Why Radio

In the "Age of the Internet", I have had friends and family ask me this: "why would I ever want to get into radio communications?"  My response is usually something like "who has been your Internet and communications provider, and how stable are they on a normal day?  And then, how stable are they when something out of the ordinary happens?"

When the world turned sideways in 2020, my wife and I started taking a look at what we could do to prepare for various aspects of uncertainty.  After shoring up a basic toilet paper supply and then a decent food supply of canned goods we'd actually eat on a regular basis, we got good at the habit of maintaining and slowly enhancing our regular preparedness techniques to take care of basic emergencies such as fire, flood, earthquakes, etc.

With the basics taken care of, my mind turned to communications.  Humans are an inherently curious and connected species.  In the event of a disaster, I wanted to be able to communicate with my neighbors both near and far.  Every time a major earthquake or hurricane happens, or even a seasonal snowstorm, the first thing I seem to hear about is telephones and communications being down for days or weeks at a time.  I happen to live in an area that is at risk for about 7 different types of major disasters of natural or man-made origin.  I knew that relying on the standard commercial infrastructure wasn't going to be enough in preparing for an emergency scenario.  I knew that I needed to find something that I could use to be self sufficient in my communications needs when corporate SLAs and customer service contracts could only promise "service rebates" when I really just wanted to be able to communicate.

I decided I needed to go figure out what radios were available, and at what cost, that could actually communicate measurable distances greater than just down the block.

With that, I started actually digging into what those various radio technologies were.  What I found, was a rabbit hole that I knew could keep me busy for as long as I wanted to let it, and as long as I could find ways for my bank account to support it.  That last part is where things get really interesting to me...

You see, I found that you have the various "packaged" radio technologies like CB, FRS, MURS, and GMRS.  But you also have the "experimental" licensed radio "amateur radio" spectrum and technology, where licensed operators are allowed and encouraged to experiment with their technology and equipment in order to learn and further their craft.  While many in the field of amateur radio choose to practice and experiment using pre-built radios and do interesting things with parts and pieces, a subset of operators can, do and are encouraged to, build even their own radio gear and antennas, often at a significant cost savings.  Usually, however, with a trade-off of an investment of time and energy, to be fair.

This part about experimentation and building my own communications equipment intrigued me, though.  I knew that simply getting on the air with pre-built equipment was only the first step for me, and that I would want to dive into the "why" and "how" of the workings of radio waves.  I also know that, having a background in tinkering with hobby electronics and a career in software engineering, I was probably going to enjoy exploring the ins and outs of transistors, capacitors, amplifiers and filters.

Now my goal is to share my experiences with everyone else.

I don't want to be the only one on the air, after all.  There are plenty of ham operators out there, but if we don't continue to invite, encourage and share our knowledge and excitement, who knows if the hobby / art / practice will continue or not.  Who knows where or from whom the next really cool iteration of radio communication protocol will come from.

So with that...  a warm 73 from KN6QOX to you all and I hope to see you on the air soon.