Introductory Comments
My interest in, and resonance with,
amateur radio continues after almost 50 years.
Some portion of my person is still ten years old sitting in front of the
one-tube regenerative receiver I built and a 10 watt transmitter that was
originally in a World War II tank. I did
not have a sophisticated understanding of the mechanisms by which
electromagnetic waves were generated and received, but there was simplicity to
the equipment that my child’s-mind liked.
I could hold parts in my hands, change the values of components to
sometimes get better results, assemble things in a way that made me feel like a
puzzle was solved. Perhaps this is why I
tend to resist using equipment that contains semiconductors instead of vacuum
tubes, printed circuits instead of wire, phase locked loops instead of quartz
crystals, inductors and capacitors. I
would rather design, build, and test wire antennas than use the internet to be
a pretend radio operator. I believe that
through amateur radio I learn about myself.
I do this by choosing activities and developing skills that cause me to
apply fundamental theories in an elegant manner. This child is still playing with blocks, and
endeavoring to create a skyscraper in the process.
Amateur radio operators tend to
accumulate equipment. Much of this
consists of odd electronic parts and devices that are presumed to have some
future utility. Often, one can estimate
how long someone has been an operator based upon the depth of their stored
materiel, especially if one is tempted to consider their garage an
archeological site or village midden. At
this point in my life, I am using my stored treasures to construct a radio
station that embodies the breadth of amateur radio from just after the
spark-gap up to present computer-assisted communications. What is different from similar efforts of
other operators is that I am doing this with equipment that is obsolete but
functional. I find that achieving the function is of great interest
to me, and deep pleasure comes from doing this in the most elegant manner
possible. For instance, my two-meter
packet station uses a 25-year-old computer that has a four line display and
runs from penlight batteries; I can always use my relatively new desktop
computer to do the same things, but the feeling of accomplishment is not the
same.
Communication over long distances
using radio brings awareness of the connection between all people despite
geography, culture, language, environment.
This is one planet, and amateur radio communications connects us as
individuals. The rise of cellular
technology masks the physical distance.
Culture becomes melded rather than unique, rich, and diverse. Satellite enhancement of mass market
communications devices does not promote an awareness of the physical distances
to be bridged. Devices that link us in
this way, when market forces and media promote cultural change for the sole
purpose of profit, tends to isolate us from Nature.
Long distance high frequency
communications requiring planning and construction of appropriate radiating
devices brings the operator into conversation with nature. Awareness of propagation, space weather,
solar influences, makes communications an art and brings the operator into the
presence of immense and awe-inspiring inter-planetary forces.
If I use my Echolink connection to
speak via the internet with someone sitting at their computer, although I may
marvel at the technological conditions that make this occur, it is still not
amateur radio in my terms. If I purchase
a new transceiver that is essentially a computer connected to an oscillator,
receiver, and amplifier, I may be able to have excellent communications
conditions enhanced by the automatic internal antenna tuner, digital signal
processing, etc. This is amateur radio
since it relies upon a device connected by wires to an antenna; this is still
not amateur radio in my terms. If I
construct a low-power transmitter entirely from individual parts (especially if
these parts come salvaged from an old TV set I bought for one dollar at a
garage sale), and use a receiver that
either I made or is a modified and highly adapted table model radio I purchased
at a thrift store, and these are connected to an antenna made from wire
salvaged from a house being torn down, tuned with an antenna tuning unit made
from coils wound on toilet-paper rolls and capacitors made from old CDs and
aluminum foil, then I am closer to the type of activities that I consider amateur
radio. Finally, if I am able to
understand electromagnetic and ionospheric propagation such that I can tune all
of this weird collection of junk so that it sends and receives signals, and I
am able to routinely communicate with other amateurs throughout the world
despite the background noise and lack of power or filtering, then I can sit
back and marvel at the Universe and my life.