{"id":1085,"date":"2013-10-23T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T06:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.rsgbtestzone.biz\/wordpress\/?page_id=1085"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:41:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:41:37","slug":"what-is-amateur-radio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/get-started-in-amateur-radio\/what-is-amateur-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"What is amateur radio?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32918\" src=\"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-300x132.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-300x132.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-1024x450.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-150x66.jpg 150w, https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-768x338.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP-1536x675.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/files\/2023\/09\/Cropped-GUWS-photo-for-University-Corner-stories-page-of-Alzbeta-and-Michael-running-GS4AGUP.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>There is no better way to explore the fascinating world of wireless communication than by becoming a radio amateur!<\/h4>\n<h4>Radio amateurs enjoy making use of\u00a0designated radio frequencies in a number of ways:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Contacting people all over the world<\/strong> by radio which often leads to developing international friendships<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Technical experimentation<\/strong> &#8211; many of the leaps forward in radio technology have been initiated by radio amateurs<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Competing in international competitions<\/strong> to test how effective your equipment is, and how good you are as an operator<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Communicating through<a href=\"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/technical\/space-satellites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> amateur space satellites<\/a><\/strong> or with the International Space Station (which carries an amateur radio station)<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Providing <a href=\"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/operating\/emergency-communications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emergency communications<\/a><\/strong> and undertaking exercises to ensure you keep the capability to do so<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Amateur radio is a popular technical hobby that uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communications.<\/h4>\n<h4><strong>Did you know?<\/strong> Amateur radio is the only hobby governed by international treaty.<\/h4>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/get-started-in-amateur-radio\/what-is-amateur-radio\/who-become-radio-amateurs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What sort of people become radio amateurs?<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is no better way to explore the fascinating world of wireless communication than by becoming a radio amateur! Radio amateurs enjoy making use of\u00a0designated radio frequencies in a number of ways: Contacting people all over the world by radio which often leads to developing international friendships Technical experimentation &#8211; many of the leaps forward [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8672,"parent":1087,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1085","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47068,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1085\/revisions\/47068"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}