{"id":492,"date":"2013-03-23T18:11:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T00:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/?p=492"},"modified":"2013-03-23T18:11:58","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T00:11:58","slug":"the-hobby-of-talking-hams-moon-bouncers-and-sunspot-watchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/?p=492","title":{"rendered":"THE HOBBY OF TALKING HAMS, MOON BOUNCERS, AND SUNSPOT WATCHERS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Neil Smith (VE6AZA) wrote this great article on what amateur radio is all about. \u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>How can you describe a hobby that has dozens of facets?\u00a0 How do you explain a hobby whose devotees take part in a pastime that is enjoyed, in a personal way, by kings and commoners, game players and scientists, and by rich and poor? A hobby that is a delight to people all over the world \u2013 people both distinguished and world-renowned\u2013 and by us ordinary people?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s radio, and it&#8217;s inhabited by Radio Amateurs\u00a0 (otherwise known as \u201cHams\u201d) in the short , very short, and ultra short radio waves. What Hams do with these \u201cwaves\u201d makes a long list of fascinating miracles.<\/p>\n<p>For only a few examples, they can:<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;.Talk directly with people all over the globe, using only their own personal equipment, (you&#8217;ll be surprised by who you&#8217;ll meet&#8212; even, for example, television and movie stars). They can also bounce signals off the moon, and keep track of the activities of the sun.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;Build radio and computer equipment, (it can be very simple or extremely sophisticated)<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.Have contests, to compete with other \u201cHams\u201d in timed races to make contacts between\u00a0 \u201cHams\u201d worldwide to see who wins the most points.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..Sometimes, using radio,\u00a0 reach people who are in emergency situations, help them save both lives and property, and assist the civil authorities and charities.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;As \u201cAmateurs\u201d (some of whom happen also to be scientists, engineers, and technicians or just \u201chandimen\u201d, or \u201chandiwomen\u201d), be instrumental in making worthwhile discoveries, and\u00a0 advancing science and engineering.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..Using computers and radio together, make contributions to the science and practice of computing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..Enjoy the company of a very interesting and varied assembly of people at home and around the World, who can become very sociable \u201cHams\u201d. (Many astronauts are \u201cHams\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>YOU can join in the fun and games of\u201cHam\u201d radio, and make the world friendlier.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Just click on \u201cCONTACT US\u201d on this website.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Your age doesn&#8217;t matter &#8212; and we do training, for free!)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neil Smith (VE6AZA) wrote this great article on what amateur radio is all about. \u00a0Enjoy! &nbsp; How can you describe a hobby that has dozens of facets?\u00a0 How do you explain a hobby whose devotees take part in a pastime that is enjoyed, in a personal way, by kings and commoners, game players and scientists, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncaarc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}