Interesting piece from wired.com on the enduring charm of ham radio in the age of Twitter:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/ham-radio-tweets/all/1

BTW, who knew that Walter Cronkite and Yuri Gagarin were DXers. And that old QSL cards are collectible.

I saw in QST (not sure which one, recent though), that a Ham moved to some city, going through his stuff found his first QSL card from 35+ (maybe 45) years ago. He tracked down the call through qrz.com (I think), and found out the Ham he first contacted after getting his license a long time ago, live on the block behind his house.

As a volunteer in EM, we really do need younger people. The problem is the younger people will burn out, because there is so many things to be done, thus vicious cycle. A lot of the older hams know they don't have physical strength or endurance to do the things that need to be done. Everyone knows its really the last resort for communication in the U.S.

Well, unless you can use homing pigeons, or still have your cheat sheet on smoke signals.

How would one go about getting started?

GarlyDog, there are several ways to get started, (1) Google search "Amateur radio in Illinois",(2) Google search "HamFests in Illinois" and attend one,(3) check with the local Emergency Management agency or Red Cross chapter and inquire about hams or Ham Clubs in your area and make contact with one,(4) check QRZ.com or radioreference.com and find the local SkyWarn frequency and monitor it in the evenings for a week or so, listen for the Net and the location of upcoming Spotter classes and attend one, (5) the SkyWarn Net is usually a local repeater used by the area hams, listen in on that frequency for the "rag chew" net and classes for Technician Level are announced.
If classes are offered, that is probably the best way to get necessary information and training to pass the test. Several websites have practice tests online for free. If you have even rudimentary electronics knowledge you can start taking practice tests now. The licenseing test isn't difficult, you just have to understand a few basic principles and the rest you can pick up listening. Good Luck and 73s.
W5RSQ

GarlyDog.

You can also try here. Link

73's
Lee
KC3L

Or if you have a heliograph ... and know Morse.

Let's see now ...
2m transciever? Check!
Heliograph? Check!
Morse? ... oops.

I'm not the only ham radio operator in that situation, either, based on this
(very nice) YouTube video from Britain (filmed at Bletchley Park , no less!)

Ham radio has been more than just the "last resort" communications method. It's been great for setting up ad-hoc communications when agencies don't have a realistic plan for backup communications. Unfortunately for hams, but great to see, more and more agencies have developed working backup communications. The American Red Cross even has their ECRVs now.

But ham radio is about as diverse a hobby as photography. Some hams do disaster relief. Some chat with their friends every day, some of whom they've never met. Some do dxpeditions - adventure travel. Some collect antiques. Some push the cutting edge of the technology. Some chase exotic contacts. Some do it for a couple years and then their radios collect dust on a shelf.

In either the winter of 2009 or 2010, heavy rains and flood severed emergency, cell and land line communication to the upper Northwest corner of Oregon. The capital was cut off. Small towns were in trouble.

It was the ham radio operators that stepped in to provide emergency comms.

Oh, one of the former Governor's pet project happens to be this super new, hi tech emergency communication system that is now way, way over budget at $600M. What a deal.

Blake

KE7RLF
www.outdoorquest.biz

there has to be a large pool of former Morse intercept operators (Army Security Agency, Naval Security Group, Air Force Security Service)out there near retirement or that are retired, that remember how to spin a dial on an R390....could probably pick up the use of a bug pretty easily...most of the work though was HF and I haven't seen a ANFLR9 in a lot of years...they did a great job copying Morse hours on end...glad all I had to do was figure out what it was they copied

I am a ham and also operated an ECRV for the RC. An ECRV is a Emergency Communications Response Vehicle. They cost upwards of $350,000 each and have some very sophisticated communications equipment. I responded to Katrina as well as several other large scale emergencies.

The skills I developed as a ham were essential to solving the problems encountered in emergencies. Without the ham world to teach me these skill I would have been less than successful.

Although many agencies have the big pockets to buy the best toys, they do not have the skilled reserves to operate them in a long severe emergency. Ham Radio provides this essential pool of technical support.

In "the old days" hams responded and brought their equipment because the agencies did not have the unique radios and infrastructure that the hams had. Now the agencies provide the equipment and infrastructure, but hams make up a large percentage of the volunteer (and professional) technical responders.

Almost all of the technical responders I encountered were hams. It is a different world than "the old days" but ham radio still provides a valuable technical pool of folks with skills that are not easily learned outside of the amateur community.

Nomad aka N1AHH


PS: The interested reader will find several postings regarding ham radio, Katrina and ECRV's by searching the forum for ECRV.