What does all of that mean? I doubt if I get into being an operator, but just curious. My uncle had a tower outside of his house when I was a kid.
He was almost certainly a ham then if he had an antenna tower. This will help explain it.
http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio/
Famous hams include
http://www.dx-qsl.com/famous-ham-radio-operators.html. and
https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Famous_hams
The radios run off DC power which means a car battery will do if your power supply is out because the electricity is out - and a simple wire dipole antenna at the proper height can get you round the world. Used a lot for emergencies and disasters when nothing else is working due to power failures. You can also transmit locally via repeaters on UHF/VHF. My longest HF contact on the 20M band was 15,000km to New Zealand using morse code.
Many hams exchange QSL cards which are personalized postcards from round the world to verify your contact. Fun hobby for kids and especially us oldies who have more time on our hands.
It's used by the military to communicate as well on the battlefield sometimes, though today satellite radios are in wide use.
Ham radio is also used to report to the NWS conditions on the ground in severe weather and for storm/tornado spotting and chasing (Twister).
It was also used in the TV series JERICHO after the bombs dropped and FREQUENCY with
Dennis Quaid and Jim
Caviezel and of course the SOS from the TItanic.
