Personally, I've been a radio amateur, or ham operator, since I was a teenager. My ham call sign is K8ZRH.

Now a half century later and on the road 3/4 of the time in my RV, I'm still active in the hobby, which I find not only fulfilling but very handy, especially when we are boondocking or traveling so far off the beaten path that reliable coverage by cell phones is not available.

Our followers have been asking me for a long time to more fully describe the hobby and its relevance to RVers. Keep scrolling down for a very thorough discussion.

But first, please watch the video below that I have prepared to accompany this article. In it, I demonstrate how I use amateur radio and give you a tour of my ham shack and my mobile installation in the RV.

What is the Amateur Radio Hobby?

Amateur radio operators use two-way radio gear to communicate via radio waves on designated radio frequencies. That is the basic, most simple definition possible.

In the United States, the hobby of amateur radio is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). An amateur radio license is required to operate in the ham bands and many different modes of communication are available, from voice, to digital, to morse code to slow scan television to teletype.