Amateur Radio

Amateur radio or Ham radio is a hobby in which the individual (or ham) builds and communicates through radio equipment. The reason it is called ametuer is because it is not done for profit, it is not a reflection of the skill involved, which is often quite technical. Many amateur radio operatives have contributed greatly to the world of science and technology.

The amateur radio enthusiast learns about electronics and radio technology while being able to communicate with people from all over the world. In times of tragedy and disaster the amateur radio operator can be a great help in contacting the outside world and asking for help.

Amateur radio operators have different modes of transmission that are available to them. FM (frequency modulation) gives a high bandwidth and allows for greater clarity in voice transmission, where as single sideband (SSB) can be used when there are issues with bandwidth and signal strength. AM (amplitude modulation) is where many first time hams start out.

It isn’t always voice that is transmitted over the airwaves, it used to be that you had to have a proficiency in Morse code before you where allowed to broadcast over the FM frequencies, but that was phased out internationally in 2002. Computers have even been known to communicate over amateur radio networks