What is ham radio?
Amateur radio is a licensed hobby. Governments set aside slices of the radio spectrum for ordinary people to use, and anyone who passes a short exam gets to transmit on them.
A ham radio operator has their own callsign - a unique set of letters and numbers, like NA4RO - and their own station. That station might be a handheld radio the size of a phone, or a desk full of equipment and an antenna in the garden. With it you can talk to other operators nearby, in other states, or on the other side of the world, without going through a phone network or the internet.
"Ham" is just an old nickname for an amateur radio operator. It does not stand for anything.
How is it different from GMRS, FRS or CB?
| Ham radio | GMRS | FRS walkie-talkie / CB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence needed | Yes - an exam | Yes - a fee, no exam | No |
| Who it covers | You, individually | You and your whole family | Anyone |
| Typical range | Miles to worldwide | A few miles, more via a repeater | Under a mile to a few miles |
| Power allowed | Up to 1,500 watts | Up to 50 watts | 0.5 - 4 watts |
| Frequencies | Many bands, from shortwave to microwave | A fixed set of UHF channels | A fixed set of channels |
| Equipment | Any radio, including ones you build | Type-approved GMRS radios | Sealed, type-approved radios only |
| What you can do | Voice, data, images, satellites, experiments | Family and group voice, repeaters | Short voice chats |
GMRS is a useful middle step: you pay a fee, get a licence that covers your whole family, and no exam is involved - but you are limited to a fixed set of channels and off-the-shelf radios. The amateur licence is the trade-off in the other direction: you learn the rules and some basic theory, and in exchange you get far more power, far more frequencies, and permission to build and modify your own equipment.
What does it sound like in practice?
- Pressing a button on a handheld and chatting to people across your city through a shared "repeater" on a hilltop.
- Turning a dial on a shortwave radio at night and hearing operators in Japan, Brazil or Italy - and answering them.
- Sending a computer-generated signal so weak you cannot hear it, and watching your call appear on a map thousands of miles away.
- Passing health-and-welfare messages after a hurricane, when the cell towers are down.
No internet required
This is the part that surprises people. Radio waves travel on their own - bouncing off a layer of the upper atmosphere, off the moon, or through a satellite. When storms take out the phone network, ham radio still works.
Is it expensive?
It does not have to be. A usable handheld radio costs about the price of a night out. Many people start there, then add a home station later if they enjoy it. The exam fee is small and the licence is good for ten years.