Ham Radio

[some/aspies/need/hugs/13]

I am a ham radio operator and one of the things that I find amazing is all the technology, in even the microphone much less the radio. also I have a general class license and I find it a lot easier to talk with people when you don't have to be face to face. for some I think ham radio is a hobby worth pursuing. with the correct equipment it can be no different than typing emails back and forth. also it opens up a large pool of easily identified people to communicate with. There are hams all over the world a lot of them are older and eager to nerd out with young people over the many activities you can enjoy with such equipment. I find it a highly rewarding hobby. I hope more people my age will get into this hobby and enjoy the social interaction that comes with it.

 

[Michael Balog]

My great grandpa was a ham radio operator, he had qsl cards from all over the world. I tried to get my license in high school but couldn't pass the Morse code exam to get it. Now that you say this I might try to go for my license again now that I'm older maybe I can pass it.

 

[some/aspies/need/hugs/13]

Lol you don't need Morse code anymore

 

[Michael Balog]

Awesome then I will be trying to get it then. I have to look for it but I have a picture of my great grandpa I will post it when I find it.

 

[George Newman]

Can a HAM radio be damaged by an EMP burst? If so how do you protect your system?

 

[George Newman]

What is Ham Radio

“What is Ham Radio?
Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It's fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.”

 

[oregano]

I have been a licensed General since 2012. I like it too, I like just tuning around listening for hams calling CQ and then responding. The physics of HF signal propagation seem to magnify my speech impediment for some reason so I have to repeat my callsign 4 or 5 times for the other op to copy it correctly. In the US the morse code requirement was dropped 15 years ago, and morse was also the reason why I never got it. I simply couldn't do morse. As for EMP, the modern computerized radios would be destroyed but the older radios that use vacuum tubes would probably be fine if they weren't hooked to the power grid.

 

[Mary Terry]

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a 40 foot storm surge and drowned New Orleans in 2005, killing over 3000 people, Ham operators were crucial in community communications and getting sparse emergency personnel to places hardiest hit. You guys have my lifelong gratitude for helping us when cell phone towers, radio transmitters and power grids were destroyed. Thank you.

 

[some/aspies/need/hugs/13]

You can keep your radio gear safe with a metal filing cabinet but for the record the only current way to generate an EMP burst is with a nuclear detonation or a highly specialized electromagnet that would have a low range and cost a fortune.

 

[some/aspies/need/hugs/13]

If you are close enough for the EMP of a nuclear blast you will be dead in months from radiation.

 

[George Newman]

What is Ham Radio

“What is Ham Radio?
Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It's fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.”

What is an EMP?
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse's origin may be a natural occurrence or man-made and can occur as a radiated, electric, or magnetic field or a conducted electric current, depending on the source.

 

[Xerces Blue]

KD7QNF
I learned a lot from my HAM Raido Class - Electronic Communications
Any active electrical circuit is vulnerable to an EMP unless it is "Hardened" usually by means of a Faraday cage.
A Faraday cage is a mesh of conductive material around what you want to protect leading to a ground.

 

[Xerces Blue]

Radiation is a VERY miss understood thing.
frankly it isn't anything to worry about unless you're talking about wide spread nuclear warfare or you spend a lot of time outside the earth's atmosphere.
To protect yourself from fallout from a Nuclear strike you only need use some sort of filtration for breathing - a couple layers of cloth will do the trick.
And don't eat or drink anything in the down wind area - Alpha and Beta particles can't penetrate the skin but can go through the mucus membranes - inhalation or ingestion.
Gamma Rays are a one time thing for a blast, but most of it will just pass though you - nothing to be done about it, unless you want to live your life in a lead bunker(with very thick walls) for your entire life.

 

[auslan434]

I got my Foundation license in April 2018 then upgraded to Standard level 7 months later. It sure is a great hobby. I like 2m SSB and HF CW.
Most evenings in Australia I'm on the lower part of 40m. I like listening to Morse code at speeds over 20WPM. VK2NNW is my callsign.

 

[SDRSpark]

I'm an avid SW listener (both classic radio and software defined) and I dabble in restoration/repair of antique radios (listening to my favorite news station on my 1950s Zenith Transoceanic right now.)

I haven't gotten my HAM license yet. I plan to, I just haven't done it yet. I have a weird hangup about disembodied voices/voice conversations with people I can't see (like telephones, lol) and I get nervous even using the UHF radios that we have to use at work, so I haven't been very motivated to transmit.