"This is Kilo Bravo Three Hotel Bravo Hotel standing by. KB3HBH standing by." With a phrase like that, a handheld radio transceiver, a thin wire antenna and a small slip of paper issued by the Federal Communications Commission, I can discuss everything from politics to science to the latest crisis of Philadelphia sports teams with people the world over. How? I can do it by using ham radio, a communications technology that uses short-wave radio waves to allow people to talk with one another.
Ham radio, more formally referred to as amateur radio, could almost be considered an anachronism in today's age. It is rooted in a simple idea: individuals talk directly to other individuals, regardless of distance or country. There are no vast computerized networks, as with the Internet, and there are no satellites, phone lines or corporations. There are only individuals, without any sort of formal intermediaries or infrastructure required. It's far closer to a conversation in a café than to an internet chat room.
Radio technology, unlike computers, hasn't changed very much in the last 100 years. It is based on equations discovered two centuries ago and in many cases uses equipment - like vacuum tubes - that was phased out in other devices 40 years ago. Transmission is equally simple. Instead of depending on wireless routers or cell towers for international contacts, ham radios use quirks inherent in the electromagnetic spectrum to bounce radio waves off the atmosphere or, sometimes, the moon itself.
These communications are not always conducted via vocalizations. Many still use Morse code, the system where patterns of long and short sounds symbolize letters, originally developed for telegraph lines in the 1830s. Morse code allows for voiceless conversations in a manner dissimilar from anything found in an instant message dialogue box. While some of the technology has been modernized, a radio operator from the Titanic would still be able to find his way around a modern radio.
In short, ham radio is a technology the information revolution seems to have passed over. Even the manner by which it is administered seems foreign to modern eyes; all operators must pass a written licensing test to transmit and radio frequencies are doled out by the federal government. The idea of having to pass an exam to look at NYTimes.com or send an e-mail might baffle anyone who grew up with the Internet but it is a reality with ham radio, ensuring that commercial, government and military broadcasts can proceed without interference. Moreover, security is almost non-existent - conversations are transmitted in the clear, without any of the encryption measures that even routine e-mails possess.
So why is this communications system, which in quite a few respects could be described as primitive, still in use? One answer is simple: it's incredibly reliable. Without the need to depend on any external infrastructure, ham radio operators can communicate in nearly any situation. During the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hams coordinated relief supplies when cell phones and even some government radios failed, and operators have a long history of providing emergency communication services in times of need or crisis. While fictional, one of the most well-known examples takes place in the movie "Independence Day," where the heroes use ham radio to coordinate an attack that defeats the alien invaders.
But ham radio is more than just a back-up to conventional information channels. It represents a more basic form of communication, of conversation between two people and two people alone, without a vast infrastructure separating them. Moreover, as many contacts are between perfect strangers, linked only through a shared hobby, ham radio can help promote connections where before there had been none. At the very least, that can lead to interesting and potentially unique discussions in a way that e-mail or Facebook doesn't allow.
Is ham radio going to replace conventional communications? Not at all. But it does represent a different style of communications, and, perhaps, represents an alternative model from the networked internet technologies to which we've all become accustomed. For that alone, there's a place for ham radio in today's world.
Joey Borson '07 recommends unplugging electrical devices before working on them.
