On my blog and the channel, we often think about Communications from a utility perspective. Today I had trouble sleeping, so I went over to the radio to check what I could hear/decode. Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina,… a plethora of new countries coming into the receiver. It’s become so routine, we forget the magic behind it.
Discovering the magic
When I was a kid, I did something pretty bad (from my mothers perspective) so my mom grounded me for what seemes like forever. She took away all my privileges with one exception, the radio. Little did she know while I should have been suffering her punishment, I was discovering the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, Mystery Theater from ABC and lots of other interesting things from around the world. They were all coming through on that little-used radio in the living room. I sat there for months, headphones on, discovering the world beyond our little community. That was the spark.
The thing is, we’re always using our radios with purpose. I think we sometimes forget how our radios can be a portal into the lives of other operators, other parts of the world, or in some cases, a portal off of this world.
We can be the “Force Recon” of amateur radio. The survivalists, the Preppers,, the First Responders, … but let’s not forget to enjoy the “magic” from time to time.
73
Julian oh8stn
