ARLA/CLUSTER: O Radioamadorismo atrai uma nova geração de entusiastas.

[João Gonçalves Costa]

Amateur radio is attracting a new generation of enthusiasts>

At an age when most kids are cruising the Internet, Adam Simeth is exploring ham radio.

Simeth, 16, has been intrigued with the century-old technology since his dad introduced him to it a few years ago.

"With the Internet, you find a chat room, you click on and you join," Adam said. "With ham radio, you have to tune around and find a frequency that people are talking on. You can actually go all around the world and hear yourself as an echo."

Adam is one of the young people keeping the tradition of amateur radio alive in the digital age.

In an era of instant messaging, tweeting and text messaging, loyal ham radio practitioners young and old feel a sense of responsibility - and enjoyment - to keep ham radio use alive and well. They like the technological challenge of mastering the medium, the thrill of communicating with other like-minded people, and the ability to help out in times of crisis.

"You're talking to people as opposed to typing," said Charles Wackerman, president of the Moore County Amateur Radio Society. "You're talking to a specific person that you may or may not ever meet."

Amateur or ham radio got its start in theearly 20th century. The first radio society was formed in 1910 in Australia.

Over the decades, the practice grew, although it was put on hold during both world wars. Operators often have been called on to assist in emergencies when other methods of communication aren't functioning.

The Moore County group has been in existence since the 1970s. Wackerman said he's seen an upswing in interest in the hobby in the 10 or 11 years he's been involved.

"The club at one time was down to eight members, and we're back in the 40s now," Wackerman said. "Our paid membership is now the highest it's been since the late 1970s."

Members include a former Green Beret, doctors and scientists, Wackerman said. They are as young as Simeth and as old as Bob Johnson, a 95-year-old Army veteran who has been involved in amateur radio for more than 60 years.

Johnson said he also uses the Internet but isn't giving up his ham radio.

"It keeps me in touch with what's going on," said Johnson, who lives in Whispering Pines. "I have a lot of friends who are on it."

Wackerman attributes the growth of ham radio to a change in licensing requirements that went into effect several years ago. Operators no longer have to learn Morse Code to be licensed, which has opened the hobby to people who couldn't master the code's complicated system of dots and dashes.

"The number of people taking the test and passing went way up," Wackerman said. The drop in the price of equipment is also a factor in ham radio's rise in popularity, Wackerman said.

Ham radio operators are licensed in three levels - technician, general and extra. Each level requires more expertise, with extra being the highest.

Operators use call signs to identify themselves when they are broadcasting. Wackerman, for instance, uses the call sign W3CY.

Wackerman, 69, has been intrigued with the possibilities of amateur radio communication since he was a boy. He spent part of his childhood in London, and the radio provided a connection back to the States.

"My dad would drag me over to a 'ham shack,' as they called it, and we'd listen to the Voice of America or the AM station that would make it over at night," he said. Wackerman remembers being fascinated by the glowing tubes of the old radio sets.

After retirement from the State Department, Wackerman had more time to devote to the hobby. He got his operator's license in 2001 or '02.

Over the years, Wackerman has participated in or coordinated many of the Moore County group's activities, which include providing radio communications for the annual 40-mile Uwharrie Mountain Run.

At the run, ham radio operators are stationed at checkpoints throughout the race. If a participant doesn't make it to a checkpoint, the radio operator notifies emergency services so they can track down the wayward runner.

Wackerman said being able to provide help in emergency situations or assisting in events like the mountain run attract a lot of people to ham radio.

When electrical power and cellphone service goes off in a hurricane or other such disaster, ham radios can run off batteries and keep the lines of communication open.

"Very often, we're the only communication that's effective," Wackerman said.

But in normal times, "hams" just enjoy being able to talk to people with similar interests in far-flung locales. If climate and atmospheric conditions are right, operators can send signals around the world.

Wackerman said he has communicated with scientists at the South Pole via ham radio. Another time, he reached a ham radio operator in Nova Scotia, Canada, who turned out to be a relative.

"We kept in contact until he died about a year ago," Wackerman said. "It kind of surprised me. You never know."

Adam Simeth has company in his ham radio hobby. His father, Jay, and mother, Charlene, are also practitioners.

"We are what is known as a 'ham-i-ly,' " Adam said.

Jay Simeth said he got interested in ham radio when he worked in emergency management. He eventually got licensed and encouraged his wife and son to get involved.

Today, Jay is an "extra," the highest ham radio license level. Adam has a general license, the second level, and Charlene is licensed as a "technician," the first level.

Jay said he participated in his first Uwharrie Mountain Run this year, helping keep runners on track. Last year, he listened in as ham radio operators assisted in providing emergency help for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Those events remind Jay Simeth why he got involved in ham radio in the first place.

"In every major catastrophe on this planet, when all the commercial infrastructure collapses, ham radio operators volunteer their time and equipment for the Red Cross, police, fire, rescue, whoever needs it," he said. "When all else fails, ham radio is there."

Fonte: Rodger Mullen<http://www.fayobserver.com/help/staff/rodger-mullen> in Fayobserver.com
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