Introduction

This post will attempt to explain what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and how I plan to do it.

What

What is radio?

I’ll dive more into this in a later post, but the electromagnetic spectrum encompasses all electromagnetic radiation, from relatively long radio waves, to microwaves, to visible light, to relatively short gamma rays. Radio (the wave) is just a small slice of the spectrum that includes things like AM/FM radio, television broadcasts, NFC, RFID, WiFi, Bluetooth, 5G, and more.

A radio (the device) picks up radio waves using an antenna, which captures the electromagnetic signals traveling through the air. The radio then tunes to a specific frequency and demodulates the signal to extract the audio information. This signal is amplified and sent to the speaker, where it’s converted into sound you can hear (note that you can also send digital data over radio, not just sound).

What is amateur (ham) radio?

Amateur radio (I’ll be using the term “ham radio” from now on) is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for non-commercial communication. It is specifically set aside for amateurs for experimentation, learning, communication, etc… Ham radio is differentiated from commercial broadcasts (e.g., TV, AM/FM, etc…), public safety (e.g., police, fire, etc…), and other for-profit communication.

Before you ask, you’ll have to read this page to learn about why it’s called “ham” radio.

What am I attempting to do?

I am going to attempt learn about ham radio and obtain the most basic license (the Technician license) from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Why

Why ham radio?

I’ve worked in IT for over a decade and still can’t find words to express how amazing digital technology is. As the famous tweets say:

if you ever code something that "feels like a hack but it works," just remember that a CPU is literally a rock that we tricked into thinking

— ben 🚀 cobalt core! now! (@daisyowl) March 15, 2017

not to oversimplify: first you have to flatten the rock and put lightning inside it

— ben 🚀 cobalt core! now! (@daisyowl) March 15, 2017

Digital technology has become so ubiquitous that we take it for granted. Without a doubt, the internet and cell phones have forever changed the way we communicate. For most people now, the internet and the cell phone are their main forms of communication (and I’m not saying this needs to change).

On the surface, the internet is a semi-resilient network-of-networks. If a single network goes down, the underlying infrastructure can usually route packets around that downed network to get them to their destination. However, in the event of a more widespread issue, the entire thing can fall apart. If you need to communicate to the other side of your town, or the other side of the globe, you are completely dependent on hundreds of towers, routers, switches, servers, and cables operating in perfect harmony.

There is only so much stress the network can take before it fails. We’ve seen time and time again just how fragile our communication networks actually are:

• After 9/11, cell phone networks were down because too many people were trying to reach loved ones
• Hurricane Katrina knocked out power for weeks
• Wildfires in California routinely take down large portions of the cell network
• Oppressive regimes regularly cut internet access to censor information

Ham radio is different. While it doesn’t have the advanced features or throughput of the internet or cell phones, it is much simpler. It gives you communication without being dependent on any infrastructure (other than the device in your hand).

Why am I doing this?

Ham radio is something that has interested me for a while. It is a good cross-over of my tech-based hobbies, but also requires some real-world physics/math, and will get me out of the house.

I’m lucky enough to live in the northeastern part of the U.S., where I don’t (yet) have to worry about an oppressive government censoring communication, and the northeastern part generally doesn’t have any natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, fires, floods, tornados, earthquakes, etc…). For me, this will be more of a hobby than anything. But honestly, when it comes down to it…

How

How am I going to do this?

I plan on using a number of tools to study for the Technician exam.

• HamStudy.org - This is a great free website and they have an offline app as well
• Ham Radio Crash Course - This is a YouTuber who offers tons of info for free and also has a video playlist about the Technician exam
• The American Radio Relay League (AARL) - A US-based non-commercial organization that has lots of useful info
• Books - There are tons of books on the subject, so I may pickup one that is highly recommended
• Note-taking - I self-host a Joplin instance at home, so I will take notes in that (but if you don’t run Joplin, a pencil and paper works fine too!)

However, this blog is not going to be a study guide. I’m going to cover some basics here, but don’t count on this blog alone to be everything you need to pass your Technician exam.

Conclusion

Again, this is just an intro and I’m not in a rush. Looking forward to next time!

-HamRadioNewbie