What is Amateur Radio?

Fundamentally, Amateur Radio (sometimes called ´Ham Radio´) is the use and experimentation of radio for non-commercial (thus ´Amateur´) purposes. This includes just for the fascination of it, and for practical application to emergencies and public service. It is authorized and regulated by the Federal Goverment under the Radiocommunications Act.

The medium of radio rose to prominence in the early twentieth century as efforts to transcend the limits of communications over wires gave rise to wireless methods of sending signals through empty space. Point-to-point and broadcast radio communications facilitated the building of nation-states, the coordination of sophisticated military operations, and the development of popular culture.  From the very beginning, amateur operators — people motivated by a love of the art and without commercial interest — explored and experimented with this new medium and in so doing, helped to shape the technology throughout the decades to come. In the twenty-first century, wireless communication is more important than ever with the proliferation of mobile computing devices and the internet. While the modern state of the art is very complicated, amateur radio is an approachable way of learning the fundamental principles, and provides a means for taking back control of the technology that surrounds us.

Also, it’s lots of fun! There are so many aspects to the hobby that it is easy to find a niche. When you become an amateur radio operator, you open up the opportunity to communicate with others across the globe. You can use different methods of communications such as voice, Morse code, or dozens of digital modes. You can build high-powered Wi-Fi data networks, send email without the internet, and talk to folks through satellites.  Amateur radio operators perform radio astronomy, bounce signals off the moon, and pick out signals below the noise floor. With Amateur Radio you can work other stations from nearly anywhere: from home, in a vehicle, or on a mountain top!

To learn more about activities in northern BC, consider joining the Northern BC Ham Radio Discord server   https://discord.gg/4EgxXRT3ue