Ham radio operators, new and old, assemble at conference in Brookville
Gabriel Moyano, 11, of Jackson Heights, Queens, looks over Morse code equipment as Rich Collins, of Hicksville, explains how it works at the ham radio conference at LIU Post in Brookville on Saturday. Credit: Rick Kopstein
When Hurricane Maria toppled power lines and knocked out communication to Puerto Rico in 2017, Dennis Boyé got on his ham radio to connect with someone on the island who set up a makeshift amateur radio station.
Across 1,600 miles, Boyé, a Syosset resident, spoke to a man who wanted to tell his mother in New York that he was alive. When Boyé relayed the message, the woman burst out crying, he recalled.
"When all other technology is down, ham radio comes to the rescue," Boyé said Saturday at the annual conference of the Ham Radio University at LIU Post in Brookville.
Boyé is a committee member of the Ham Radio University, a group that formed in 1999 as a way to connect interested people with local clubs under the national American Radio Relay League. Saturday's conference brought together Long Island-based clubs and organizations and held classes for people who want to start and operate their own amateur radio. Around 300 were expected to attend classes throughout the morning and early afternoon.
Tom Carrubba, president and chairman of Ham Radio University, said the day of education started as a way to bring together local talent and teach people the basics of ham radio.
"The idea of all of this is for new people, people who have been inactive, to get interested," said Carrubba.
The equipment needed to make a ham radio is simple: an antenna, a power source (like a car battery) and a radio. It can be made for as little as a few hundred bucks, said Boyé, and can be set up essentially anywhere in minutes.
However, the technology has advanced over the years.
"It’s not just your grandfather's radio anymore," he said.
More advanced ham radios, like the ones in the command center operated by the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club that was parked at the seminar, have digital displays and embedded software rather than strictly analog components. In seconds, a radio operator at the club tuned into a frequency and spoke with an amateur radio operator in Texas.
Gabriel Moyano, 11, of Jackson Heights, Queens, didn’t hear about Saturday’s event from the airwaves. He found a flyer advertising a local club, though he'd already been deeply interested in amateur radio. He passed the test for the first level of a Federal Communications Commission license, which is required to communicate over ham radio, and then passed a second test to expand into other frequencies.
"I just found it very interesting. It was blending modern technology with older technology and has a lot of history," Gabriel said. "It’s been really cool because I can talk to people across the world."
His mom, Anna Moyano, says her son is "all-in" and that learning about radio fuels his desire to understand more about technology and science.
"There’s no stopping him, he just keeps going with it," she said.
John Dericco, 59, of Moriches, said he has been attending the annual seminar for five years and has been into ham radio for over three decades. The technology across that time has changed "immensely," Dericco said, with computers integrated with the radio to enhance it.
Still, he finds himself going back to amateur radio’s roots.
"I still use a lot of Morse code," Dericco said. "To go back to the way things were 100 years ago — it’s the best of both worlds."
When Hurricane Maria toppled power lines and knocked out communication to Puerto Rico in 2017, Dennis Boyé got on his ham radio to connect with someone on the island who set up a makeshift amateur radio station.
Across 1,600 miles, Boyé, a Syosset resident, spoke to a man who wanted to tell his mother in New York that he was alive. When Boyé relayed the message, the woman burst out crying, he recalled.
"When all other technology is down, ham radio comes to the rescue," Boyé said Saturday at the annual conference of the Ham Radio University at LIU Post in Brookville.
Boyé is a committee member of the Ham Radio University, a group that formed in 1999 as a way to connect interested people with local clubs under the national American Radio Relay League. Saturday's conference brought together Long Island-based clubs and organizations and held classes for people who want to start and operate their own amateur radio. Around 300 were expected to attend classes throughout the morning and early afternoon.
Tom Carrubba, president and chairman of Ham Radio University, said the day of education started as a way to bring together local talent and teach people the basics of ham radio.
"The idea of all of this is for new people, people who have been inactive, to get interested," said Carrubba.
The equipment needed to make a ham radio is simple: an antenna, a power source (like a car battery) and a radio. It can be made for as little as a few hundred bucks, said Boyé, and can be set up essentially anywhere in minutes.
However, the technology has advanced over the years.
"It’s not just your grandfather's radio anymore," he said.
More advanced ham radios, like the ones in the command center operated by the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club that was parked at the seminar, have digital displays and embedded software rather than strictly analog components. In seconds, a radio operator at the club tuned into a frequency and spoke with an amateur radio operator in Texas.
Gabriel Moyano, 11, of Jackson Heights, Queens, didn’t hear about Saturday’s event from the airwaves. He found a flyer advertising a local club, though he'd already been deeply interested in amateur radio. He passed the test for the first level of a Federal Communications Commission license, which is required to communicate over ham radio, and then passed a second test to expand into other frequencies.
"I just found it very interesting. It was blending modern technology with older technology and has a lot of history," Gabriel said. "It’s been really cool because I can talk to people across the world."
His mom, Anna Moyano, says her son is "all-in" and that learning about radio fuels his desire to understand more about technology and science.
"There’s no stopping him, he just keeps going with it," she said.
John Dericco, 59, of Moriches, said he has been attending the annual seminar for five years and has been into ham radio for over three decades. The technology across that time has changed "immensely," Dericco said, with computers integrated with the radio to enhance it.
Still, he finds himself going back to amateur radio’s roots.
"I still use a lot of Morse code," Dericco said. "To go back to the way things were 100 years ago — it’s the best of both worlds."
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