Al's Blog-o-Sphere

Every issue, QST runs a Q&A help article called The Doctor Is In that answers readers questions about Ham Radio. Usually they are technical topics and the answers can be quite helpful, particularily to the new Ham. But this one opened the column this month and I just have to give it my own answer. Continue Reading…

WSJ Article

A short excerpt:

“Ham radios, battery operated, work well when others don’t in part
because they are simple. Each operator acts as his own base station,
requiring only his radio and about 50 feet of fence wire to transmit
messages thousands of miles. Ham radios can send messages on multiple
channels and in myriad ways, including Morse code, microwave
frequencies and even email.”

At the end, a BPL advocate from Motorola is quoted as saying that ham
radio is “pretty close to nothing.” But a ham operator gets the last
word: “…who you gonna call?”

No matter how you feel about the current state of Ham Radio, in disaster situations, it still brings out the best side of Ham Radio.

“When all else fails…”

(Thank God all the power was knocked out – if there was any BPL in the area, it would have gone offline!)

NPR Interview with Ham who assisted in saving some people in New Orleans.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and all the flooding, stories are starting to come out about the involvement of Amateur Radio operators in the rescue effort.

As with 9/11, I guess it’s inevitable, even though only the tip of the iceberg ever gets noticed. It did seem for a while that nothing was being done, no FCC declaration of Emergency frequencies being set aside, no pleas for Hams to help out. But that was pretty much the same story as the government and charitable agencies. The whole event was just so massive and so widespread, that there was little anyone could do until things settled down and stabilised.

But now that that has happened, things are swinging into motion. The ARRL has issued a call for volunteer Ham Operators, especially those who are expeerienced in emergency communications or have completed their releatively new training program.

I’m sure we’ll hear many more stories in the next few weeks.

I guess you have figured out that I am an Amateur Radio operator by now. This section of my blog is devoted to that aspect of my life.

Which hasn’t been all that busy of late. I have been a Ham since 1969. At that time, I was still in High School, still lived at home with my parents, and the state of Ham Radio was considerably different.

It has changed a lot since then, some ways for the better, in other ways for the worse.

As my career in Ham Radio has gone on over the past 35 years, I’ve accepted that my interest comes and goes in cycles. Work, family and other hobbies all take their toll in taking time, money and enthusiasm for their own use, leaving radio for another time.

I have always planned on having Ham Radio as a hobby that would always be there, if I had time, if I retired, if I became disabled and couldn’t work, it would be there for me to keep busy with. Now that I am nearing retirement, I hope it still will be there for me.

Some of the more recent developments in Amateur Radio, mostly on the “political” end of things, make me wonder if it will be, or if what is left that is called Amateur Radio will be worth even doing.

I know this is all rather vague, especially if you aren’t an Amateur operator, but that leaves me plenty of material for future posts…