Old radio in new guise: understanding relevance of amateur/ham radio in India

Abstract

Development of information and communication technology in India has reached a new height with the successful landing of Chandrayan-3 to moon in August 2023. In such a developed milieu of communication, otherwise seen as obsolete medium of communication, amateur radio must be revisited and seen in the context of their present form of activities in India. Ham radio organizations are present in almost all countries of the world, but it was mainly seen as a means of communication in a pre-digital world. Ham radio organizations in Indian society with their exemplary activities in the resent millennium seems to be the silent servers of society cutting across communities without much media or academic attention as compared to community radio organizations which caters to specific communities with specific goals. The study aims to highlight such untapped potential of ham radio in Indian society which can be used as an alternative communication channel in emergency situations. It is concluded by arguing that ham radio resonates the spirit of logic, logistics and language of new digital media era and can be seen as a balanced communication form between old media and new media era.

Keywords

• indian media
• emergency radio
• radio broadcasting
• radio amateurs
• radio technology