Radio in Space

Some friends of mine yesterday assisted a local school in making contact with the ISS.  This is one of the many cool aspects of Amateur Radio that continues to draw new and younger people into the hobby when they learn about what we are capable of doing.  Just some of the many things we can do that I find interesting are:

• Reflect a signal off the moon to another station on earth.
• Using less power than it takes to light up an incandescent bulb to send a signal around the world.
• Use repeaters built into satellites and space stations to repeat signals around the world

Here is a video of the contact that was made yesterday.

Short video on why radio is important today

I came across a nice video last year that explains why radio is important in this day and age.  With all of these maker type kits and arduino computers and the like its handy to know more of the inner workings.

Ham radio endeavors

I started in this hobby 2 years ago shortly after my son was born.  I had always been interested in radio since I was little playing with the cheap walkie talkies that could barely reach from one end of the house to the other.  I remember taking the cordless phone with me to test out its range once and being surprised that I was able to walk all the way down the street without loosing the base.  Once my son was born I realized that I really didnt have any hobbies at that point and that I could really use one to help keep be stimulated.  I looked up when the next testing session was and found out that I was in 2 days and I crammed for the test and passed.

Since then I have studied for and passed the General and Extra licensing tests and have gotten to know a group of people both locally and around the world who share a wide variety of interests and are all drawn into the hobby for one reason or another.  I am starting this blog to document some of the many things I do in the hobby and hope to share with my son when he is a little bit older and is interested in doing more than just grabbing the mic and saying radio radio radio ... :D