Many people think Ham radio is a dead hobby, and still others think it should be because of digital cell phones. Well, ham Radio is far from dead, and with the newest generation of hand held radios avaiable and those coming down the line very shortly, might mean the difference between life and death for yourself or a compadre' out on the trail.
Ham radio still requires an FCC license. The good news is, the FCC finally dropped the requirement for the working knowledge of Morse Code. The FCC also dropped a number of classification of license, and condensed them down to 3 levels, or classification of license from 7. The new license classifications are from low to high, Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. Technician allows a person to run 10 meter band, 6 meters, and vhf, uhf, and certain microwave frequencies. A 2 Meter band transmitter 144 - 148 MHZ, now has a wide variety of hand held transceivers, ranging in power from 5 to 7 watts power output. With an aftermarket antenna, you can increase effective range and increase power output. The two meter band 144 - 148 MHZ can out-distance the FRS and the popular GMRS band radios. With the two meter band you might just trigger a repeater that can send your signal even greater distances, in some cases 50 to 100 miles.
With a General Class license, you then are afforded the priviledges to run on the HF shortwave bands 10, 12, 15 , 17, 20, 40, 75/80 and 160 meters. If a hiker had their General class license and took with them the Yaesu FT817 low power HF radio, with the wonder whip antenna you could transmit many many miles on just the 5 watts power output that radio provides. However, if you or a comrade should become injured on the trail, with a broken leg, or really bad, a compund fracture, with injury to the flesh and sinew, a radio that operates HF might get you someone on the air that would be willing to make a phone call or two on your behalf, though they may be 1000 miles away. No Kidding. I had to fend off Grizzly bear and wolf on behalf of a friend who was injured in a serious fall, with a broken leg, numerous scrapes and a gash in the arm. The smell of my friend's blood attracted dangerous animals. Thanks to Yaesu and their FT817 QRP back packing HF bands transceiver, I was able to call for help, a ham operator heard me 1200 miles away, and made phone calls to the state police and park rangers to send in a helicopter.
Ham Radio is a great hobby and lots of fun talking to people and making new friends over the airwaves. Ham radio can also be a great lifesaver. I was able to save and entire community, and get people out because of a broken levy and a 40 foot wall of water was headed stright for that riverside community. I radioed ahead to other hams who called the police and got the good folks out of their home's, just before destruction was to come upon them. Ham radio is a great hobby and a lot of fun. It can also save lives. Who knows, maybe it might be you a ham operator who saves your life through radio communications.
If you should desire to learn more about Amateur (Ham) radio, you can learn more from the American Radio Relay League, in Newington, Connecticut. The ARRL is the HAM radio watch group. You can purchase training materials and learn where to take the FCC exam, in your area. The Technician and General Class licenses require a person to do some study and pass a minimum of 27 out of 35 questions to pass. Though the Ham Radio community lost 50,000 hams in the past 2 years, in the same time period 150,000 new licenses have been issued. It's a great hobby. Radio on the trail could be a life saver.
