So What Is Ham Radio? I hear You Say!!

Well first of all Ham Radio or as its also known as Amateur Radio is a hobby that has been going you can say as long as Radio communications its self. It Really got going back in the early 1900's.I hear all the time that this is like CB, First of all the only thing that CB and Ham Radio have in common are with CB you have a Transceiver An Antenna and Coaxial cable to get your signal to the Antenna. With CB you do not need a licence but are limited to a small band width.With Ham Radio you have a total of 27+ bands to use from what its known as top band 1.8Mhz (1.8-2mhz) to around 275Ghz and Mode that does not just tie you to AM(Amplitude Modulation) and SSB(Single Sideband). Ham Radio requires a licence that is issued via the FCC( Federal Communications Commission)plus you have to pass an Exam to get issued with a licence and with that not only issue you with a licence you also get a unique Callsign that is issued to you. My Callsign is KJ4PXH this so that other Hams can Recognize me or can look up my details via the FCC website or other websites ie www.qrz.com .
In the USA we have 3 class of License Technician This is where must new Hams start.This Class allows  you to mainly operate above 28Mhz and a very small part of the of a number of bands on HF only using CW (Continues Wave(Morse Code)) and limited to 200watts.
General Class this gives you a bigger part of the HF Bands (1.8Mhz to 30Mhz) but not the full part of the HF Bands.Only on the 18Mhz band 24Mhz and 28 to 29.700Mhz you have full Access.You can use the same as the Technicians above 28Mhz.
Amateur Extra where you can have Full Access to all the bands.

There are Tons of Information on the Hobby that you can read up on Ham Radio.
I have had fun in the last 21 years and have met some great People on and off the Air. I can not see this Hobby ever dyeing even through the Internet makes it easy to talk to people the other side of the world but when you make contact with someone thousands of miles away you get a great feeling as you did it yourself.
If your interested in more Information into the hobby then please drop me an email via kj4pxh@arrl.net. I look forward to chatting with you one day on the air.
The first listing of amateur radio stations is contained in the First Annual Official Wireless Blue Book of the Wireless Association of America in 1909.Full list to the story can also be fond at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio.