The Texas Historian, Volume 51, Number 4, March 1991 Page: 3
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"health and welfare traffic" following
the disaster. Over a five day period
she placed over 1,500 calls and no-
tified nearly 1,000 families nation-
wide regarding the condition of their
relatives. It is estimated that Lubbock
hams handled more than 30,000
pieces of traffic during the days fol-
lowing the tornado. Since then, the
Lubbock Ham Radio Club has orga-
nized a tornado team which works
very efficiently during weather watch
and other tornado-related emergen-
cies.
Other ham radio services include
taking care of the communication
for the Golden Cross Bike-A-Thon
which entails tracking the location
and needs of up to 500 riders who
may be spread over a 100-mile terri-
tory. Some area hams also provide
communication for the "free ride
home" program offered at Christmas
time in an effort to keep drunk drivers
off the road.
Through the years, hams have
enjoyed keeping people in touch with
one another. Rogers Orr has made
contacts with many U.S. soldiers
stationed in Japan. Using a phone
patch (a device connecting a radio to
a telephone), he was able to assist
wives, children, mothers and fathers
in talking to loved ones they had not
seen in months.
Keen friendships have also de-
veloped among ham radio operators.
Ham operators use a language all their
own. Members seem to know each
other better by their call letters than
by a first or a last name. Terms such
as QSL card which one ham sends to
another to verify contact, OM for old
man, YL for young lady, XYL for ex-
young lady, 73 for best regards, net
(meaning a certain group of people)
are part of their unique ham lan-
guage.
There is currently in Lubbock a
group known as the "Hair Net," so
named because its founder had very
little hair. Members of the group
throughout Texas, in California,
Oklahoma, and neighboring states,
make contact at 7 a.m. six days a
week. The Hair Net group began thirty
years ago, and three of the original
members still participate today. Par-
ticipants enjoy the association and
the years together as well as their
special "ham humor." One member
of this net calls himself the "Ding
Dong Daddy from Dumas."
"Hamming" knows few limits formen and women, boys and girls,
some as young as nine or ten, enjoy
it. Ham licenses are now issued at six
levels. To receive a license at the
beginning level, a student must be
able to transmit Morse Code at five
words per minute and must have a
limited knowledge of electronics. At
the highest level, one must be able to
transit Morse Code at twenty words
per minute and have considerable
knowledge of electronics. The Federal
Communications Commission allows
those qualified at the top level to
license other hams. Some top-level
people also offer classes to help stu-
dents prepare for entry-level licens-
ing.
Ham fests or conventions are
popular events for hams often travel
great distances to attend them. Here,
along with socializing, hams can get
demonstrations of the latest devel-
opments in equipment. Businesses
sell products; and hams sometimes
buy from, or trade with, each other.
In addition to providing a market for
radio equipment at these conven-
tions, hams supply business for the
hotel and restaurant industries as well
as gas stations and other travel-related
services.
In many places, a field day is an
annual event. Locally it has been held
in June from about 4:00 p.m. Satur-
day afternoon until about 4 p.m.Sunday. Using portable equipment
and their own power supply, hams
during the event compete for the
most contacts made in a 24 hour
period. Many hams have QSL cards
from all over the world. Some Lub-
bock operators have contacted hams
in South America, Great Britain, Eu-
rope, the Pacific Islands, Asia and
Australia. QSL cards from these
varying locations are displayed
proudly. (Stations with computers
connected to radio equipment may
receive a picture of the transmitting
ham himself or perhaps one of his
QSL cards.)
Ham radio operators often sense
changing world relations. Recently
Kim Forgey noted such a change in
Soviet American relations. Previously
information from Russian hams was
limited to their name, location, and
a receiving signal report. Recently,
however, Russian hams have been
willing to talk about their jobs, family,
friends, land, and living conditions.
Lubbock hams were especially
excited when in 1960 a ham in
California bounced signals off the
moon. It was also a thrill to be a ham
when Tony England (call letter
WOORE) in August, 1985 carried
slow-scan television equipment on
the space shuttle and sent images
back to earth thereby treating hams
around the world to glimpses of lifeKim Forgey.
March 1991 / 3
S
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Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historian, Volume 51, Number 4, March 1991, periodical, March 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391549/m1/5/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.