“It’s all for fun,” said Jerry Hill, president of the Kaua‘i Amateur Radio Club. The club held its monthly meeting Monday night at Island School, where Bob Fuller spoke about the 2006 Daytona Hamvention, the world’s largest gathering of amateur
“It’s all for fun,” said Jerry Hill, president of the Kaua‘i Amateur Radio Club.
The club held its monthly meeting Monday night at Island School, where Bob Fuller spoke about the 2006 Daytona Hamvention, the world’s largest gathering of amateur radio operators, known as hams.
Hill said of the estimated 200 Hams on Kaua‘i, 50 to 60 are active and club membership runs about 30.
Although the main purpose is to have fun, amateur radio operators serve an important function in the community.
“Emergency communication is a big part of ham radio,” Hill said.
Some hams provide their vehicles and equipment as part of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. During the recent floods, members were activated to serve the Red Cross. These individuals are identified by their license plates which carry their call signs.
Radio-to-radio communication provides a backup if electricity goes out and relay antennae suffer damage.
But ham radio is strictly a hobby, underscored by the rule that prohibits communicating for profit. Hams cannot charge or accept gifts for services.
“There is lots more than just emergency operations,” Hill said. “Contesting” is one of those fun things.
“There is a radio contest every weekend,” Hill said. The most recent contest was sponsored by an amateur radio publication called CQ. The object was to make the most contacts worldwide within 48 hours.
Hill said he made 90 contacts in five hours and worked 26 different countries. He said competitive hams sometimes form teams and operate continuously for 48 hours and accumulate between 2,000 and 3,000 contacts.
KARC is an affiliate of the national American Radio Relay League organization. Through ARRL, a ham can earn awards like the coveted long distance communication Century Club, or DXCC. The basic certificate awarded is for making contacts and getting QSL cards to confirm at least 100 contacts.
There are also Worked-All-States and Worked-All-Continents certificates.
Sometimes there are DXpeditions. Hams will set up a station in an isolated, remote area and operate a station for a short period of time. QSL cards from a DXpedition are “coveted” and are “proudly displayed in ham-shacks,” Hill said.
Amateur radio operators need to be licensed. Hill said ARRL is authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to administer the licensing tests. KARC members Edward Coan, Dick Olsen and Tom Ellis are certified license examiners for the technician license, general license and extra class license. Each license enables the ham more privileges and frequencies to use.
Ham radio operators have a long tradition on Kaua‘i, Hill said. He called Katashi Nose the “guru.” Nose was a teacher at Kaua‘i High School between the early ’40s and late ’50s and was instrumental in getting students interested in becoming licensed hams.
Hill followed Nose’s example and spent 13 years advising hams at Waimea High School. After he retired, he developed an educational program for ARRL that included writing curriculum and a textbook.
Hill said he also signs up schools to participate in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, sponsored by ARRL, Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. There is an amateur radio station on the International Space Station and most astronauts are hams, so students have an opportunity to communicate with the astronauts.
“There is so much to amateur radio, it’s so broad,” Hill said. Some are interested because they want to build their own radios; some like the satellite technology; others enjoy combining the computer with radio; still others like communicating through Morse code.
Whatever the point of interest, KARC has people to help. These people, called Elmers, are ready and willing to assist anyone interested in becoming a ham radio operator.
