Amateur (“ham”) radio means different things to different people. I earned my FCC amateur radio license in May 2024 after discovering an interest in satellite communication during a visit to Cairo. Almost without exception, every apartment building in Cairo was studded to capacity with satellite dishes connecting Egyptians to the world. I was able to flip through hundreds of satellite TV stations from around the world, including the entire Middle East, Sudan, Ethiopia, all of Europe, the U.S., and the Far East. In the desert, there is no underground fiber optic cable. Electromagnetic waves in the form of radio and satellite communication are the only way to communicate wirelessly on most of planet Earth

People get into amateur radio for various reasons. Many people have never heard of it. Many confuse ham with broadcast radio, as if I stay up playing jazz hits on the air, each song interrupted by a soothing voice to help with the evening commute. I realized early on that it’s easy to spend a lot of money on gear. There is no end to the antennas, transceivers, amplifiers, antenna tuners, cables, adapters, and power supplies to be had.

I had the privilege of spending a year in a small coastal town in Vietnam. One of the most lasting impressions was how resourceful Vietnamese are. The relatively limited resources available in Vietnam compared to the U.S. (there is no Amazon, and international shipping can be complicated and expensive, especially with import tariffs on electronics) force the Vietnamese to find creative and economical solutions to problems. It’s easy to spend a lot of money buying fancy tools and ready-made products while not learning much in the process. Having to use whatever’s available and repurpose or build tools was a daily exercise in creative problem solving.

My objectives with amateur radio are to:

1. Learn more about electronics
2. Make long-distance contacts (“QSOs”) using a portable, low-power setup (“QRP”) that can be deployed quickly in a variety of contexts.
3. Spend as little money as possible achieving #1 and #2 above.

QRP Labs’ QMX transceiver turned out to be the right tool for the job. It’s connected to my end-fed half-wavelength (EFHW) antenna which consists of an insulated 12-gauge wire 135 feet long which curves around my L-shaped backyard and is mounted to a 50-foot tall tree at one end. Using the QMX as a WSPR beacon, I’m routinely heard throughout the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean, South America, throughout Northern, Central, and Southern Europe, the Canary Islands, Australia and New Zealand. I’ve been heard by the German Antarctic Research Station on a number of occasions and have been heard as far east as the Ukrainian border, Finland, and Türkiye. I’m also routinely heard in Iceland. I’m perpetually amazed by the ability of electric potential to oscillate on a wire and create radio waves that can bounce around in Earth’s ionosphere to reach nearly any point on Earth. No internet and minimal electricity required.

I am humbled when I visit my local radio club and run questions by people who have operated amateur radio stations for decades. One gentleman, a retired field engineer, spent many years fixing vacuum tube televisions for a living. These gurus have the hands-on experience and know-how that many college graduates nowadays sorely lack.

Radio is a way of solving problems methodically and scientifically. It’s a way to hear and be heard around the world with a few watts and a wire. It’s fertile ground for software- and hardware-savvy people to innovate on decades-old technology and find novel uses for technology that has stood the test of time. Old technology never goes away; it just comes back in new contexts.

Omar Metwally, MD
KF8AYH
19 June 2024