ARLA/CLUSTER: A história de como o radioamadorismo continua a sobreviver no Iraque

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

 The legacy of Iraq’s Amateur Radio operators lives on

Sofia Barbarani writes in The National newspaper about the community of
radio enthusiasts that remains active inside Iraq

*Ahmed Al Amshawi* was just 17-years-old when he first discovered the
underground world of ham radio in his native Baghdad in 1996.

One of Iraq’s first ham radio operators is thought to have been King Ghazi
in the late 1930s, paving the way for the rest of Iraq.

Saddam Hussein was in power when Ahmed first picked up the crackling
microphone that would connect him to the outside world. The adrenaline rush
he felt lives on with him today. So too does the hobby and its enthusiasts.

“It’s like a drug in the system, once you take it you can’t leave it,� says
Ahmed, now 40, sitting at a coffee shop in Baghdad’s Mansour neighbourhood.

At the time, Saddam’s regime had prohibited ham radio operators from using
their equipment – typically a transmitter and a receiver – at home.
Instead, licensed operators were made to gather in government-sanctioned
communal rooms where they each took turns having conversations with fellow
ham radio operators. Meanwhile, the government listened in.

“If you tried contacting foreigners without a licence there would be
serious consequences,� says Ahmed.

If caught without a licence while “hamming�, an operator could be accused
of espionage. The penalty? Execution.

But even today, 15 years after the fall of Saddam and with the development
of a wave of new forms of communication, there remains some 150 licensed
ham radio operators, proud members of a largely unknown community, inside
Iraq.

After the fall of Saddam in 2003, operators were issued home licences,
allowing them to communicate from the privacy of their own houses. But the
US forces that occupied the country and a new Iraqi government remained
suspicious of the operators at a time when a militant insurgency was
tearing at the country from within.

Ahmed’s first radio communication from his home was with an operator in the
US state of Alaska in 2003. Soon after, the sectarian violence that
engulfed Iraq forced his family out of the neighbourhood.

“It’s not just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle,� said Ahmed. “You get to know new
people every time you go on air. Some of them become your best friends and
even reach the level of family.�

Read the full story at
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/radio-hams-the-legacy-of-iraq-s-amateur-operators-lives-on-1.746047
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