You always hear “when all else fails, amateur radio works”. That’s usually referring to some sort of failure to the power grid or normal methods of communication. We don’t usually think about the merits of amateur radio during a global pandemic like we’re going through now. Normal modes of communication work and the grid haven’t gone down, but amateur radio still serves a purpose.
During this pandemic we’re going through when everyone is sheltering inside, social distancing and many of us are out of work and out of our routine amateur radio can serve as a great distraction to all that is going on around us.
This past week amateur radio served this purpose for me. I had recently found out that I was without a job for the first time since I was a kid. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least. I was scheduled as net control for our weekly Sunday night repeater net on the N1IMO/N1IMN repeater system and was feeling pretty stressed out having just got the news that my clubs were shutting down for the foreseeable future. We had a great crowd on the repeater net and it was very calming for me to hear from everyone and how they are coping. It really brought me out of my funk!
I’ve also noticed a spike in activity on the HF bands as people turn to amateur radio for social distraction and news from far away places. If you’re feeling a little blue I would encourage you to get on the air and see how your ham community around the world is doing. It’s a great way to be social from a distance. This is also a great time to hone some skills. If I’ve got to spend more time at home, for now, I might as well use it to bolster my CW skills. Yes, I’ll be the one slowly calling CQ and asking for your call sign multiple times. FT-8 and FT-4, hate it or love it, has also had some great DX lately.
The Nashua Area Radio Society has been very proactive in keeping club members and other amateur radio operators in touch by moving to virtual meetings on Zoom and Facebook Live. Not only are we moving our meetings online, but we’ve added a 40-meter net scheduled after our meetings. At a time when we are practicing social distancing, we are actually increasing our activities and opening up to more people. We’ll also have a fox (hidden transmitter) hunt this week. Get outside and have some fun. No log to sign, just a picture of the fox will be enough to get credit.
We didn’t cancel our Amateur Extra licensing class that was scheduled last week. Instead, we moved to an online class for the first time. Our club also runs a program for newly licensed hams called Ham Radio Boot Camp. We had run two sessions before the pandemic hit with still one to go. Of course, the show must go on! We’ll be holding our third session this week… again, on the online.
During this time of uncertainty, I would encourage all of my fellow amateur radio operators to get on the air. You may need the distraction yourself or you may be providing a much-needed distraction to someone else.
Stay well and 73!
Jamey, AC1DC
