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Young hams stay connected through amateur radio
by 8-18 Media
Despite the fact that cell phones are most young people’s primary means of communication, amateur radios, or ham radios as they are commonly known, are being used instead by at least one group of young people in the Marquette area.
A group of young, licensed ham radio operators gathered weekly during the second half of this past school year at the Crossroads Christian Academy in Harvey to discuss their experiences with ham radio and to encourage others to get their own licenses.
Ryan Salo, eleven, of Marquette, is a member of the group. He usually talks on the radio with his parents, who have long been amateur radio operators, as well as his friends, but he points out that talking with other hams that you don’t know is fun as well.
“I think it’s a good experience for talking to new people and strengthening your ability to talk to other people without meeting them and it’s just a good way to communicate with your friends or other people that you want to talk to,” Salo said.
The members of the group, as well as all ham operators, are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC. Once licensed, they are assigned a call sign, which includes a combination of letters and numbers. Hams must identify themselves frequently using the call sign while talking on the radio.
Adam Smith, twelve, of Marquette, is another member of the group. Smith received his license in 2008. According to Smith there are three license levels: technician, general and extra class, and an operator must study technical guides and pass a written test in order to receive a license.
“What you have to do is you have to take a test and the most you can get wrong is seven, I believe, and if you pass the test you get a call sign,” he said.
Sam Salo, thirteen, of Marquette, is also a member of the group and he earned his ham operator’s license within the past year. He explains the studying and testing process.
“Well you really just study out of the book. They have a 355-question pool that they’ll pick questions out of,” Salo said. “So you study the questions and right answers and just go through that until you get to the end and then just scan through them again and make sure you know all the formulas and stuff.”
The Hiawatha Amateur Radio Association, or HARA, administers the tests for the licenses locally. This organization also helps support this group of young hams and wants to recruit additional young radio operators. Richard Schwenke of Harvey is the emergency coordinator for the organization and he also administers the license tests. He feels getting more young ham operators involved is important.
“Well, everybody is getting older and we like to get newer people involved because there are so many different activities that a younger person can do. You can use computers as well as radios,” he said. “There is a lot of knowledge to gain from it. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and there’s many, many things you can do as a group or as an individual.”
The young radio operators, including Salo and Smith, have been teaming up with HARA to do community service in the form of emergency communications during sporting events. This spring, the Salo brothers and Smith volunteered their services to the YMCA for its Fun Run. The Salos, Smith, and other ham radio operators with HARA also volunteer each year for races including the U.P. 200 Sled Dog Race and the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic, among others . . .
—8-18 Media
Editor’s note: This story was written by Eric Wagner, 16 and Ben Harris, 15.
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