Hobby leads to national award for ham

Barry Stewart says you have to have decent aerials to be in the amateur radio game.

And the Wanganui man knows all about radio transmitters, having been given the "Amateur of the Year Award", which is decided at the NZ Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART) conference and presented to a radio ham for their dedication and outstanding performance to the hobby.

Mr Stewart has been pursuing his hobby for 40 years and, for 22 of those, he's been managing the QSL Bureau of the New Zealand Amateur Radio Transmitters at his home.

Mr Stewart says he has spent half his life talking over the radio frequencies, but these days he does it "bugger-all".

Probably because he is always on a deadline to get out the radio club's monthly magazine, which he does for 11 months of the year.

"It was my silly idea back in the'70s to have one, and this is my 36th year."

The Chronicle found Mr Stewart in his "post office", where he keeps all the call-sign cards that come in from around the world: Korea, Japan, Chile, Canada, Botswana, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Andorra, Liechtenstein and Germany are some of the countries.

The cards are an acknowledged receipt that a radio ham has connected to someone in another country, and each is printed with the call sign of that person. When he has enough in weight to maximise postage, he will post them off to countries such as Japan. It costs $178 for 11.5kg of cards.

So far this year, Mr Stewart has received 12,000 cards from Japan and, when he has 5kg he will post them off to Auckland, where they will be sent out to radio hams around the country.

Live on air

-Anyone interested in becoming a licensed radio operator (ham) can phone Wanganui president Ivan Horn on 343 6979.

-Hams must study and sit an exam on behalf of the radio spectrum service. When a licence is given, the ham can go on air.

-If you don't have a licence, you're a pirate, and it's not tolerated. Pirates can go to the citizen band, where you don't need a licence.