Ham Radio Adventures Away from Home
A family weekend excursion, vacation trip, or cruise can be a great opportunity to experience a whole new dimension of ham radio fun. A weekend at a campground can offer the opportunity to fling a wire into a tall tree, and see how well it works (good practice for an emergency!). Small portable radios being manufactured today offer great performance from a self-contained, battery-powered case, and they also fit conveniently inside a suitcase if you're flying somewhere. If you're on vacation on a Caribbean island, you'll enjoy the thrill of having people around the world call you, and you'll be an instant ham radio celebrity.
If you own a boat or yacht, your amateur station can be a valuable backup communications link in case your primary marine radio fails. It's great fun to talk to someone in a big city, and make them drool over your sunny afternoon out on the water.
And, once you're home, you can tuck the little radio away in your car's "emergency kit," so it will be ready for the day you hope never happens. And you'll have the confidence of knowing how well it worked during your vacation!