Don Keith - Riding the Shortwaves: Exploring the Magic of Amateur Radio

"...entertaining andinformative...eminently readable by youth or adult, (RIDING THESHORTWAVES) covers the waterfront, from why Amateur Radio, at 100years of age, remains fun and relevant...and more to the point,what you need to enjoy and explore ham radio's magic. Old-timers will enjoy this book, too."

-- Rick Lindquist,WW3DE, QSTMagazine

"This book is fantastic,IMHO! If you have someone that you know is thinking ofbecoming a Ham, has inclinations about becoming a Ham, or isactively studying to become a Ham, or recently became a Ham, directthem to this book! I wish this book was out 34 years ago whenI first got started."

--Larry MakoskiW2LJ

RIDING THESHORTWAVES:

Exploring the Magic of AmateurRadio

By Don Keith N4KC

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 by Don Keith

All rights reserved. No portion ofthis work may be reproduced without express permission of theauthor except for brief excerpts in reviews. Please contact theauthor for permission to reproduce any portion of this book in suchpublications as amateur radio club newsletters or hamradio-oriented periodicals. Such permission is typically happilygranted.

This book is available in print atmost online retailers.

This ebook is licensed for yourpersonal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

or given away to other people. If youwould like to share this book with another person,

please purchase an additional copy foreach recipient. If youre reading this book and did

not purchase it, or it was notpurchased for your use only, then please return to

Smashwords.com and purchase your owncopy. Thank you for respecting the hard work

of this author.

Also by DonKeith

The ForeverSeason

Wizard of theWind

The Rolling ThunderStockcar Racing Series (with KentWright)

Final Bearing (with George Wallace)

Gallant Lady (with Ken Henry)

In the Course ofDuty

The Bear: the LegendaryLife of Coach Paul Bear Bryant

Final Patrol

The Ice Diaries (with Captain William R. Anderson)

War Beneath theWaves

We Be Big (with Rick Burgess and Bill Bubba BusseyKJ4JJ)

UnderseaWarrior

Firing Point (with George Wallace)

The Spin

Writing to bePublishedand Read!

Writing as Jeffery Addisonwith Edie Hand:

The Last ChristmasRide

The SoldiersRide

The Christmas Ride: theMiracle of the Lights

http://www.donkeith.com http://www.n4kc.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Even though we amateur radioenthusiasts consider ourselves to be communicators, it is reallydifficult sometimes for us to convey to other folks exactly what itis that makes our hobby so special to us. What makes it soaddictive and fulfilling, so magnetic. Personally, I have been inand out of the hobby for over fifty years now, yet I find itsallure to be just as strong now as it was way back when the bugfirst bit me. And let me assure you, it bit me hard!

That was when I heard thosefirst squeaks and squawks of Morse code, the dits and dahs of thosecharacters riding in on the wind as they formed my call letters.The exciting, exclusive call sign that had been newly-assigned tome by that awe-inducing agency, the Federal CommunicationsCommission. There they were, those letters with the number 4 inthe middle that quickly became so much a part of who I was. Anddespite my nervousness at the outset of that first conversation onthe air (a QSO), I immediately recognized my call sign ringing back at me outof a receiver tuned to the shortwaves.

That exhilarating reply came inresponse to a CQa blind call into the etherlooking forsomeoneanyonewith whom to chat. And, I must admit, I was halfhoping nobody would answer that first time I sent out that blanketrequest for a contact. The prospects of it all scared me just alittle bit.

But when it actually happened, it wasnothing short of supernatural!

Now it is true that amateur (or ham)radio led to a career in broadcasting for me, but I have no doubt Iwould still love it just as much, even if I had gone a differentdirection in life. The hobby has helped many people break into andfollow careers in communications, electronics, computers,engineering and more. However, many thousands of other hams havedifferent interests and avocations, many decidedly non-technical.You do not have to be a geek to be a ham.

Oh, I admit that there were years whenI did not even turn on a rigwhat we call our radiosyears whenjob, family, my book-writing and other distractions took me awayfrom the magic I had experienced as a 13-year-old kid, living downon that isolated farm in rural Alabama. But I always came back tothe hobby, and I do not exaggerate when I tell you that each returnwas even sweeter and more electrifying than the last.

Even though amateur radio had changedeach timesometimes dramatically so with new shortwave bands at ourdisposal, new and exotic modes of communication available to us,different facets of radio, all calling out to me to come give thema tryI still found the basics of it all virtually the same. Thosesame intangible attractions were still there. And they were stilljust as difficult to explain to the great unwashed out there. Istill feel sorry for those who do not know or care about the radiospectrum and the electromagnetic wavesthe magical pixie dust thatswirls around all of us out there on the wind.

It is also true that some doubt thevalue of the hobby today, it being based on such old technologyafter all. People have smart phones, video games, the Internet,YouTube, and Facebook. Kids who once might have been fascinated bytalking to someone across the continent on the ham radio now do itroutinely in chat groups, on Facebook, or via texting. Who wants tohang wire and create radio-frequency energy when all this newtechnology is all around us?

First, I should point out that thereare more amateur radio licensees in the United States today thanever before. We are at an all-time high. The rest of the world hasalso seen a resurgence in interest in the hobby, including some ofits more antiquated technology, such as Morse code.

Still, the questions come.

Cant you do the samething on the Internet?

I can talk all over theworld on my cell phone. I dont need a radio or a tower or all thatwire in the sky.

Why use that Morse stuffwhen you can just text somebody and tell them what you want to tellthem?

Yes, you can. You can do all thosethings.

But the people asking those questionsare missing the point entirely. It is exasperating to us ham-nutsthat they do not seem willing to even try to understand what drawspeople to amateur radio. And it is vexing to us that we cannot do abetter job of explaining the attraction.

It is a mystery to us why they dismissus, stick their noses against a computer monitor or mobile deviceand refuse to come join us and experience all the fun we arehaving. We cannot understand why they do not simply see forthemselves what the hobby is really all about and why we love itso. Though it is not true, we are certain every single one of themwould catch the fever just as surely as we all did.

In my frustration, I often fire backin reply to such questions with, Why do you go fishing? You canbuy fish at the grocery store. Youre a golfer. Why dont you justwalk over and drop the ball into the hole instead of teeing it upand whacking it three or four timeseight or ten whacks at the ballif you are me?

Tell you what. Take theN4KC Challenge. Pull out that fancy cell phone of yours and diala number totally at random, using some area code on the other sideof the planet. Then see what kind of conversation you will havewith whoever answers. If anybody answers.

Wheres the magic? Thecell phone works about the same every time you try it. There is nothrill in getting somebody to say, Hello. But the ionospherechanges all the time. When you send out a radio signal on theamateur radio shortwave bands from your own station, you never knowfor sure where it will bounce back to earth or who will answer yourcall.