[marc] Re: Ham radio FW: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section 2021 05 23
- From: k1cei@xxxxxxxxxxx
- To: marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 08:44:47 -0400 (EDT)
Very interesting article
On 05/23/2021 7:37 AM jerry <jerry.berrier@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 7:18 AM
To: Jerry Berrier <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: Emili
o, 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 u
pwards 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
worke
d 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 cabl
e 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
This article is provided to you as a courtesy of NFB-NEWSLINE? Online for
your sole use. The content of this E-mail is protected under copyright law,
and is not to be distributed in any manner to others; infringement of our
non-dissemination agreement is strictly prohibited. Allowing someone to have
access to this material is in violation of the Terms of Use agreement that
you electronically signed when you signed up for NFB-NEWSLINE? Online. Please
do not forward this E-mail or its attachments to any other person or
disseminate it in any manner. Thank you. The NFB-NEWSLINE? Team.
Other related posts:
