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The most common hobby name given to amateur radio is ham radio, which is a big part of the international communications as a complex system. Public service and recreation are the elements that stimulate the activity of the service participants, but it is also true that it is on their skills that emergency and disaster communications often rely if necessary. Estimations indicate that some six million people around the world are regularly part of ham radio, and although they are not broadcasting to make money, the profit comes from the joy of being on air. The element that makes ham radio stations stand apart is not the lack of professional skill but rather the absence of advertising moments.

Ham radio probably gets back to the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th when ninety amateur stations serviced Canada and the United States. The appearance of ham radio is tributary to hobby practices and experiments, and one cannot deny that very often, amateur radio founders have given significant contributions to science, services and industry. Moreover, plenty of emergency cases had a happy end because of the intervention of ham radio operators.

Ham radio covers several types of transmissions and besides the quality FM (frequency modulation) that we are all familiar with, ham radio operators also work on single sideband with a higher transmission reliability or on the Morse code even if technology has come a long way since the days of the radio-telegraph. Presently, computers have changed the evolution of ham radio for ever, with the introduction of the digital modes and the development of the packet radio. Last but not least, ham radio operators often use the low power communications on shortwave bands to stay in real-time mode.

Ham radio through satellite signal is no longer out of reach with the existence of the orbiting satellites carrying amateur radio (OSCAR); all one needs is a basic hand-held transceiver to make the broadcast possible. What it is very interesting is that many ham radio operators use the aurora borealis and the moon for the reflection of the radio waves. Some ham radio stations have even got into contact with the International Space Station as the astronauts on board are also licensed as amateur radio operators. On-air talks are frequent as many individuals use ham radio only to communicate with other enthusiasts.