About 3 years ago I decided to obtain an amateur radio license upon a suggestion from a friend. I wasn't sure why. I'm not interested in having casual discussions with strangers around the world. I just decided to explore the amateur radio world to see if there was anything interesting. I have an electrical engineering degree, but have done very little electronics work. After a few years doing electronic instrument design, I spent the large majority of my working career in administrative and managerial positions. I retired about a year after getting licensed. So now I have the time and freedom to explore. Here's what I've found:



Amateur radio does provide opportunities to talk to others all over the continent and the world. And it's not only via radio. Amateur radio is almost like a club. Introduce yourself and your callsign to another amateur radio licensee anywhere and you're immediately treated as a friend. For example, just a few weeks ago I encountered an amateur using a portable rig on a mountaintop in Japan. After introducing myself with my callsign, I was welcomed and had a long friendly chat. Nearly every ham I meet is welcoming and eager to help me enjoy the hobby.



Amateur radio is a community service. In the US, radio amateurs sit on the state emergency operations teams along with a wide variety of government and community representatives. In the event of a disaster, radio amateurs may be called in to provide emergency communications channels. When a child or other individual goes missing, the amateur radio community assists in communications and search and rescue. If a marathon race or a Christmas parade is held, the amateur radio community is asked to provide point to point communications along the route to ensure problems and emergencies are communicated and addressed quickly.



Amateur radio offers entertainment in the form of challenges and contests. For those who like to compete, there are innumerable contests and technical challenges. Can you make contacts in 100 countries? It's not easy. Can you do it using 5 watts or less? Tough, but possible. I've been trying for two years. There's nothing like the thrill of contacting a researcher at the South Pole using only 5 watts. Or making a trans-Atlantic contact using only 250 milliwatts! This was possible using a digital mode with intensive computer processing to extract the signal from the noise. Or, how about making a contact via a repeater on the International Space Station as it zips by -- using only a portable radio and a handheld antenna?



Amateur radio is a learning opportunity. Learning electronics or RF design from a stack of textbooks is very difficult and dull. But, learning how to design an amplifier by building one is much more interesting and effective. Amateur radio presents the opportunities that can give you the initiative to build and learn. Recently I found a need to have a low power VHF amplifier for something I was exploring. With a bit of internet research and reading I learned all about Class E amplifiers. Using free PCB design software (KICAD) and an online PCB fab shop I was able to design and build one at very low cost. Need an antenna? Do some research. Learn about it, and build one. I have a long list of ideas and projects (learning opportunities) queued up as a result of exploration of amateur radio. In two years of playing around with amateur radio designs, I've learned a huge amount about RF design, microcontroller design, and C programming.



Amateur radio is a teaching opportunity. I now do volunteer work with the local middle and high schools, teaching students about electronics and radio communications. Most of the students I work with have developed strong interest in engineering careers. Electronics can be interesting and fun. But, add in the ability to use radio communications to do remote sensing and remote control, and it opens up the world in ways that students cannot otherwise experience. With electronics students can measure the room temperature and the wind speed. They can measure the barometric pressure in the classroom. And they can make robots move across the floor. But add radio communications into the mix and it gives them the ability to explore the planet. We can capture telemetry from satellites to monitor the conditions in space. We can send high altitude balloons to the top of the atmosphere and recover the payloads after descent. We can measure the abrupt temperature change that occurs as the balloon moves from the troposphere into the stratosphere. We can put data collection buoys out on the Great Lakes. We can monitor conditions on the bottom of the river through the deep freeze of Michigan winters. We can use low power WSPR radio transmitters to investigate the effects of the sun on the ionosphere. Radio communications allow students to look beyond their smart phone screens and beyond the walls of the classroom. This opens their minds and gives them the skills and confidence to explore the far reaches of the planet with their own brains and hands.



Amateur radio is not old technology. Like everything else, radio technology is evolving and migrating into the digital realm. As we've seen audio, video, computers, and telephony merge into modern digital devices like smartphones, much of what was done in analog radio designs in the past is now done with computer processing. Much of radio technology is also merging into digital devices. You don't need to learn all about analog RF electronics. There are digital integrated circuit chips that can connect directly to a microprocessor to send and receive radio. I recently completed a design of a transceiver for a high altitude balloon which uses a PIC microcontroller interfaced to a $4 ISM transceiver chip to send and receive data over VHF or UHF channels. This is the same kind of chip that's in your automobile key fob or your utility meter. It helps to know a bit about the analog filters -- but what you don't want to learn, or don't have time to learn, you can get from data sheets or online design tools.



Amateur radio can be expensive, but it can also be inexpensive. Nearly every capability you can't afford to buy you can build at much lower cost. And, with low cost Chinese radios, test instruments, and parts, a person can get started with a minimal investment and move up to more expensive and better quality equipment once they learn which field of radio electronics they enjoy. My first radio was a $30 Chinese handheld. I'm building my own spectrum analyzer using plans from the internet. I've built two RF power amplifiers, a transverter, and a WSPR transmitter. After learning that surface mount technology is not difficult to work with, I built my own reflow oven. My main HF antenna and my VHF antenna were built using parts from the local hardware store. Used equipment is readily available. And I can always find another ham willing to loan me any test equipment I need to use.



Since I started exploring amateur radio I've learned that it's much more than the stereotypical image of a bunch of old guys sitting around with headsets and microphones chatting about old vacuum tubes and such. Yes, you can do that. But, amateur radio also offers many more dimensions and opportunities to contribute to the community, to have fun, to learn, and to teach. If you enjoy electronics, consider adding radio technology into your skill set. And, if you have interest in using radio technology in your electronics designs, consider getting licensed. It will open up lots of opportunities for new ideas and explorations, as well as a huge community of other radio amateurs eager to help.