So, just how many of us Amateur Radio types are there on SD these days? I know Alan (Racer184/WB9JTK) and Wes (BlackLatexOz/VK6WPX) are hams, and so am I (KI4HCW). Anybody else?
I've been a Ham since late 2004 when I just dropped in on a test session on a lark and took the Technician class test cold. I've worked with RF (Radio Frequency, for those who don't know what that stands for) for most of my adult life in one form or another and had always thought about getting my FCC license but just never did. That is, until a friend of mine dragged me out to her radio club's Field Day site one year and I realized that it wasn't far removed from what I used to do in the military: take a bunch of radios, some generators, antennae of various flavors, and a bunch of sleep-deprived, coffee-powered techies and stick 'em in the middle of nowhere. Add varying amounts of water in the form of rain and wait three hours. Then voila! Suddenly a fully-operational communications center springs to life, radiating all manner of voice and data through the air on invisible airwaves crackling with life (a nod to Mr. Peart) where there was none before. I was hooked.
Most recently, the radio club I belong to provided communications support to a local Half Ironman triathalon, with a twist: live, near-realtime GPS tracking of the bicycle leader and last place, along with live television beamed to the event pavilion from the park entrance so spectators and teams could see their favorite racer coming down the home stretch in realtime. All by radio amateurs, and all while providing traditional voice support by relaying information about disabled bikers, maniacal drivers, and marauding pets back to the event coordinators who then dispatched the appropriate assistance when needed. We kept aid stations stocked and spectators informed all with a completely mobile network of radios and computers that literally arrived on site a few minutes before the starting pistol went off.
Since upgrading my license class to General recently, I have acquired an old 10-meter radio that I have used to make several contacts in South America (and one in Texas, of all places) using a simple wire antenna that I constructed from scrap speaker wire that was just lying around cluttering up the apartment. Neat, huh? Next step is building a kit for a 40-meter transciever that will let me talk to people worldwide just by pressing a button and talking into a microphone.
So, any others out there who share our fascination with sending voice, tones, and data through the ether? Speak up! And while you're at it, hop up to 28.400 and call CQ sometime.
Cheers!
Jim/KI4HCW
