Published August 18. 2010 05:00PM
Members of the Tamaqua Wireless Association and
S.A.R.A., Schuylkill Amateur Repeater Association, had their amateur, also called HAM, radio equipment on display for everyone to see during the recent Schuylkill County Fair.An estimated two million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio as well as using Morse code in conjunction.Radiotelegraphy using Morse code (also known as "CW" or "continuous wave") is an activity dating to the earliest days of radio.It is the wireless extension of land line (wire based) telegraphy developed by Samuel Morse and was the predominant real time long-distance communication method of the 19th century.
ANDREW LEIBENGUTH/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS Pictured sending Morse code messages to fellow distant HAM operators in California, Colorado, Alaska, and Tennessee via a "semi-automatic key" device is Michael Cuttic (callsign K3KNL) wearing dark shirt. Pictured in back, from left, are Tamaqua Wireless Association members President Alan Breiner (callsign W3ZRQ), Joseph Rollman (callsign KB3SCI), and James Munley (callsign KB3FET). For more information about earning a HAM license and joining the Tamaqua Wireless Association, visit their website at www.W3CMA.org.