For quite a number of years I was interested in ham radio but never seemed to have the time to study what was needed for the Industry Canada exam. Once I retired I decided that it was time to go after that elusive ticket. The requirements had changed somewhat and it was now possible to get a ham ticket without having to learn morse code. Some older hams were not happy with this change stating that "a real ham knows the code". Other hams felt that the change was good as it encouraged more people to participate in the hobby.

If you are interested in obtaining your ham license, here is a bit of information that may answer a few of the questions that you may have had about getting into the hobby.

IRLP stands for Internet Radio Linking Project. In the simplest terms, IRLP allows hams to connect their radio signal through a repeater to the internet. A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal, amplifies it and then retransmits it so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation.

IRLP uses a Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) software to convert an analog audio signal to digital. This signal is linked to the internet through a computer, which carries it to another computer which is identified by a node number. This node then converts the digital audio signal back to analog and retransmits it through another repeater.

Ham radio has been around for a long time. There have been great advances in radio technology over the years but have you ever wondered what ham radio was like "in the old days"?.

Here is a clip dug up from the archives that gives us a peek at what ham radio was like for our grandfathers.