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Prepared for emergencies
Ham radio operators enjoy their hobby
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by BOB RENNEISEN
Michael Watterson of Owings participates in a weekly on-the-air meeting of local ham radio operators.
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Ham radio is another name for the Amateur Radio Service, and, "most of the time, it's the most fun you can have with a radio. It's a way to talk with people around the world, or even orbiting the world; to send e-mail without any sort of Internet connection and to keep in touch with friends across town or across the country," according to a background statement from the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). But it is called the "Amateur Radio Service" because it also has a serious face.
"It's also a very important emergency communications system. When cell phones, regular phones, the Internet and other systems are down or overloaded, ham radio still gets the message through. Ham radio is a ‘hobby' — that's the fun part. But it's also a ‘service' — a vital service that has saved lives again and again when regular communication systems failed."
Michael Watterson of Owings, a ham who also is an IT manager for NASA, talked about what makes amateur radio still fascinating in an era when global communication is available to anyone with a personal computer.
"There are just so many different things that you can do with radio that you're allowed to do with a license," he said recently. "You know, you get a cell phone and you can only do what you can do on a cell phone; you can do almost whatever you like with these radios, you know, you can tinker around. Also, it's good in times of disaster — if the cell towers go down, we can still communicate by radio."
According to the ARRL statement, "on September 11th, it was ham radio that kept New York City agencies in touch with each other after their command center was destroyed. When hurricanes like Katrina, Rita and Wilma knocked out other communications, ham radio provided vital life-and-death capabilities. Countless lives have been saved where skilled hobbyists act as emergency communicators to render aid, whether it's during an earthquake in China or a tornado in the U.S. But most of the time, hams do what they do because it's just plain fun."
Watterson, 49, whose radio call sign is K3MAW, got involved in ham radio last year, earning two of the three classes of licenses granted to amateur radio operators by the Federal Communications Commission. Three levels of licensing exams (Technician Class, General Class and Amateur Extra Class) are currently offered, which allow operators who pass them access to larger portions of the Amateur Radio spectrum and more desirable call signs.
"Calvert County's Citizens Emergency Response Team was offering a ham radio class that I decided to take. It was a six-week class that taught everything I needed to get my technician's license," he explained. "You have to take a test about different facets of radio — policies, electronics, procedures, safety measures, things like that. You used to have to know Morse code, but that's not required anymore."
Last Wednesday, during a weekly over-the-air radio club meeting, some of Watterson's ham buddies shared their comments about amateur radio.
"My father-in-law was a ham and kind of drew me into it," said John Mumper (N3EDD) of St. Leonard. "I get a great kick out of being able to contact someone in Europe or across the country using [amateur radio] mode."
Rick Creager (KK4GV) of Friendship emphasized the value of amateur radio in times of emergency.
"The main point is that every time we [have these on-air meetings] we get practice," he said. "If the need arises for coverage in an emergency — like the aftermath of a tornado or a big snow storm — whatever we have to respond to, the local governments will call us out and we're always ready to help. This gives us practice operating in a controlled-net operation."
Creager's sentiments were echoed by Bob Montagne (K3REM) of Bowie.
"If I had to say something that I like about ham radio it would be the emergency communications aspect," he said. "You know, if something really bad happens — another 9/11 or whatever — whether the phone system works or anything else works, there are people in the United States and in the world that I can talk to and communicate what's happening. That's really the thing that I like about ham radio; if something happened, we'd still be able to communicate and handle some really bad issues."
So, why are amateur radio operators called hams?
According to the ARRL, the term dates back to the early days of radio when most of the radio Morse code operators were former telegraph operators who used to call poor telegraphers hams — perhaps from the term "ham-handed." When early amateur radio operators sometimes overrode the broadcasts of commercial operators, the term migrated and the amateurs became known as "hams." In true American spirit, the amateurs promptly adopted the title as a matter of pride.
