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In the ancient period, people adopted various methods as a means of communication –pigeon to carry letters, sending messenger riding a horse etc. Since the beginning of the 20th century, wireless communication system has been used as one of the means of communication in the world. With the advancement of technology, wireless communication has been used extensively in radio, television, cellular phone, Satellite phones, radars, WiFi, hotspots etc.
Wireless radio is the electronics equipment through which Radio signals can be transmitted using electromagnetic waves. James Clark Maxwell theoretically and mathematically showed in 1864 that electromagnetic waves can move without a medium. In 1888, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was able to do this in the laboratory and made the concept of Maxwell a reality. Hence the frequency of waves was named as Hertz.
By the end of the 19th century, although several scientists around the world claimed to be the inventor of wireless telegraphy, at about the same time, Guglielmo Marconi is regarded as the inventor of wireless telegraphy. Marconi was only 20 years old at the time of its invention in 1894. With the help of a small transmitter-receiver machine invented by Marconi, he was then able to send radio signals up to two miles. The discovery of vacuum tubes in the early 20th century strengthened the radio wave and this made it possible to send radio signals faraway places. In 1904, the high-powered radio signal was sent in Morse code to the ships travelling in the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo : Taheruddin Ahmed
In 1908, three Americans first established wireless radio station to send messages between themselves with Morse code, and they formed the Harvard Radio Club. That was the world's first amateur radio. The three members of that club were named Albert S Hymen, Bob Almy and Poogie Murray. They named the amateur radio station by combining the first letter of the titles of all three as ‘HAM.’ Till then many people chose HAM Radio as their hobby. HAM Radio was the first social media that came into existence 100 years before Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp came. HAM Radio Operator can interact with radio operators of different corners of the world using wireless transmitter and receiver of their own. At present, there are 26 lakh HAM Radio operators worldwide.
Amateur HAM Radio Operators have been playing a vital role in saving the life of many people from disaster situations at the time of crisis through wireless communication systems. The role played by the HAM Operators at the time of earthquake that occurred in Gujarat's Bhuj in 2001, during devastating floods in Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to the tsunami in 2004, floods in Kerala in 2019 etc. was highly praised by people all around the world and will be remembered in future.
During the disaster situation when the tower for mobile communication will fall down on the ground, fiber optical cable will be snapped, as a result, there will be no means of communication for voice as well as data. Until the communication system is restored, the ground zero situation report in that area can be communicated to all corners of the world with the help of HAM Radio Operators in that area. Accordingly rescue and relief operation could be organized based on the input received from HAM operators. Astronauts Kalpana Chawla, Yuri Gagarin, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Marlon Brando, then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi and many world-renowned personalities are HAM operator.
According to the rule of HAM, male operators are called Old Man and female operators are called Young Lady irrespective of their age. An Amateur Radio Operator can exchange messages with another or several Amateur Radio Operators by using a frequency spot. Amateur Radio Operators have to obtain a Radio licence from the Government for use of Radio. The procedure to obtain license varies from country to country. In India, the required licence is provided by the Ministry of Communications. Interested Indian citizen needs to appear in the examination conducted by the Ministry every year. More than 15,000 people in India have the licences of HAM operator across the country.
From the year 1990, Government of India stopped issue of fresh licences for HAM Radio Operator for the North Eastern States as well as Jammu and Kashmir. The government had to take the decision due to the activities of terrorist and insurgent organisations going on in these states. As the situation in the North Eastern States has become normal, the central government decided to lift the ban and resumed issuing HAM license in the region since 2018.
In Assam, about 100 people have HAM Radio Licences but a few HAM operators are using amateur radio in day-to-day life. Popularity of HAM Radio has come down due to rise of internet and other social media in the 21st century. On the other hand, with the help of new technologies such as artificial satellites and technological advancement of antenna system and Radios, HAM Radio Operators have been able to connect easily with people within the country and abroad.
Assam, and the entire northeast India, is categorised under seismic zone 5, which means it is extremely prone to high-intensity earthquakes and there are frequent occurrence of natural disasters like floods, landslides etc. in Assam. Therefore, Assam needs more HAM Radio Operators to provide emergency communication at the time of disaster situation when all other mode communication fails. In this regard there is a great need to increase the awareness for amateur HAM Radio among the people of Assam.
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