![]() Let me just show you my logbook in a very short period of time, just from where you’re sitting right now with an antenna – a wire up in a couple of spruce trees: Algeria, Argentina, Aruba – yes, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia. Easter Island! You can go all over the world with this hobby. Anybody who hears that signal can come back with their call sign.”Īt this moment there is no response, but Romanko’s heard from thousands of hams over the years, and today he adds a new location to the very long list of places he’s traveled virtually. ![]() (static) I’m ringing a bell across the world. “CQ, CQ, CQ calling 20 meters, this is Alpha Kilo 4 Bravo Romeo – AK4BR. Using repeater stations available to the public, he can transmit from his sun porch to other hams, and by bouncing signals off the Earth’s atmosphere Romanko can speak to the world. Every home and property these days seems to have wifi. “Radio is anything that uses electromagnetic waves, and electromagnetic spectrum is huge. “I’m a stone mason, I’m a jazz keyboard player, I’m into computers, I repair everything that moves.”īut nothing has captured his imagination like ham radio – getting a license from the FCC to operate his own little station using a section of the airwaves not claimed by AM, FM or first responders. “I built my first radio with a safety pin, an eraser and a piece of quartz I got out of my driveway when I was a cub scout in second grade.” “I definitely want to get my license now,” he said.Bob Romanko has loved radio since he was a kid. James said he could just pick up a cellphone and call, but “This is definitely way more fun. When they communicated with others, they recorded the call sign and location of the other operator. They ended up talking to people in Hawaii and Mississippi. “It’s a really interesting way to communicate.”Īlso there were Boy Scouts James Appleford, 15 Lars Haavaldsen, 12 and Ryan Younes, 11. Jack Rogers, 10, joined other Boy Scouts from Troop 730 in Thousand Oaks at the event and learned about Morse Code and other aspects of ham radio for their radio merit badge. Some group members think Morse Code is the only way to go, while others decided to try to build circuits to pick up signals on iPhones. Morse Code is one of several ways to transmit messages, including through audio links and digitally. He learned Morse Code as a teenager, became licensed and now uses the same call sign W0UFC that his grandfather once used. The number of ‘hams’ continue to grow,” said Diane Wainwood, who became interested in radio communication as a child and got licensed as a hobby when she retired.Ĭlub member Tom Stough said the event provides a way to get young people involved with ham radio and learn about aspects of radio technology, including Morse Code. The Conejo Valley group has been in the area since the 1960s. This year was the league’s 100th anniversary. “All our radio communications equipment uses solar energy, so we can operate even during power failures.”Ĭohen said the group has helped in emergency situations with local law enforcement and emergency personnel and also worked during events such as marathons and the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race. ![]() Amateur radio will always get through,” Cohen said. He said Hurricane Sandy in 2012 is a prime example of ham radio’s importance when other modes of communication fail. Zak Cohen, president of the Conejo Valley club and emergency coordinator for Thousand Oaks, said ham radio is used when other communication is unavailable, such as when cellphone towers fail or are overloaded or when cellphones don’t work in remote locations. It is an informal contest between FCC-licensed operators to see how many stations they can contact and to learn to operate radio gear in abnormal and less-than-optimal conditions.īut for many members of the local group, it was also an opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities and demonstrate how to transmit voice, data and pictures through the air to unusual places near and far without depending on commercial systems. On the fourth weekend of each June, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs or simply with friends to operate ham radios from remote locations. The effort was part of the American Radio Relay League’s Amateur Radio Field Day, which is held annually in the United States and Canada. ![]() Almost 40 members of the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club brought out their antennas and ham radio equipment to the playfield at Maple Elementary School in Newbury Park for a 24-hour on-the-air event in which they communicated with people around the world. ![]()
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