“Ham” or Amateur Radio is the original “internet chat room” without wires! It’s a wonderful hobby irrespective of participants’ age, gender, or physical ability. It’s not as expensive or difficult to get into as you might think.

Ham Radio is often mentioned in the media in relation to emergency communications, disaster relief and other public service activities.

We have to study for and take tests for our ham radio license. The tests are administered by volunteers who are also licensed ham operators, in a friendly and convenient environment. When we pass our test, the FCC issues us a real radio callsign to use on the air. We are expected to know the rules and regulations regarding our license class (there are three, “Technician”, “General” and “Extra”, each one ascending in terms of privileges and responsibility), enough radio theory to be able to operate our radio stations safely and responsibly, and to observe “gentlemens’ (and womens’) agreements” with our on-the-air operation and manners.

The tests are not hard, consisting of multiple choice questions and answers, and study materials are plentiful and reasonably priced. There are also study materials available online.

Morse code testing is NO LONGER REQUIRED! This has not diminished the popularity or effectiveness of Morse “on the air”; on the contrary, now that it’s NOT required, more hams are starting to use it! Many hams use and enjoy Morse code operation every day as it is more efficient than voice for covering large distances.

A search for “ham radio” or “amateur radio” on a search engine will “net” you more information on this wonderful hobby. Me? My callsign is K0ZL (that’s a zero not the letter ‘o’). My name is Bill and I am in the Denver area. My wife is also licensed and we use our ham radios to communicate rather than cell phones; no monthly charges to deal with!

An often-asked question is “what is the difference between CB and Ham Radio?”. Well, there are lots of differences, more than can be written about here. Many of my friends have “graduated” from their CB hobby into Ham Radio, and find it to be much more enjoyable; we have many more frequencies and modes of operation to explore, we can enjoy “skip” communications, and enjoy greater levels of transmitter power (within reason), all legally and with the blessings of our government.

In Ham Radio we will usually end our conversations with “73″ which means “Best Regards”, and is much faster to send on Morse code!

73,

Bill K0ZL