Many of the first private computers to hit the Internet were named after the ham calls of their owners because of the pioneering nature of these hams. Amateur radio operators are the lifeblood of this system and have proven in the past to be invaluable in time of disaster or national emergency. Contest circuit Amateur operators often participate in nationwide contests to see who can communicate with the greatest number of other operators within a specified time period. These contests bring a huge amount of people onto the airwaves and at times can be highly fast paced and exciting. The same mode that was used back in 1844 and was used for decades in ships at sea and wartime communication is still alive and well in ham radio.
Experimentation is encouraged.
Ham radio operators have used portable radios to control everything from model cars to alarm kill switches in their own vehicles. Amateur operators frequently do operation in the UHF band with fast scan television signals. If so please click here for more information about joining the ham radio community . If you have any other questions about amateur radio that this page didn't answer, try looking on the web page of the American Radio Relay League , one of the largest single groups of amateurs in the United States today. Thanks for your support.