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What is Amateur Radio?
Amateur Radio (ham radio) began over a century ago when experimenters realised communications was able to be made without a wire connecting the two stations. These individuals have famous names linked to the origins of electricity and radio theory.
Names like
Nikola Tesla,
Guglielmo Marchese Marconi,
immediately come to mind.
Their tradition still continues today where individuals and groups are spending time and effort at testing the boundaries of different methods of radio communications. As commercial interests saw the benefits of radio communications the available spectrum began to crowd and the different governments around the world began to administer this resource.
The Amateur fraternity has the largest allocation in several bands of this spectrum globally and is able to communicate around the world and into space.
The type of knowledge that is progressively
acquired covers several facets of electronics, radio procedures, radio direction finding, fault finding, fellowship at an international level and emergency communications.
At the moment there are three levels of licence:
1. Foundation Licence - The next step up from CB radio. It provides access to HF, VHF & UHF bands with power levels up to 10 watts. The course & exam is intended to be
accommodated over a weekend.
2. Standard License - Provides additional bands and modes with power levels up to 100 watts.
3. Advanced Licence - Full access to all Amateur bands with all modes and up to 400 watts.
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