Ever evolving, Amateur Radio has always been what its participants bring to it and what they make of it. “Make” is a key word in ham radio, since many enthusiasts still enjoy building their own radio communication equipment and electronics. It is in such “hands-on” activities that this Handbook often comes into play.
Hams also “make” contact with each other using equipment they’ve bought or built, or a combination of the two, over a wide range of the radio spectrum, without the need for any external infrastructure — such as the wired or cellular telephone network or the Internet.
The methods hams use to keep in touch range from the venerable Morse code — no longer a licensing requirement, by the way — to modern digital modes and television. The marriage between Amateur Radio and computer technology grows stronger by the day as hams invent ever more creative ways to make computers and the Internet essential station components. The wonder of software defined radio (SDR) techniques has even made it possible to create virtual radio communication gear. SDRs require a minimum of physical components; sophisticated computer software does the heavy lifting!
