Ham-radio buffs are in it for the fun, but it's useful, too

GRANDVIEW, Yakima County - When phones are down, e-mail crashes and the Postal Service fails to deliver, there's still a network of people who can aid communication.

At least that's the justification amateur radio operators, or hams, give for their hobby.

Truth is, while the radios have a very practical use, hams are in it for fun.

Some like the long-distance contacts, others love the electronics and others just want to talk with friends.

Some hams invest more than $20,000 in their gear, others spend only a few hundred dollars. And talking to Africa via radio is a whole lot cheaper than any telephone company's rate.

"It's very addictive. Some people could just live doing it," said Grandview's Ellis Tucker, known to his fellow hams by his call sign Ellis Tucker W7FHI.

The Internet hasn't challenged ham radio's importance. In fact, it's often used to find the strongest frequencies and bands for long-distance contacts.

Tucker, 56, has been a ham for 44 years. He got his license and his call sign at age 13.

"Call signs are as unique as fingerprints," he said.

The call signs are a reminder of how serious the hobby is: To call yourself a ham, you must pass Federal Communications Commission tests and follow the agency's rules.

Classification levels determine which frequencies you are authorized to speak on. The FCC can revoke the license and even confiscate the gear of operators who go beyond their license category.

"It's a privilege. People have worked their butts off to get their licenses, and they deserve that privilege," said Beverly Neil KK7OE.

Neil, also of Grandview, is the secretary and treasurer of the Lower Valley Amateur Radio Club. Her husband, Don KC7FFK, is the president.

A desk in her living room is stacked with radios, receivers, tuners and transmitters. In the front yard is a vertical antenna, and in the back yard a 60-foot tower supports wire antennas and cables that snake down to the ground and into the house and the radio gear inside.

Neil makes regular contact with a cousin in Lesotho in southern Africa.

Long-distance contact, DX in ham lingo, is one of the most exciting aspects of the hobby. With the right conditions, you can talk to any place in the world.

Neil said most conversations are in English. But sometimes you hear Japanese, too, because next to the United States, Japan has the highest number of hams.

But DX contacts aren't Neil's main interest. She would rather talk with people she already knows and help others who are interested in getting involved.

Ellis Tucker remembers talking with hams in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The government would allow people to communicate only their names, location and equipment: no conversations.

And after the Gulf War he talked with a Kuwaiti ham who had hidden his radio equipment and was surprised to find it and his tower untouched after the war.

"It's a worldwide fraternity, and you can make immediate friendships," he said.

According to the FCC, there are 728,468 licensed amateur radio operators in the United States.

The International Amateur Radio Union has member organizations in 150 countries, including the United States.

Because the airwaves are so crowded, it was pure chance that Mike Hall KC7VNA stumbled on a help call in March from hikers on Mount Rainier.

"The antenna just happened to be facing in their direction," he said. The hikers were Boy Scouts, and one of them had twisted an ankle while at Reflection Lake, elevation 5,000 feet.

Hall phoned 911 and relayed information from the hikers, who got the assistance they needed.

"That's what I think ham radio is all about - to take care of that kind of stuff," he said.

Yakima hams handled an emergency communications center during the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. More recently, when floods isolated Nile and other parts of the Yakima Valley in 1996, hams helped direct emergency aid where it was needed.