DL3BC

Wired 2011-02-03

This informative article describes what still makes the fascination of amateur radio in the modern world with all its possibilties of communication using the internet.

It also points out my personal attraction: the possibilty of establishing point-to-point commnication without the need of third party infrastructure - just two radio sets and antennas on both sides are sufficient, even power supply may come from batteries or solar panels.

 Link to article

PCWorld 2011-01-28

Amateur radio is well known as an alternative communications medium when all other possibilities (like telephone, mobile phone etc.) are down due to desasters. But there may be othet reasons why the usual communication channels cannot be used anymore. An example are the political rumors in Egypt in these days. The government shut down the internet and mobile phone networks in order to prohibit the communication of the national opposition.

This article shows a couple of ways of how to establish alternative communication channels without the need of governmental controlled infrastructure. One possibility is the use of amateur radio or to be more precise packet radio. This does not allow high bandwidth communication as required for videos but is sufficient for text messages, chat etc.

 Link to article

CNN 2010-01-20

Although I wouldn't say that amateur radio is "low-tech" this is a very informative article about reastablishing communication after disasters like the Haiti earthquake. Nowadays amateur radio plays an important role epecially in the first hours after the incident when all other communication facilities are not working. But later on other communication channels take over again more and more.

 Link to article

 Link to article The Philadelphia Inquirer 2009-08-16

A story of how it is possible to enthuse the youth for amateur radio in times of multiple other technical toys.

 Link to article The Northern Star 2009-08-06

A sneak preview to the International Lighthouse Weekend on August 15th / 16th.

 Link to article The New York Times 2009-08-01

This article documents that (some) US officials already understood the importance of amateur radio in the meaning of my last blog entry.

Unfortunately a radio amateur talks about amateur radio as "a dying thing right now because people are going to the Internet." That's too pessimistic from my point of view and may implicit a self-fulfilling prophecy.