When All Else Fails--Ham Radio
An incredible Digital Library about Ham Radio
There are over 760,000 licensed ham radio operators in the U.S.1 There are over 2,800 active Ham Radio clubs in the U.S.2
Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC)
The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC) is a library of materials and collections related to amateur radio and early communications.
This free resource combines archived digitized print materials, born-digital content, websites, oral histories, personal collections, and other related records and publications. The goals of the DLARC are both to document the history of amateur radio and to provide freely available educational resources for researchers, students, and the general public.
It includes back-runs of digitized magazines, local club archives, podcasts, movies, and videos.3
Like a special type of cream this hobby keeps rising through the sludge. I suspect many things will come and go and still this endeavor will remain.
Hams are quite a group. Aside from the ability to befriend each other over conversation they remain a distributed independent means of communication and contact during disasters. That's for an archive I was unaware about.
The days of the early internet along with Usenet, BBS, Fidonet were similar distributed communication networks now displaced by the www. Like with ham radio, those early tools required certain learned skills. Our computers and keyboards simply are easy enough for all. Fewer skills although the ease has allowed our privacy and tricksters some advantage and compromise.