Before we had the internet;  before we had instant communication.
Before I could ... could instantly send a message from my hand
to somebody and Sweden or Germany
or anywhere in the world. Back, way back,
in the '20s and '30s there was no instant communication.
You had the US Mail, you had telegrams.. 
And when radio started to
get popular with the amateurs, 
suddenly they had a way of just instantly talking
to somebody a thousand miles away as if
you're in the same room--
and that was just amazing back then, because that was like:
"Holy cow! Science fiction's becoming a reality!"
And we're still doing it today.
Ham radio's still a live hobby today.
Well, this weekend Fort Wayne's
historical fort is host to Fort Wayne
Radio Club and the ARRL field day event
in which radio amateurs demonstrate
their ability to conduct off-the-grid
emergency communications using solar,
battery power, or generator power. The
fort we have is virtually identical to
the fort that was here
built by Major John Whistler and
finished in 1816 I believe it was chosen
rather than Anthony Wayne sport because
the documentation for this fort was so
extensive it is kind of a resident type
of thing it kind of dovetails nicely if
you've got the old with the old fort and
then you have the new with the
electronic technology and the radio that
we have back in the day these forts were
actually your your line of communication
this is what they used you had a runners
and messengers that we go from fort
before
so these forts were actually your
communication nodes and that's kind of
what we have here today we have a whole
bunch of different stations and we're
know
multiple frequencies to communicate the
old days of practice it's a practice for
emergency preparedness how quickly how
efficiently can you get a station on the
air out away from civilizations if
something happened you know power grids
went out for some reason emergency
communications nationwide was needed how
well can hams get their radios into the
field and on the air the internet is
down cell towers aren't working you
can't even make a call on a landline how
would you communicate in an emergency
when hurricanes or other natural
disasters strike getting information to
the public isn't always easy
that's where ham radio operators often
become a vital link to survival
emergency managers are increasingly
turning to ham radio for backup
communications during a crisis many
emergency crews rely on amateur radio
operators to try and help fill the gap
amateur radio operators were already on
scene they coordinated evacuations and
assisted emergency communications I know
law enforcement the Homeland Security
there's just so many first responders
that you've helped and you've worked
with over the years that are very
appreciative that the governor whole
center points out in the proclamation
that can be very very important to our
communication system particularly in a
time of emergency so we do take that
very seriously and we do appreciate the
role that you play and helping to
provide information and to be there when
there is an emergency killowog Bravo 9
radio Lima whiskey q RP
there we go a full 5 watts CQ CQ CQ CQ
hello CQ CQ CQ CQ q RP this is kilowatt
Bravo 9 radio Lima whiskey kilowatt
Bravo 9 radio Lima whiskey calling CQ CQ
CQ q RP
qrp which means low-power usually it
means five watts and under it's
challenging you know with band
conditions are bad you're not going to
get out as well and a lot of guys are
just like I just run power you know why
why bother with that well the the
challenge of it that's what makes it
exciting that was you know when you
finally do make a contact when I had a
magnetic loop sitting in my kitchen I
was using five watts of power you know
like about the same power as a night
light bulb and a guy in Sweden came back
to me and we had a full conversation
that's just so cool cuz like oh only
five watts and yet it carried my voice
all the way around the globe it's
amazing when you get through just a tiny
little bit of power I've lit a candle in
California and somebody in New York says
hey I see your candle that's pretty cool
CQ CQ from kilowatt Bravo nine radio
Lima whiskey calling and standing by and
that's how it goes when you're calling
CQ with qrp it's pretty rare when
someone comes back to you it's much more
of a challenge
it's a low-power you're at a
disadvantage
the workstations mostly at least 100
watts so when you're calling somebody
and the others with a hundred watts
you're calling your you're just in the
noise and of course the challenge of low
power and transmitting is always always
has that nice little lower anyway with
that weak signal and low noise type
stuff well with qrp it's it's even more
challenging because your signal is weak
to begin with and as that signal goes
away like from a flashlight if you shine
it on a wall that you're standing next
to you get a little disc of light if you
shine it on a wall that's that's twice
the distance away you get a larger
fainter disc of light and with that
radio wave the farther it goes it
disperses out and you've got less signal
in one area the most exciting contacts I
had was gonna fall and it was a priest
over there that had been a missionary
for many years and he was originally
from this area and many many stations
were calling him because Nepal is really
rare anyway there were many many high
powered stations calling him I got in
there and I said Fort Wayne father Fort
Wayne's and right back to wait and we
had a short contact
being able to the name is Kevin Kevin
kilo echo Victor what's the appeal of it
to me well it's fun I get to I get to
experiment I love to experiment I get to
build things you know build radios and
build antennas and and then and then
actually talk to other people other
cultures other places you know and
interact with other human beings all
over the world we just try to hear from
my home directly you know and they're
like minded they're all they're all
radio ops - and technical people so you
already have something in common it's
not just like walking up to a stranger
and going hello you know it's somebody
who's already like-minded so you can
just fall right into conversations
enjoyable
and I'm talking to somebody on the other
side of the world on something that I
built with my hands you know I made my
antenna or maybe in that case I made my
radio I'm talking to somebody on the
other side of the planet how is that not
cool
so one horsepower is 745 watts so if
you're thinking about horsepower then
five watts would be
7:45 /
a fraction
you
you
