AMATUER RADIO

Amatuer Radio , also known as Ham Radio Is A Fantastic Hobby Of Communications

We would like to start by telling you that you are reading something that has been personally written by an amatuer radio operator. That's right, we are a ham. We first got our license at the age of thirteen after both parents got their license. This was eleven years ago, when morse code was required on the test. We must say that you are looking at a whole new world.

Since we have become a ham (that's what they call operators), we have assisted the Emergency Operating Center (EOC) on numerous occasions during hurricanes in Florida. You see, it's not all about speaking to others from millions of miles away and collecting QSL card, which is very fun, it is also about helping others when all other communication fails.

If you are interested in amatuer radio as a hobby, you will be required to pass a licensing exam. If you get on the bands without passing this exam, you can get in trouble by the FCC.

There are a series of exams that are available. They get more and more challenging as you go up and if you pass them, you will gain even more privileges in terms of the frequency that is available, permitted experimentation, power output and in some of the countries, distinctive call signs.

The licensing classes have changed. Right now, you have three different steps of licensing exams that you have to follow. First, you have the Technician class, second you have the General Class and last you have the Amateur Extra Class.

Upon passing the Amatuer radio exam, you will get a unique call sign. You are the only person that will have this call sign. As an example, ku4ay, AG4QL and KG4BAH are callsigns from Florida. The number 4 represents the Florida zone. You will be using the call sign to legally identify yourself or your station during operation. In certain places, you can get a vanity call sign, which will need to conform to the structure and allocation used for issuing them.