Ham Radio Travels the World
Amateur or ham radio is known for short-wave communications around the Earth. And that's an important and fun aspect of the hobby. But technology marches on. Today, licensed ham radio operators can put an app on their tablet or phone and connect to almost anywhere on the planet.
The service is called Echolink and the numbers are amazing. There are more than 200,000 validated users worldwide -- in 151 of the world's 193 nations -- with about 6,000 online at any given time.
Echolink is the topic of the next meeting of the Cedar Creek Amateur (ham) Radio Club. One of our repeater stations features Echolink and we're going to show you how easy and fun it is to use.
It will be an interesting meeting and it is open to the public. It starts at 9 A.M. on Saturday February 11th at the Mabank Café on Hwy 198 in Mabank.
The club meets the second Saturday of each month there. The meeting starts at 9 A.M., but many come early for the breakfast buffet. Anyone interested in technology is welcome.
The Cedar Creek ARC has over forty members from the tri-county area. It maintains a VHF and UHF repeater system that provide hand-held radio coverage to hams in the lake area, and mobile and base coverage throughout the three counties. CCARC participates in the National Weather Service SKYWARN program and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. The club also provides classes to those wishing to join the ranks of Amateur "ham" Radio. There no longer is a requirement or test for Morse code. For more information visit
www.k5ccl.org.
