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Amateur radio operators tend to be easy to spot, said Jason Foster, president of the nonprofit Montgomery Amateur Radio Club.
With one or several antennas up to 100 feet tall outside their homes, or even on top of their cars, amateur radio operators, also known as "hams," are often thought to be older people who are not ready to embrace modern communications technology.
Over the weekend, 25 hams participated in the Field Day at Montgomery College's Germantown campus. The event drew hams of all ages who competed against hams from around the country to try to make as many contacts with other hams as they can in 24 hours from temporary stations set up in trucks.
The participants proved hams aren't outdated, though instant messaging, texting, and social networking Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter are the rage. But according to Allen Pitts, spokesman for the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio operators, the hobby is gaining popularity —and technological advancement.
About 100,000 of the 665,000 licensed hams in the U.S., received their license in the last four years and more hams are experimenting with digital technologies, Pitts said.
Hams are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to use radio frequencies located above AM frequencies to broadcast for a variety of purposes, including providing back-up communication for emergency response organizations, weather reporting, participating in worldwide and national contests, and simply chatting with other hams.
The league has 154,000 members, ranging in age from 8 to 80-plus. The Montgomery club has more than 225 members, the average age between 40 and 50 years old, said Foster, 31, of Montgomery Village.
Hams resisted the Internet, but many now embrace digital technology and the Internet.
"The people of amateur radio are never content with just buying a box," Pitts said. "They want to open it up and see what they can make it do."
"Sometimes, we hams, we like to geek it up," Foster said.
Chris Duncan, 29, of Gaithersburg is one of the younger members of the club. He uses his basement ham radio to chat with local hams and people from as far as Lithuania and Japan.
Duncanbecame interested in ham radio at age 6 after his father picked up the hobby. He was licensed by age 14. He owns several ham radios and a 45-foot tall antenna located on the side of his house that allows him to make contacts with more distant hams.
The draw, he said, is the possibilities of who you can contact.
"It's like a crapshoot," Duncan said. "You can get someone in Rockville or in Italy."
