Dayton Hamvention 2023, ham radio's largest annual gathering, is just  a week away. Gates open for the 3-day event on Friday, May 19, at 9 a.m., at the Greene County Fair and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Spokesperson Michael Kalter, W8CI, reports that 700 volunteers are working to get the event ready. "We like to think of Hamvention as ham radio's people event, and we have a lot to offer," said Kalter. This year's Hamvention theme is Innovation, and will be reflected in the variety of exhibits, activities, and forums that have been organized this year. "Much of our effort this year will build on ARRL's yearlong theme, Year of the Volunteers," said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop. ARRL program representatives and volunteers will be on hand to help interested attendees find paths to become more active and involved in amateur radio.There will be booths organized around radiosport, emergency communications, technology, and youth. "We'll also ask everyone to 'reach one rung higher' by  encouraging all active hams to pursue opportunities to mentor others, and to consider volunteering in the ARRL Field Organization and elected positions." "Our Talk-in Net will be in operation beginning Thursday, May 18, at 7 AM on the Dayton Amateur Radio Association's repeater, with an alternate frequency of 146.985. The net offers directions and assistance as well as traffic conditions and detours," said Kalter. Additional frequencies and information are available at Talk In - Hamvention.

In the ongoing effort to improve school safety, staff in all Yuma School District-1 buildings have been equipped with two-way radios to allow for immediate communication between buildings in case of an emergency. The system also bridges to the local dispatch center, with some of DMR radios equipped to receive messages directly from 911 dispatchers. Plus, all the district buses have a radio to allow for communication to the rest of the district, even from hundreds of miles away. Yuma-1 Superintendent Dianna Chrisman said all of the district buildings have at least two radios, and some have three. There are two in the district office. The radios were purchased through a School Access for Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant spearheaded by Northeast BOCES. Motorola Solutions, a partner in the grant, has developed a two-way radio emergency communications solution with unique school-based interoperability equipment to allow schools, the district, and local emergency responder agencies to use commercial walkie talkies to communicate, when needed, to manage a school-based emergency or crisis event. Chrisman said the radio system came on handy last week when high winds kicked up as students were being transported home. Some of the mini-buses pulled over and waited for one of the bigger buses to show up to finish the route. (Turns out the big buses do better in high winds than the mini-buses.)

In St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the surrounding islands, emergency communications equipment is transforming disaster response. Located in the Caribbean’s hurricane belt and in proximity to an active volcano, La Soufrière, the islands are prone to natural disasters. With donated equipment from radio experts Barrett Communications, the Rainbow Radio League (RRL) is establishing communications networks and providing training that is geared to saving lives. RRL is a not-for-profit organisation of primarily radio amateurs. Since 1995, RRL has focused on providing emergency communications in St Vincent and the Grenadines and the surrounding nations. Handheld radios donated by international organisations played a role in the relief effort. This gave RRL director Donald De Riggs an idea: what if the Caribbean islands had access to emergency communications infrastructure before disaster struck?  “We are in the process of developing a domestic HF network. If we could get some radios to assist us, we’d be in a much better position to respond to emergencies. And the radio amateurs of the future are being fostered through RRL’s engagement with schools. RRL provides demonstrations and involves students in erecting rapid deployment antenna and using digital Two-Way Radio to contact each other. This engagement provides children opportunities to pursue careers including air traffic control and the police. RRL eventually aims to involve all the secondary schools on the island. HF（High frequency） and VHF（very high frequency) radio offers invaluable functionality, explains De Riggs: “With handsets, like a walkie-talkie, operation is limited because if you don’t have many repeaters, you are limited to a particular geographic area. In the Caribbean, where VHF signals can be blocked by mountainous terrain and many of the islands are remote, HF radio offers unprecedented connectivity. And RRL continues to work on expanding its response capabilities, with ambitions to establish proper maritime rescue capabilities and air response for regional disasters. “As an organisation, we haven’t realised our full potential yet,” says De Riggs. “But with adequate funding and agencies that understand and support our role in disaster management, that potential will be realised.”

Global Sources Electronics Exhibition is a global consumer electronics procurement show, bringing together high-quality OEM/ODM manufacturing suppliers from China and Asia. Juston brought the latest radio products to the Global Sources Exhibition. The exhibits include the flagship analog radio, digital Two-Way Radio, POC radio, Bluetooth headset, charger and various walkie-talkie accessories.

Tom "Tex" Ritter has a couple large antennas rising up over his house north of Cheyenne, and they pick up signals from all over the world. He's talked to people in 169 countries, as well as someone in Antarctica. Over the airways, he's also known by his callsign WY7KY. Ritter's "shack," which is what HAM radio operators call their studios, is down in his basement. There are two large monitors looming over stacks of DPMR radios, handheld radios, CB radios, and microphones. Ritter tuned into a frequency on his digital mobile radio system, which uses the internet to help radio signals travel further, and reached for his microphone. "Anyone monitoring on Wyoming Wide? We're doing a demo here in Cheyenne. This is WY7KY on Wyoming Wide," Ritter said. Moments later a voice comes through the radio, "WY7KY, this is Justin up here in Ten Sleep on the Meadowlark System going to the Wyoming Wide." Operators use repeaters, and one repeater system Ritter uses is called SkyHub. There's a repeater up on Sherman Hill, about 40 miles northwest of Cheyenne. It's "backboned" into the internet, which carries the signals it receives out to other repeaters. There are dozens of these repeaters in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico and even Canada. Ritter's hobby goes beyond casual conversations with other hobbyists. He's also a volunteer for the Emergency Management Administration. During a hurricane that hit Puerto Rico, the American Radio Relay League, which is the U.S. flagship amateur radio association based in Connecticut, put a call out for 50 radio operator volunteers to go down to the country and help coordinate relief efforts.

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Bob McArthur turns on his radio and puts out a “CQ” call – calling anyone, anywhere for a chat. Answering the call, somewhat tinny until McArthur makes a few adjustmentsm to make the signal clearer and clearer, is Ian, of central England. The two exchange some details – their exact locations, the kinds of radios they have and how clear their signal is, before signing off. It’s a pretty typical conversation between ham radio operators. The fact that they’re across an ocean from each other is no object. McArthur, whose radio set up is in an upstairs office in his New Ipswich home, with an antenna set up in his backyard, has been a ham radio enthusiast for the past 25 years. One of his favorite things about the hobby is seeking out hams in far-reaching places. Often, even those in foreign countries speak at least a little English because of the popularity of the hobby in English-speaking countries. The United States has by far the most amateur radio operators, at 779,545 licensed operators. One of his favorite summer activities is taking a long-range and handheld radio to the top of Pack Monadnock in Peterborough, along with a five-foot antenna, and using the height of the mountain and local repeater to reach other operators. McArthur, in his long career as a ham operator, has collected the countries he has contacted in several ways. He has a log book, where he collects contacts made from countries for the first time, and exactly how far away the operators were from his location. His current record-holder is an operator from Saipan, 12,481 miles from New Ipswich. His log book has recorded contact between 228 countries over the many years he has been doing the hobby. Community is a big part of the hobby, McArthur said. There are annual “field days” where radio operators operate for the full 24 hours and try to make as many unique connections to other operators as possible. This year’s field day is June 24 into June 25.

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57-year-old Han Guixin from Jilin City has been collecting various radio stations since 1987, and has more than 200 radio stations so far. The smallest is the size of a palm, and the largest weighs more than 100 kilograms. Among them, the more precious Type 71 radio station is exactly the same as the props used by the actor Wang Cheng in the movie "Heroes". According to Han Guixin, he has loved listening to the radio since he was a child. His father once bought him a radio, which he has kept for 51 years. These radio stations at home are the results of his 24 years of collection. In addition to radio stations, of course, there are also various handheld walkie-talkies, and POC radios that have become popular in recent years. Among the more than 200 radio stations in Han Guixin's collection, the one he loves the most is a Type 71 military radio that has long been decommissioned. This station is also the dream of every HAM. "In order to collect this radio station, I took great pains." Han Guixin said that the 71-type radio station was a short-wave radio station produced in China in the early 1950s, and it was also the first batch of radio stations independently produced by China. "Through radio communication over the years, I have met nearly a thousand HAMs from South Korea, North Korea, Russia and other countries." According to Han Guixin, he is a member of the China Radio Sports Association and has a legal radio license himself. Han Guixin said that when the time is right, he wants to gather radio enthusiasts from Jilin Province and even all over the country to hold a radio exhibition. He has already started to build a website related to radio stations, hoping that more people will participate.