Amateur Radio, or Ham Radio as it is also called, is a hobby enjoyed by many people around the world. 

It's primarily about communication via radio waves but there are many aspects to the hobby. 

Interests range from those which are highly technical in nature requiring the design, build and maintenance of radios and antennas through to those who enjoy the chatting with friends both locally and thousands of kilometers away. 

Imagine talking with someone on the other side of the world without using telephone lines, the PC or the internet.

The fun comes from various activities: 

DXing: This is making basic long Distance radio contacts via Morse Code or by Voice with another radio station in a foreign land thousands of kilometers away with just your radio transmitter, an antenna, and radio waves. There are over 300 countries for you to 'work'. Some countries are extremely difficult to make contact with because there aren't any hams there. 

Collecting and Exchanging QSL cards: Just as there are Stamp and Coin Collectors, there are Hams who collect and exchange QSL cards. A QSL card is a  personalized card which hams exchange to show legal proof that a radio contact did happen. When a ham has proof that he has 'worked' 100 different countries, he can apply for the prestigious DXCC award.

Rag Chewing:  Just simply having chat through the radio with a Ham in Singapore, or with another Ham in Puerto Rico, Central America can be quite interesting and enjoyable. You may both be old acquaintances or more often, be meeting on the air for the first time. You can talk about anything decent under the sun, except business, politics and religion.  

Projects: Many hams enjoy building their own radios and/or antennas from scratch using electronic components purchased from the electronic stores at Sin Lim Tower. Some hams interface their radios with the PC for Data Logging as well as for Digital Communications like PSK31 and RTTY. 

Contesting: There are various contests conducted regularly by the various ham organizations around the world. Each contest has a theme, for example, in the 'CQ Worldwide' contest, participants try to 'work' as many stations as possible in a 48 hour weekend period. Points are scored depending on the region worked.

DXpeditions: Imagine 6 hams from various countries, with 1850 kg of radio equipment, personal stuff and food, sailing on a ship for 2 weeks, to a remote island, with a difficult-to-pronounce-name in the South Atlantic Ocean, brazing sub-zero temperatures for 6 days, working in shifts to make radio contact with other hams around the world. This IS extreme fun!

Listen to a QSO between 9V1AC in Singapore and PA3DOB in the Netherlands

Nice QSL cards from Germany (above) and Colorado USA (below)

The recent earthquakes in the Andaman Islands and Indonesia, and the Hurricanes in Florida temporarily disabled normal regular communication lines very severely,

The Amateur Radio community helped by providing invaluable and effective communications for the emergency services and relief operations.

We can run on batteries and solar power and we definitely don’t need an IP address!

There are about 60 licensed Amateur Stations in Singapore.

Not necessarily. Most Singapore hams operate their stations from HDB and private apartment flats.

The mobile whip antenna shown on the right belongs to a ham living in an HDB flat in Hougang. He made over 1500 QSOs (contacts) in over 90 countries in the first 2 years (2005 - 2006) of being a ham. 

An effective budget antenna can be built with some copper wire, and a Fishing Rod or a Bamboo Pole and your neighbours won't know what you are up to! 

I'm interested in Amateur Radio, what should I do?

Click HERE for information on how to become a radio ham in Singapore.

You can to join us at our monthly club meetings, or feel free to send us an email.