What is Ham Radio?

So someone ask you this question: What is Ham Radio?

I got asked this a few times a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately, I kind of stood there like a fish out of water for a few seconds before I started babbling something. Even though I've been licensed and somewhat active for many, many years, I for some reason found myself unprepared to answer the question.

So here's the deal. If you had 30 seconds to explain What is Ham Radio? to someone, what would you say?

To be honest, I want to glean the best responses, basically memorize a little spiel, and be ready the next time I'm asked.

Thanks.

Ham radio is short for Amateur radio. (Ham is a word not an acronym and as such doesn't need to be capitalized).

You have to go back to the beginning over a century ago. When radio was first born, there was only one type of radio. They used spark gap CW transmitters. There were no regulating agencies and no requirements for licenses.

Radio was quickly adopted for business, (ship to shore etc). But some pursued it as a hobby. So you had paid professional radio operators working for companies and amateur radio operators communicating with each other and tinkering in their basements.. The commercial operators didn't like the amateurs and started calling them hams.. (Which meant a bad operator). In this link What is Ham Radio scroll down to "Why are amateur radio operators also called hams"

Because of the problem with the amateurs interfering with the commercial operators. Regulations ensued. The amateurs were eventually licensed and given specific frequencies to operate on. One interesting fact is that the frequencies given to the hams covered most of the HF bands. Much was taken back, but that's why there are so many HF bands reserved for amateur radio use only.

My answer to that question is that ham radio is a hobby for people who are interested in the art and science of radio.

....and since most people talk on ham radio (instead of CW), there's a new test you have to take. The administrator gives you 10 little marbles to put in your mouth and a tongue twister to say. Every time you say the tongue twister right you can take out a marble. When you've lost all your marbles, you can be a ham.

Hmmmmm- I actually gave this a long thought this afternoon: how better to spend time huddled beneath spruce trees, sitting out an awesome electrical storm, hoping the next strike doesn't have your name on it ?........
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And ??
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I honestly couldn't come up with anything better than this--
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......."Its a world-wide hobby of people that are interested in the many facets of radio." ..........
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I fear expanding upon that will cause peoples eyes to glaze over... if they haven't already.
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( ......Or my cheeky self might have answer'd- "If you have to ask, you probably wouldn't understand" - but I know to keep those thoughts to myself. )
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Lauri
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I too struggle when I get asked that question. When I tried to explain it to my mother in law, she pretty much equated it with CB, as most folks I have encountered do.

So the best thing I have come up with to say is:

"Its a federally licensed service that allows me to use radios to communicate and experiment with."

I try to avoid using the word hobby in my explanations, because most people automatically revert to stating, "Oh, so its like CB?" etc..

Either way, I still get the glazed look, but at least with my previous explanation, I can go into the licensing requirements and the reasons why I enjoy it....

I should have checked the International Telecommunications Union site first. They have a short and sweet definition in Article 1 of the world radio regulations.

life.itu.int/radioclub/rr/art1.pdf

1.56
amateur service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training,
intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized
persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Unfortunately I think Ham Radio is dying a slow death...

Not the first time I have heard that...

I'll enjoy it for as long as I can. I am only in my mid 40s, haven't been licensed long. Wish I had more time to play around on the air and do things with my club, but with work and raising a family, time for radio can be hard to come by.

If ham radio is still around when I retire (and I suspect it will), I can see myself getting a lot more involved and having a lot of fun with it.

Time will tell.

iMONITOR said:

Unfortunately I think Ham Radio is dying a slow death...

Click to expand...

No. Some of the dinosaurs are dying off, but some are evolving into mammals.

The problem is that people now believe radio is something that you buy from China and it'll just work just like a screwdriver. There's no need to make a screwdriver, just buy one off the shelf when you need it. This is the reason why ham radio is "dying" - people believe that radio service is always there when you need it and not wanting to understand how radio works and why FCC is there to manage it.

Ham radio is for those people who want to forge a screwdriver and test that it will turn screws, just for their own personal interest. Most of the time people end up making handles but buy the blades because it's kind of tough to make them. Unfortunately people end up buying a handle and a blade and plug them together and this is why people equate ham radio with CB service. But in any case, they may not then take these screwdrivers and use them to build cars and houses for profit. (However for non-profits, that's a different story!)

The non-pecuniary clause is there specifically to make sure that people don't try to abuse the bandwidth allocated, so that people who are testing have priority and kick those people off (whereas other radio bands it's illegal to even test unless you own that bandwidth.) I don't mind hams being really protective of their bandwidth from unlicensed, though ham vs ham is a different story altogether.

When someone asks me... usually based on my Ham Radio license plate... I say "it's a Federally licensed radio service who's primary interest is providing emergency communication in times of natural (or man-made) disasters. It also provides for education and experimentation in radio technology and techniques; and depending on your license class, allows nationwide or worldwide communication."

That usually elicits the response "wow, that's so cool."

I actually had a guy come up to me in the parking lot of my local grocery store, knock on my car window, and say "I just want to thank you hams for getting messages to my relatives here in the States while I was in the service in Korea." Of course that was way before my time... but it made me proud to be an Amateur Radio Operator.

Appreciate all the replies.

K9DAK said:

I say "it's a Federally licensed radio service who's primary interest is providing emergency communication in times of natural (or man-made) disasters.

Click to expand...

Amateur radio's primary function is not emcomm, though. Amateur radio is "for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." Sure, ham radio can be (and is) used for communications during time of emergency, but I don't think its accurate to state that this is the primary interest of amateur radio operarors. Passing the various amateur radio licencing tests does not confer any rights or responsibilities as an emergency responder.

call_sign_null said:

Amateur radio's primary function is not emcomm, though.

Click to expand...

According to the FCC's rules, emergency communications is listed first in the purpose of amateur radio.

§97.1 Basis and purpose.
The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

Click to expand...

call_sign_null said:

Sure, ham radio can be (and is) used for communications during time of emergency, but I don't think its accurate to state that this is the primary interest of amateur radio operarors.

Click to expand...

I agree. "Most" amateur radio operators don't give a hoot about emergency communications.

call_sign_null said:

Passing the various amateur radio licencing tests does not confer any rights or responsibilities as an emergency responder.

Click to expand...

I agree. There is more to being an emergency responder than just having an amateur radio license and a few communications skills.

Amateur radio is a lot of different things to different people.

To me it is a mind opening hobby that gives you the opportunity to try new an exciting things.
Since I became licensed I've played in all sorts of different aspects of the radio hobby.

I've operated FM over various amateur satellites, built my own 10GHz FM transceiver using cheap motion sensors, set up VHF packet radio links using soundcard based modems as well as modified wifi gear for faster connection links.

Played with MMDVM and modified the software to link P25 repeater systems together on the UHF ham bands. Started playing with SDR and used a modified satellite tv box as a receiver for my SDR based DVB-S transmitter to play with Digital Amateur Tv.

Worked the HF bands on ssb and data modes, played with packet and winlink to send email without internet access.

To me amateur radio is a way to explore the radio world and hone your skills in radio, electronics and more. You gain a grander understanding of the world around you. at least.... that's what it is to me.

I could go on for hours but I think the post is already a bit long winded.

I operate the city's mobile command vehicle (see avatar). It has all kinds of radios (UHF, VHF, air, marine, 800, CB, ham, etc. We've worked everything from hurricanes to hazmat spills to hostage situations and I can only remember using the ham radio one time as part of an emergency.

Georgia EMA normally includes ham operators from around the state in practice situations. To be honest, they spend a lot of time playing on HF.

I think communications has evolved to the point that the gap formerly filled by ham operators is now pretty much filled by the new radio technology.

Well... I don't think radio technology has gotten better per se, but rather infrastructure for allowing the use of low power radio has gotten much better, such that high power is no longer needed.... A ham has to acknowledge the cell phone most of us already carry "QRP" transmits only a few watts and can still call someone half way around the world, with little interference and no (noticeable) airwave sharing needed ... all due to infrastructure.

...up until the point that infrastructure is broken or we need new engineers building new stuff...

Incidentally speaking, I think getting ARRL achievements by "cheating" with Echolink... is indeed cheating. Echolink users are using infrastructure that's basically what cellular service is using...

needairtime said:

Well... I don't think radio technology has gotten better per se, but rather infrastructure for allowing the use of low power radio has gotten much better, such that high power is no longer needed.... A ham has to acknowledge the cell phone most of us already carry "QRP" transmits only a few watts and can still call someone half way around the world, with little interference and no (noticeable) airwave sharing needed ... all due to infrastructure.

...up until the point that infrastructure is broken or we need new engineers building new stuff...

Incidentally speaking, I think getting ARRL achievements by "cheating" with Echolink... is indeed cheating. Echolink users are using infrastructure that's basically what cellular service is using...

Click to expand...

Sec, 97.1 never took into consideration a lot of the technical achievements, I.e., cell phones. The technology has changed, that is, it has improved. That bus I mentioned earlier has 6 satellite phone lines and satellite Internet. If that's not improvement over the years, I don't know what is.

Cell phones, digital radio, transistors, integrated circuits, Internet, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, were but a dream when the concept of ham radio was conceived and that section was written.

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I think the question "What is Ham Radio?" is a very opened end one. I've like all the responses everyone has made, but I have this observation- They are all assuming the ask'er really wants to know.
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It doesn't take much to quickly size up a questioner as to which planet they are coming from, and to tailor responses appropriately. Some people want a good answer to their question, but unfortunately there are many who will have already lost interest in whatever you'll say even before they've finished asking.
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Ever have someone ask you a question, and before you can so much as give a bye-your-leave, they are back staring at their mobile device, unaware you even exist?....
I call these 'fly-by" questions.
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I find few social interactions more annoying than to give out a thoughtful, lengthy response to a query only to discover I've been talking to a moon-faced cow that wasn't interested in a word I said.
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On the other hand, there is no need for a formulae answers when its with a really interested person. The dialogue that follows will be filled with all the information---- their questions, and your answers will take it from there.
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Lauri
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