Amateur radio has come a long way since the early days of the telegraph key and spark-gap and crystal-controlled radio transmitter and receiver.

Today, millions of amateur radio operators in the United States and throughout the world share a hobby that brings the world closer together on a person-to-person level.

"People become amateur radio operators (or hams, as they are called) because ham radio gives them the opportunity to communicate with other people," said Mike Niemeier, president of the Southeast Missouri Amateur Radio Club.

"You can use a hand-held radio to communicate with other hams in this area through our VHF (very high frequency) amateur radio repeaters, or you can talk to hams all over the world by bouncing a radio signal off the ionosphere, a layer in the upper atmosphere."

Niemeier spoke Saturday as club members prepared to start a 24-hour ham radio field day exercise that will continue until 1 p.m. today at Klaus Park, located on the west side of Interstate 55, across from the Cape Girardeau Veteran's Home.

He welcomed anyone interested in ham radio to come out this morning and watch ham radio in action.

Niemeier said field day exercises test the ability of ham radio operators to set up their radio equipment and antennas under adverse conditions and without commercial power. They use portable generators or solar-powered panels to generate electricity.

During the 24-hour period, club members try to contact as many other ham radio operators as they can, in this country and around the world. Many of them also conducting their own field day exercises.

Niemeier said ham radio is a unique hobby that also provides a valuable public service. "It's the only one we know of that is regulated by the federal government (Federal Communications Commission)," he added. "There are no age or gender restrictions to become a ham radio operator. Our youngest member, Jason LeDure, is 17. Our oldest club member is retired Capt. Fred "Fritz" Schneider of the Girardeau Police Department."

Amateur radio began in this country in 1912 with the licensing of hams. The hobby has been around since the beginning of electrical communication.

Since that time, amateur radio has grown to become an important link in world-wide private communications. Niemeier said when a hurricane strikes a remote island, it is usually an amateur radio operator who gets word of the disaster to the outside and a call for help. In this country, ham radio operators also have a vital role to play in emergency communications services in the event of floods, earthquakes, tornadoes or other natural or man-made disasters.

Ham radio operators receive no pay for their services. By FCC regulation, they are not permitted to charge for the public service.

When they're not busy handling public service communications, hams love to talk to each other. Many of them use voice communication by speaking into a microphone. Others connect a lap top or personal computer terminal to their ham radio transmitters and communicate with other hams via PACKET radio. Some hams communicate by bouncing their signal off OSCAR, (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) while others communicate verbally and visually by slow scan television.

At one time, all hams communicated by Morse code. But that is changing as communication technology changes. It's also good news for ham radio.

Niemeier said the number of new hams began to drop during the past 10-15 years because of the code requirement. Finally, older hams realized if there were not enough new licensed operators coming in to use the radio frequencies allocated to ham radio, the FCC would take the valuable channels and allocate them to other radio users, such as the land mobile industry.

Several years ago, the American Radio Relay League, which is made up of ham radio operators, dropped its opposition to a no-code ham radio license. The result was the no-code Technician class amateur radio license.

Niemeier says the no-code Technician license is pumping new blood into ham radio in the United States. "In the past, ham clubs like ours had a lot of trouble getting new members because they either could not, or did not want to learn Morse code. Since the FCC created the no-code Tech license, we've seen an increased interest in people wanting to become ham radio operators," he said.

This fall, club member William Bryant of Cape Girardeau will conduct a no-code Technician license class at the Cape Girardeau Vocational School. Details on the class will be announced later this summer, Niemeier said.

Except for the no-code Technician class license, Niemeier said Morse code is still required for all of the other ham licenses, including Novice, Technician with code, General, Advanced, and Extra.

But he said the day is not far off when the Morse code requirement will probably be abolished by the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations agency that allocates and governs the use of the radio spectrum world-wide.

Already, radio officers on board ships at sea are no longer required to learn or use Morse code because of much more dependable communication modes, including satellites.

"Ham radio is fun. It's an interesting hobby and you get to meet and talk to a lot of different people," said Niemeier.