Wanta Race?

Thought for the day: A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace. [Ovid]

[THEME: Amateur radio]

No wonder I've gained weight. Amateur radio offers a veritable smorgasbord of delicious choices. Today, however, there's only one item on our menu: CONTESTING. 

I don't know if Ovid was right when he said horses run faster when competing with other horses, but I do think people push harder when competing with other people. And I also believe that in general, the more we compete at something, the more we push at it, the better we get. So you could say that competition is the whetstone of talent, and participation in amateur radio contests can definitely sharpen our operating skills.

There are hundreds of contests every year, and winning is a relative term. Some contesters work non-stop (except for the obvious necessary breaks) for the duration, and rack up a ton of points and prizes. Others may operate briefly, but consider their efforts successful if they make contact with a new country or state.

The following illustrates just how dedicated (and engrossed) an operator can be during a contest:

Austria's Archduke Anton von Habsburg, OE3AH, was the first Austrian to work all continents, and the first European to work all U.S. states. But here's what sets this avid operator apart: on September 12, 1938, when the German army crossed the Austrian border and incorporated it into the Reich, Anton was sitting at his radio, operating in an international contest. As described in a November, 1940 Boys Life article, The Archduke stayed on the air to finish out the ... contest, then ran.


So bottom line, I guess contesting can become almost addictive, if you let it. Contests definitely encourage operators to make the most of their equipment and to hone their operating skills.

And pssssst! They're also FUN!

Over and Out?

Thought for the day: Over means I'm done talking and now it's your turn to transmit. Out means I'm finished with this conversation and am outta here. So when someone in a movie says ... "Over and out" ... it essentially means, go ahead and talk, but I'm not gonna be listening.

[THEME: Amateur radio}

The not-so-secret word for today is BROADCAST. 

People have long enjoyed listening to the radio.

When you turn on your car radio, there's no telling what you might hear. Could be your favorite song, and you might sing along. Or maybe it'll be a talk show host, in which case, you might be inclined to argue (i.e. scream)  an opposing point of view. One thing those seemingly different scenarios have in common is this: both are one-way transmissions. No matter how delightfully you harmonize, or how brilliant your rebuttal for the blowhard, the voices coming out of that radio can't hear you.

That is broadcast radio.

One thing amateur radio operators do NOT do is broadcast.

With amateur radio, I can certainly listen passively to other operators, but for me, the real joy lies in active participation. When a properly licensed amateur radio operator hears a voice or Morse code signal coming out of his speaker, he can 

Reach for a microphone ...

Or key ...

and respond.  He can make a quick in-and-out contact to exchange basic information, or he can hang around for a while and enjoy a friendly chit-chat. The chit-chat is commonly called a rag chew, and can be rather lengthy. My specialty. (Go figure.)

So, there ya have it. Commercial radio stations broadcast. But we hams ...  we communicate.

Works For Me!

Thought for the day:  I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York, and he meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is exactly the same, except that there is no cat.  [Albert Einstein]

As you can probably tell by the thought for the day, my theme for this A-Z challenge will be radio. Amateur radio, to be exact, and what better way to begin than with the word AMATEUR itself?

According to my Funk & Wagnalls, an amateur is one who practices an art or science for his own pleasure, rather than as a profession. Still, some amateur radio operators, AKA hams, think the word not only carries a negative connotation, but denigrates their abilities and the valuable services they provide. Me?  I embrace the term, and I'll tell you why.

After Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the letter S ... dit-dit-dit ... across the Atlantic Ocean via radio wave in 1901, he became like a veritable rock star ... and was lauded worldwide as the Father of Radio. (Others played considerable roles, too, but I guess Marconi had a better PR guy.)

Anyway, in a world fired up by Marconi's amazing accomplishment, experimenters, engineers, inventors, educators, and hobbyists started directing their efforts into this new field called wireless, and these enthusiasts were collectively known as amateurs.






VROOM! VROOM! VROOM! Fast forward to the Chicago World's Fair of 1933,  where members of a local amateur radio club displayed some of the equipment they'd designed and built ...

Guess who happened to visit that World's Fair?

Yep, you got it. Marconi.

Natch, he stopped to look at that display of radio equipment. Can you imagine how the locals felt when they realized one of the guys examining their equipment was Marconi? And how they felt when he actually praised its design and workmanship?

One of the locals was especially taken aback, and stammered, "But, sir, we're just a bunch of amateurs".

To which the great Marconi allegedly replied, "I have always thought of myself as an amateur."

So I say ...  if it was good enough for Marconi, it's more than good enough for me.

         Remember: Professionals built the Titanic, but an amateur built the ark.

Marconi, late 1800s

[Amateur radio operators must pass a battery of tests in order to receive a license and call sign from their country's governing body. In the U.S., that body is the Federal Communication Commission, and my call sign is AF4FO.]