What is amateur or HAM radio? What are the advantages of HAM radio versus other modes of communication? Why bother getting a license? What purpose does HAM (or amateur radio) serve? Do you think that HAMs are just a bunch of coke bottle glass wearing geeks that live in their mother’s basement? Well, the last one may have some truth to it….We often take communications for granted. Our cell phones are now an extension of ourselves and are ever present in our daily lives. Some adults among us have never known an era without cell phones, where one had to pull to the local gas station and drop a dime in a pay phone! What happens when that infrastructure is compromised? What happens in natural or man caused disasters? A real man is prepared.
Cell phones are short distance radio transmitters that rely on networks of radio towers and even the internet and satellites to connect us to others. Cell phones can and do often suffer interruptions due to power outages, tower damage from tornados or hurricanes. As a matter of fact, one of the first protocols for the government in a terrorist attack is to shut down the cellular networks to disrupt coordinated attacks. Where does that leave you in a crisis? When those disruptions happen, it is often the amateur radio operators, or HAMs, that fill the void with their own private communication capabilities. Often during natural disasters, the first comms established are the local HAM radio operators coordinating rescue efforts and emergency radio traffic.
To prevent interference between different users, the artificial generation and use of radio waves is strictly regulated by law, coordinated by an international body called the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The radio spectrum is divided into a number of radio bands on the basis of frequency, allocated to different uses.
The Federal Communications Commission in the U.S., regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the commission is the United States' primary authority for communications law, regulation and technological innovation.
Operating without a license for a particular band, transmitting with more power than allowed, or violating other regulations, such as intentionally jamming communications or profanity are against the law. Many HAMs take their hobby very seriously and often triangulate or hunt violators to turn them in to the FCC. It is no laughing matter as fines can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
As you can see in the attached allocation of spectrum the allocation of use is very complex. The FCC not only regulates who may use certain spectrums, they also regulate the amount of power that can be used to transmit in the assigned spectrum. Some portions of the spectrum, like CB (Citizens Band) radio are open to use without a license but with limitations on the amount of power (4 watts) with which one may transmit. Low power transmissions severely limit the distance which one can communicate using CB.
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths ranging from 1 millimeter (0.039 in) to 100 kilometers (62 mi). Like all other electromagnetic waves, they travel at the speed of light. Artificially generated radio waves are used for fixed and mobile radio communication, broadcasting, radar and other navigation systems, communications satellites, computer networks and innumerable other applications.
Different frequencies of radio waves have different propagation (how they proceed outward from the point of transmission) characteristics in the Earth's atmosphere; long waves may cover a part of the Earth very consistently, shorter waves can reflect off the ionosphere and travel around the world, and much shorter wavelengths bend or reflect very little and travel on a line of sight. As we’ll discuss later, different equipment and classes of licenses will be needed to operate in these wavelengths. How far one wishes to communicate will often dictate which frequencies one uses. Some frequencies, like VHF and UHF, generally are a “line of sight” communication meaning that the broadcasting and receiving antenna must have an unobstructed path between them. This is why most broadcast antennas are elevated on towers or tops of tall buildings. HF communications generally reflect off the ionosphere and as such are capable of reflecting hundreds or thousands of miles. HF is a great long distance communication mode, but generally ill-suited for short distance communications.
Amateur radio is allocated portions of the spectrum from 1.8 MHz to 1240 MHz (and some extremely high frequencies). For our purposes we’ll limit the discussion to the more common HF, VHF, and UHF. The attached frequency allocation for HAM radio will illustrate which licenses are valid in each part of the spectrum.
In the U.S., there are three license classes. The higher the class of license, the more frequencies are available. Earning each higher class license requires passing a more difficult examination. Although regulated by the FCC, license exams are given by volunteer groups of Amateur Radio operators. Operating under organizations called Volunteer Examiner Coordinators, volunteers administer and grade tests and report results to the FCC, which then issues the license. U.S. licenses are good for 10 years before renewal, and anyone may hold one except a representative of a foreign government.
So with all the background out of the way, let’s jump into why you would want to be licensed and what you can do with it.It comes down to self-sufficiency. As long as you have your radio and a power source you are in control of your ability to communicate. No “all circuits are busy” or being cut off when out of cell range or cellular networks go down due to flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, or extremely high traffic. Amateur radio operators are close cousins to the prepper. Many HAMs believe in being self-sufficient and be prepared for disaster. Their equipment is often battery powered or capable of being operated by a battery source, like a 12V car battery. This along with portability lends itself to being able to communicate in any situation, which is why HAMs are often among the first responders to a wide spread disaster.
I challenge you to go a full day without your cell phone or GPS/navigation. Being cut off from communications is an eerie feeling. Imagine a natural or other disaster where the roads are gridlocked and you can't communicate with your loved ones or support network.
Where will you be when disaster strikes? Where will your loved ones be? Chances are you’ll be at work and your will be at work, home or taking the kids to or from school or the mall. If you have a disaster plan, which you should, how would you know if your loved ones are going to make it back to your home, or your bug out location? When cell phones go down, panic will set in. If you have communications as part of your plan you can be ahead of the game and utilize other radio operators to gain intel and unfiltered information. (You don’t think the media really tells you the truth, do you?)
Anyone interested in being prepared to take care of themselves and their loved ones should at a minimum have a technician license, which will allow the use of some very capable radios including hand held radios utilizing the VHF and UHF frequencies. In addition to simplex operation (radio direct communication to another radio) there are thousands of repeaters in operations around the country which, as the name implies, repeats your broadcast so that your signal may reach a greater distance or around obstructions like mountains or buildings. Repeaters are usually placed on tall buildings and have redundant power supplies (the building’s emergency generator and even back up battery power) that operate even in the event of a disaster. Many are even linked via the internet so that HAM operators across the country or in other parts of the world can connect using a radio whos transmissions are normally limited to short distances. These radios also allow you to monitor official emergency communications of many police and fire departments.
Many people are intimidated by the prospect of studying electronics and electrical theory to obtain a license. The good news is that there are many study aids and the technician class license is relatively easy to obtain. (I’ve seen 8 year olds study and pass the test)
I’ll list some resources here:
ARRL, American Radio Relay League, is the National Association for Amateur Radio and their site is a wealth of knowledge about all things HAM
http://www.arrl.org/homeHamStudy.org is a great place for licensing information and study guides, including web based practice tests and flash cards
https://hamstudy.org/KB6NUs HAM Radio Blog http://www.kb6nu.com/tech-manual/Once you have studied and are ready to take the exam you can search for locations near you here:
http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-sessionDon’t worry, once you pass the test HAM operators are like a family, they have regular meets (one chapter I belong to meets for breakfast every Saturday) where they discuss and debate, but mostly to help each other with learning more about the hobby. They also regulary hold “nets”, or gatherings on a predetermined frequency where you can practice your skills and understand the protocol for operating during a disaster or crisis.
I hope this short primer has been enough to spark your interest in taking your Real Man Survival skills to the next level and obtaining at least an entry level license for amateur radio. Let the discussion begin!
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