ham radio

one really weird / geeky hobby i had in high school was ham radio, wanted to share some thoughts and reflections here however embarrassing it may be

i first learned about ham radio through the boy scouts, when i took the merit badge class in 2013. i was at the national scout jamboree, which is a gathering of a few thousand scouts from across the country that happens every four years. this time it was held at summit bechtel reserve in west virginia (the bsa’s flagship high-adventure base). there were lots of interesting experiences from that trip (including severe weather) but one thing i distinctly remember is waiting outside the ham radio tent in awe, listening to crackling static and faint-sounding voices. the tent’s surroundings were usually very cloudy and dark, rainy, etc but the tent sounded alive with energy. the problem was that you had to book the ham radio classes in advance, and they were fully booked for the duration of the camp. so every day i found time to stand outside the tent, waiting, hoping there would be a cancellation or that they would feel bad for me and let me in.

on the last day of the trip, one of the instructors did take pity on me and created an extra spot in one of their courses. i was overjoyed - once inside, before hearing the instructor speak, i knew this would be a hobby i would go super deep into. i paid close attention to the short course (i felt like i was the only one who was listening) and found it fascinating that you could talk to people all over the world with just a small box and antenna. it’s crazy that you can encode your voice into electromagnetic waves and send them out through an antenna, where they hit this ionized layer of particles in the atmosphere (the ionosphere) and reflect right back down to earth, allowing the radio waves to travel worldwide (not limited by the curvature of the earth). after the course, the instructor (recognizing my enthusiasm) came up to me and handed me his copy of the arrl ham radio license manual for the technician license, which teaches you everything you need to know to pass the entry-level ham radio license exam. (if you’re interested in getting into ham radio and passing the exam, this is a good place to start, also message me).

i spent the summer studying for the exam and passed with a perfect score (which isn’t too hard, given they give you the whole 412-question bank and pick 35 to put on the test, so you can memorize them if that’s your style). the test mainly wants to test your knowledge in a few areas: basic electronics stuff (wave propagation, components, electronics principles), operating procedures (best practices on how to make contact), electrical safety (rf exposure, grounding, shock prevention), and fcc rules & regulations (the fcc is the governmental body that regulates amateur radio). it’s a wonderful rabbit hole to go down.

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