For those of my friends who are not Ham radio operators, I\u2019m beginning with a short explanation about the parts of the hobby that I\u2019m involved with. The amateur radio hobby has a huge number of possibilities. Some hams are involved primarily in emergency communications. Some like to get on the radio to just chat with others involved in the hobby. Others are contesters\u2014they participate in contests to complete as many contacts as possible within a specified time. \u201cDX chasers\u201d are interested in collecting contacts with distant or difficult to reach operators. Others are adventurers who travel great, and sometimes treacherous distances to set up temporary stations and allow the dx chasers to make a contact with a rare location. Some hams don\u2019t care much about being on the radio but like to build or design radio gear.<\/p>\n
For me, I am involved in emergency preparedness activities. Although I was a ham in high school, I let my license lapse and it was emergency preparedness that got me back into it 50 years later. I do like to chat on the radio, but I find that I don\u2019t have a lot of time to do it. (By the way, hams who chat on the radio\u2014like most other hobbyists\u2014talk about the hobby, not the issues of the day.) I also like to \u201cchase dx.\u201d With the right gear, I have made contacts all over the world. However, while most non-hams think of the radio hobby as involving voice communications, much of it is digital communication, similar to texting. You may think that is boring but think of it as similar to coin or stamp collecting, or beanie babies for that matter. One of the advantages of this type of operating is that it can be done in short sessions, which fits my situation well. Voice communications can take quite a bit of time to search for others, figure out if they can hear you, and possibly butt into an existing conversation.<\/p>\n
I enjoy being able to get a rare location that I\u2019ve never contacted before and adding it to my list of scores, in the same way a stamp collector might be excited about finding a stamp from a country they\u2019ve never had. I may run into the other room and tell Janie \u201cI\u2019ve just made contact with Lithuania!\u201d She is excited for me, although she doesn\u2019t really understand the excitement of not having a conversation. Leslie also listens to my reports, since we see each other every day.<\/p>\n
Now, you too can share my excitement! Now that you understand what I\u2019m doing, I can report my more exciting contacts, and you can congratulate me on getting my latest stamp, coin or beanie baby! (You don\u2019t really need to respond.) To date I have made contacts in all 50 states, most Canadian provinces, and 44 countries on continents except Antarctica. In my most recent session, I made contacts with Australia, New Zealand, Japan Brazil, Ecuador and Hungary.<\/strong><\/p>\n For those of my friends who are not Ham radio operators, I\u2019m beginning with a short explanation about the parts of the hobby that I\u2019m involved with. The amateur radio hobby has a huge number of possibilities. Some hams are … Continue reading 
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