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Today amateurs share the radio
spectrum with many commercial
and service users. But it is only
Radio Amateurs who are allowed
to experiment and
build and design their
own equipment.
Amateur Radio is all about the
skill and fascination of
communicating using radio.
It was Radio Amateurs who
advanced radio theory and
helped make shortwave,
FM, and DAB radio the
popular industries that
they now are.
So the radio in my
room would not be
there if it weren’t
for Radio Hams?
Possibly.
RAYNET
is a UK Radio
Amateur organisation that
helps out in emergencies.
Amateur Radio has other
uses too, Alex … a big
use worldwide is for
emergency
communications
.
In a major disaster it is
sometimes the only way
at first that people can
communicate and
organise help.
As well as providing emergency communications
in areas where natural disasters such as
hurricanes and earthquakes are common Radio
Amateurs in the UK provide communications
during times when the emergency services’
communications fail, or are over stretched.
Also as a public service, and to keep in practice,
RAYNET Groups often provide mobile
communications during sponsored walks,
marathons, and other large events.
No mobilephone
Other activities
I saw them last year but
didn’t know what it was.
Radio Amateurs set up
stations for JOTA to use.
Each year about half-a-million Scouts
and Guides all over the world
"get
together"
over the airwaves in the
third
full
weekend of October for the
annual Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA).