Tom "Tex" Ritter has a couple large antennas rising up over his house north of Cheyenne, and they pick up signals from all over the world. He's talked to people in 169 countries, as well as someone in Antarctica. Over the airways, he's also known by his callsign WY7KY. Ritter's "shack," which is what HAM radio operators call their studios, is down in his basement. There are two large monitors looming over stacks of DPMR radios, handheld radios, CB radios, and microphones. Ritter tuned into a frequency on his digital mobile radio system, which uses the internet to help radio signals travel further, and reached for his microphone. "Anyone monitoring on Wyoming Wide? We're doing a demo here in Cheyenne. This is WY7KY on Wyoming Wide," Ritter said. Moments later a voice comes through the radio, "WY7KY, this is Justin up here in Ten Sleep on the Meadowlark System going to the Wyoming Wide." Operators use repeaters, and one repeater system Ritter uses is called SkyHub. There's a repeater up on Sherman Hill, about 40 miles northwest of Cheyenne. It's "backboned" into the internet, which carries the signals it receives out to other repeaters. There are dozens of these repeaters in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico and even Canada. Ritter's hobby goes beyond casual conversations with other hobbyists. He's also a volunteer for the Emergency Management Administration. During a hurricane that hit Puerto Rico, the American Radio Relay League, which is the U.S. flagship amateur radio association based in Connecticut, put a call out for 50 radio operator volunteers to go down to the country and help coordinate relief efforts.

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Bob McArthur turns on his radio and puts out a “CQ” call – calling anyone, anywhere for a chat. Answering the call, somewhat tinny until McArthur makes a few adjustmentsm to make the signal clearer and clearer, is Ian, of central England. The two exchange some details – their exact locations, the kinds of radios they have and how clear their signal is, before signing off. It’s a pretty typical conversation between ham radio operators. The fact that they’re across an ocean from each other is no object. McArthur, whose radio set up is in an upstairs office in his New Ipswich home, with an antenna set up in his backyard, has been a ham radio enthusiast for the past 25 years. One of his favorite things about the hobby is seeking out hams in far-reaching places. Often, even those in foreign countries speak at least a little English because of the popularity of the hobby in English-speaking countries. The United States has by far the most amateur radio operators, at 779,545 licensed operators. One of his favorite summer activities is taking a long-range and handheld radio to the top of Pack Monadnock in Peterborough, along with a five-foot antenna, and using the height of the mountain and local repeater to reach other operators. McArthur, in his long career as a ham operator, has collected the countries he has contacted in several ways. He has a log book, where he collects contacts made from countries for the first time, and exactly how far away the operators were from his location. His current record-holder is an operator from Saipan, 12,481 miles from New Ipswich. His log book has recorded contact between 228 countries over the many years he has been doing the hobby. Community is a big part of the hobby, McArthur said. There are annual “field days” where radio operators operate for the full 24 hours and try to make as many unique connections to other operators as possible. This year’s field day is June 24 into June 25.

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57-year-old Han Guixin from Jilin City has been collecting various radio stations since 1987, and has more than 200 radio stations so far. The smallest is the size of a palm, and the largest weighs more than 100 kilograms. Among them, the more precious Type 71 radio station is exactly the same as the props used by the actor Wang Cheng in the movie "Heroes". According to Han Guixin, he has loved listening to the radio since he was a child. His father once bought him a radio, which he has kept for 51 years. These radio stations at home are the results of his 24 years of collection. In addition to radio stations, of course, there are also various handheld walkie-talkies, and POC radios that have become popular in recent years. Among the more than 200 radio stations in Han Guixin's collection, the one he loves the most is a Type 71 military radio that has long been decommissioned. This station is also the dream of every HAM. "In order to collect this radio station, I took great pains." Han Guixin said that the 71-type radio station was a short-wave radio station produced in China in the early 1950s, and it was also the first batch of radio stations independently produced by China. "Through radio communication over the years, I have met nearly a thousand HAMs from South Korea, North Korea, Russia and other countries." According to Han Guixin, he is a member of the China Radio Sports Association and has a legal radio license himself. Han Guixin said that when the time is right, he wants to gather radio enthusiasts from Jilin Province and even all over the country to hold a radio exhibition. He has already started to build a website related to radio stations, hoping that more people will participate.

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With the recent deadly earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria top of mind, people on Vancouver Island are getting prepared with emergency communications. A group in the Comox Valley is planning ahead and says amateur radio operators will be a sought-after commodity if an emergency strikes. "In every major disaster that we know of there is always, for some period of time, a mass communications failure," said Scott Goodman, an emergency radio coordinator. Should such a natural disaster happen in the Comox Valley, Goodman and his team of volunteers will keep communication links with the outside world. Now, Goodman and the Comox Valley Regional District are looking for a few more volunteers to assist them in that challenge. "If people have amateur radio licenses they can get on a network of other amateurs and start doing situational awareness. They can use frs radio, such as handheld walkie-talkies to connect." Said Howie Siemens, Comox Valley Regional District manager of emergency programs. The regional district will be holding a free amateur radio course beginning on March 5 to highlight what's needed. "The radio operators will be working out of a room that we have been working on to build that redundancy that, when everything else fails, they’ll be there to make sure those last miles of connection of communication happen," said Siemens.

The Mountain Amateur Radio Club, a group of local Hams that get together on the air waves, will be holding a class on becoming a licensed Amateur (Ham) Radio Operator. Now it ’s your chance to get your FCC license and connect with other Ham radio operators in the area. Dates & Times: Saturday, February 25, & Saturday, March, from 8 a.m – 2:30 p.m. Meetings will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 49967 Road 427, Oakhurst.  There was a time was when radio was all about dots and dashes, but no more. While operators can still utilize Morse code, they now have radio rigs and antennas of all makes and sizes, including some handheld radios and DMR walkie-talkies that are not as big as your cell phone. Ham operators can also provide radio communications during emergency situations. If you’ve ever seen the 2018 movie “How It Ends,” you may have noticed that when all power and cell phone communications were cut off, the only voices still transmitting over the radios were the voices of amateur radio operators. Every morning the club has a net (operator check-in) on the 2Meters (147.180.000), at 7 a.m. Not only are they checking in but they are practicing their skill sets and becoming worldly through the fun of trivia questions. They will be offering up the licensing exams on Saturday, March 11, at 1 p.m. at the Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church.

Last week, after a long and treacherous voyage, a team of amateur radio operators arrived on the world’s most remote island, Bouvet Island.  Using the callsign 3Y0J, they are now transmitting a variety of signals, including Morse code, digital modes, and voice transmissions, in an effort to reach out to other amateur radio operators around the world. They also used DMR walkie-talkies for long-distance communication tests. The expedition’s goals are simple: to contact as many amateur radio stations as possible from a remote location. A dependent territory of Norway, Bouvet Island is an uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote island in the world, situated approximately 900 nautical miles south-southwest of the coast of South Africa and 1,400nm north of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. The remoteness of this island makes radio signals originating from it very rare. “Amongst other, we quite recently attended a climbing course to prepare for the rough vertical 90 degree climbing to be expected at Bouvet” wrote the co-leaders of the expedition. “This knowledge will enable us to safely rescue an injured operator from the camp. Next week we prepare for attending a glacier course to train for a 300m glacier crossing at the Bouvet glacier. This comes after engaging with former Norwegian Polar Institute employees that have visited Bouvet more than 60 times.” As of their latest update the team has already made contact with nearly 7,000 radio stations around the world.