Hamming it up

Today is the 20th anniversary of the first sent text message. Can you imagine?

Seems like something we now take for granted; an every-day occurrence. Like email. And Facebook. And the internet in general.

But long before we had those means of communication, there was no real way to instant message - unless you strung together to soup cans with a line of twine. Or, unless you had a ham radio.

My best friend Ed, who now lives in N.C., is a huge ham radio enthusiast.

Actually, growing up, we were both ham radio operators. I got into the hobby as a lad after my dad introduced me to the practice. He was a radio operator in the Army.

Over the years, I got out of the hobby but Ed, if anything, is more into it now than ever.

He really enjoys the challenge of making contacts with (known in the amateur radio lingo as ‘working’) as many nations (or entities) in the World as possible.  This would not only include talking to nations from Austria to Australia, but it would also include smaller, remote island nations. And, in some cases, uninhabited territories where some ham operators go and set  up shop just to allow others around the world to have the opportunity to make that unique contact.

Just this past weekend, he was excited that he was able to ‘work’ stations in Auckland & Campbell Island. This ‘DXpedition’ (DX is the ham radio lingo for foreign)  that will only last through next weekend.  He explained to me these ham operators can only be on the island during their daylight hours, which corresponds to our nighttime hours. And, he adds, it’s very rare.

So, you can understand he was excited to have made three contacts on three separate frequencies.

A ham operator, with DX goals, is much like a collector of some precious commodity – such as rare stamps or coins. It’s so automated now, from what I understand, there are places online that can tell you where certain operators will be at a certain day and time. Back in the day, you had to be a bit of a sleuth to find the rare stations. Also, his contacts will be confirmed with some electronic notation via the internet.

Part of the fun, when I was operating, was waiting for a post card that came in the mail.

I was proud, as a young teen, to have achieved the ‘Worked All States’ status (by making a contact with an operator from each of the 50 states). I never actually talked to other hams. I did my radio work using the keyboard. If you’re familiar with the 60’s television show, “Hogan’s Heroes,” you might remember having seen the character, Kinch, sending a message via telegraph. That’s how I did it, too!.

I also remember having some interesting DX conversations. I remember making a contacts with a number of European hams. My favorite story was the time I actually chatted in French with a French operator. Now, that’s translating. Imagine: You’re going from English to French and then into Morse Code (and vice versa). It went quite well!

Sometimes, we’d stay up late at night or wake up early in the morning to take advantage of some atmospheric conditions or a particularly lucrative frequency. Or, sometimes, you were just working toward the notion of a favorable time zone. I remember, for example, talking with a Hawaiian ham in the wee hours of the morning (but prime time in his time zone).

And, I can still remember the child-like excitement that came with going to the mailbox and finding a ham radio QSL card (a post card) to confirm a contact – whether it was with a U.S. operator, a Canadian or any number of overseas hams.

Ah, those were the days!

I doubt if I would ever go back to that hobby. You never say never, of course. But, I kind of enjoy hearing about Ed’s exploits, such as him setting the alarm to get up in the middle of the night to chat with a ham operator in the South Pacific.

JG

Originally posted 12/3/2012