Hobbies and Pastimes

Amateur Radio

Also Known As Ham radio

Citation Formats

General Reference

Home, Crafts and Hobbies Atlas. "Amateur Radio." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://home.interactiveatlas.org/hobbies/amateur-radio.

APA Style

Home, Crafts and Hobbies Atlas. (n.d.). Amateur Radio. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://home.interactiveatlas.org/hobbies/amateur-radio

BibTeX

@misc{home,craftsandhobbiesatlas-amateur-radio,
  author = {Home, Crafts and Hobbies Atlas},
  title = {Amateur Radio},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://home.interactiveatlas.org/hobbies/amateur-radio},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Licensed, noncommercial radio operated for experimentation, conversation and emergency service. Hams build antennas, bounce signals off the ionosphere and the Moon, and keep working communications when infrastructure fails, all under call signs issued by their governments; the hobby is as old as radio itself.

Facts

Hobby Class

Making and Building 1

Established When (Circa)

Experimenters took up wireless from the first decade of the 1900s; United States licensing began under the Radio Act of 1912 1

Cross-Tradition Connections