which makes it the first Ham radio station on the Moon. LEV-1 receives data from LEV-2, which is transmitted to Earth using its 1 Watt UHF circular polarization antenna as Morse code at 437.410 MHz.

Through amateur — or “ham”— radio communication, sixth graders at Pine View spoke to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station Tuesday.

Ham radio operators are expected to be able to perform in the event of an emergency. That usually involves serious weather.

There was a time when a ham radio set up sported many dials and switches and probably quite a few boxes as well. Computers have changed all that. Some transceivers now have just a few buttons or ...