How ham radio endures

I was a 16-year-old kid in still-developing India, 1986. One had to wait seven years to get a landline connection.<p>My friends and I went through the Morse Code speed test and evaluation course, for which we prepared weeks and weeks. I was issued the handle OM118.<p>The non-profit organization that issues the license had a single Ham Radio for which you need to apply well in advance for 30-minute slots.<p>Four of us huddled in a small booth of a room, fiddling with knobs, wondering why there was static instead of some exotic voice from another part of the world - Sri Lanka, at least, please God.<p>A voice crackled in. We immediately knew who it was, but we were too cool to admit it. The voice asked us where we were...Madras, we said. He was too...We went around talking over each other, and the other end said, &quot;I am an actor. My name is Kamal Haasan.&quot;<p>1. Madras is now called Chennai.<p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kamal_Haasan" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kamal_Haasan</a>

Homeland Security tries to get local first responders to join the SHARES emergency radio network.[1] This is 5 HF channels at 5 MHz, and some more around 15 MHz. They test on Wednesdays around noon. Transmission is voice or PACTOR. It&#x27;s ham-type technology for government emergency response.<p>Although many local first responders are not on this net, the USCG, military, and Homeland Security monitor it. So it&#x27;s a way to reach U.S. Government resources in emergencies. This isn&#x27;t something you access with a handheld, since it requires at least a long-wire antenna. You can get hundreds or thousands of miles of range. The idea is to have something that can get through from a large disaster area.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cisa.gov&#x2F;resources-tools&#x2F;programs&#x2F;shared-resources-shares-high-frequency-hf-radio-program&#x2F;shares-faqs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cisa.gov&#x2F;resources-tools&#x2F;programs&#x2F;shared-resourc...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ema.arrl.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;files&#x2F;SHARES_Spectrum_Monitor.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ema.arrl.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;files&#x2F;SHARES_Spectru...</a>

So very true. Ham radio operators, AIUI, played a critical role with emergency communications in the Western NC area in the aftermath of Helene. I believe there were some instances where local PSAP&#x27;s &#x2F; dispatch centers were knocked completely offline and they had local ham radio operators helping to dispatch fire&#x2F;ems resources.<p>The great thing about ham radio, it really is an inexpensive hobby to get started. Now, once you get into it, you can spend just about as much money as you want (or have access to). But a Bao-feng handheld that costs around $40 or so can work the local repeaters on 2m or 70cm and is a fine way to get started, learn the lingo, etc.<p>I encourage everyone to give it a shot, and join up with a local AUXCOMM group or whatever you have locally. I have to admit, I&#x27;m not as active with our local group as I&#x27;d like to be, due to competing demands for my time, but I hope to eventually work things out to where I can get more active.

One thing I will say, the Internet deeply and dramatically changed my perspective on the global community and connectivity in general.<p>When I got my ham license (DE K2KD) at age ~11, the idea of picking up a microphone or tapping on a morse key or using a computer with RTTY to talk to someone <i>on the other side of the world</i> was mind-blowing. &quot;Mom, I&#x27;m talking to someone in Australia! I&#x27;m talking to someone in Nigeria!&quot;.<p>Now we block entire IP ranges because they send too much spam or because we think the traffic from an entire country has a high fraud rate.<p>Easy come easy go. Sigh.

Ham radio always seemed a bit boring compared to the Internet, computers, and software development.<p>What are the most interesting things people are doing with Ham these days? I’ve had a technical class license for a couple decades but never used it, which I keep renewing. Willing to get a more advanced license.

This youtube video by No Boilerplate (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=XcF6tvepRlg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=XcF6tvepRlg</a>) was a great summary and really got my interest up initially but I personally got bogged down quite quickly by the prospect of having to learn Morse Code

Heh, I just finished an AuxComm training and two IMS (Ontario’s version of ICS) courses last week. Great timing.

I&#x27;m curious how satellite Internet like Starlink will enhance and complement ham radio. To be clear, I don&#x27;t see it replacing ham radio--there are too many great reasons to get into the hobby for that. But Starlink has been playing a similar emergency communications role in recent hurricane-hit areas as ham radio has in the past. Will be interesting to see how the two are used going forward.

We had a freak earthquake in the northeast some months back. Guess what immediately went down when you needed it most? Cell towers. My guess is they’re not designed for the capacity they’d need in an emergency where almost everyone is trying to call simultaneously. That’s reason enough to have an alternate comm link.

Widespread access to space-based networks might finally kill hams. When disaster strikes, the guy with solar panels and a starlink terminal can facilitate more traffic than a hundred hams. Having cellphones that can get an SMS up to a sat might be more useful than handing out 4w radios.

I often wonder why amateur radio operators put up with the derogatory name <i>ham</i> because many are very skilled in electronics and they&#x27;re anything but hams. I&#x27;ve always hated the term, even the term <i>amateur</i> has negative connotations that aren&#x27;t warranted.<p>I&#x27;d prefer the term experimental radio operator or such. I say that as someone who once held an amateur ticket (for quite some decades) which I got whilst I was still at school.

I&#x27;m a an operator myself. To be honest: Ham radio - in my opinion - is slowly dying.<p>At some point there was a split between the ham radio and opensource scene. There are still some connections, but the majority is gone. It&#x27;s IMHO pretty much a question of mentality (&quot;No license? Underling&quot;).<p>A lot of software&#x2F;hardware there isn&#x27;t opensource but badly written shareware and the entire thing seems to be stuck in the past. Have a look at this VARA stuff.. that list endlessy can be continued.

I don’t see it enduring much longer. Why would I want to pay a fortune and sit exams just to use a radio to say a standard test phrase to a stranger?<p>I think it would be nice to have a radio but it just seems like too much effort for too little reward.

Ham radio and blogs are at similar stages of cultural relevance. There may be something the blogging community can learn from the ham community, though hopefully blogging survives as something more than an emergency-response phenomenon.