HAMming it up

When Steve said he was getting into HAM radio, my first reaction was, “This is such a Steve thing - are you sure you don’t already do that?” I can’t believe it has taken so long for him to take this on! First, he has always generally loved old radios and radio- and stereo-related equipment. While he had been cut off from buying any more random components from antique stores several years ago (due to the large number of cardboard boxes of radio/stereo “junk” still lurking in the shop), this particular hobby required a whole new setup. Second, since he is volunteering with the county S.C.O.P.E. (county community policing partners), one of the S.C.O.P.E. programs involves the emergency radio guys. He went through all of the training with S.C.O.P.E. and then with the amateur radio licensing process and officially became K3GGR on the air waves! So now he can help with local emergency communications and can also have fun with the hobby at large.

By the way, a bit of trivia from the internet:

Why is it called ham radio?

The word “HAM” as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first amateur wireless station operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy, and Poogie Murray. At first they called their station “HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY”.

I asked ChatGPT to make a logo for his station, which is a vanity call sign, a play on his online nickname “kegger”: Kilo Three (like a backwards “E”) Gulf Gulf Romeo.

Here is a layman’s walkthrough of his initial set-up, in his office up in the loft:

Everything is currently setup on the credenza behind his desk. You can see the green binders which house his beautiful (though now sometimes slightly neglected) stamp collection. It’s sad when hobbies lose a rank on Steve’s Favorite Hobbies list, though the demotions are typically only temporary.

This is the High Frequency radio. It is used on bands from 10m to 160m, which can reach different frequencies. He is currently only licensed to talk on the 10m frequencies.

This is the power supply for everything. It should be noted that this initial set-up continually blew out our house electricity breakers pretty regularly. It turns out that the broadcasted RF (radio frequency) noise was causing the breakers to be tripped. So Steve had our local electrician come by and replace the breakers with new ones that don’t seem to have this issue! The internet helped him figure out this temporary electrical mystery.

This is the antenna tuner. Steve is still figuring this one out.

This is the Very High Frequency (VHF-UHF) radio. It is used to talk to local repeaters in Spokane and surrounding areas. And this is also what Steve uses to talk to the local S.C.O.P.E. radio members.

These are Steve’s handheld radios. They do the same thing as the other radios but are portable (though not as powerful).

In the background on his desk with the green light is Steve’s Sheriff’s department radio.

Now the important part - The two antennas! The one on the left is for UHF-VHF, and the other wire (that goes down to the goat house) is for the high frequency radio. Steve wants it noted for the record that he feels bad about the hole he accidentally created when he missed his initial drill spot, but he promises to fill it in soon.

Not too bad considering some of the massive amateur radio towers we have seen at other houses. NO, Steve, you cannot have one of those.

Antenna wire down to the goat shack. Hi, deer in the background! It’s a gorgeous February day.

Volume on for this part!

The video below captures what I typically hear coming out of Steve’s loft: Crackly, static-filled old men talking to each other, often about important things like their upcoming surgeries. Personally, I find it just a little creepy to listen in on other people’s (often strangers’) (albeit public) conversations. Steve typically uses a set of headphones to spare me and the animals from a lot of the weirdness. But we are planning on relocating his “HAM shack” to the outbuilding that is attached to the dog kennel next to the shop. That building is currently only used to store my extra beehive equipment, which can be easily moved, and it is a nice little building with a window facing the mountains. Then Steve can have all the HAM privacy he needs, and I will just bring him an occasional HAM sandwich.

Keep that volume on: Here I asked Steve to do his typical “call” so I could record it in action. Calls start out with the familiar, “C-Q, C-Q…” Another bit of internet trivia:

What does CQ stand for?

CQ is a signal sent at the beginning of radiograms conveying general information or sent by an amateur as an invitation for any other amateur to reply. Military: Stands for charge of quarters. Though I have found other internet sources that say CQ sounds like “seek you”, which would also be fitting. Basically it’s considered a “general call” seeking a random response.

The tracking of connections has gotten quite elaborate! Everyone tracks when they make contact with someone, and these contacts are often used for various “contests” within the HAM radio community.

Even retired, data guy loves a good database.

So much detail captured on every contact. Most of the info is automatically filled in when call signs are exchanged.

The farthest Steve has talked to so far is Portugal, and it seems like he finds an awful lot of Wisconsin and Minnesota folks, too, due to the current direction of the antenna.

This man does not ask for much, and he really puts a lot into these hobbies of his. Retirement definitely suits him!