Ministry-Eagle River Memorial donates space to amateur radio. Recently the Vilas County Amateur Radio Club activated their first radio repeater using tower space provided by Ministry Eagle River Memorial Hospital. Hospital spokesperson Mark Dascalos says the hospital was glad to help the ham operators, “Here in the Northwoods we have difficulty with cell signals and probably equal-wise with radio signals and it was an opportunity to use our tall antenna at the hospital to install a repeater that would enhance(the club’s) abilities in a ham radio aspect to be able to communicate with other members.”
Lafayette class helps HAM radio enthusiasts learn about hobby, prepare for licensing. Amateur radio—more commonly known as ham radio—has been around since 1908. In Lafayette, ham radio enthusiasts say, the hobby is growing in popularity, despite the array of ever more sophisticated communication tools available in the 21st century. A group of Lafayette-area residents has been attending a free class at the Lafayette Science Museum to learn more about amateur radio and how they can be part of a network that can provide a vital communications link during emergencies.
Getting the right signal. Convergence technology has filled up our world with gadgets that seem to share the inability to switch off. And yet, when they do cop out – as a large number of mobile phone users in coastal Tamil Nadu found out in last month’s floods – the sound of silence is deafening, and potentially life-threatening. This is where the retro simplicity of a standalone communication system like amateur radio (also known as HAM radio) gets a chance to burnish its image. “Usually the more sophisticated the technology, the less foolproof it is,” says A. Aslam, assistant professor, Department of Botany, Jamal Mohamed College and co-founder of the Tiruchi Amateur Radio Association. “HAM radio is very reliable. If one antenna falls down, I have a pile of antennae I can choose from. And most of them are made of junk material, like used aluminium pipes and copper wires. So it is easy to erect an antenna and start communications.”
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