Thanks for sharing Jerry.
Nina
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jerry
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 7:38 AM
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Subject: [marc] Ham radio FW: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section 2021 05 23
From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online
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Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 7:18 AM
To: Jerry Berrier <jerry.berrier@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:jerry.berrier@xxxxxxxxx>>
Subject: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section 2021 05 23
Connecting with strangers over ham radio cleared my family's static Going
analog boosted my marriage's reception during a year of pandemic isolation. By
Gabriella Gage . By Gabriella Gage . On a rainy October night during the
pandemic, my husband, David, searches for a faint voice in the distance. He
doesn't know who's calling, but he knows he wants to speak to them. David
adjusts the tuning knob on the decades-old transceiver ever so slightly, as if
cracking a safe. Outside, a homemade antenna bobs in the wind. On his computer,
pulsating lines tell him the voice is one of hundreds calling out on this busy
night. The voice gets clearer: "CQ," the magic letters he's been awaiting - the
amateur radio operators' invitation for a response - followed by a call sign.
David jumps on his mic, repeating the stranger's call sign and adds: "This is
KB1TOY, Kilo-Bravo-1-Tango-Oscar-Yankee. You're light but I can hear you! After
months of troubleshooting, David has made a new contact: Emilio, a truck driver
and self-described cowboy in his early 40s, located in a commune in rural
southern Italy. They quickly exchange personal information, knowing that any
minute they might lose each other. For David, it's a distance record - a new
high. A new human connection, rare in these pandemic days, made an ocean away
without leaving our Somerville apartment. Our family celebrates. We are not
alone. The global pandemic has brought a renewed interest in amateur, or "ham,"
radio, a nostalgic pastime long overshadowed by the Internet, social media, and
cell phones. Longtime enthusiasts and newbies like David flocked to their
radios for community, distraction, and vital pandemic information. "We've
noticed general and event-related activity are both up," says Bob Inderbitzen,
spokesperson for the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national
association for amateur radio in the United States. Its membership of licensed
ham radio operators numbers 779,531 - a total that grows by upwards of 30,000
annually. "People have turned to amateur radio more and more as a way of
varying communication with the world," says Inderbitzen, whose call sign is
NQ1R. March 2021 saw the largest monthly cohort of new licensees in the last
decade - 4,397 - and licenses are up by 35 percent this year over 2019. Amateur
radio offers something uniquely appealing in the age of COVID-19 isolation: the
chance to connect in real time with strangers around the world while honing a
technical skill that's handy during global health crises and natural disasters.
In many ways, crises are what ham was built for. The Federal Communications
Commission grants ham radio operators in the United States special access to
airwaves that can also be used for emergency response efforts. Radio can be
lifesaving in areas prone to natural disasters, such as Florida, Puerto Rico,
and Indonesia. During pandemic lockdowns, England's National Health Service
partnered with the Radio Society of Great Britain to spread public safety
messages and promote wellness checks on hams, many of whom are older. ARRL's
Inderbitzen says ham radio has historically attracted two kinds of people:
those with an affinity for electronics and gadgets, and those looking for
public service and community-building opportunities. David falls somewhere
between the two. Prior to the pandemic, he counted on hobbies that involved
risk- riding motorcycles through deserts, sailing boats across the Atlantic,
racing cars at tracks - to challenge himself and make new friends. The storm
more than the port has always been where he found refuge in times of crisis -
flirting with danger helps him de-stress. During the pandemic, however, David
struggled in the privileged monotony of isolation at home as a new dad and
computer programmer. Without travel or a creative outlet, and as the hours
online and time caring for our baby blurred together, he retreated from our
tight, loud quarters to our dark, unfinished basement and worked longer days
than ever. He was burned out and increasingly disconnected from our little
family. David discovered ham by chance on YouTube early in the pandemic. Its
many new digital applications, such as one called "moonbounce," which permits
earth to moon and back to earth radio transmissions, appealed inherently to the
adventurer in him. He couldn't tear across a desert on a motorcycle, but he
could travel in a whole new way. It wasn't long before an imposing copy of
"Practical Antenna Handbook" replaced the travel books on David's nightstand.
There were frequent late-night trips to Home Depot. Spools of copper wire
glinted around the house. He began using the NATO alphabet to spell things for
our toddler - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. . . . David had embarked on what
Inderbitzen calls "the journey of discovery. "It's all about learning about
radio communications, improving your station and technical skills, and pushing
those boundaries so you're heard farther away," says Inderbitzen, who first
discovered ham as a middle schooler before making a career out of it. In a
twist for a traditionally analog medium, the pandemic brought testing for
licensing online. After weeks of studying, David passed his general class
operator exam - there are three license levels, offering successively greater
access to the airwaves. He did it on Zoom from our bathroom, the only room
small enough to show he was alone at all times and thus could not be cheating.
Increased availability of inexpensive equipment has also made ham more
accessible - a modest portable station can be created with a laptop and under
$50 worth of additional equipment. David dedicated weekends to devising new
antennas for our "home station" - his new name for the once-dreary basement -
and modeled them for our delighted daughter, a fan of all things remotely
"robot. In order to attach the antenna that would improve the station's signal
in a dense city rife with interference, we took turns launching coaxial cable
into the trees above our house with a slingshot. The antennas also strengthened
another connection: the one to our family life. David relished having a
challenging hobby he could share with us at home. Ham even scratches David's
competitive itch: He discovered "contesting," when amateur radio stations try
to contact and exchange information with as many stations as possible in a
given period of time. In an age of machine-to- machine connectivity, David
found the thrill of discovery, technical challenge, and global escape he
craved. He's connected with hams in nearly every state and in dozens of
countries, including Ghana, Ukraine, Kuwait, and Panama. And now, without
leaving Boston, we've collected QSL cards - written or digitized confirmations
of two-way communication, often designed around the operator's unique call
number - from fellow hams around the world. In the end, it wasn't the next
great technology or ham's increasingly popular digital modes but old-school
analog radio - the unfiltered voices of real humans crackling somewhere in the
distance - that helped David find his way back to us in the storm. Talking to
strangers improved our communication with each other, too. And now, as the
prospect of actual travel looms, we have new friends to meet all over the
world. Gabriella Gage is a writer in Somerville
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