Ham radio family enjoys distant connections

Posted date: June 26, 2016in: NewsNo Comments

Every Thursday night, Abbi and Kendra Wilson talk to friends who may be near Seattle or in the country of Belize. These teenage sisters make these faraway connections without a cell phone, text or email.

The Wilsons are controllers of a weekly Youth Net, an on-air gathering of amateur radio operators, who are sometimes called hams. With hand-held, FM radios or home stations, the sisters talk to their friends about music, movies or whatever comes to mind.

Abbi, 19, says ham radio cured her of any mic fright a long time ago.

“You get to know so many different people from so many walks of life,” said Abbi, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette student in visual arts and computer animation. “Ham radio has made me a lot more confident in talking to people.

“Once you start that conversation, you have to keep talking. It got me out of my shell. I credit it for my outgoing personality today.”

This weekend, the Wilsons will participate in ham radio’s biggest event, Field Day. Thousands of hams across the country set up portable stations and generators and talk to as many other hams as possible in a 24-hour period.

The Lafayette club, known as the Acadiana Amateur Radio Association, will operate a four-transmitter station Saturday and Sunday at the Horse Farm. The site is open to the public….READ MORE