Amateur ("Ham") Radio in the United States
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2002
Radio comes to us in the form of radiowaves, which machines take and change into music, voice, static, or whatever was broadcast. Normally we don't think of the many different wavelengths (bands) that people can transmit on, but they do exist. These bands beyond commercial radio are where CB (Citizens Band) and amateur radio operators can operate.
Amateur radio (ham radio) and CB are somewhat alike, but there are a few important differences that any ham will quote instantly if you accuse him of being a CBer:
Amateur radio operators have earned federally issued licenses.
They have taken and passed tests showing they know things such as band laws, safety, and the fundamentals behind propagation and amateur practice to earn these licenses.
As they are federally licensed, they are allowed to transmit with more power than CB rigs can.
They have many more bands and bands that reach to further distances (across the globe and to the moon) than CBers do.
They are generally more polite on the air because what they have is a privilege and they realise it.
Most hams are male (please excuse the continual use of the pronoun "him"), and there is no age qualification on the licenses--anyone of any age can earn one, provided they can pass the tests. (Most amateur radio clubs offer these tests, and fairly populated areas usually have a club within half an hour's drive.) Children well under 10 years old are involved in amateur radio and have an understanding that rivals that of their 60+ year old amateur friends. Unfortunately, this is an ageing hobby. More old-timers die every day than newbies come into this world of radio, and that is rather disheartening for those who love the hobby.
Licensing
Amateur radio licensing in the United States of America is handled by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), which deals with all the government-related communications in the country. The FCC sets tests for the general population to take when they feel they are competent and willing to become amateurs (most people take classes offered through their local radio clubs in order to learn the test material). The FCC changes the test questions on an average of every 4 years.
There are three classes of amateur licenses in the USA today. They build upon one another (to recieve a General class license, the Technician elements as well as General ones are required). The license classes from least to most involved are:
Technician Class - written test on voice operating procedures, regulations, some beginning electronics; 35 question multiple-choice test, 26 needed to pass (74%)
General Class - written test on Morse code operating procedures, amateur regulations and practices, and some more in-depth electronics; also need to pass a Morse code test: receiving at a 5 word per minute rate (that is very slow); 35 question multiple-choice written test, 26 needed to pass (74%)
Extra Class - technical examination that covers specialised operating procedures, regulations, formulas and lots of math, as well as amateur testing procedures (people with Extra Class licenses can proctor the radio tests for others); 50 question multiple-choice written test, 37 needed to pass (74%)
Once someone has passed his test, his answer sheet and information are turned in to the FCC and the FCC mails him his license and callsign. Callsigns are unique combinations of letters and one number that amateurs use while on the radio to identify themselves. Names aren't meaningless, but as far as the government is concerned, they are completely secondary.
The prefixes of callsigns show which country the operator is from--someone with a prefix of "G" is from Great Britain or Northern Ireland. Callsigns in the United States all begin with an "A", "K", "N", or "W". For example, WB6NOA is Gordon West, a rather famous person in the American amateur radio community. (He writes study books and does programs concerned with amateur radio.)
As the prefixes mean something, the numbers in callsigns also have meaning--they identify in which region you earned your license. A person with a 6 in their callsign is from California; a person from North Carolina has a 4. The other letters, however, are nothing but unique placeholders.
Service
Amateur radio operators spend a lot of their on-air time doing service. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, amateur radio operators were in New York providing communications and help for the workers and their bosses, doing whatever they could. Amateur radio operators can help in local things as well, such as parade communications or their local Special Olympics1.
Service doesn't always mean "work" however: Santa Claus has come to California since 1971 and talked to children about themselves and their wishes on his QSL-manager's2 rig! Santa himself has a call of W6S, but the propagation at the North Pole isn't that good, so he goes to California to talk to people from around the world.
Of course, Santa has access to all kinds of things that help him to talk to these children. There are places online where he can go to look up callsigns that allows him to find out information that makes Santa very real. "Oh, Jessica? Hi, how are you? Have you been a good girl down in Longview, Texas?" Santa knows everything.
Contesting
Amateur radio operators of all ages enjoy participating in contests - which, with our language so good at changing nouns into verbs, is known as contesting. Originally, contests acted somewhat like training for emergencies when hams would be called upon to use their unique communications skills. Field Day, probably the most popular and well-known contest, began this way.
Field Day
Field Day is a 27-hour long event during the fourth full weekend of June, in which people try to contact as many other stations as possible without getting "dupes", or duplicates. It is always embarrassing (and slightly annoying) when, at the last contact of the contest, the person you've just worked says, "Oh, you're a dupe."
Field Day mirrors a disaster when information needs to be passed quickly and yet clearly from person to person on the radio--the exchange on Field Day is callsign, location, and designator3. Every team keeps track of their contacts and their contacts' information and then sends it in to the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), which publishes all the results in their magazine "QST".
At the end of Field Day, everyone is happy and feeling their achievement, but very tired--many people stay awake all 24 hours of the contest! Between waking up at 7 or 8 o'clock and having Field Day start at 1800 UTC (around noon in the USA, depending on one's state), making contacts that require a thinking mind for twenty-seven hours, and then not falling back asleep until perhaps 8 o'clock the following night, operators go 36+ hours without any kind of sleep. It is difficult, to say the least, but it doesn't seem to hinder anyone from trying again next year!
Worked All States and Other Awards
The Amateur Radio Relay League offers many awards for numerical goals, such as working all 50 states, or for working 100 counties. Most of the states are easy enough to contact (you can easily work 45 just during Field Day), but to earn the award, you must have proof. This proof comes in the form of QSL cards--the cards that hams exchange through the Postal Service showing their picture, callsign, and specifics of the contact. People keep QSL card collections, showing all the places that they have contacted.
When one sends in the application with QSL cards as proof, he or she is returned his QSL cards as well as a certificate, stating that he has Worked All States, or WAS. Many kinds of awards in this vein exist, only requiring QSL proof4. And once he has worked all states, the contester can try for another award -- Worked All States YL, in which only female contacts count.
YL Calls are an Advantage!
The abbreviation 'YL' is slang in amateur radio for 'young lady'; even if the lady isn't young, this is the term used. YLs are always looked fondly upon, because of their conspicuous absence in the world of ham radio. Men have a counterpart abbreviation--they are known as OMs. ('OM' stands for 'old man', and strangely enough, no one really minds. It is just part of the culture.)
Some callsigns, of course, end in the letters 'YL'. It is very fortunate when a contesting YL receives that callsign, because of how easy it becomes for her to enter into a contest and come away with a lot of contacts. Even when a YL doesn't have a YL callsign, she can still break through the noise on the radio better than the many men do, because the pitch of her voice is higher and more uncommon on the waves.
But when a YL has a YL callsign, however, it gets even better: the operator on the other end hears her voice, and can easily connect it to her callsign. When there is a pileup (twenties of people all vying for a particular unique station), this is an especial advantage for her above all others.
Hamfests
Hams really enjoy getting together and talking with each other about their hobby. There are only a few things that they enjoy more: buying new equipment for their "ham shacks", and selling their old equipment to make money. Hamfests bring all three of these things together, so it is no wonder they are popular!
Smaller hamfests, run by individual amateur radio clubs or other organisations, are like large flea markets, except the only things there to buy are ham radio equipment and perhaps some computer/electronics -related things. At least, that's the way it used to be. Lately, hamfests are becoming more and more like usual flea markets, which is unfortunate because of the dying nature of this hobby. These "fleafests" do nothing to help the hobby, the people who are amateurs already, or the people who might want to become amateurs in the future.
Hamfests, however, make it possible for the beginner to have an economical entrance into amateur radio. Unlike most hobbies, amateur radio equipment can be as cheap or expensive as the operator wishes. Most radios at hamfests have been used, but used lightly, and are priced according to their actual worth, as opposed to the inflated prices that come from the manufacturer. Usually it is possible to haggle with the vendor, as well, so equipment can be procured extra-cheaply5.
Dayton Hamvention
The Dayton Hamvention is the largest hamfest in the United States--people come from all over the world to this gigantic three-day gathering in the middle of the USA.
The Dayton Hamvention, as its name implies, is located in Dayton, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati), but people show up from everywhere. For the past few years, there has been a group of men walking around in clogs and speaking Dutch. Anywhere one goes on the campus, he can hear a variety of Oriental languages. People show up from Canada, too, and of course every state in the Union is represented there. Amateur radio is a hobby suited for handicapped people--only the deaf cannot easily participate in everything amateur radio has to offer--so blind and wheelchaired people make their ways along the aisles just as their seeing and walking counterparts do.
What makes the Dayton Hamvention special and different from the other hamfests is the number of top-quality manufacturers that come there every year to market their goods and get their names out to the large amounts of consumers that flock there. Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, and many more show up each year in the vast indoor rooms that complement the rows upon rows of outdoor vendors. Yaesu even gives out unique baseball caps with their logo, which are free if you make it to their booth before they run out and you show your entrance ticket!
The Dayton Hamvention is always tons of fun, as is amateur radio in general. Like the internet, it is possible to make friends on air whom you never meet and yet are very close to. People can talk to these friends without long-distance phone charges, as well as spend time learning and doing other things that interest them on air. There are always more challenges for people who search for them--try talking to astronauts, bouncing your signal off the moon to reach people half a globe away, or sending visual signals with Amateur Television (ATV) - and there are like-minded people near and far who would love to talk to you about these interests and experiments.
