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Amateur radio is a hobby with a community of people called hams (origin of name unknown) that use radio transmitters and receivers to communicate with other Amateur radio operators, support large events (e.g. marathons) and provide emergency communications in times of disaster. There are about 600 thousand hams in the United States.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) says:
"Ham radio operators use two-way radio stations from their homes, cars, boats and outdoors to make hundreds of friends around town and around the world. They communicate with each other using voice, computers, and Morse code. Some hams bounce their signals off the upper regions of the atmosphere, so they can talk with hams on the other side of the world. Other hams use satellites. Many use hand-held radios that fit in their pockets."

Distance for hand-held radios is extended thru repeater networks where high powered (100-500 watts) repeaters relay signals from lower powered (4-7 watts) hand-helds. There are places where there is no cell phone service but hams can get service.
Some amateur stations provide "patches" into the regular telephone network, so you can make phone calls from your radio.

Government Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and non-government ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) work with emergency service agencies to provide communications in times of disasters.
See: ARES® vs RACES FAQ

Hams also provide communications for many Search and Rescue (SAR) teams in wilderness areas.

To become a ham you have to pass a test to get a Federal Communications Comission (FCC) License. The license use to require Morris Code, but there is now an entry level "Technician" license which does not require it.

Amateur Radio and other personal communication services.

Type	Name	Freq	Band	Dist- ance (Mi.) 1	Power		License
					Typ- ical	PEP
160 meter	Ham	1.8 MHz	MF				Genl
75/80,60,40,30,20, 17,15,12 meter	Ham	3.6 - 25 MHz	HF		40	200	Genl
CB	Citizens Band	27 MHz		2-5		4 2	none
10 meter	Ham	29 MHz			40	200	Genl
6 meter	Ham	50-54 MHz	VHF		40	1500	Tech
2 meter	Ham	144-148 MHz			5-50	1500	Tech
MURS	Multi-Use Radio Service	150 MHz				2	none
Marine		156 MHz
IG	Industrial/Business	169 MHz
1¼ meter	Ham Point-to-point fixed digital message forwarding	219-220 MHz			5-50	1500	Tech
1¼ meter/222	Ham	222-225 MHz			5-50	1500	Tech
IG	Industrial/Business	451-467 MHz	UHF
FRS	Family Radio Service	462-467 MHz		1/2 - 2	0.5	0.5	none
GMRS	General Mobile Radio			1-4	2	50	y
70-cm/440 MHz	Ham	420-450 MHz			5-50	1500	Tech
33-cm/900	Ham	902-928 MHz			40	1500	Tech
23-cm/1240	Ham	1.24-1.3 GHz			40	1500	Tech
13-cm	Ham	2.30-2.31 GHz 2.39-2.45 GHz				1500	Tech
9 cm	Ham	3.3-3.5 GHz	SHF			1500
5 cm	Ham	5.785-5.925 GHz				1500
3 cm	Ham	10-10.5 GHz				1500
1.2 cm	Ham	24.075-24.250 GHz				1500
6 mm	Ham	47.0-47.2, 59-64 GHz	EHF			1500
4 mm	Ham	75.5-81 GHz				1500
2.5 mm	Ham	119.98-120 GHz				1500
2 mm	Ham	142-149 GHz				1500
1 mm	Ham	241-250 GHz				1500

Other Ham Frequencies:
Other Microwave: 403 GHz
Light: 678 THz
See Frequency Allocation

Radios can be modified to transmit on frequencies other than the amateur bands, but this would probably be a violation of FCC rules.
See: Radio Modifications.

Amateur Radio:
Amateur Radio operators or "Hams" have the added advantage of using repeaters to increase the range of reliable contacts. There are thousands of amateur radio repeaters located across the country and they are often located on top of the mountain ranges near off highway vehicle trails. Some repeaters have autopatch capabilities, which means you can make telephone calls from your radio.

• A Technician license permits you to use all VHF/UHF amateur radio frequencies. Doesn't require Morse code.
• A General class license permits you to use the world wide HF bands. You must learn the Morse Code at 5 words per minute.

A good choice is a high power mobile unit capable of at least 40 watts. (About $250 new) A dual band mobile (VHF/UHF) with crossband repeater capabilities is even more desirable because you can use the radio in your own truck as a repeater while you are out hiking with a HT (handi-talkie).
2 meter/440 (70-cm) dual band radios are very popular.

Antennas
The antenna is one of the most critical links in the system. You get more payback from antenna improvements than with any other component.

See: Antennas here.

Computer Applications
EchoLink - Links two transcievers with computers using voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology over the Internet. www.echolink.org

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) - Display the locations of moving stations with GPS receivers on your PC.

Packet Radio Digital Modes (PSK31, FSK, MFSK, ...) for sending data (text, pictures) between computers over radio.

73

Best Regards - .

APRS

Automatic Packet Reporting System. See above.

ARES

Amateur Radio Emergency Service

ARRL

American Radio Relay League

BPL

Broadband over Power Line. A service providing telephone and Internet services over power lines which can cause radiio interference. BPLDataBase.org

CAP

Civil Air Patrol.

COS

Carrier operated squelch

CTCSS

Continuous tone coded sub-audible squelch signals. Used by some repeaters use to restrict access.

CQ

Calling any amateur radio station.

CW

Continuous Wave. An unmodulated, uninterrupted RF wave. In common usage refers to Morse code emissions.

DCS/DPL

Digital Coded Squelch/Digital Private Line

DF

Direction Finding

DX

(noun) distant station; (verb) to contact a distant station. A DX switch adjusts the sensitivity of the radio to improve reception of distant stations or prevent over loading of the radio by a very strong local transmitter.

DXer

An Amateur radio operator who actively pursues contacting distant and rare Amateur Radio stations.

EME

Earth Moon Earth, also known as Moonbounce

ERO

Effective Radiated Power.
A 50 Watt transmitter connected to an antenna with 5 dBi gain would have an ERP of 96 Watts. See Pure ERP calculator.

FSK

Frequency-Shift Keying. Used for data transmission.

IRLP

The Internet Radio Linking Project. IRLP uses Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) link your repeater site or simplex station to remote IRLP sites on over the Internete. It uses Speak Freely software on Linux.

HT

Handi-Talkie - A handheld radio

MARS

Military Affiliate Radio System. MARS members are volunteer licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in providing auxiliary or emergency communications to local, national and international emergency and safety organizations, as an adjunct to normal communications.

NBEMS

NarrowBand Emergency Messaging System

OPT-PC

Optimum Punctured Convolutional codes.

PEP

Peak Envelope Power

Phone

Voice transmissions.

PL

Private Line - Motorola term for CTCSS

PSK31

Phase Shift keying with 31.25 baud rate.

PTT

Push to Talk

RACES

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

QRM

an old abbreviation for man-made interference.

QRP

Low Power ≤ 5 W

QSL

Acknowledge receipt. Commonly used to indicate "I understand".
Cards exchanged to indicate a two way contact with a station. Common with DXers.

RCPC

Rate-compatible punctured convolutional codes and soft decision Viterbi decoding are used for channel coding.

QSO

Two way conversation

RST

"Readability, Signal, and Tone", a three-digit report indicating how well an operator's emissions are being received./DD>

RTTY

radio teletype - A form of digital communications.

SSB

Single Sideband. Signal is attached to only half (upper or lower) part of the signal.

SWR

Standing wave ratio. a ratio of maximum voltage or current to minimum voltage or current. Voltage measurment = VSWR, Current measurement = ISWR
See Antenna Page

SSB

Single Sideband. Signal is attached to only half (upper or lower) part of the carrier frequency.

TNC

Terminal Node Controller, a device which interfaces a computer to a transceiver and performs a function similar to a modem.

TPO

transmitter power

VFO

Variable Frequency Oscillator. VFO mode allows tuning manually between stations as opposed to scan or memory mode.

VSWR

Voltage Standing wave ratio. a ratio of maximum voltage to minimum voltage. See Antenna Page

X-band

Extended mediumwave band; an addition to the traditional MW broadcast band introduced in some countries in the 1990's (1610-1700 kHz in the Western hemisphere,

Other Links:
Antennas
Power Supplies
Coaxial Cable
Amateur Radio Clubs and Stores/Dealers in Central New Jersey and Lake Tahoe
Emergency Communications, Satellite Phone,
Amateur (Ham) and CB Radio at Lake Tahoe
Real World Ranges for CB, FRS, GMRS and MURS Radios at thetravelinsider.info Radio Propagation at Wikipedia
Lookup callsigns at: QRZ, ARRL
ARRL (American Radio Relay League)
W5YI Group - Resource for Amateur and Commercial Radio
Why do I need Amateur Radio in my 4x4?
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Antenna Connectors - Plugs - cables
Anderson PowerPole power connectors: General Assembly Instructions, Assembly (pdf), Power Pole at prc68.com, YouTube
Beyond CB at 4x4wire.com
Industrial/Business Radio at the FCC

Books:
Guide to Emergency Survival Communications by Dave Ingram, 1999

Links:
Misc Amateur Radio - Wiring etc.
Ham Radio Links at New Providence Amateur Radio Club
Amateur Radio Activities at qsl.net
Links at eHam.net
Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, ...)
US Amateur Radio Frequency Allocations
Installation of Ham and CB radios in jeeps at Personal and CB Radios
Personal Radio in Products and Hobbies.
Radio Modes and Modulation
Antenna Types and Installation
Electronics and Amateur Radio Links
Coaxial Cable in Home and Garden
Old user manuals at UsersManualGuide.com