Amateur Radio

Two years ago, I became a licensed amateur radio operator, and it changed how I see the world. There is magic in radio waves—invisible signals traveling through air and space, carrying voices and data across continents without relying on infrastructure or the internet. I am fascinated by the history: Marconi and Tesla, the Foxhole radio built from scraps during wartime, the elegant simplicity of machines that work without electricity grids. I am curious about the current wars between alternating and direct current, about how we learned to transmit information wirelessly. Amateur radio is where my maker philosophy comes alive. I tinker with antennas, experiment with different radio modes, and have built my own bulletin board system that works with packet radio. Through packet radio, I participate in a forwarding network—a mesh of amateur bulletin boards that pass messages over radio waves, independent of the internet. It is resilience. It is community. It is proof that we can still communicate when systems fail. This section celebrates books about radio history, amateur radio technique, emergency communications, and the pioneers who showed us that wireless connection is possible. This collection celebrates these authors and many others I have read who inspire that spirit of curiosity and independence.