Florals by Fred: Ham

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Ham

Some of my friends call me a ham but, I'm also an Amateur Radio or Ham radio buff. Since I was a child I was always interested in talking on the radio to people far away. Sad to say, I did not get licensed until 2002 wasting a lot of really good solar cycles to enjoy. My Amateur radio service call sign is K6NLX. Some of you may be wondering, what the heck? Isn't that something really old guys do? Talk about their aches and pains etc... on the radio with their equally old friends? Well, there is that element. I have a lot of respect for these gentlemen. Most of them are war veterans. That's another story. Mostly it's normal folks learning about electronics and having a lot of fun meeting new people on the air. The really fun part for me anyway is to meet new folks in foreign countries. I will probably never set foot in any of them but, I can say I have visited "On the air." One interesting fact of Amateur Radio life is how it gets so integrated into daily life. If you have friends and family members that enjoy the hobby, you know what I'm talking about.
There is a huge growing community of volunteers in numerous emergency response capacities that give their time to help make their communities better. One could ask, what are you doing? When there's an accident of some kind it can quickly become the difference between survival and perishing in a natural or man-made calamity. There are numerous stories of survival out there all because of amateur radio.
I heard a few weeks ago that there are more licensed amateur radio operators than at any time before now. A dying discipline? Simply put, NO! Get more information on how you can become an Amateur here: ARRL