Why did I start studying to be a radio amateur? Or to make it social media-esque…

Why you should be a radio ham!

Amateur radio (or ham radio) has a multitude of interesting topics. But three of these are relevant to me.

  1. communication
  2. physics
  3. technology

Technology

We all use our phones as if it was nothing, but seldom do we think what great piece we actually have in our hands. With these devices we are able to talk to people from all over the world, with almost no delay, but very good quality. They are wireless, which means the data travels through space, through air, through windows, through space, … Phones work when we are in a flat, in the park, traveling with 100 km/h on the motorway or in a train.

Phones are a bit like Jenga tower. So many little parts that need to work in order for you to make a call. The most fascinating thing is, most of the time it really does work.

Of course we will never understand all aspects, that come in to play, that our phones work. But a few aspects can be understood when you indulge in the hobby of amateur radio.

Physics

Electromagnetic waves, ahh… How I love them!

Since you are surfing on a site of a radio amateur you must know what electromagnetic waves (EM-waves) are:

  • The light you see.
  • The light you don’t see (infrared, ultraviolet).
  • The stars you see at night, which are suns, just million light years away. Maybe they don’t even exist anymore.
  • The sensation you feel when the setting sun is gently warming your face in the autumn.
  • The machine that made the cool picture of your fractured collar bone after playing football.
  • The microwave that warms the tasty lasagne from yesterday.
  • The phone you use to send a hilarious selfie to your BFF.
  • …

All these examples are, or use EM-waves.

Electromagnetic waves are so important in our daily life.

So why not try to understand them and use them to do cool things, like talk to people from across the globe?

Another cool aspect of radio amateur is the Ionosphere. The reason us humans could evolve here on earth is that our atmosphere filters out certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, while it let’s other pass1. Think of the X-rays: We need them, to look in to our bodies, but if we’d had X-rays traveling through our bodies all the time, we would soon die of cancer.

On the other hand our planet would be too cold if the heat rays of the sun (infrared spectrum) wouldn’t be able to pass.

Thinking from the inside out, we can send EM-waves that will pass our atmosphere and go to outer space. That’s why we can communicate with the ISS and other human made space objects. Some radio amateurs even use the Moon as huge refactor. Most radio amateur however use a frequency, that is just right. The waves are reflected in the Ionosphere and can even be reflected by the floor again.

Like this two radio amateurs can get in contact with nothing more than an antennae and a transceiver.

Isn’t that marvellous?

Communication

Look beyond your own nose!

This figure of speech is important when it comes to why I want to get into this field. Imagine talking to people from India, Russia, Turkey, USA and Uganda all in the same day. This can be possible when you are a radio amateur. Of course you could just type random phone numbers in your phone, but does the caller want to talk to you?

Another interesting fact is, that you can manage these calls without any proxies. As stated further up, you can do all this with very few parts. You don’t need to rely on infrastructure of anybody except on yours and your call partner.

  1. For a nice diagram visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_waves#Atmosphere_and_magnetosphere ↩