What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur Radio was created shortly after 1900 for the purpose of experimentation of radio waves deemed “useless” which were 200 meters and shorter. At the time all radio stations operated on wavelengths longer than that. The term 'shortwave radio' was coined because the radio waves used for amateur radio were shorter than those previously used. Today this once "useless" radio spectrum is in very high demand and court cases are often fought over who has rightful ownership of portions of it.

Since its beginning Radio Amateurs have been on the leading edge and pioneered radio technologies. Only recently has industry surpassed that of amateur research and still there are technologies emerging today which were designed by amateurs. In 2000 there were 2,986,772 amateurs1 the world over.

Radio design is only the very tip of the iceberg. Amateur Radio exists for much broader purpose than that. Amateur Radio operators pride themselves in being ready and capable of facilitating communications when traditional methods fail. This is because most Amateur Radio equipment is constructed with the ability to operate without commercial power. Instead it can easily be operated from batteries and other sources of power such as solar or wind.

You may have seen articles or news stories where Ham operators established communications for people in the affected areas shortly after hurricanes, earthquakes and even the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. After almost any disaster you will find Amateur Radio operators helping out. MSNBC published this article after Hurricane Katrina

Emergencies are where we really shine, but there is much, much more to it than that. Here is a list of hobbies inside Amateur Radio.