The Bridge - Issue 2, 2019 - 9

Feature

Amateur Radio and Careers in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

or "ticket" serves as an introduction and connection to them all.
Whether the relationship is professional or personal, the resources
available to you as an amateur are incredibly broad. Several IEEE
colleagues and I have described our amateur radio experiences in
IEEE Microwave Magazine. [2,3]
I recently interviewed Toni Linden, amateur call sign OH2UA.
He's the CEO of KNL Networks (Copenhagen, Denmark -
knlnetworks.com). [4] I asked Toni about how his ham radio
experience in worldwide competitions helped him build a
worldwide communications service. He was unequivocal in his
advice to young ham engineers:
"Be open-minded about what you want to be and grow into
other careers. Ham radio really provides a wide background
in electronics and radio. This allows you to grow and move
within or between industries very easily."
"Don't underestimate the network value of amateur radio
which is worldwide and very deep. The word 'Amateur'
sounds undervalued but ham radio provides a lot of
background and impact. Use the network of people you'll
connect with - they have many skills and capabilities you
can work with. There is a very big community of ham radio
operators and they have many resources!"
What began as a bedroom-and-basement hobby for a couple of
curious high-school kids and our friends has blossomed into a
successful engineering career for Toni and me. We have friends
and associates in dozens of countries and experiences with signals
"from dc to daylight." Ham radio has made a big difference in our
lives. The relationships and resources to last you a lifetime might
be as close as your school's radio club.

Getting to Know Ham Radio
If this article piques your curiosity
about ham radio, an inexpensive
and easy-to-read overview is found
in the author's Ham Radio for
Dummies published by John Wiley
& Sons [5]. Now in its 3rd edition,
the book is written in the series'
friendly informal style to introduce
you to 21st century amateur radio.
It explains what the amateur service
is, what is involved in getting your
license, basic technology elements
and what there is to do in
ham radio.

Ham Radio for Dummies by W. Silver. Cover
image published courtesy of Wiley and Sons.

REFERENCES
1. W. Silver, editor, The ARRL Handbook,
96th Edition, American Radio Relay
League, 2018.

Ward Silver received a BSEE from the University of
Missouri - Rolla in 1978 and has been a radio amateur
since 1972. The combination led him to a 20-year career
designing industrial and medical devices. In 2000, he
began a second career as a teacher and writer, receiving
the Bill Orr Technical Writing Award for 2003 and again in
2016 for QST magazine contributions. He is the President
of the Yasme Foundation (www.yasme.org) (a non-profit
corporation for conducting scientific and educational projects related to
amateur radio), a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, and in 2008 was
the Dayton Hamvention's "Ham of the Year."

2. R. Caverly, "New Technologies and a
Tribute to Amateur Radio [From the
Guest Editor's Desk]," IEEE Microwave
Magazine, Volume: 16, Issue: 1, Feb.
2015, pp 26-27.

Ward is Lead Editor of the two primary amateur radio technical references: the
ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Antenna Book. He is the author of all three
ARRL licensing study guides. Along with Ham Radio for Dummies, he has
written Two-Way Radios and Scanners and Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself. His
most recent book for amateurs is Grounding and Bonding for Radio Amateurs.

4. W. Silver, "Ham Radio Put to Work
[Ham's Wireless Workbench]," Nuts
and Volts, Nov 2018.

3. R. Caverly, W. Silver, A. Katz, M. Franco,
R. Campbell, "RF and Microwave Links:
The MTT Society and the Amateur
Radio Community," IEEE Microwave
Magazine, Volume: 16, Issue: 1 , Feb.
2015, pp 50-63.

5. W. Silver, Ham Radio for Dummies, 3rd
Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018.

HKN.ORG

9
http://www.knlnetworks.com http://www.arrl.org http://www.arrl.org/technology http://www.yasme.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/
The Bridge - Issue 2, 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Bridge - Issue 2, 2019
