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 evaluate a six million people involvement in ham radio, and although they are not broadcasting to make money, their reward is the ability to get 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 probably gets back to the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th when ninety amateur stations serviced Canada and the United States. The appearance of ham radio has very much to do with hobby practices and experiments, and very often the contribution made to science and public services has been preponderant. Moreover, lots of people owe their lives to ham radio operators who saved them in emergency cases.

Ham radio covers several types of transmissions and besides the quality FM (frequency modulation) that we are all familiar with, ham radio operators also work on single sideband with a higher transmission reliability or on the Morse code even if technology has come a long way since the days of the radio-telegraph. Presently, computers have changed the evolution of ham radio for ever, with the introduction of the digital modes and the development of the packet radio. Last but not least, ham radio operators manage to use the low power communications on shortwave bands to stay in real-time mode.

Ham radio through satellite signal is no longer out of reach with the existence of the orbiting satellites carrying amateur radio (OSCAR); all one needs is a basic hand-held transceiver to make the broadcast possible. Another interesting aspect is that ham radio operators use the moon and the aurora borealis to get a good 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. On-air talks are frequent as many individuals use ham radio only to communicate with other enthusiasts.

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