Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla interacted with the country’s students using a ham radio from the International Space Station (ISS).
About Ham Radio:
Amateur radio, popularly known as ham radio, is a licensed radio service that relies on radio waves for establishing communication.
Ham radio service is largely deployed for educational and knowledge purposes, for emergency or SOS communication.
Using a dedicated frequency, a transceiver and an antenna, communication can be set up between two licensed hams by trained ham operators.
The communication can be hyper-local, global, and in space. In India, any individual above the age of 12 is permitted to operate a ham radio.
In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issues these licences.
Even though the technology to establish communications has advanced, the radio remains one of the most reliable and stable modes of communication.
It is effective and an alternate medium of establishing communication.
Previously, there have been instances when ham radio came to the rescue when traditional communication lines broke down, either due to man-made scenarios (like wars) or natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, and floods.
In India, ham radio was used for making emergency contacts during the Bhuj earthquake (2001), the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the floods of Uttarakhand (2013) and more such calamities.
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