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Ham Radio Information

October 31, 2009

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 evaluate a six million people involvement in ham radio, and although they are not broadcasting to make money, 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 probably gets back to the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th when ninety amateur stations serviced Canada and the United States. The appearance of ham radio is tributary to hobby practices and experiments, and one cannot deny that very often, amateur radio founders have given significant contributions to science, services and industry. Moreover, lots of people owe their lives to ham radio operators who saved them in emergency cases.

Ham radio covers several types of transmissions and besides the quality FM (frequency modulation) that we are all familiar with, ham radio operators also work on single sideband with a higher transmission reliability or on the Morse code even if technology has come a long way since the days of the radio-telegraph. 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 often use the low power communications on shortwave bands while staying in real-time mode.

Ham radio now has access to OSCARs (orbiting satellites carrying amateur radio) by means of a basic device such as a hand-held transceiver. What it is very interesting is that many ham radio operators use the moon and the aurora borealis to get a good reflection of the radio waves. Some ham radio stations have even got into contact with the International Space Station as the astronauts on board are also licensed as amateur radio operators. On-air talks are frequent as many individuals use ham radio only to communicate with other enthusiasts.

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