Amateur Radio has been an interest of mine for many, many years - about 30 years in fact.  It's helped to satisfy my need for electronic tinkering, learning about communications, meeting interesting folks, and utilizing skills learned to assist with public safety in times of emergency.

The best place to start learning about "ham radio" - another term for Amateur Radio - is to visit the American Radio Relay League's website (ARRL).  The ARRL is an organization          made up of licensed amateur radio operators.    The good folks at the ARRL look out for our interests and also offer a great many services to local ham radio clubs and organizations.  They have a great technical library of books and other publications.

Ham radio operators come in all sizes, shapes, age, and colors.  Some operate from homes, some from cars, some from boats, and some operate even from private planes!  Hams tend to have key common interests -namely, meeting new folks and helping to share the hobby.

With all the new technologies around today (and hams have helped to bring about most of them), our hobby has grown from basic radio communication to also include amateur television, facsimile transmission, digital modes (non-voice), Voice over Internet (VoIP), GPS positioning, satellites, and much more.  Hams can even talk to astronauts in space.

Please visit here to get started learning about ham radio:  http://www.hello-radio.org/

Please visit here to learn about the ARRL and its services:  http://www.arrl.org/

Please view the video below that stars Walter Cronkite.  That's right, Walter is a ham radio operator.  The video is entitled "Amateur Radio Today".  It will give you an excellent sense of what amateur radio is all about.  Just click on this link to watch the video:  Amateur Radio Today  If you do not have a broadband (high speed) Internet connection, you may not able to view the video successfully.

If you would like to know more about my ham radio activities, this is where you will find details (coming soon).