Ham Radio Renaissance

A week ago on a street corner in Seattle a man walked up to me and asked if I knew what a ham radio was.  I said sure, and we talked about the pros and cons, and he recommended I visit arrl.org.

My father was a radio man in the WWII Navy, so over the years I heard some things about radio, and then I read this today:

There are many, many, many ways to make a radio out of household items. Way too many to list them here. Suffice it to say that with all the wires and old electronics laying around, making a simple radio receiver is pretty simple. Just like the foxhole radio, these pretty much only receive. They can also be made to use power from the signal itself so they don’t all need anything else to power them.

Power from the signal?  Shades of Tesla!  I recall in my youth being able to alligator clip a set of army surplus headphones to the metal springs of my (army surplus) bed and listen to the radio, something my father had set up, but I had no idea how it worked.  I think he said "crystal set" but who knows.  I just assumed beds played music.

A few days later a car stopped at an intersection with all passengers face-in-screens.  The back window was rolled down where a devotee of McDonalds had a face lit-up for zombie effect.  I said "put that away" and he gave me the most venomous look, like a crackhead who had his smack snatched.

Instead of entertainment being shovelled in, like fast food, there is entertainment in being apart of the process of creation of content.  Ham radio.  Sing alongs.  Pot lucks.

Just sayin.

Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.

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