Ham operator thrives on communication

Sitting on a tropical beach with a radio transmitter ten hours a day may not be everyone's idea of a dream vacation, but to Sisters ham radio enthusiast Bob Norin it's better than Club Med.

The retired Intel engineer makes frequent jaunts across the globe to remote islands, establishing temporary radio outposts where other amateur operators can make contact.

Ham radio, or amateur radio, is an engrossing hobby using various types of radio equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for recreation and educational pursuits.

"Tiny South Pacific islands are my specialty. They usually have much nicer weather than remote Arctic or Antarctic islands. I guess I've traveled to some pretty exotic places," Norin said, thumbing through a thick stack of contact confirmation postcards.

The colorful QSL cards exchanged depict vivid landmarks and monuments of each country or island, serving as a verification of radio contact, vivid thumbtacks on a virtual map spreading to all compass points. Information on each card relates the time of contact, date, frequency, whether via morse code or teletype and sometimes a short personal message.

Norin has collected thousands of these cards since 1954.

"In 2009, we went to Tuvalu, a remote atoll due north of Fiji. We were also on Christmas Island, part of the republic of Kiribati, just south of Hawaii. That area is notorious as staging areas for the atomic bomb testing program of the 1950s," said Norin.

"One of my favorites was Rotuma Island, 2-1/2 hours north of Fiji by airplane. It's very volcanic with dense, tropical foliage, and we stayed with a family at their thatched-roof cottage. The native people were very humble and hospitable."

Amateur radio was born in 1909, and its operators form a global brotherhood, passionate about the medium and the messages they send and receive. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is a national association with more than 694,000 licensed members.

"In childhood, both my parents were involved in radio," recalled Norin. "My dad was a transmitter engineer in Seattle, and I was raised in that world.

"A bunch of the guys he worked with were ham operators and I got interested after I was given an old short-wave radio made during World War II.

"When I was 14, I got my novice radio license and call sign, good for one year," he said. "Back then you had to know Morse code. I'd learned it through the Boy Scouts for one of my merit badges."

A burning desire to reach out further pushes ham hobbyists to purchase bigger, more powerful transmitters and taller antennas, hoping to connect to distant locations far and wide.

Norin remembers once contacting a raft drifting from Chile to French Polynesia.

"In Morse code he gave his position in longitude and latitude and where he was going.

"It's a thrilling feeling making that connection," he said.

His last trip was to Samoa and the Tokelau Islands, a territory of New Zealand, which constitutes a country in ham radio circles.

"Our plan was to fly to Samoa and take a boat to Tokelau. We stayed at a guest house whose owner was the head civil servant. His sister and her husband did all the cooking. They gave us two bedrooms, one for sleeping and one for all the radio equipment," Norin said.

"My friend, Bill, and I brought radio transceivers, headphones, paddles for sending morse code, a PVC pipe carrying antennas and a laptop computer. We set everything up on the beach and started sending out CQ call messages searching for contacts. This trip had been well publicized in ham radio magazines, so people were very aware.

"The best times to operate are the middle of the night, due to changes and fluctuations in the earth's ionosphere," he said. "In our 19 days on the air we logged and recorded over 29,000 QSOs, or official contacts."

Norin wishes to donate his collection of nearly 1,000 QSL envelopes and stamps from all over the world to some young collector or school or library to spur interest in stamp collecting, world geography or amateur radio.

"These are from the past five years or so. I kept many of the first cards and envelopes I ever got, but I'd love to find some particular person or charity group to give the entire batch to."

Norin's bags are never unpacked for long, and soon he leaves for an amateur radio convention in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He and his traveling buddy are the banquet speakers for the event and put together a slide show presentation on their trip to Samoa and Tokelau. As for his next adventure, Norin sits back and smiles. "My wife and I are going to Europe in September and will visit our son in Scotland. And I'm not taking any radios."

Anyone interested in ham radio or Norin's collection of international envelopes may contact him at [email protected]