Amateur Radio ("ham radio") is a hobby that is at once both a technical and personal venture. Through the medium of ionospheric radio wave propagation, communication is possible around the world under good conditions. One does not know in advance who you will talk to, be it using morse code, telephony, or, for those with advanced licenses, even television.
In the United States to become an amateur radio operator one must demonstrate knowledge of both radio theory and law on an examination administered by the Federal Communications Commission. Skill in sending and receiving morse code was required when I received my General class license in college.
A Novice class license is relatively simple to obtain, and allows one to transmit over restricted portions of various bands allocated to amateur radio operators worldwide. A General class license is the most popular, and allows for a full 1,000 watts of transmitter power, enough to go around the world on a good night. Advance and Extra class permits are also available with more priviledges accruing from more rigorous qualification requirements.
The best chance of communicating with another continent depends largely upon the time of day, the season, and the frequency employed. The longest distances are available at night, as on the 40 meter and 80 meter bands within the range of shortwave frequencies Shorter distance daylight communication is possible on the 10, 15, and 20 meter bands, sometimes up to 5,000 kilometers.
At VHF (30-300 MHz) and UHF (300-3000 MHz) frequencies only line of sight communication is possible, as these radio waves cannot be reflected by the ionosphere except under very unusual circumstances. Hence these frequencies cater to short range communications such as local FM radio and television stations. Higher frequencies are available and are largely of experimental use at present.
In high school I built a Heathkit AM/FM radio and used it extensively for DXing the AM dial at night. DX stands for "long distance" and, in this case, I took advantage of the fact that AM radio signals can bounce off the ionosphere just like shortwave radio and so provide for long distance reception.
I lay in bed at night, the light out, and would listen intently as I tuned my radio for weak signals. Over a span of some two or three years I confirmed a total of 310 AM stations from our home in Northridge, California of the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles. Often I would come to school the next day and, seeing my blank stare from lack of sleep, people thought I was high on drugs! Some remarkable conditions allowed for reception of such gems as
WNBC is difficult to receive from the Los Angeles area because of interference from a local station, KFI at 640 kHz. HCJB could only be received when KGO San Francisco, also on 810 kHZ, had signed off for maintainance late Sunday night. Indeed, Sunday night well after midnight was the best time to get distant signals since nearby interfering stations were more likely to sign off at that time.
I built another Heathkit, this time a six-band shortwave radio, and used it to receive many commercial shortwave broadcasts while in high school.
I received my General class amateur radio license (call sign N6BGM) while at UCLA as an undergraduate studying Chemistry. I built a shortwave transceiver specifically designed for the challenge of communicating with a very low power output. This QRP ("low power") device put out some 2 to 3 1/2 watts depending on the band. One night at 2 AM I dangled a random wire outside my third floor dormitory window as an antenna. I communicated via morse code to North Carolina! I also received Hawaii. This was fascinating stuff in the days before the Internet and WWW.
I was a member of the UCLA Amateur Radio Club (call W6YRA) and, during my senior year, was the President. Our equipment was elaborate, and included a huge steerable high-gain antenna on top of the Engineering building, Boelter Hall, some one hundred feet above ground level. A map of the world centered on Los Angeles had an arrow which, when rotated would turn the antenna to beam a full kilowatt signal to the desired continent.
I have communicated with some forty countries including the former Soviet Union and South Africa (which is nearly antipodal to California, e.g. on the opposite side of the earth). I have heard, but failed to communicate with, KC4AAA, the South Pole amateur station.
In todays world of instant point-to-point communication this adventure into a tenuous business of quivering signals and radio blackouts seems a bit quaint. Nevertheless computers have transformed this hobby in ways unforeseen when I was an active participant.
Here is a link to the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), the official organ of American amateur radio operators.
Here is a description of amateur radio as provided by the ARRL.
Here is a link to Amateur Radio callbooks, WWW pages, and Usenet newsgroups.