Alex Discovers Amateur Radio

3 It’s true! Our microwave oven cooks by using radio waves. That’s why it’s so important that Amateur Radio operators learn how to take precautions to send – or TRANSMIT - their radio signals in a way that no one gets hurt. Like our microwave oven? Yes. No way! Amateur Radio’s been around a long time and we’ve had years to make it safe. Amateur Radio got its real start just after the year 1900… Today, within the frequencies allocated for legal amateur use, there are recommended Band Plans. These are agreed recommendations for the use of particular frequencies for different types of activity such as: long distance communications (DX), mobile use from a car or bicycle, satellite communications, making initial contact, etc. There are also suggested frequencies for different types of signals such as voice transmissions, Morse Code (CW), digital modes, slow scan television, images etc. Band Plans are not legally binding. In the early days radios were primitive. There were no rules about who could transmit. It was not organised . …There were many inventors who contributed to the development of radio – Armstrong, Tesla, and DeForest are a few of the giants. But most people credit Marconi as the father of radio. Armstrong invented the regenerative circuit, the super-regenerative circuit, the superheterodyne receiver, and frequency modulation (FM) radio transmission. Tesla patented the AC transformer, and his high voltage, high frequency practical and theoretical work was used in the invention of radio communication. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum valve that took relatively weak electrical signals and amplified them. Marconi founded the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in Britain in 1897, he succeeded in making a commercial success of radio by innovating and building on the work of previous experimenters and physicists. How long?