Ham Radio Ping ListPlease Freepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from the list.
Posted on 02/24/2005 7:08:15 AM PST by Denver Ditdat
The Internet is busy breathing life into a world once dominated by ancient technology and vacuum tubes. On a sunny Thursday afternoon, a handful of young students learn from amateur radio enthusiast Ian Soutar that the Internet has not only changed amateur radio, but also revitalized it completely.
For example, says Soutar, anyone with a computer and an amateur radio ("ham") licence can get on-air: there are more than 10,000 broadcasting "nodes" hooked up to receive and broadcast voice-over-Internet communications. Soutar got involved with the Esquimalt high school ham club in part to keep the hobby from dying: most of the operators nowadays are in their fifties and sixties. The mating of Internet with more reliable - but range-restricted frequencies - at the higher end of the radio spectrum literally brings a whole new world to long-range radio, and with it, a legion of new fans. One of the main draws of ham radio is "DX-ing" - distance communications.
Many with AM radios will likely notice that they can pick up stations from across the continent at night, when low-frequency radio waves "bounce" off the ionosphere and back down to earth, allowing long-range communication. By day, shorter waves at frequencies around 20-30Mhz (near the public no-licence CB band) bounce in a similar fashion. Yet such "bouncing" was always subject to the prevailing time of day of both participants as well as solar radiation, geography and local weather patterns. With the Internet able to jump gaps that radio couldn't, yet while retaining the flavour of radio, ham use is increasing, Soutar says.
Since introducing links between Internet and amateur radio In England, "they've doubled the number of people that have Ham radio licences in two years," he said. Internet-to-radio links also help reduce the cost of entry into the amateur radio market. Combined with increased production triggered by increased use, price reductions on portable VHF radios bring the cost of entry into the $200-$300 range - well down from the thousands of dollars many shelled out in the seventies and eighties. In a roundabout way, the Internet drew EHS student Chris Scott into the world of amateur radio.
"I get to talk to people all over the world without having to type," he grinned. "I'm lazy."
While MSN and other "chat" concepts sometimes allow for voice communications over the Internet, amateur radio allows more freedom - and more conversation, he said. Others express fears over the need for an Internet connection, something librarian Geoff Orme - the ham club's sponsor - elaborated on.
"They all saw Ian do a demonstration at a rally. He was standing in the middle of the gym, connected to Antarctica," Orme explained.
While Soutar ties in technology advances in the Internet to radio as vital to the renewed interest in ham radio, Orme sees interest gained from the advance in cellular telephones, where the draw is "the whole idea of wireless communication."
Added Soutar, "There's nothing hold anyone back from chatting with someone for hours and hours." "It's a chatroom you can keep in your pocket." To demonstrate, Soutar helped the students grab hold of a nearby ham, John (VE7JWG), who got into the amateur radio hobby six years ago.
"It's opened up a whole new world of communication," he said. "You never know what's out there until you try. It's a challenge."
They predicted the end of books when ebooks came out. They predicted the death of ham radio when the Internet really took off. It's still around.
Ham Radio Ping ListPlease Freepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from the list.
How things have changed. LOL!
From CQ to Voice-Over-IP
As long as someone is generating RF, ham radio will always be around. There is just something innately satisfying about instantaneous person-to-person communications that don't require an underlying infrastructure maintained by some huge corporate or government entity.
Despite its long predicted death, CW will be a part of that, too. Smokeless powder and commercially manufactured cartridges didn't mean the end of black powder shooting. PSK-31, IRLP, and Echolink are all fun, but there is still a lot of personal satisfaction to be had in building and operating a simple CW only rig. When camping or backpacking, it's the only way to go!
The Denver IRLP node on 145.34 is great fun! My favorite mode is still CW, though. 15 watts on my little Ten-Tec Argonaut V in to a simple attic dipole may not snag a lot of DX, but it's always a blast.
Agreed. :-)
(However, don't be surprized if you see a young camper pull out a small collapsible satellite antenna, a flexible solar array, laptop, and surf the web from some campsite. LOL!)
My satellite backup communications plan. LOL!
<G> Hey - that sounds like fun! Swapping the laptop for my Pocket PC would make that a pretty compact setup. Hmmm...
bump
Yuppers! :-)
I still have a Radio Shack model 100 connected to a Heathkit Packet 232. :-)
Can Muslims use HAM radios?
Can Muslims use HAM radios?
I know there are a lot of people here who know what you said - I'm just not one of them.
Not your fault - just my ignorance.
Years ago, I had a SSB CB in my car when we lived in the Twin Cities. I visited with a chum in Sudbury, Ontario every morning on my way to work.
CW is continuous wave.
"15 watts on my little Ten-Tec Argonaut V in to a simple attic dipole may not snag a lot of DX, but it's always a blast.":
Only a 15 watt transmitter using a dipole antenna, and DX = (distance unknown) or in other words a far away station you can talk to.
IRPL = Internet Radio Linking Project.
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