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History
Throughout its history, amateur
radio enthusiasts have made significant contributions to science,
engineering, industry, and social services. The economic and social
benefit derived from research by amateur radio operators has founded
new industries, built economies, empowered nations, and saved lives.
The birth of amateur radio and
radio in general has mostly been historically associated with
various experimenters. There are many contenders to being the
inventor of radio, that honor has been disputed between not only the
original experimenters, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1888), Nikola
Tesla[2], and Guglielmo Marconi, but also Amos Dolbear, Reginald
Fessenden, James Clerk Maxwell, Sir Oliver Lodge, Mahlon Loomis,
Nathan Stubblefield[3], and Alexander Popov[4]. In the beginning of
1895, Tesla was able to detect signals from the transmissions of his
New York lab at West Point (a distance of 50 miles). [5] Marconi
demonstrated the transmission and reception of Morse Code based
radio signals over a distance of 2 or more kilometres (and up to 6
kilometres) on Salisbury Plain in England in 1896. Marconi, by 1899,
sent wireless messages across the English Channel and, according to
his reports, the first transatlantic transmission (1902) [6]. In the
period following Marconi's experiments (1900-1908) many people
throughout the world began experimenting with radio. Communications
were made in Morse Code by use of spark gap transmitters or high
frequency alternators. These first amateur radio operators are the
roots of the modern international phenomenon of amateur radio.
In 1912, the United States
Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 [6] which restricted private
stations to wavelengths of 200 meters or shorter (1500 kHz or
higher).[7] These "short wave" frequencies were generally considered
useless at the time, and the number of radio hobbyists in the U.S.
is estimated to have dropped by as much as 88%.[8]) By this time,
the term "ham" for an amateur radio operator was well established,
the origins of which are obscure.[9] [10] [11]
By 1917, World War I had put a
stop to amateur radio. In the United States, Congress ordered all
amateur radio operators to cease operation and even dismantle their
equipment.[12] These restrictions were lifted after World War I
ended, and the amateur radio service restarted on October 1, 1919.
In 1921, a challenge was issued
by American hams to their counterparts in the United Kingdom to
receive radio contacts from across the Atlantic. Soon, many American
stations were beginning to be heard in the UK, shortly followed by a
UK amateur being heard in the US in December of 1922. The first two
way contact between the UK and USA was in December 1923, between
London and West Hartford, Connecticut.[13]
The first International
Radiotelegraph Conference was held in Washington, DC in 1927-28.[6]
At the conference, the familiar amateur radio bands of 80, 40, 20
and 10 meters were established by treaty and international radio
callsign prefixes were devised.
During the Nazi occupation of
Poland, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, SP3RN was arrested by the Nazis as a
priest.[14] The Nazis believed his amateur radio activities were
somehow involved in espionage[15] and he was transferred to
Auschwitz on May 28, 1941. After some prisoners escaped in 1941, The
Nazis ordered that 10 prisoners be killed in retribution. Fr. Kolbe
was martyred when he volunteered to take the place of one of the
condemned men. On October 10, 1982 he was canonized by Pope John
Paul II as Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Apostle of Consecration to Mary
and declared a Martyr of charity[14]. He is considered the Patron
saint of Amateur radio operators.[15]
Again during World War II, as it
had done during the first World War, the United States Congress
suspended all amateur radio operations[7] . With most of the
American amateur radio operators in the armed forces at this time,
the US government created the War emergency radio service which
would remain active through 1945. After the War the amateur radio
service began operating again.
In 1961 the first orbital
satellite carrying amateur radio (OSCAR) was launched. Oscar I would
be the first of a series of amateur radio satellites created
throughout the world. [16]
The World administrative radio
conference met in Geneva, Switzerland in 1979. Among the many topics
covered at this meeting was the creation of three new amateur radio
bands: 30 meters, 17 meters and 12 meters[17]. Today, these three
bands are referred to collectively as the WARC bands by amateur
radio operators.
During the Falklands War in 1982,
Argentine forces seized control of the phones and radio network on
the islands and had cut off communications with London. Scottish
amateur radio operator Les Hamilton, GM3ITN[18][19] was able to
relay crucial information from fellow hams Bob McLeod and Tony
Pole-Evans on the islands to British military intelligence in London
the details of troop deployment, bombing raids, radar bases and
military activities.[20]
Major contributions to
communications in the fields of automated message systems and packet
radio were made by amateur radio operators throughout the 1980s.
These computer controlled systems were used for the first time to
distribute communications during and after disasters.[6]
By international agreement in the
past, amateur radio operators were required to have a qualification
endorsement of Morse Code proficiency to use frequencies below 30
MHz. In 2003 the World radiocommunications conference (WRC) met in
Geneva, Switzerland, and Morse code is no longer an internationally
required qualification for an amateur radio license.[21] This does
not preclude any licensing authority from requiring the proficiency
of Morse code to obtain an amateur radio license, however countries
are no longer obliged by international treaty to require Morse code
proficiency. Current rules in the United States[22] require some
Morse code proficiency to allow operation on frequencies below 30
MHz. Proceedings by the FCC are currently underway regarding whether
the requirement will be kept. Discussions regarding whether it
should engender lively debate among amateur radio operators.
Source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio
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