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Visit the provider - This Week in Amateur Radio: North America's Amateur Radio News Magazine. Articles on amateur radio and news stories in the media featured here.
Oklahoma State University’s Amateur Radio Club is making a comeback. Having been around since the 1920s, Amateur Radio Club is one of the oldest clubs on campus.
Long before Facebook, email, cell phones and satellites, a select group of people were able to communicate across continents, often broadcasting from obscure locations using ham radios. By today’s standards it may not seem too impressive. But what happens when the next big earthquake hits us?
During emergencies and disasters, the Clinton County Sheriff's Office relies on a vital yet obscure member of their volunteer quartet to provide emergency communications. The Clinton County Emergency Communications Team is a group of volunteer amateur radio operators who help area first responders communicate with one another when normal communications channels are broken or overloaded.
The radio club will make use of the new applied mathematics and engineering lab in Stutzman-Slonaker, room 303. The radio club uses shortwave and high frequency radio to broadcast on wavelengths not used for commercial or other specific broadcast purposes.
Colorful, flashing buttons proudly worn by Ernie Chiles and Phil Nash sport the saying, "When all else fails ... Amateur Radio."
The Uniontown Amateur Radio Club will hold its annual Gabfest on Saturday, an event that is geared toward ham radio operators and electronics enthusiasts.
Arlo Raim, KB9LLF, of Danville, Illinois, was killed by a southbound Canadian National freight train on the morning of Friday, August 20. He was 67. Raim had been in Pratt's Wayne Woods Forest Preserve -- part of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage (Illinois) County -- to monitor the effect of increased train traffic on cardinals.
Many people know that amateur radio operators like to chat. Few realize that the chatter can sometimes save lives.
It was a mystery for the Baxter County Sheriff's Office. There were "major disruptions in its communication," Chief Deputy Jeff Lewis told The BulletinWednesday, and it was of an unusual type sounding like a taxi cab company's radio transmissions and occurring only at night, between about 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. As it turned out, there was a taxi company in Mississippi whose radio transmissions were bleeding over onto the sheriff's office's radio signal.
Many amature radio (ham) operators gave up so much time and at their own expense to help others after the Aug. 28, 1990, tornado. Most of us only slept for 15 to 30 minutes a day for an eight-day period. To begin with, we train for these kind of emergencies every year with an event called field day. This is held the last full weekend in June. We set up sites in fields and in public parks and make as many contacts as possible while trying to get through cluttered airways. This event is done so throughout the United States. We also take emergency tornado trainings, as well as, for most of us, keep up on advanced first aid.
The Lockyer Valley Radio and Electronics Club took part in the worldwide celebration of 100 years of amateur radio and telecommunications at the weekend. If it wasn't for many of the pioneers of these technologies, we may not have television, microwaves, satellites or mobile phones today. The event was held in Laidley as part of the organisation's tribute to a century of telecommunications with the Australian Wireless Institute and they communicated with others via high frequency transmissions.
An ordinance making its way to the Oceanside City Council would limit where cell phone companies and in some cases, amateur radio operators can place their towers and antennas. A number of people in the community feel that the new ordinance doesn't go far enough in some cases, and too far in others.
Morse code filled the tiny radio control room of the Nantucket Lightship yesterday as Michael Rioux's fingers tapped a modern telegraph aboard the National Historic Landmark built in 1936.
The Nevada County Amateur Radio Club is turning 50 years old. Nevada County supervisors honored club members with a plaque, presented to club President Walt Hannontree at their meeting on Tuesday.
Prasad, VU2PTT (also W2PTT), Contest Manager for the Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI), reports: "We have news from our Ministry of Communications that the 6 meter band has finally been allocated for Amateur Radio use."
During the severe storms that battered Fort Bend County Monday night, the county's Emergency Management Radio Operators Group provided "vital information to the National Weather Service and the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office," according to the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management
After retiring from the Army Signal Corps in 1992 as a lieutenant colonel, David Gaines has helped keep the Hotter'N Hell race and ride connected since 1993.
This is a story of the house that ham radio built. Richard Hayman received his first ham radio when he was 10 -- a gift from his grandfather. That radio was older than he was, built in 1942, and he used it to listen to all the buzz and crackle of conversations. That got him into a hobby that grew up along with him.
Ham operators in Graham quickly grabbed a handle on floods in North and West Texas. A flash flood hit Albany on Aug. 3, 1978, and covered 80 percent of the small town. Five members of the Lake Country Amateur Radio Club drove to Albany to help set up emergency communication. They had seen drought after effects, but they had little experience with flash floods.
TODAY you can call the Cape Byron Lighthouse your own. The lighthouse - one of Australia’s most iconic beacons - will be open to the public as part of National Lighthouse Day.
When disaster strikes, amateur radio operators will be ready. The local network of ham radio enthusiasts drilled at locations throughout the county Thursday, including San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp.
The burned skeletal remains of Gary Haas, N5VGH, and his wife Linda were found in a charred camper on a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico on the morning of Wednesday, August 4. Authorities believe they were killed by escaped convicts, along with an accomplice, who had escaped from an Arizona prison on July 30. Authorities said that the Haas' bodies and camper were found by a rancher on his property, not far from Santa Rosa, one of the New Mexico cities that the couple frequented; their truck was found in Albuquerque, 100 miles away.
The 2010 National Scout Jamboree -- celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America -- was held July 26-August 4 at Fort AP Hill in Virginia. According to ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director and K2BSA Station Coordinator/Manager Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, ham radio was a big part of the event that attracted more than 43,000 participants from across the nation and around the world.
The 2010 Field Day logs received list has been posted. It includes all logs received -- applet, non-applet e-mail and paper. Any changes/corrections/missing inquires should be sent to ARRL Field Day Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, via e-mail.
People on Earth may take for granted today's high-tech world of cell phones, GPS and the satellites high above the planet that make instantaneous communication possible. But it all began 50 years ago with one giant space balloon.
Bill Sturridge can hear a faint cry for help from the middle of the Atlantic and coordinate a seaborne rescue more easily than he can get out of bed. Sturridge is a "ham," and a quadriplegic veteran.
VISITORS to one of Hull's floating museums will be able to send radio messages around the world this weekend. The Spurn lightship will be part of an international link-up involving more than 250 lighthouses and lightships in countries as far afield as Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand.
GENERATION Y would question why they aren't using the internet, but a Macedon Ranges club prefers to use amateur radio to keep in touch.
A licensed Midwest City ham radio operator says he will pursue rewording of the city's nuisance ordinance after he received a nuisance complaint from the city in June. The city has since dropped its complaint against him, said David Box, who holds a ham radio license through the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC regulates matters of radio or television reception.
A man was taken to a hospital today after he fell about 25 feet off a ham radio transmitting tower in Ocean Beach, a San Diego police officer said.
Across New England and Eastern Canada phones rang, computers hummed and ham radios crackled to life as operators reported downed trees, flooded roads and crumbling seawalls during Hurricane Hudson Aug. 1.
Show off your support for 75 years of Amateur Radio Emergency Service with a commemorative challenge coin! This symbolic coin features the colorful ARES 75th anniversary logo on the front. The ARRL diamond and words "Amateur Radio Service" are depicted on the back. A must-have medallion for all ARES volunteers and ARRL members.
When the Dayton Hamvention opens May 20, 2011 for its 60th consecutive year, its theme -- Global Friendship -- will reflect an important part of ham radio, said 2011 Hamvention General Chairman Michael Kalter, W8CI: "The theme emphasizes how the technology continues to bond Amateur Radio operators from all over the world."
Chris Billie, an engineering intern at Surface Combat Systems Center, Wallops Island, and a second year engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has completed a project to design and install a military recreation amateur radio station at the command's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center.
Transmission and Recreational Club Pasir Puteh (TRC) celebrates the amateur radio friends around the country in the discussion program Let's Eat Durian, in art last night.
WYLE-TV Florence, AL will remain but a memory. The FCC has rejected an appeal by former owner ETC Communications to reinstate the station's license.
The Halas family recently found a non-traditional hobby to bond over. Thanks to 7-year-old son Elijah, the family began attending Hoosier Lakes Radio Club meetings and attended the group's field day in June to become certified amateur radio (often called ham radio) operators.
At the National Boy Scout Jamboree, Jonathan Abramowicz fired an air rifle and mingled with 40,000 fellow Scouts, but his favorite experience was really out of this world. Jonathan, 13, of Pennside had the opportunity to interview an astronaut in the international space station as it was flying through space above the Scout gathering in Virginia
An unheralded group of Vietnam War-era Army signals intelligence officers took a step into the daylight Friday to donate one of their favorite radios back to its manufacturer The 265th Radio Research Co. used many radios in their service in Vietnam from 1967 to 1972, but the R-390A HF (high-frequency) receiver they donated to the Rockwell Collins museum was something special, they said.
According to the Kodiak Daily Mirror, in July, Merle Elson of New Mexico, a member of the Russian Robinson Club (a group of exploration-minded amateur radio operators who go to great lengths to send and receive signals from very remote locations), started having a heart attack on Chirikof Island, about 180 miles southwest of the city of Kodiak.
In the middle of nowhere, Russian Robinson Club member Merle Elson, 65, felt a weird pain in his chest. The New Mexico resident was with fellow members Yuri Sushkin, Yuri Zaruba and Alexander Kuznetsov on a weeklong expedition at the end of July on Chirikof Island, 180 miles southwest of Kodiak city. They had to radio for a floatplane to get Elson. He was having a heart attack. It took an hour and a half for a plane to arrive after sending out a message using ham. or amateur hobby, radio. The message had to be sent to Europe before making its way to America.
THE Lockyer Valley Radio and Electronics Club Inc is involved in a worldwide celebration of the centenary of organised amateur radio in Australia that began with, what is now the world's oldest continuing national radio society.
Devices that try to use the electrical mains wiring to transfer data, video or provide Internet connections can ruin other peoples enjoyment of radio. There is a new video on YouTube showing the horrendous interference caused to peoples radio listening by Power Line devices (PLT/BPL) such as those used by BT Vision.
Via the WinLink Global Radio Email System, the community health workers can have access to up to date information and can also send relevant information to a central hub. With the WinLink system, radio messages are converted into email messages and vice versa.
...He used a Ham radio license to establish a legal wireless connection for his experiment. He used his contraption to read an EPCglobal generation 2 tag, which has been widely adopted by industry. Paget calls himself an "ethical hacker" and said he simply wanted to demonstrate that RFID tags are not safe for storing private information.
GSM encryption was broken, with code published last year. Going still further at this year's DefCon conference, a researcher showed off a $1,500 device that can intercept cell phones calls by tricking phones into thinking it is a cell phone tower, and routing calls through it.
A boy scout from Wayne - who's attending the national jamboree in Virginia - was among six selected from the more than 40,000 boys there for an out-of-this-world experience. KYW's Mark Abrams reports fifteen-year-old Life Scout Fritzi Fischer of Devon Troop 50 got to talk with astronaut Doug Wheelock aboard the International Space Station as it streaked across the skies above Fort AP Hill, just outside of Bowling Green, Va. Saturday afternoon.
When Dave Clark was a curious and slightly precocious two-year-old, he was so entranced by the lights on a large Christmas tree that he quietly wandered away from his parents at a party to wriggle underneath the brightly decorated spruce. Moments later, his parents, Albert and Frances Clark, found the tiny tot tucked in behind the tree, fiddling with the lights.
Beginning July 28, those who have dealings with the FCC will have a new tool that the FCC claims will put them "within one click of all the information they want" from the Commission: a new "easy-to-use" Consumer Help Center
In a disaster, communications are vital. But often, phone lines are down or overloaded, cell phones fail and electricity is out.
The kickoff date for the State Fair is closing in and with tens of thousands of people headed to Grand Island fair officials are making safety and security a top priority. When all else fails one group in particular - amateur radio operators said they come through.
When the clouds started moving in Friday afternoon, July 23, most of campus thought the area would get a little rain. Shortly thereafter, the wind started - 70 mph winds - and proceeded to peel back two layers of the Galvin Fine Arts Center roof like a can opener.
The ARRL Board of Directors held its Second Meeting of 2010 July 16-17 in Windsor, Connecticut, under the chairmanship of President Kay Craigie, N3KN. International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD, and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President Geoff Bawden, VE4BAW, were guests of the Board. At the two-day meeting, the Board considered a number of reports and acted on several recommendations and Directors’ motions.
Many northern Wisconsin counties want amateur radio operators to provide information during emergency situations when phone lines fail and power lines are down. Laura Podgornik reports from Superior.
Dark skies, strong winds and heavy rains are usually a clue to take cover, but for Bill Simm of Portage la Prairie, they are a signal to get to work. Simm is an amateur radio operator - ham - and one of Environment Canada's many volunteer severe weather watchers with the CanWarn system.
French Amateur Radio groups are working together to get the digital prohibition in France lifted.
The Brunei Darussalam Amateur Radio Federation, BDARA is host to about 300 amateur radio enthusiasts from Borneo Island at the 6th Borneo Amateur Radio Festival. The three day festival took place this morning.
Radios were the late George Helmer's passion. The older the better. Taking in his radio collection in the Riverside home where his widow lives transports one back to those early radio days when families gathered around to listen to the Ozzie and Harriet show, Bob Hope or Fred Waring, or heard the deep, far-off voice of Edward R. Murrow broadcasting his vivid accounts of the London Blitz during WWII .
RSGB News reports that the producers of a forthcoming TV series are inviting amateur radio enthusiasts and others to take part. The show revolves around a souped-up double decker bus which is touring cities around Britain.
A pioneering Australian inventor whose "black box" flight data recorder revolutionised the safety of air travel and aided countless crash investigations has died aged 85, officials said Wednesday. David Warren, whose own father died in a plane crash, hit upon the "black box" idea while probing a 1953 disaster involving the world's first commercial jetliner. Building radios soon became his schoolboy hobby, but a World War II ban on amateur radio led Warren to dump his nascent ambitions as a "radio ham" in favour of chemistry, his ultimate career path.
More than 120 ham radio enthusiasts gathered in Burson Saturday to browse through rare equipment, talk radio and share smoked chicken in the barrel.
On July 19, the FCC announced via the Federal Register that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will decrease 10 cents, from to $13.40 to $13.30. The new fees take effect 30 days after publication, making August 17, 2010, the first day the new fee is in effect. In FY2010, the FCC expects to grant 14,800 vanity call signs, bringing in $196,840 from the vanity call sign program. Earlier this year, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM), seeking to lower the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs.
The Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society does more than just help plan Christmas parades and hold community education meetings. A new system has been developed by Seminole County's ham radio enthusiasts that could mean quicker responses from the authorities - as well as knowing if your loved one is safe - after a disaster.
Saying that only the Federal Communications Commission is empowered to regulate radio frequency interference (RFI), the ARRL has notified Midwest City, Oklahoma, that its local ordinance 27-3(9), seeking to regulate radio transmissions and RFI, is "null and void." Midwest City is in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
Winifred Chappell died peacefully in her home on the afternoon of July 10, 2010. She was 99 years old. Winifred was born on May 2, 1911, in San Francisco to Burr and Clara Amelia (Clark) St. John. She grew up and was educated in San Francisco, earning her California teaching credential. She became the first licensed ham radio operator in the Western part of the United States, possibly the first in the USA. Her call letters were W6ATP.
Cody Anderson, KI4FUV, a 17 year old radio amateur from Harriman, Tennessee, whose quick thinking likely saved the life of a downed runner in a 2009 marathon, has been named as the 2010 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year. This marks the 25th anniversary of the Young Ham of the Year Award program.
When Bob King and Bill Bell became rebels in 1959, they never dreamed of creating a 50-year community service legacy in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Bell, 80, of Springdale and King, 79, of Washington Township, are ham radio operators and two of the three surviving charter members of the Skyview Radio Society. The club marked its 50th anniversary Saturday with its 85 members contacting other ham operators around the world and a picnic on the club's property along Turkey Ridge Road.
The North Hills Amateur Radio Club still sends a strong signal in its 25th year of operation. The club's amateur radio operators have provided communications services in such public venues as the Great Race, the Race for the Cure and the Pittsburgh Marathon.
Having launched its first locally made satellite in 2007, Indonesia is now looking to launch another two next year for both communications and remote-sensing applications. The Lapan-A2 and Lapan-Orari are categorized as microsatellites, weighing 68 and 70 kilograms, respectively, and have been developed in-house by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan). Both are scheduled to be put into orbit in September 2011 by an Indian rocket.
Some 80 Brunei Darussalam Amateur Radio Association (BDARA) members and their families conducted an outing trip to Pulau Tanjong Pelumpong on July 9 and 10. Among them were the Adviser of BDARA, V85BAHaji Abu Bakar bin Haji Ahmad and the President of BDARA, V85DX Pg Haji Salleh Ab Rahaman bin Pg Haji Damit.
The Federal Communications Commission this week amended its ham radio rules to allow users to transmit emergency messages on behalf of employers.
90 megahertz of prime spectrum may be available in the 2 GHz band, Big LEO band, and L-band of the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS). The FCC believes it can free up 90 megahertz of prime spectrum -- nearly one-fifth of the total the government believes it can pry loose under the National Broadband Plan -- by finding the valuable bands in the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS).
In the age of iPods and satellite radio, it’s difficult for many of us to imagine a time when the sounds of music required the manual spinning of a dial to elicit the best reception. Many people under the age of 18 refuse to believe there was once a world without cable TV or downloadable movies.
Every Saturday at 7 a.m., a group of about 20 friends gets together at Denny's and discusses the goings on of their club.
E-mail, Twitter and Facebook may be foreign terms to 90-year-old Charles Stenger. While today's conduits allow communications between friends and sometimes strangers around the world, Stenger's ham radio has been doing the same thing since he was a teenager.
RMS-Net is a new digital radio management system from Icom UK that provides organisations with efficient communication within the workforce and improved management of health and safety.
Arlingtonians don't see the county's Emergency Technology Support Unit vehicle (ETSU) very often, but over the June 26-27 weekend, the ETSU dominated Minor Hill Park, as local ham-radio operators combined 21st-century technology with a communications mode that predates World War I.
On Sunday, July 11, ARRL West Gulf Division Vice Director John Thomason, WB5SYT, of Edmond, Oklahoma, submitted his resignation to ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN. Thomason told President Craigie that by resigning, he will be able to "devote my energy to serve my family, employer and health." Craigie accepted the resignation with regret and then informed West Gulf Director Dr David Woolweaver, K5RAV.
The Federal Communications Commission is the "most improved" agency across the entire federal government, according to the 2010 OPM Viewpoint Employee Satisfaction Survey released Monday, July 12 by the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The Union de Radioaficionados Espanoles (URE) -- Spain's IARU Member-Society -- announced that the Secretaria de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información (SETSI) (Spain's equivalent to the USA's FCC) has extended temporary privileges on the 70 MHz band (4 meters) to hams in that country. In 2008, hams in Spain were granted 70 MHz privileges for six months. Spanish amateurs may now use 70.150-70.200 MHz, with a maximum of 10 W; the average power of emission outside the authorized band should not exceed 25 uW.
With more than 18,000 new Amateur Radio licenses issued in the first half of this year -- 18, 270 to be exact -- 2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for Amateur Radio. So far, the number of new licenses issued by the FCC in 2010 is outpacing the January-June 2009 totals by almost 8.5 percent; at this time last year, the FCC had issued 16,844 new licenses.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to promote HAM technology in all its wards. HAM uses private wireless set to communicate with other HAMs and can be used to communicate in disasters, when landlines and mobiles don't work. "Disasters happens due to lack of communication. I am glad to hear that HAMs would be working in those conditions," said Municipal Commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya after distributing certificates, on Saturday, to those who underwent training at the HAM bay station in Malabar Hill.
Jeff Sonkowsky is one of those guys who can't wait for a good storm to roll in.
For hams who are fans of the television quiz show Jeopardy! -- where contestants have to answer in the form of a question -- the July 6 show was a real treat: Andrea Salt, KE7OPV, of Gilbert, Arizona, was a contestant. But what makes Andrea’s time on Jeopardy even more special is that she is only 13.
After stringing ropes through trees and putting up a huge antenna in River Grove's River Front Park, the Chicago FM Club was ready to celebrate Field Day.
Will County emergency responders joined with other groups and agencies across North America during the annual 24-hour Amateur Radio Field Day. The event is held the fourth weekend in June each year and is designed to ensure that organizations are ready to provide sustained communications during a widespread emergency.
Michael B. Kaczynski, W1OD, of Bristol Connecticut, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at Bristol Hospital. He was 51. An ARRL Life Member, Kaczynski worked at ARRL Headquarters from 1979-1987 starting off at the DXCC Desk, then becoming a Communications Assistant, Technical Information Specialist, Lab Technician and eventually an Assistant Technical Editor and Contest Manager; at the time of his death, he was employed at ESPN.
Ham radio has come to the aid of two men who recently lost their home. According to Chris Baldwin, KF6AJM of Southern California's Desert Communications Network, Robert Martin, KE6YDO and Richard Martin, KE6RJI are brothers that lived in the City of Maywood until just recently. That's when their deceased mother's home was sold at probate and leaving them without a roof over their heads.
Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can poke, tweet, kick or ping someone to get his or her attention in the realm of online social networking. For some, these methods of communicating through Facebook, Twitter and the like have become habits.
For ham radio operators like Paul Smith (W7EKG), the world is literally their playground, where there are no strangers, only other operators they haven't met yet.
By day, Ronald Meihls is operations and maintenance supervisor for the City of Hagerstown's Water and Sewer Department. By night, he is a federally licensed amateur radio operator known as KB3MBS, whose skills helped in relief efforts when he traveled to Haiti about five weeks after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Pahrump hams, or amateur radio operators, joined similar groups across the continent for a 24-hour field training exercise from noon Saturday, June 26 through noon Sunday. Three local ham radio groups participated in the annual event, earning points for communicating with other operators, and national emergency organizations, as well as with other countries.
Television signals caused a Russian cargo rocket to miss its rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials said on Saturday.
Amateur radio hobbyists in Anne Arundel County joined other radio enthusiasts across America last weekend in the American Radio Relay League's 24-hour Field Day.
I was pleased to see the report on our Ham Radio Field Day at the Mare Island Museum. Our call sign phonetically is "Navy Navy Six Mare Island" (NN6MI), and is used as a group call sign at the Mare Island Museum. The history of this goes back to previous call signs for ham stations operated by the Navy: W6USN, K6MI,N6MI, etc., which were in use by others when I applied for a special call sign for the Mare island Museum.
Growing up with cell phones attached at the hip and seemingly instant access to anywhere in the world through the World Wide Web, youth learned a valuable lesson this past week about an older and lesser-known technology. Students attending an Electronics and Ham Radio Day Camp sponsored by the University of Minnesota Extension Office had to be shuttled to Lions Park in Elk River after it became apparent severe weather was on its way.
The Palo Alto Fire Department will be calling on amateur radio operators on the Fourth of July to look out for potential fires in the foothills and keep their eyes peeled for illegal fireworks.
Nine of the suspected Russian spies arrested this week, including a couple who lived in Seattle, are scheduled to be in federal court Thursday. They are accused of using a blend of new and old technology to relay their information back to their superiors.
The Amateur Radio AX.25 FM packet repeater on the International Space Station (ISS) is now active on 145.825 MHz. Amateur Radio Stations callsigns heard via ISS can be seen on APRS maps. In order to appear on a map, a position report in a valid APRS format must be digipeated through ISS, then be heard by an internet gateway station, which then forwards it on to the APRS Internet System.
"When all your blueberries and apples stop working because of a network breakdown, ham radio is the only thing that still keeps people connected," says Zyros Zend (42), founding member of the Mumbai Amateur Radio Society (MARS)
Laredo HAM or amateur radio is also preparing for hurricane Alex or for any natural disaster situation. Throughout the weekend HAM radio operators were setting up stations in different locations and making contact with others as a display of their emergency communications capabilities.
Amateur radio operators are being asked to help the Palo Alto Fire Department look out for Fourth of July fireworks and foothill fires.
When dealing with Mother Nature, nobody knows better than the Delaware County Skywarn group what can happen in mere minutes. When a funnel cloud touched down in Yorktown on June 6, the local network of volunteer severe weather spotters was on the ball, triggering the area tornado sirens to sound three minutes prior to the National Weather Service issuing a tornado warning for Delaware County.
Being prepared for a worst-case scenario was the mission behind a weekend of practice for amateur radio operators in Luzerne County. They have the equipment needed to help rescuers in case of a disaster. At Frances Slocum State Park, Ray Gusher talked by radio to someone in northern Florida. Usually he does this for fun but Sunday he was practicing in case of an emergency.
After passage of the hands-free cell phone bill - many people spoke out about other types of radios being disallowed under the measure - like CBs and other 2-way radios. House Substitute 1 for House Bill 229, sponsored by Representative Ruth Briggs-King and being filed today, would carve out an exemption for 2-way radios with a fixed placement in a vehicle while making the hands free cell phone bill stronger.
In a world that is always looking to use new technology, there are still plenty of uses for ham radio, which dates back to the early 1900’s. Just ask people who need communication when emergencies strike.
Amateur radio devotee Cary Beuershausen and his fellow hams in Northeast Florida are about to put their game faces on. Every hurricane season, members of the local branches of the national Amateur Radio Relay League check their equipment and get ready to report for duty. When shelters open and if disaster strikes, they become vital cogs in a communication network that keeps emergency officials informed and victims comforted.
I was tuned in to Skywarn last night for the first time as severe weather rolled through. This network, which is carried over amateur radio on repeater N8DUY (145.150 Mhz) and K8RUR (146.920 Mhz), is also carried on the Internet through Radio Reference. Skywarn told me about tornadoes observed by trained spotters, water across the road and trees down. Last night there were 35 people on the network, radioing in reports from all over Washtenaw County.
Anyone who may encounter a "ham" radio operator today might think that person is living out some strange science fiction fantasy, awaiting the impending alien invasion with radio in hand and ready to coordinate the masses. With so many avenues for communication to choose from in the 21st century, from text messaging, tweeting to Facebook, the amateur radio user is like the great-great grandfather of social networking - except this hobby and way of public service is still very much alive and well.
As Belmont County Emergency Management Director Dave Ivan can tell you, amateur radio - or "ham radio" - operators aren't just people who like to play with toys. They often can save lives. This weekend, the public can get a glimpse of "hams" in action during the American Radio Relay League's annual Field Day, during which ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country, using mainly emergency power supplies
Jan-Albert Koekemoer ZR1JAK brings news that the South African amateur radio satellite Sumbandila (SO-67) is back on the air. The nominal frequencies for the SO-67 FM transponder are Uplink 145.875 MHz and Downlink 435.345 MHz +/- Doppler shift.
In a world where iPhones enable Internet searches from any location with a good cell signal, communicating with a radio may seem a bit old fashioned. But a new generation of ham radio operators is keeping the tradition alive by combining decades-old radio techniques with modern technology.
By day Colin Wheatley works as an executive editor for McGraw-Hill publishers, but by night he loses himself in the lifelong hobby of "ham" radio.
An Inland radio station that broadcasts adult contemporary music over an area from Riverside to Temecula claims a Los Angeles station has interrupted its signal since 2007 and has petitioned the FCC to help clear the airwaves.
For my Dad, "a few" was hard to pin down. It depends, entirely, on what you chose to fixate on - HAM radio, photography, weather-watching, electronics, the music of his youth, the list of his hobbies was endless.
On Saturday, June 12 around 1:30 local time, Jim Siemons, AF6PU, of Walnut Creek, California, was checking his e-mail when he received a message from a friend who was concerned that his brother -- who, along with four friends had taken an off-road adventure along California's famed Rubicon Trail -- had not come home when expected.
The reports came in steadily, a slight crackle of radio static between each one. American Red Cross trucks loaded with blankets and food were held up by a tree down in the roadway. Storm winds had blown in a window at the emergency shelter at Noble Middle. And a woman had gone into labor at the Johnson Elementary shelter.
This is the third in a series of stories on local residents and their pastime pursuits. It's a fun way to talk to people around the world or just down the street.
It’s 2010. We can all text and tweet. So, why would anyone still use a method of communication that employs late 19th century technology? Kyle Albritton, president of the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society and known by call sign W4KDA, says the answer is simple
The Mt. Pleasant Plan Commission decided Wednesday to deny a family's request to keep their ham radio. The Markstrom family has a 62 foot tower in their Mt. Pleasant yard. They say it is used for emergency communications and it's a favorite hobby for their 10 year old son Samm. Samm has Cerebral Palsy. He's won awards for using his radio to help others.
The Western and Northern Suburbs Amateur Radio Club (WANSARC) is part of the world wide celebrations of the Centenary of organised amateur radio in Australia, that began with what is now the world’s oldest continuing national radio society, the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA).
The Army Signal Corps turns 150 years old. Members of the Martin County Amateur Radio Association will celebrate the milestone Saturday and Sunday with a Special Event Station from the Hobe Mountain watchtower in Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
Given all the technologies available to consumers today, you might think the staid hobby of ham radio is about as relevant to modern life as rabbit-ear TV antennas. Cell phones. E-mail. Skype. People around the world have more and faster means of getting hold of each other than ever. But just six months ago, the earthquake in Haiti was another reminder that amateur radio still gives a strong signal. Ham operators sent early news reports from the shattered island, just as they've done for decades in the aftermath of every hurricane, earthquake and snowstorm that has crippled or jammed the means of communication we usually assume will work.
...Beginning in his teens, he had a fascination with electronics, and built a crystal radio set. He was a ham radio operator and talked with people around the world, including Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who also was a ham radio operator.
Ten neighbors have signed a petition asking the village to force a family of ham radio enthusiasts to remove a 62-foot tower from their backyard.
A homeless man was arrested Tuesday on charges of unlawful use of a police radio and false reporting, Portage Police said.
Amateur Radio activities are growing and thousands of radio operators, often called "hams," will be showing off their capabilities June 26-27. Erecting radio stations at community parks, campgrounds, schools and emergency centers around the country, they will hold a "Field Day" showing their emergency communications capabilities while having fun talking and texting to friends with their radios.
This monsoon, if all modes of communication breakdown like during the deluge of 2005, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have a fallback channel of communication. The civic body has set up a HAM radio station at its headquarters, in the disaster control room, and in a few wards in the city.
Is the boating community about to take a giant leap forward with regard to VHF radio courtesy? Possibly, if boaters catch on to a new automated service for radio checks. Radio checks are probably the most common call heard on marine VHF radios. A day on the water just wouldn't be complete without hearing multiple requests for radio checks. Sometimes -- for example, one Memorial Day weekend a few years back -- they come from the same boat over and over again.
Imagine sitting in the comfort of your home, chatting with acquaintances in Europe, Asia or an island nation in the Pacific. That's what amateur radio operators - or hams, as they are better known - do on a regular basis. What started as a hobby in the 1950s has seen a resurgence in popularity as the technology has changed.
I agree with the Oregon law that restricts the use of cell phones while driving. I find it inconvenient at times, but I recognize this is a safety issue and I respect the law. I wish to dispute the content of your recent SYA article relating to the exemptions to the law.
Al Tyler, an 83-year-old Topekan, has many achievements in his life. He has broken two world records, bounced radio signals off the moon, and assisted in emergency operations during the 1951 flood and 1966 tornado. Tyler has worked with electronics all his life and has been a pioneer in the area of amateur radio operations.
NPARC, the New Providence Amateur Radio Club, Inc., serving the Watchung Hills area, will set up two operating ham radio stations in the Gazebo, at Springfield Avenue and Academy Street in New Providence, on Saturday, June 19.