Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club

What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur Radio is a non-commercial radio communication service whose primary aims are public service, technical training, experimentation, and communication between private persons. Amateur Radio operators are commonly called "hams". Hams generally communicate with each other recreationally but also provide communications for others at public events or in times of emergency or disaster. Hams take tests to demonstrate knowledge in various levels of radio theory (depending on the level of license each ham wants to achieve) as well as the rules and regulations that govern the use of radio spectrum. Once a ham passes the appropriate test, the results are sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) who grants the license to the ham to operate radio transmitters on a specific set of frequencies. Each license is assigned call letters. The call letters KC7KEY are assigned to the Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club.