The Amateur radio service, nicknamed HAM radio, is a hobby with many

fun and rewarding activities that has roots in civil defense and the

military and modern day events and technology.

HAM radio services were called upon to do WTC ground zero service.

The hobby itself is a training ground for learning radio technologies

and being prepared for emergencies like natural and man made disasters.

HAM radio is not COMMERCIAL radio. We do not get paid for HAM radio services.

HAM radio operators must pass an exam to get an FCC license to use radio frequencies

that are assigned by the Federal Communication Commission for Amateur use.

This license may be revoked if radio signals are used inappropriately.

This keeps everyone clean so you never will hear CB truck driver speakeasy

trash on a ham radio. This makes for a nice place to visit with the world.

We can use HAM radio locally and world wide.

We can talk with anywhere on the planet with little more than a box no

bigger than a CB radio.

We can talk in English and if we know a foreign language we can speak

that also but we can get around the language barrier.

We can use morse code instead of talking and WE LIKE morse code because

morse code is always done in English.

The Russians talk to me in English. The Cubans talk to me in English.

The New Zealanders talk to me in English.

The Italians talk to me in English... all of them.. with morse code.

We can send computer text messages overseas with our radios.

We can send pictures with our radios.

Its like having email but not having to worry about a wire phone line.

What makes this concept most interesting is that all astronauts that go

to the International Space Station are assigned HAM radio call signs and they DO TALK TO US

back here on Earth.

And sometimes they send pictures.

Can you imagine sitting in your living room and talking with an

astronaut on a radio not much bigger than a cell phone?

We are permitted to experiment with Amateur Television and have our own

TV stations.

We can use HAM radio to control remote control airplanes.

The difference between the off the shelf hobby store RC toy and our HAM

remote controls is that we can use channels that you do not get to use with a hobby store

toy. We are also allowed to transmit more power.

I am allowed to use 1 watt of power output for my RC projects.

That means a remote control airplane could be 2 miles high and I still

can have contact with it and maybe be sending pictures back to me on the ground.

HAM radios have been sent up in weather balloons to the edge of space

and sent pictures back to the HAM operators on the ground.

Those pictures showed the edge of space and the curve of the earth.

Can you do that with your hobby store remote control toy?

We can plant beacon transmitters 10 miles away and hunt them down in

less than 30 minutes.

This is a fun activity that anyone can participate in because the

hunters are not transmitting.

They are just listening so they do not need an FCC license to play.

This activity is nicknamed FOXHUNTING.

Foxhunting is good practice for finding downed aircrafts so its a good

civil defense service to learn.

All of these nifty things and much more make up this facinating hobby

of Amateur radio.

Many of the things we do in the hobby of HAM radio have a real world

application in everyday life industries such as satellite tracking and cell phones

and surveillance and radar.

This list is endless with each new innovation in wireless technologies.

The things you learn in this hobby are in the field of electrical

engineering so many young people who start early in life with the hobby of

ham radio will actually be better prepared for an education in electronics.

Industries and universities recognize this match of hobby skills with

their careers so they make scholarships available to ham radio kids

who want to become engineers.

HAM radio clubs are everywhere.

We have a local club here in Carbon County that meets monthly in or near

Jim Thorpe.

We do education presentations to show the public what fun

this hobby can be.

The hobby is ageless. 4 year old kids have got FCC licenses.

I know a 91 year old man who still enjoys the hobby.

We can do our free presentation for you and your friends or clubs or scouts or school students.

Fill out our survey for contact information .