It has been known for a number of years that planets and stars emit natural radio signals. Keen amateur astronomers sometimes also monitor these signals and a global network of enthusiasts can confirm or make discoveries scientist miss, the universe is so gigantic that not all of it can be covered by the professionals and amateurs can and have made significant discoveries. Our own planet gives off radio frequencies although specialist equipment is needed to detect them, however, thunderstorms and lightning can be more easily detected and a radio network of enthusiasts exists around the world plotting and tracking storms by this means.
The immense value of radio waves and their use has been appreciated throughout the world for a very long time. All governments control, regulate and licence their use, not as in some countries to restrict communication and information but to protect this very important commodity from interference, to ensure that the important signals get through unimpeded. You can buy and used what is called ‘licence exempt’ equipment. These cover a very restricted range of frequencies and are of low power and usually for a specific purpose. You can not build or modify the equipment legally or in many cases change the aerial to increase signal range. One such example of this type of apparatus is your wireless router or hub.
Learning more about radio…
You do not have to be very technical to operate amateur radio equipment and there is much fun to be had listening and receiving signals from far-off places around the world and beyond. With an appropriate licence you will be also able to transmit and make contact with other Hams locally and around the world, communicate with the International Space station astronauts. Use a number of specially built amateur satellites for global communication, bounce radio signals off the moon and receive them back yourself or have a contact with people far away by doing this.
You can use special Internet/wireless transition or access points to jump from radio to Internet and vice versa to make contacts around the globe. Make use of special and perhaps rare atmospheric conditions that enable contacts to be made over that normally possible and well as using meteor showers to communicate as well as the wonderful visual Aurora’s that occur. With an appropriate licence and if you are interested and inclined, you can build or modify your own transmitting equipment as well as aerial or antenna systems, generally experimenting with all aspects of radio communication, the sky is not the limit.
How much does Amateur radio cost, what can I do?
It does not have to cost much to get started with Ham radio. It is true like so many other things that it can get expensive. Many dream of a brand new top of the range Ferrari or Porsche, owning their own Pacific Island or maybe a castle in Scotland. For many of us, we can only achieve what is within our financial means and keep dreaming and hoping. If you own a computer or laptop and have an Internet connection, there is no additional cost to listen via the Internet and adjust the frequency of someone else’s receiver to hear and monitor the signals being received at their location, with their setup (See www.websdr.org).
Receivers
The next step up would be to have your own receiver. There are stand-alone receivers that can be bought, these tend to be a bit pricey. Like so many other areas of our lives, computerisation is occurring and radios linked to our computers are available. We call the ‘software defined radio’ (SDR) a basic item that allows local and satellite signal to be received can cost less than £10 (such as the Realtek SDR dongle). They typically come with a modest aerial that frankly is not much use, so depending on what you want to receive, there might be additional outlay. As you would be receiving only, you can always experiment in making your own, trying out different designs to see what works best in your location.
The next step on would be for around double the cost (£20.00) you can get a basic RTL SDR receiver that plugs into a USB socket that will allow signals from all over the world and beyond to be received. Again the aerial supplied is not good, so additional expense or making one’s own is needed.
With a cheap SDR receiver, there are many other services you can tune in to outside of the amateur bands. You can listen to foreign language and music broadcasts. Private and emergency services voice and messages, although many are encrypted or otherwise made un-intelligible to unauthorised users. Pilots in airplanes and ship-shore communications, although again these may not always be intelligible. It is possible to plot positions of aircraft overhead from their transponders and if you live close to the coast or major river/estuary you probably could also plot the course of nearby ships from data they transmit for safe navigation purposes. You could also receive signals from the low orbiting weather satellites as they pass overhead and get up to the minute images and data on the weather.
When you are ready and passed your foundation exam and got your first licence, for local communications a, basic transmitter and receiver combination (a transceiver) can be obtained from about £25-£30 upwards. As previously mentioned the antenna is usually a limitation with this equipment so additional cost might be incurred, however many use these handheld devices with original antennas very successfully for local communications.
If you are wanting to move on to world-wide communications then there is quite a price jump on transceivers, a basic beginners rig might cost between around £150-£200 (e.g. Xiegu X108) plus an aerial with the possibility of other equipment being needed also raising the price to perhaps £400-£500. This could be on top of costs involved if you also wanted to make local communications.
Beyond this, there is always the possibility of upgrading the equipment and aerials if you want to get deeper involved with the hobby.
Endless Possibilities
Thanks to Ed G8FAX for preparing the above introduction to amateur radio
