Shawn Stoddard and Craig Sande explained how they became involved in ham radio, how one gets a ham (amateur radio) license, and the interesting things you can do once licensed.
The hobby attracts people of all backgrounds. They use it for social communication, long distance (DX) hunting, experimenting, contesting, emergency communication, storm chasing, radio remote control, computer to radio interfacing, weather reporting, satellite communication, and the list goes on! A person can communicate locally or worldwide, making new friends in far away places. And if the internet and satellites go down, you can still communicate with one another.
Craig is fond of CW (constant wave) - which means he communicates with Morse code. This year he wants to get involved with portable operations such as Parks On The Air and Summits On The Air. Shawn enjoys Field Day Contests and emergency communications, as well as introducing scouts to the hobby.
It isn't difficult to learn the basics and pass the test. If you would like to explore it further, I suggest contacting the local ham radio club - SNARS, Sierra Nevada Amateur Radio Society. https://snars.org/
