Brent Scott
Published: december 6, 2006
The PJC Amateur Radio Club, a new club to PJC, is now inviting students interested in “ham radio” to join.
Some of you may be wondering, “What is ham radio?”
According to the <a href=”http://www.arrl.org//index.php3″>American Radio Relay League</a>, a “ham” is an amateur radio operator.
Ham radio is basically two way conversation, but what is unique is that hams can communicate with each other from distances as far as the moon or as near as next door.
But ham radio is not just a hobby you can start up on your own. You have to have a license to do it.
“Ham radio is unique in this way because although it is a hobby, it is also a service regulated by the federal government,” said Dr. Jeff Cantor, proudly displaying PJC’s newly acquired license from the FCC.
Countless lives have been saved where skilled hobbyists act as emergency communicators to render aid. A great example of this in action is the recent hurricanes in our area.
“After Ivan, all of the communications except for ham radio were out, so ham radio was the only way of emergency communication,” Cantor said.
The major advantage of ham radio is that it is portable and a wire can be thrown over a tree limb, Cantor said. From there, hams can signal for help.
Along with being a service to the public, hams can compete in DX contests, in which they compete to see how many other hams in distant locations they can contact. Also, ham radio interests people who like to build and experiment with electronics.
PJC is now one of the 2,000 plus Amateur Radio clubs throughout the country.
<i>To find out how to join, contact Dr. Cantor, the club sponsor, at 484-1158 or jcantor@pjc.edu.</i>