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Amateur radio operators turn to analog tech to communicate during pandemic

   by [47]Kelvin Gawley

   Posted Apr 9, 2020 12:47 pm PDT

   Last Updated Apr 9, 2020 at 1:08 pm PDT
   [20200330_143307-scaled.jpg]
   Amateur radio operator Paul Judd poses with his home station in Maple
   Rige. (Photo courtesy Paul Judd)
   Close caption
   Summary
   [share.png]

   Ham radio users ready to help during emergencies
   [share.png]

   Hobbyists check in regularly to test gear, stay in touch

   MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) – While millions of isolated people around the
   world discover new digital ways of staying in touch, some are going
   back to the analog basics.

   Paul Judd of Maple Ridge is part of a small but passionate community of
   amateur radio operators.

   “It’s one of the most elemental ways of communicating between two
   persons or two stations or two places without having the huge
   infrastructure” of other forms of communication, he says.

   Judd, whose call sign is VA7XQ, fires up his home station daily to
   check in with fellow ham radio users around the region and, sometimes,
   around the world.

   The check-ins with different networks – or nets, as they’re known –
   allow operators to ensure their gear is working properly, but they also
   allow for more casual conversation.

   “There’s an informal part where you can chew the fat and catch up with
   a friend,” Judd says.

   Typically, operators ask after each others’ families and health.
   Lately, Judd says, the conversations have been turning to how everyone
   is coping with the new reality of physical distancing during the
   pandemic.

   But the ham radio crowd is probably better suited for isolation than
   most, he says.

   “We tend to want to sit in a room with radio equipment and talk to
   people who are in isolated locations to begin with,” he says. “It sort
   of comes natural to a ham radio operator to be isolated.”

   As more and more people turn to social media, video conferencing and
   cell phones to communicate during the COVID-19 pandemic, Judd says the
   older technology can still play an important role.

   Amateur radio operators have played a major part in emergency
   coordination following earthquakes and hurricanes, he says. While
   landline and internet service is unlikely to be lost anytime soon, Judd
   says he’s ready to put his hobby to use should he be needed.

   And with surging phone use causing sometimes spotty and unreliable cell
   service, Judd said he’s happy to have access to a more reliable
   technology.

   “This is one of the most simple ways of communicating long distance and
   there’s that satisfaction of being able to disconnect from the wired
   world and using that very simple, well-tested, reliable way of
   communicating.”
   [48]Amateur radio|[49]coronavirus|[50]covid-19|[51]ham radio|[52]Maple
   Ridge
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