneers club in Clovis, Calif.

Ham radio is inexpensive fun, as well: All you need is a couple hundred bucks to get started and a FCC license -- which is free, but requires a $10 to $12 fee to cover expenses.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...#ixzz1eUkCUYPV

[GodspeedMetals]

any suggestions on a good reliable and inexpensive radio?

[GodspeedMetals]

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...for_egypt.html

Jan 31, 2011 8:10 pm
Ham Radio Not a Viable Option for Egypt

By Nancy Gohring, IDG News

Despite the best efforts of Internet activists who are trying to help Egyptians communicate with the outside world, ham radio isn't a viable option in this situation, experts said.

The Egyptian government has ordered the shutdown of all ISPs (Internet service providers) as well as some cell phone services. The move appears aimed at disrupting protestors, who have been demonstrating across the country since last week. They are calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In order to fill the communications gap, supporters around the world have set up free dial-up phone lines and are trying to get the word out to Egyptians that they are monitoring certain ham radio bands for their transmissions.

However, despite reports of ham radios being used to send Morse code, there have been no confirmed transmissions out of Egypt, said Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the National Association for Amateur Radio. "I haven't heard of any transmissions, period," he said.

The group We Rebuild has set up an IRC for ham radio enthusiasts around the world listening for transmissions on the designated band. They have reported hearing what may be Morse code and possibly some audio messages.

Hearing little, the supporters sometimes voice their frustration. One, called "+HAMguy," joked: "Who needs a social life when you can listen to faint beeps all day long while talking to complete and utter strangers."

There is a long history of using ham radio in emergency situations, but it is not ideal for the current situation in Egypt, Pitts said. "Ham radio does do wonderfully in situations like this ... but in this particular case, there's nobody transmitting," he said.

That may be partly because there are few ham users in Egypt to begin with. "Most people cannot afford it or do not have the political connections needed to get a license there. Those with licenses are apparently, wisely, keeping low," he said. They may be concerned about who is listening and whether there will be consequences for what they say.

Although there has been little to no traffic coming out of Egypt, ham radio enthusiasts have been having a lively discussion about whether the technology should be used in a situation of political upheaval.

"Amateur Radio should not be used for this political purpose -- Especially to subvert the will of any government. It's not its purpose. This is not emergency communications," a person with the call sign KB3X wrote in a forum for ham radio users.

But others said the situation in Egypt is exactly the type of emergency where ham radio can be helpful, and that the politics behind it is irrelevant.

There is an "international gentlemen's agreement" that people don't talk politics or religion over ham radio, Pitts said. But to use ham radio in a situation of unrest where people are communicating to improve their safety is a good use of the technology, he said.

In fact, some cities, including Seattle, have emergency response centers that include rooms set up for ham radio enthusiasts who volunteer to help with communications during emergencies. It wouldn't matter if the emergency were a natural disaster or political unrest.

"The bottom line is that aside from politics, people are concerned about the health and well-being of folks that are over there," said Mark Sheppard, who heads emergency communications for Seattle's Office of Emergency Management. It would be totally normal and accepted, for instance, for someone in Seattle to use ham radio to try to speak with someone in Cairo about locating a friend or family member there, he said.

Ham radio was used for communications in other recent emergencies around the globe, including the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, he said. It was also used during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, when a dedicated operator continued to broadcast information about what was happening in Kuwait after other forms of communications were cut.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com

[searcher]

any suggestions on a good reliable and inexpensive radio?

www.hamradio.com www.dxzone.com www.eham.com www.qsl.net You'll find radios advertised on these sites and a lot of info that may point you in the right direction.

[GodspeedMetals]

www.hamradio.com www.dxzone.com www.eham.com www.qsl.net You'll find radios advertised on these sites and a lot of info that may point you in the right direction.

Thanks Searcher!!

[searcher]

Thanks Searcher!!

You're welcome. You can also go to you tube and search ham radio, amature radio and shortwave radio. Should get some good stuff doing that.
If you want to listen to some ham / shortwave traffic live on the internet there should be links in the sites I sent that will allow you to do that.
The best way (IMHO) to get started would be to buy an inexpensive digital portable shortwave receiver with upper and lower side band capacities. This will let you hear international broadcasts as well as ham radio operators. You can get a pretty good one from Radio Shack for under $100. Good luck and good listening.

[<===Foolsgold]

Thanks Searcher!!

Depending on where you live and who you intend to communicate with, you have a variety of options.

There are currenly 3 levels of license Technician, General and Extra. (Note: the literature mentions Novice, I have no idea what that is)

If you want to communicate great distances, to other continents for instance, you will need a General license. I have a Technicians license

and communicate locally (up to 60 miles) using repeaters.

Here's the offical band plan http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf

[Abouthadit]

Got my tech ticket in Sept and just passed the exam for upgrade to general. Only 2m/440 dual band HT for now Looking to pick up some HF stuff and hang a wire in some trees soon.

KK4EFN 145.470 PL100

73

[Abouthadit]

any suggestions on a good reliable and inexpensive radio?

www.hamradio.com has a sale for a Wouxin HT, dual band for about a buck twenty. I have two and am pretty pleased with them. Work well with a mag mount for the jeep and the home made ground plane antenna I made out of 12 gauge single strand wire at the house.

[<===Foolsgold]

I depend upon EHam Reviews for good advice from other Hams.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/

[spacecase0]

I bought a Wouxin a while ago,
great hardware, good filters, it has a built in flashlight, good battery life,
it does have an odd antenna adapter, so it is hard to find other antennas for it, but the antenna it comes with works well.
but the user interface is not so easy to deal with.
for example you can't change power level in a memory setting,
so I just programmed every channel with a high and low power setting in separate memories...

I have many radios and know what many of the others will do,
if you tell me what you are trying to do with it then I can suggest one that should do what you want for the lowest money amount.

[RichG]

Andy and I are doing a show tonight on this topic. Please join in and give us your thoughts. We have a guest tonight that has done a white paper on this topic... or at least very close to it. He is a ham operator and a communications expert.

http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthre...rnet-goes-down.