eHam.net News

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The Hams of Hoover:

Posted: 22 Feb 2016 04:58 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36219


Some hobbies require a certain location. Fishing needs a lake, skiing needs
a slope, and for amateur radio, you need a mountain. That's why Dave Cisco,
Ken Harden and Bill Davidson each bought a home in Bluff Park. They're all
amateur radio operators, often known as hams, and the high elevation gives
them a better radio signal to talk across the city or across the world. "I
regard it as either a dense neighborhood of hams or a neighborhood of dense
hams," joked Davidson, who is the president of the Birmingham Amateur Radio
Club (BARC). Ham radio operators are licensed by the Federal Communications
Commission to broadcast on certain airwaves under a unique call sign.
Amateur radio often plays a role in disaster situations, enabling emergency
personnel and humanitarian groups to communicate without telephones,
electricity or Internet. However, many hams use their equipment to talk
with other operators around the world. Many of the hams started young and
have been on the air since Morse code was a requirement to get a ham
license. Cisco was an eighth-grade student when he was introduced to "the
best thing I ever did." Harden started at 16, when his family moved and he
met another operator who helped him get started. "It being a rural area of
Mississippi and I really didn't have any friends, and here was the whole
world that I could talk to. It was just really intriguing," Harden said.
After a break to raise his children, Harden returned to the radio last
year, 50 years since he began. Davidson, who has been a ham since 1969,
pointed out that amateur radio still has an attraction for people today,
from children to seniors. Plus, operators no longer have to learn
Morse. "There are actually more ham radio operators now in the U.S. than
there were before cellphones because it's a different way of communicating.
It's an independent way, you know, you do this yourself," Davidson said.


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Ham Radio Winterfest Set for Feb. 27 in Augusta:

Posted: 22 Feb 2016 04:58 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36218


AUGUSTA -- The 19th annual Ham Radio WinterFest is set for 8 a.m. Saturday,
Feb. 27, at Le Club Calumet, 335 West River Road, presented by the Augusta
Amateur Radio Association. Vendors will be admitted at 7 a.m., free table
space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission will cost
$5 per person and is free for children younger than 16 accompanied by an
adult. Ongoing presentations by the Maine State Library's UP (Unlimited
Possibilities) section on 3-D printers will be ongoing throughout the
morning. Various Maine ham radio nets (Sea Gull Net, Maine Slow Speed Net,
Pine Tree Net) will gather beginning at 9:30 a.m.