Ham Radio

The book I read to research this post was Ham Radio for Dummies by H Ward Silver which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Although I'm british this book covers the subject from an american perspective. There are organisations like Hammi Hams devoted to getting people with disabilities set up with radio ham stations when you think about it, it's ideal pastime for someone who is blind for example. In britain & america you must have a licence to be a radio ham. If you join a local club they will often have a base station that you can get experience using & often they will be responsible for officiating exams. A lot of people stick with using morse code because they can do a lower exam & the start up costs are quite low. The morse code transmitters used nowadays use separate keys for the dots & dashes signals which makes it easier. In america when you complete the standard exam for ham radio of which there are 35 questions & you must score at least 75% you get AX to add to your call sign in addition for people who want to get involved in emergency & relief relay work there's a higher exam consisting of 50 questions upon completion you get AE to add to add to your call sign. The first ham radio satellite was launched 2 years after sputnik & was about the size of a coffee jar they have come a long way since then & nowadays there are many radio ham satellites. When a radio ham contacts someone in a far flung place they exchange QSL cards which are similiar to postcards except they contain the hams call sign which they use as proof they have contacted someone.