1- Emergency Communications
Wi-Fi and iphones are all well and good during peacetime when everything is running smoothly, but in times of natural disaster, war or terrorism, the complex infrastructure of these communication modes is disrupted. Often it is only radio hams who can signal for help and co-ordinate rescue missions. Also, not everywhere in the world has internet and cellular networks. Organisations such as RAYNET, the Radio Amateurs Emergency Network, are at the forefront of emergency communications, specialising in self contained, portable and independently powered radio.
2- Exotic communication such as Moonbounce or talking to astronauts
Moonbounce or EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) is an exotic form of communication where signals are actually bounced off the Moon, other variations include meteor scatter, auroral propagation and ionospheric propagation. Try doing these with your cellphone!
The International Space Station (ISS) often counts licensed radio amateurs amongst its astronauts. Where on the internet can you speak live to astronauts on the ISS?
3- Antenna Systems
These days the antenna is disappearing from our roofscape and largely from our lives. Most mobile devices such as netbooks, iphones, etc, have a hidden antenna. There are many people who are glad of this, but many radio hams view them as a work of art. Indeed experimenting with different aerial systems is an exiting part of the hobby. If you can appreciate the beauty of the Lovell dish at Jodrell Bank observatory, you may be a secret aerial admirer!4- Homebrew
There is nothing quite as rewarding as building a radio from scratch or from a kit and getting it to work. The building itself requires the development of useful skills such as soldering and the assembly also is very educational. During construction you find out how the radio works and develop insight into the technical side of radio and electronics. In the days of 'black box' style devices, the functioning remains a total mystery to many users. In a world reliant on technology, everybody who uses it should have some idea of how it functions, less we become slaves to it! We really don't want Skynet running our lives with no idea where the off switch is!
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| This is the MKARS 80, an amateur radio kit developed by the Milton Keynes ARS. It is fun to build and the finished radio can be hooked up to a battery and antenna yeilding intercontinental communication abilities on the 80m (3.5Mhz) Amateur Radio Band. |
5- Technical knowledge and improvisional ability
Following on from my point about homebrew (radios not beer!) Amateur radio equips you with a technical knowledge of radio, electronics and computers that rivals many professionals. The ability to 'gerry rig' or 'hack' allows a great deal of innovation. Gone are the days of paying through the nose for a specialist adapter for your ipad, you can improvise one pretty well if you know how. Can't get WiFi in your bedroom? Why pay for a new router or call an expensive helpline- just use some sense and perhaps use a high gain antenna! This sort of improvisional ability is a dying art as everything becomes disposable, but there is a reason that amateur radio is popular with the Scouts- Be Prepared!
6- Morse code communications
Learning morse code (or CW as many radio hams call it after the mode of communication used to send it Continuous Wave) is the oldest form of radio communication and was used extensively in the early 20C. Learing morse is like learning a new language and can be extremely rewarding. Morse code is still used extensively in radio communications and is also used to communicate between ships using signal lamps.
7- Short Wave Listening
Short Wave Listening is more than just tuning in a radio, it involves skill and knowlegde. A regenerative receiver for example needs a special technique to resolve the signal and many SWLs can read morse code and are familiar with Q code and radio conventions. There are still many interesting signals to be heard, from amateur radio stations, commercial radio stations, to beacons and mysterious Numbers spy signals. The nature of the bands can tell you much about the state of the ionosphere and SWLing is very interesting and rewarding.
8- Control
Amateur Radio is ideal for control freaks! You have total control of the process (apart from the ionosphere of course!) This type of control allows novel experimentation and new discoveries. Radio amateurs like to build things up from the ground and often improvise power supplies, bulid radios and antenna tuners and construct their own antenna systems.
Amateur Radio may require a license, but once you have obtained it you are in control. You do not have to have a contract with an ISP or cellular network. You do not need to hunt down WiFi hotspots and only you will know how to operate your equipment, as even if you buy a commercially available radio, you will configure it to your own requirements.
If your radio setup does not work, there will be plenty of other amateurs to offer advice, but ulitmately you will solve the issue by your own ingenuity. You will not spend hours on tech support calls and will usually improvise a solution using bits of 'junk' you have sitting around (radio hams are fond of collecting junk from bits of old radios to wire and yoghurt pots!!!)
9- Contributing to knowledge and developing technology
Many pioneers of radio communication were themselves amateurs- as this excerpt from Wiki shows.
The birth of amateur radio and radio in general was mostly associated with various amateur experimenters. There are many contenders to being the inventor of radio, that honor has been disputed between not only the original experimenters, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1888), Nikola Tesla,[5] and Guglielmo Marconi, but also Amos Dolbear, Reginald Fessenden, James Clerk Maxwell, Sir Oliver Lodge, Mahlon Loomis, Nathan Stubblefield,[6] and Alexander Popov.Radio amateurs have been important in the development of radio and electronics and the hobby has also inspired many to take up careers in radio and electronics.
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| Tesla was the quintessential experimenter |
10- Pride
Finally, Radio Amateurs are extremely proud of their acheivments and abilities. They are also proud to be part of a long history of amateur experimenters, pioneers, inventors and eccentrics. In a time when internet 'snarking' is commonplace it is refreshing to find a community of gentlemen (an ladies) who are willing to help and offer advice and adhere to 'old fashoned' values such as integrity and self improvement.
I could add many more reasons, but suffice to say amateur radio remain one of the most interesting, rewarding and constructive hobbies that one can have.
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