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[HCDX] Ham radios still popular in the age of Skype and the Internet
Ham radios still popular in the age of Skype and the Internet
Posted: July 1, 2011 - 6:52am | Updated: July 1, 2011 - 7:08am
By LOGAN TUTTLE Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PENINSULA CLARION
http://juneauempire.com/state/2011-07-01/ham-radios-still-popular-age-skype-and-internet
KENAI - When Bill Nelson was growing up in the small town of Westport, Ore., he knew
there had to be a better form of communication than two tin cans tied together.
His family´s radio had a short wave band on it so he could hear short wave broadcasts. In
some instances, he was hearing broadcasts from other countries.
Nelson´s interest was instantly piqued.
"That was a fascination to hear radio from around the world," said Nelson, who now lives in
Kenai.
These were broadcasts not by radio stations, but by individuals controlling short wave
broadcasts. In 1961, Nelson received his first ham radio license. He has been an operator
ever since.
Ham radios are the last line of communication during an emergency where power outages
would disrupt just about everything.
"When I think back to the big earthquake of `64 where all forms of communication were
knocked out that relied on power, cell phone systems may or may not pick up the slack," said
Max Carpenter, Moose Horn Amateur Radio Club Director. "With a big emergency, the ham
radio will probably be the only means of communicating any distances at all."
The reason ham radios will still be functional is due to the fact they are mostly powered by
generators or battery systems. Most operators can go portable, if needed, able to broadcast
from a number of different areas. "All we have to do is set this stuff up, as long as the roads
are open we can get out and do communications for public service, (send) messages to help
the police and emergency responders," Nelson said.
Carpenter has been a ham radio operator for almost 30 years, he used to work with a group
called React, that would monitor C.B. channels for emergencies when a friend told him how
much more he could do with a ham radio.
Much like Nelson, Dale Hershberger was about 14 when he started listening to shortwave
broadcasts on the radio his family owned. As he heard more people talking on the radio, his
interest expounded. Hershberger was a licensed ham radio operator 14 years later.
Although their titles read "amateur radio operators", Hershberger said that is not completely
accurate. "We´re all professionals in our field," Hershberger said. "We´re professional
amateur operators.
Hershberger and several other "professional amateur operators" could be found Saturday not
alone behind the knobs of a radio, but gathered together for an annual event they said they
all look forward to.
The American Radio Relay League is a national association for amateur radio. Every year, an
event called Field Day is hosted, where operators are encouraged to set up their radios using
only generators or batteries to ensure the goal of "being off the grid". Nelson said he counted
about 500 contacts from the Moose Horn club alone.
"That´s pretty good for us because the stations in the Lower 48, they´re talking to one another
with their beam antennas pointed at each other," Nelson said. "It´s hard for them to hear us,
the beams are directional antennas pointing east and west, and we´re kind of northwest so
we don´t have usually have a whole lot of success.
"But it´s always fun anyway."
The Field Day lasts throughout the night - it started Saturday and ran through Sunday
morning. Nelson estimated there were about fifty people coming in and out during that time.
Ham radio is not something that is going away any time soon, he contends.
There are more than 700,000 ham radio operators in the United States alone, Nelson said.
Tests are required to become an operator, but nowadays, the questions and the answers are
available online.
"If you´re a good memorizer, just go through the tests," Nelson said. "We didn´t have that
before, we had manuals and books - you didn´t know what the test questions were going to
be."
Operating ham radios may be somewhat of an unknown hobby, but the reality is that these
operators are responsible for informing the public during emergencies.
"Ham radio is not dead, most people seem to get the mind set that you don´t need that kind
of stuff. We have our cell phones, all we gotta do is punch in the numbers," Carpenter said.
"Cell towers are not always going to be available if the big emergency does come along."
Standard rig : ICOM R75 / 2x16 V / m@h40 heads Sennheiser
Please read and distribute this 15 year research article http://tinyurl.com/5vzg7e
Please read my article on SINPO at http://tinyurl.com/yt7qjd
________________________
http://zlgr.multiply.com (radio monitoring site plus audio clips ) MAIN SITE
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........
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece
greekdx @ otenet dot gr ---
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop
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