For radio hobbyists and people who spend a lot of time broadcasting independently for local communities, amateur radio means ham radio. The participants to the communication media enjoy the activity in itself while also doing services to the community, but it is also true that it is on their skills that emergency and disaster communications often rely if necessary. Estimations indicate that some six million people around the world are regularly part of ham radio, and although the purpose of broadcasting is not commercial, the profit comes from the joy of being on air. The element that makes ham radio stations stand apart is not the lack of professional skill but rather the absence of advertising moments.
Ham radio is believed to go back to the end of the 19th century particularly since at the beginning of the 20th there were around ninety amateur stations registered only in the United States and Canada. The appearance of ham radio is tributary to hobby practices and experiments, and one cannot deny that very often, amateur radio founders have given significant contributions to science, services and industry. Moreover, lots of people owe their lives to ham radio operators who saved them in emergency cases.
Ham radio uses the Morse code in its more classic forms, but basically, the AM and FM frequencies remain the most popular particularly for local or regional amateur radio stations. As for other technological improvements, ham radio meant the introduction of the packet radio and the use digital modes and computers for broadcasting. Last but not least, ham radio operators often use the low power communications on shortwave bands while staying in real-time mode.
Ham radio now has access to OSCARs (orbiting satellites carrying amateur radio) by means of a basic device such as a hand-held transceiver. What it is very interesting is that many ham radio operators use the aurora borealis and the moon for the reflection of the radio waves. It was a real pleasure for some ham radio operators to get in contact with the International Space Station that counts licensed radio amateurs among the crew members. Discussions are in fact common practice among the individual hams who get on-air just to join one meeting or another.
