I love ham radio, and a big reason is because of the random connections you can make! I recently ended up having a great chat with KA5FDX via PSK31. For non-hams who may be reading this, KA5FDX is actually a person named James. PSK31 is a mode where you hook your computer or mobile device to your ham radio, and it allows you to do what looks very similar to instant messaging, but without the internet, cell network, or wires between the people talking.
Of all the random things that two people can end up chatting about, James and I ended up discussing the most obvious one - relativity!
Specifically, we ended up talking about the speed of light, and how far into space you would need to travel to be able to look back at earth through a high-powered telescope and witness specific historical events as the light from the planet eventually reaches the far corners of the galaxy.
I'm no physicist, so this isn't going to be a lesson in that, but it did make me consider something that should...
Blow your Mind!
Let me take a step back, and slowly ease you into this, so that I don't blow your mind all at once :-)
Take a moment to consider an every-day conversation. You and I sit in a room and talk to each other. Since sound travels 343 meters/second (there are a lot of variables to that, but we'll stick with it for simplicity), when we talk it takes .002 seconds for the sound to get back and forth between us (sitting a meter apart.) That's so fast it's pretty much instant. What if we were on opposite sides of the country? That's 4,313,042 meters, so if we could shout loud enough it would take 3 1/2 hours for the message to travel that far! That's actually rather slow when you think about it, considering that we have built planes that are capable of covering that same distance in just over 30 minutes (The X-15 traveling at Mach 6.7)
What if I want to shout at someone in Australia? At 16,767,755 meters, that is pretty much as far from me as someone can be, and still be on land. In this case, if I could shout loud enough, it would take my voice nearly 14 hours to make the trip!
Now, this is where the part comes in that many of us take for granted, but should BLOW YOUR MIND!
I have, in my possession, a device that takes my slow-moving voice, translates it into a form of energy that travels at nearly the speed of light, and can re-translate the same coming back at me in the other direction, allowing me to have instant communication over that same distance, through nothing but the empty space between me and the person in Australia!
"Wow!" you say, "this device must be huge!"
To which I respond, "Nope, it sits on the corner of my desk."
"Well, it must consume some crazy amount of power to propel things at the speed of light."
"Not at all. In fact, it probably uses less power than some of the lamps you have in your house."
"Certainly then, this device you talk about must be pretty expensive, and complex!"
"Not all all! You can build one yourself for about $60!"
I have, in my possession, a device that takes my slow-moving voice, translates it into a form of energy that travels at nearly the speed of light, and can re-translate the same coming back at me in the other direction, allowing me to have instant communication over that same distance, through nothing but the empty space between me and the person in Australia!
"Wow!" you say, "this device must be huge!"
To which I respond, "Nope, it sits on the corner of my desk."
"Well, it must consume some crazy amount of power to propel things at the speed of light."
"Not at all. In fact, it probably uses less power than some of the lamps you have in your house."
"Certainly then, this device you talk about must be pretty expensive, and complex!"
"Not all all! You can build one yourself for about $60!"
That my friends, is the pure magic of ham radio. Mind Blown.
P.S.
I did a bunch of my sound-distance math with this fun calculator. Also, don't forget to check out part 10 of my on-going build project to give your input. Finally, make sure you subscribe so that you can get updates right in your e-mail!
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