It may be the age of the internet but a group of Castlemaine Scouts has turned to amateur radio to socialise and learn skills that could send their voices around the world.
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Eight venturer Scouts are preparing to apply for their amateur radio foundation licence in the next month.
The Scouts were learning the new skills in a bus retrofitted with radios and other necessary equipment.
Trainer Tony Falla said amateur radio was an important and vital tool for communication, especially during emergencies.
He said when other modes of communication failed people could still rely on radio because it was portable and could be operated independently of existing networks.
“(The CFA) are using radios, they are not using phones,” he said.
“We need radio amateurs to be trained, we need people who know about the protocols.”
Venturer Scout Timothy* valued the lessons in the bus.
“It’s good to know different skills. You can save people’s lives with it. Think of people who use it for mayday calls,” he said.
Timothy said the main appeal was the chance to talk to people from all over the world.
“It’s sort of like ringing an anonymous person and having a chat,” he said.
Timothy planned to continue amateur radio as a hobby in later life.
Alive and well
Mr Falla said amateur radio was alive and well despite the rise of the internet.
“So many people have been saying ‘oh no, no, people have go mobile phones now and this that and the other – and all you lot (amateur radio hobbyists) are getting really old’,” he said.
Despite what the naysayers believed, Mr Falla said young people were responsive to the argument radio was important.
“What we need to do is distinguish what we do on the radio that is different to what we do on the telephone,” he said.
“I love telephones, I’ve been teaching older people in Castlemaine how to use their iPads. I know all that, and I know the difference between that and my hobby is like chalk and cheese.
“Young people ask me why they should bother with (amateur radio) and I explain to them how towers might burn down in fires, or how the NBN has brought about a reduction in safety capabilities because now we have phones coupled to the internet, not copper wires.
“We have two Scouts who are farming lads … and they were saying they use radio on the farm because the phones are hopeless.”
* Parents of the Scouts requested last names not be used.