Making radio contact with Goa’s Ham operators!

‘Good afternoon—Victor United Number 2 Sierra Mike Sierra—This is Victor United Number 2 Alpha Sierra Hotel—Over’, a voice crackled over the radio set inside the Aguada new lighthouse premises last weekend. It was the Pune based Ham or amateur radio operator, Ashok Joshi making radio contact with Manjunath Shinde, a Goa based Ham. With a smile on his face, Manjunath replied—‘Good afternoon—Victor United Number 2 Alpha Sierra Hotel—This is Victor United Number 2 Sierra Mike Sierra—Over’ and a lively conversation ensued between the two.

As per Ham rules, the duo were addressing each other by their call signs. They shared weather updates from their respective regions. Ashok even greeted me over the radio and I was given an opportunity to say hello to him. No internet, no mobile towers, no telephone lines. Just free communication thanks to radio technology. Welcome to the world of Ham. Welcome to the world of amateur radio.

In the words of Amey Pandit, a young Ham from Goa, amateur radio is a popular technical hobby and volunteer public service that uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communications. Amateur radio operators come from all walks of life — doctors, engineers, teenagers, politicians, movie stars and sportspeople among others.  Goa has about ten active Hams and hopes to increase the numbers through the efforts of the Goa Radio Amateurs Society (GRAS).

According to Manjunath, the late King Hussein of Jordan and the late Rajiv Gandhi were Hams, while US President Obama and Goa’s Inspector General of Police, Muktesh Chander are also part of the Ham family.

Usually amateur radio involves constructing your own radio set or buying one. Hams have had a special role to play especially during natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones when both mobile telephony and conventional telecom connections have known to fail. In such cases, Hams have always been the first line of communication.

Manjunath, a Doordarshan engineer from Panjim has been an active Ham for the last 30 years. Last weekend, Manjunath and two other Goa based Hams, Rony Rodrigues, a hardware engineer from Pilerne and Amey Pandit, an IT professional from Bicholim were camping in the Aguada new lighthouse observing the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend held every year in the third week of August. During the event, Hams across the world camp in lighthouses to celebrate and salute the stellar role played by lighthouses in yester years.

Needless to say, the trio had interesting stories to narrate. Rony was a college student in Mumbai when he saw a college senior speak with people across the globe effortlessly through a wireless set. He was hooked.  He soon gave the requisite examinations and procured his licence even before he finished college.

Rony did not have to wait long to use his Ham skills. The 1993 Latur earthquake tested them.  Ham operators in Mumbai set up a radio station at Mantralaya, the state secretariat and a few teams of Mumbai Hams, which included the young Rony were despatched to Latur to report on the rescue operations. Recalls Rony, “Latur had been devastated. We pitched tents in the open and reported on the rescue operations. In fact, I remember using morse code to communicate vital information when our voice communication mode started fading.”

Ditto with Manjunath, who was posted in Karad, South Maharashtra during the same period.  “There were several students from Kerala studying in Karad. As Karad was close to Latur, a few Kerala based Hams contacted me to inquire about the well-being of the students. I therefore visited each of the colleges, ensured that the students were fine and communicated the same over the radio. This is how we become useful during emergencies,” Manjunath explained.

Amey is an electronics buff and has constructed all the three radio sets that he uses today. According to Amey, he began his journey as a short wave listener. “Short wave listeners can listen to conversations between Hams, but they cannot converse with them. I received my Ham licence last year,” Amey said.

Broadly speaking, Hams use three methods of communication—voice, morse code and digital. Of these, morse code is the most dramatic. Morse code is wireless technology which was used to transmit telegrams by the postal department until recently. To demonstrate its use, Manjunath borrowed a sentence from me and communicated the same to Rony using morse code. Rony reproduced the sentence verbatim on paper.

Some years ago, India launched its own amateur radio satellite— VO52, which was extensively used  by both Indian and foreign Ham operators.