About the event

Join us for a fun exploration of ham radio by the Pine State Amateur Radio Club here in Bangor. There will be a presentation with video, live demonstrations, and displays describing the fun and challenging hobby of amateur radio! We want to make it an enjoyable, immersive experience for people of all ages!  

Drop in any time during this 2-hour program.

More about Ham Radio

When you think of ham radio or amateur radio, you might think of CB, as it has been lesser known in recent years, but it’s much more than that! Maybe you’ve seen the TV series “Last Man Standing”, where Mike Baxter has a ham radio rig in his office. Ham radio is a hobby and a public service, Ham radio preceded the Internet, television, broadcast radio, and has been a part of technological advancement for over a century. The hobby is still flourishing and adapting in the age of the Internet and smartphones and beyond! 

Ham radio is a many-faceted hobby – it has much more to offer than CB or other services. Where CB radio enables people to talk on one band with limited capability, ham radio has many more bands and far more variety! Hams are licensed and can communicate locally and all over the world using different methods. Hams pride themselves on being ready for an emergency or a natural disaster. When cell service or the electrical grid is out, it is ham radio operators who can step in and help provide emergency communications when needed. Ham radio has a history and a present-day presence right here in Bangor, around the state, and the world. It’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s unique! Our group meets regularly at the Challenger Learning Center in Bangor, and recently set up a station to enable students to speak with the International Space Station! We’ll be showing how that was done, and what ham radio has to offer people of all ages and backgrounds. 

If you like to talk, tinker with electronics and/or computers, satellites, public service, compete with other hams in radio contests, and numerous other aspects, there’s something for you! We’ll show the opportunities ham radio offers, and how easy it is to study, test, and become a ham whether young, older, or in between. We’ll discuss how ham radio supports STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) education, from the lower grades on up through the college level.  Hams come from all walks of life, from school-age children on up, to mechanics, firemen, lawyers, doctors, teachers, astronauts, and many more. There are hams from 5 years old to those “young at heart” enjoying this hobby, and you can too! Come join us for a fun afternoon, exploring ham radio.

Visit the Pine State Amateur Radio Club's website for more information.