Ham Radio

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

During the worst of COVID, I spent time getting random certifications in an effort to kill time by learning new skills.

Being in Houston shortly after Hurricane Harvey, I decided to get a ham radio license in case I ever need to connect with someone and the phone networks go down - as they seem to be doing a lot lately.

It’s not something I do often but every once in a while I’ll check on the local repeaters. Who is using the ham spectrum in the year 2025? Short answer: Seniors, almost exclusively seniors. Are there young hams? Sure. Have I ever encountered one? No, I have not.

What are they talking about? Basically only three things:

1. Ham Radio
2. Weather
3. Politics

The third one is, no surprise, the one that seems to come up the most.

When you’re studying for your ham license, you learn all the ways that it is illegal to use the airwaves. The spectrum is set aside “for the public good” and anyone with a license can use it but you can’t sell things (with a surprising exception made for ham radios and associated parts), play copyrighted content, be obscene or be political.

So ham radio in 2025 (at least where I am able to receive/broadcast, which, to be fair, is in Texas) is a lot of senior citizen edgelords pushing right up to the legal limit of protected speech on the public airwaves or as a guy I heard broadcasting one day call it: Making the Airwaves Great Again 😑

Would I suggest using ham radio today in a non-emergency way? No, I would not.

Eric KI5NPJ