Hamming it Up

Amateur Radio Group Revels in Good Signals

By Caroline Small

Photography by Jonathan Timmes

It took Dave Putman 40 years to fulfill his teenage ambition of operating a ham radio. Back then he couldn’t have imagined that shortly after getting his license, he’d be supporting the Red Cross during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, providing voice communications that helped with relief operations at Dulles Airport. Mainstream telecommunications were clogged, but the ham operators’ alternative technologies and low frequencies—starting below the familiar AM broadcast band and ranging down into the microwave spectrum—could get the word out loud and clear. Putman, now president of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group (LARG), remembers the group’s operators “were activated and ready to respond before the call even came in.”

Although the encroaching urban landscape and restrictive zoning laws can make it difficult for hams to construct antennae, club members are still ready to jump in and assist whenever Northern Virginia needs them during weather or manmade disasters. But when discussing his hobby, Putman takes pains to emphasize the group’s fun side. Hams attend festivals, or “hamfests,” and participate in contests in which they try to contact as many other operators as possible. Often worldwide events, contests can involve Morse code, as well as voice and digital communication.

Although many LARG members love to tinker—Putman praises one who constructed a station that can sustain global communications for 48 hours and support multiple operators at the same time—hams can start with a station the size of a car radio. “A small wire strung from a window to a tree across the yard,” Putman said, is all you need to “converse with a fellow ham in Italy or Bogota, Colombia.” Thanks to this simple technology and the Federal Communication Commission’s recent elimination of Morse code proficiency requirements for licensing, said Putman, “LARG has almost 100 members this year, more than ever before in our 15-year history.” Visit LARG online at www.k4lrg.org.

(January 2008)

Tags: Entertainment, Media, radio