Foundations of Amateur Radio

In your travels around the sun it's likely you've heard the phrase: "Use it or lose it."

Within the ranks of our hobby, that refers to making noise on air and using the bands we've been allocated.

It's easy to sit in your shack - in what ever form that might take - turn on your radio and scan up and down the bands to see what's going on. If something interesting catches your fancy, you might even plug your microphone or key in, and actually call the other station.

Unfortunately, that's not using the bands, that's sitting on the side and listening. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's no way to ensure that the bands and privileges we enjoy today are going to be here tomorrow.

Over the past few years I've come across several ideas to change that. I've seen blogs and posts from individuals who attempt to make a contact every day, in what ever form they prefer. Some don't distinguish between local or DX contacts, portable or QRP, whatever takes their fancy.

In New Zealand there's the ZL2AL Memorial Activity Marathon. You get recognition for making 4 or more contacts on a specific number of days during the year. Some amateurs are working on a single contact per day, others are attempting a QRP QSO every day.

Imagine if all the amateurs in the world made one contact every week. In Australia alone that would generate 2000 extra contacts every day.

You can limit your activity to making contacts when it suits, or during a contest, or on the way to work on the local repeater, or you can spread your wings and make contacts more often than that.

I know for a while - until my antenna circumstances changed - I was making at least one contact a day. I kept that up for nearly a year. I'm still getting the QSL cards coming in the mail.

So, don't wait for permission to get on-air. Don't wait for "just the right conditions", turn on your radio, plug in your microphone and make a contact. Why not do it right now?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB