Hamming it up: Geelong amateur radio enthusiasts Bill Husin and Graham Day.
By John Van Klaveren
WELL before Facebook, Twitter and You Tube, amateur radio was the world’s first social network.
And far from being replaced by the internet, amateur radio uses the world wide web to enhance its reach.
Amateur radio enables people to make contact with other enthusiasts across town, around the world, make new friends, pass on news or simply spend time chatting.
The romance of radio is still alive and well in the region thanks to the efforts of Geelong Radio and Electronics Society and its parent, Geelong Amateur Radio Club.
Long-time member and former GRES secretary Keith Stickland said amateur radio operators, also known as hams, loved sharing their experience and knowledge.
“All radio operators develop knowledge of electronics but we’ve also branched out into computers and even amateur television,” Keith said.
“We teach school groups, scout groups, adult classes, anyone who’d like to learn about radio and electronics.”
Keith said the contemporary amateur radio community included members experimenting with latest electronics and advanced technologies such as wireless digital communications, software defined radios (SDR) and long-distance digital and image transmissions.
Radio also had a serious side, Keith said, acting as an alternative communications network when telephone systems or internet communications fail.
In times of disaster radio amateurs could provide emergency communications support to rescue, relief and recovery efforts.
Keith said ham operators were vital during earthquakes and tsunamis in recent years, including disasters in Japan and Indonesia.
In Australia, emergency communications were provided in response to 2009’s Black Saturday bushfire disaster.
Australia has more than 16,000 radio amateurs, with over two million around the world.
Keith said the Geelong club ran radio field days, taking members’ equipment to various country locations and running a competition to see who could contact another ham the greatest distance away.
The club won a national amateur radio competition, the John Moyle Field Day, a few years back.
Keith said the club maintained a historic radio museum at Old Geelong Gaol, restoring valve radios and other early equipment.
The club would run a demonstration and display at Steampacket Gardens on May 13 as part of this year’s heritage festival, he said.
Members would attend so patrons could get on the radio, find a ham operator and have a chat.
Keith said more information about the club was available at vk3anr.org or by phoning Graham Day on 5282 1174.
