Ham Radio

Before cell phones and Facebook, there was amateur - or ham - radio. These radio operators would connect with other people around the world and share what daily life was like on their side of the country - or sometimes globe - all from the comfort of their own homes. One or several radios would take up space on kitchen tables or office desks where plates and papers would normally be and act as the base of these experimental radio stations, called "shacks," just waiting for another person's voice to come in through the airwaves.

Theater production Archbishop Spalding High School's theater department presents "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" starting Friday through March 9 at 8080 New Cut Road in Severn. Shows are at 7 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10. Refreshments are available during intermission. For more information, call 410-969-9105 or go to archbishopspalding.org. Course in ham radio The Anne Arundel Radio Club offers an entry-level amateur radio technician license course in six sessions from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays starting March 2 at the Davidsonville Recreation Center, 3727 Queen Anne Bridge Road.

Given all the technologies available to consumers today, you might think the staid hobby of ham radio is about as relevant to modern life as rabbit-ear TV antennas. Cell phones. E-mail. Skype. People around the world have more and faster means of getting hold of each other than ever. But just six months ago, the earthquake in Haiti was another reminder that amateur radio still gives a strong signal. Ham operators sent early news reports from the shattered island, just as they've done for decades in the aftermath of every hurricane, earthquake and snowstorm that has crippled or jammed the means of communication we usually assume will work.

Sunday, June 17 'Baseball and Dads' The Bowie Baysox host a Father's Day celebration as the team takes on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at 2:05 p.m. A free concert featuring the Los Angeles-based band Everest will take place on the picnic pavilion after the game. Starting at 12:30 p.m., fans will be able to go onto the field to play catch, and the Baysox players and coaches will be available around the concourse to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Tickets: $29.50; $24.50 for ticket-plan holders; $19 for children ages 6-12; $10 for children 3-5; free for children 2 and younger.

All around him, the younger set might tap away on computers, cross miles of ocean with the click of a mouse. But Clifford Howard Campen Sr. preferred an older way of staying in touch with far-flung friends and strangers: ham radio. Mr. Campen had just finished talking to some of those friends -- an early-morning conversation that often took place from his bedroom -- when he died Feb. 2 of a heart attack. The Elkridge resident was 79. Born and raised in Baltimore, Mr. Campen went to radio trade school while a teen-ager.

WHEN HE WAS 8 years old, Ryan Rose wanted to earn his amateur radio license. He'd watched his parents, both of whom are ham radio enthusiasts, talk with people all around the world and wanted to join in the fun. So Ryan's father, Bob Rose, took him to the Davidsonville home of the Anne Arundel Radio Club, where Ryan learned about transistors, atmospherics, satellites, FCC rules, Morse code and other things a licensed amateur radio operator needs to...

C. S. Marie;, a retired engineer who helped design the optics for the first video camera to relay images of the moon and the Arctic ice cap, died Nov. 22 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown. The Pikesville resident, whose passions ranged from ham radio to bee keeping to Civil War history, was 84. Camille Stewart Marie; was born in 1918 in Babylon, N.Y., and was raised in Baltimore. He had received his first radio operator's license from the Federal Communications Commission by the time he graduated from St. Paul's School for Boys in 1936.

Dave Picco is probably the kind of boy who took a screwdriver to the doorknobs and alarm clock before he entered nursery school.Now, at age 13, he and dad Tony Picco have a ham radio set up in the basement, and Dave has already passed two of his FCC operating license tests.He passed the first one in early May, and the second one on May 30 at the HamFest at Timonium Fairgrounds.These tests are technical in nature, and not easy even for an adult to pass. Each one had 50 questions, plus some code to decipher.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- It was a desperate sound: "Hallo? Hallo?"The rickety radio receiver crackled. For a moment, fear sprang that the atmospherics might prevent contact. Then a voice from Sarajevo: "Hallo. Mama?"Tears began to stream down the face of the elderly woman in Belgrade."My son, my son," she said.It was the first time Nada Obradovic had heard his voice since the Bosnian war broke out a year ago.The family of four had traveled 50 miles to use the makeshift studio of one of a growing number of ham radio operators who keep people in touch with friends and relatives trapped in besieged Sarajevo.

Three times Donald F. Esslinger has sought permission to erect a satellite dish behind his northeast Baltimore home. And three times, the city zoning board has turned him down, saying the dish would "endanger the public health, security, general welfare and morals" of the people.It's a 6-year-old dispute in which Mr. Esslinger's neighbors on Bauernwood Avenue have complained that the 8-foot-wide, white aluminum dish was "an eyesore" and "unsightly." "A huge trash can lid," said one resident who likened it, on a sunny day, to the Starship Enterprise.

Robert F. Fanto, a retired longtime Baltimore County public schools guidance counselor, died of cancer Wednesday at his Timonium home. He was 80. The son of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad machinist and a homemaker, Mr. Fanto was born in Cumberland and raised in Piedmont, W.Va., and Keyser, W.Va. After graduation in 1949 from Keyser High School, he enlisted in the Navy. He served as a radioman to the commander of the 2nd Fleet in the Atlantic until being discharged in 1953.

Fruit sale for charity The Severn River Lions club will be selling fresh Florida oranges and ruby red grapefruit at Severna Park High School on Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The proceeds from the event will support vision and hearing screening, eyeglasses for the needy, youth programs, local student scholarships and other causes. The group will take orders through March 17 or sell fruit for cash at the event. To place an advance order, call Lion Ollie at 410-647-7338 or Lion Nancy, at 410-439-5770.

Before cell phones and Facebook, there was amateur - or ham - radio. These radio operators would connect with other people around the world and share what daily life was like on their side of the country - or sometimes globe - all from the comfort of their own homes. One or several radios would take up space on kitchen tables or office desks where plates and papers would normally be and act as the base of these experimental radio stations, called "shacks," just waiting for another person's voice to come in through the airwaves.

Given all the technologies available to consumers today, you might think the staid hobby of ham radio is about as relevant to modern life as rabbit-ear TV antennas. Cell phones. E-mail. Skype. People around the world have more and faster means of getting hold of each other than ever. But just six months ago, the earthquake in Haiti was another reminder that amateur radio still gives a strong signal. Ham operators sent early news reports from the shattered island, just as they've done for decades in the aftermath of every hurricane, earthquake and snowstorm that has crippled or jammed the means of communication we usually assume will work.

J. Ray Duerling, a retired paper company accountant and a ham radio operator, died Wednesday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Oak Crest Village. The former Fallston resident was 91. Mr. Duerling was born in Baltimore and raised on Harford Road. He was a 1933 graduate of City College. During World War II, he served with an infantry unit in Italy. After the war, he studied accounting on the GI Bill of Rights through a correspondence school, family members said. Mr. Duerling went to work for Lord Baltimore Press and in 1958 moved to the company's office in Clinton, Iowa.

MIAMI - With pursed lips and a steady hand, WA4YDK spins the dial, searching for a voice or a signal somewhere amid the fuzz caused by solar flares and an especially low-hanging aurora borealis. Eventually, a voice crackles from the speaker: "Copy. Copy, WA4YDK." A connection made, WA4YDK - known outside radio land as Elliot Kleiman of Cooper City, Fla. - smiles faintly. Ham radio operators like Kleiman delight in moments like this. Kleiman, 67, has been a federally licensed amateur radio operator, or ham, for more than 50 years.

Doug Wittich presses a button and talks to the world."This is November Three Victor Echo Juliet in a classroom demonstration -- C-Q, C-Q, C-Q."He fiddles with the knob on his HF Allband Transceiver and cocks an ear to the radio's hiss and fizz. Finally, he finds a voice, and words that bring a rush of excitement: "Yes, this is Greece."In the Internet age, when static-free communication with strangers in distant lands can be just a keystroke away, one might think amateur radio would be going the way of the telegraph.

MIAMI - With pursed lips and a steady hand, WA4YDK spins the dial, searching for a voice or a signal somewhere amid the fuzz caused by solar flares and an especially low-hanging aurora borealis. Eventually, a voice crackles from the speaker: "Copy. Copy, WA4YDK." A connection made, WA4YDK - known outside radio land as Elliot Kleiman of Cooper City, Fla. - smiles faintly. Ham radio operators like Kleiman delight in moments like this. Kleiman, 67, has been a federally licensed amateur radio operator, or ham, for more than 50 years.

Tom Smith drove from Annapolis to attend the Amateur Radio and Computer Show held Saturday at the Howard County Fairgrounds. "I've got probably a dozen projects going," Smith said as he poked among wires and other gadgets, looking for items he needs for his radios. The show, put on every year by the Columbia Amateur Radio Association, typically attracts about 2,000 visitors and maybe a hundred vendors, according to John King, vice president of the Columbia organization, which has about 80 members.