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Amateur Radio: From hobby to helping those in need

By Robert Cherry, VE2AGE

In 1901 Marconi received the letter “S” in Morse code in St. John’s, Newfoundland, sent by one of his associates in Poldhu in the UK. This was the first transatlantic signal, a precursor of practical wireless communication. Marconi and others soon built transmitters and receivers. In 1913, Parliament passed the Radiotelegraph Act to minimize interference to marine costal stations. The next year, the federal government issued Radiotelegraph Regulations specifying the first operating and technical proficiency examinations for radio amateurs in Canada.

In emergencies or disasters, cell phones and the Internet may not always work. Across Canada, there are groups of amateurs who are trained to establish and maintain emergency communications. Collectively, they are known as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). ARES operates under the administrative umbrella of the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC).

Radio amateurs in Canada volunteer as pilots, navigators, spotters or ground crew with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) and most are members of ground search and rescue teams. To enable different groups of searchers to keep track of one another, the Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) uses packet radio. Position information is provided by a global positioning system (GPS), satellite receiver connected to one of the serial ports of the computer running the APRS software.

Amateur radio does not have to cost a fortune. Equipment can last a long time and there are no charges per minute or per month. Even a radio is not absolutely necessary; a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) can be used.

Many astronauts are radio amateurs. On January 24, 2007, students from the elementary school Le Prélude in Ottawa spent nine minutes and 22 seconds talking with Flight Engineer Sunita Williams on the International Space Station. The communication took place at the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, home of amateur radio station VE3JW of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club.

For more information, visit Radio Amateurs of Canada.

Robert Cherry is a Program Officer at the National Search and Rescue Secretariat. He is a licensed amateur radio operator and belongs to the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club. The author would like to thank Ken Halcrow of CASARA Ottawa for a background article on the CASARA High Frequency Communication Demonstration which took place in North Bay as part of the National SAREX in September 2006.

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