Photo by Ellen Ferrera
Moultrie Amateur Radio Klub President Mike Morris with a ham radio made in Ukraine.

•June 29, 2022•
by Ellen Ferrera
NP Writer

On Saturday, June 25 a group of ham radio operators from central Illinois gathered at the Boy Scout cabin in Wyman Park to celebrate their annual Field Day.
Since 1933, Field Day has been celebrated by amateur radio operators and clubs in the U.S. and throughout the world. The primary purpose of the Field Day is to practice and demonstrate emergency procedures; although, each club may determine their own activities.
So how did this very popular hobby of being a ham radio operator begin? In 1888 Heinrich Rudof proved that radio waves existed, and they were adapted into a communication system in the 1890s by the Italian inventor Gugliuelmo Marconi. People then began experimenting with this “wireless telegraphy” – the term “radio” was not yet in use- and it soon expanded worldwide.
By 1908 the students at Columbia University formed the Wireless Telegraph Club of Columbia University which is the earliest recorded formation of an amateur radio club. By 1910 there were thousands of transmitters set up in the U.S. The Radio Act of 1912 began U.S. federal licensing of amateur operators and stations. All amateur radio operators in the U.S. must be licensed by the FCC and pass a 3-tier test.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.