Hello World: A Life in Ham Radio

by Danny Gregory, Paul Sahre

To an outsider, the world of ham radio is one of basement transmitters, clunky microphones, Morse code, and crackly, possibly clandestine, worldwide communications, a world both mysterious and geeky. But the real story is a lot more indeed, there are more than two million operators worldwide, including people like Walter Cronkite and Priscilla Presley. Gandhi had a ham radio, as do Marlon Brando and Juan Carlos, king of Spain.
Hello World takes us on a seventy-year odyssey through the world of ham radio. From 1927 until his death in 2001, operator Jerry Powell transmitted radio signals from his bedroom in Hackensack, New Jersey, touring the worlds most remote locations and communicating with people from Greenland to occupied Japan. Once he made contact with a fellow ham operator, he exchanged postcards known as QSLs cards with them. For seven decades, Powell collected hundreds of these cards, documenting his fascinating career in amateur radio and providing a dazzling graphic inventory of people and places far flung.
This book is both an introduction to the fascinating world of ham and a visual feast for anyone interested in the universal language of graphic design.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Design

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually I reserve 4 and 5 stars for books I personally find worth re-reading. A an amateur historian, I recognize the scholarly efforts of this book. I appreciate the timelines, the visuals of the primary documents, the biographical information about Gerald (Jerry) Powell (radio ham) and many friends the different people and groups and ideas he was exposed to. I am glad to see that this skill set and technology is in place so that the rest of us can be confident that the hams will provide communication backup to our electrical-grid-bound communications. Also most of the people of the world do not have access to/do have laws against using the internet. These hams and their radios fill an important niche in our world. This book acts as an ambassador to those who are curious and who might become hams in the future.
Thank you Mr Gregory for this book and its service.

[Carolee Wheeler]

I love looking at the designs of QSL cards but once I started reading, was put off by the “ain’t no girls doing ham radio” and “the wives go to the grocery store and their husbands are in the car tuning in to the GLOBE” tone. If I wanted to hear that shit I could listen to the Mt. Davidson repeater.

[Splendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day, author Danny Gregory stumbled upon a jackpot at a flea market. It was a box of "SQL cards." Each one tracks individual incidents of correspondence between ham radio operators. They are postcards with pictures, drawings, and print that reveal bits of ordinary people’s lives in places you didn’t even know existed. At first glance, these cards were meaningless to Gregory, so he began researching, and the results are phenomenal.

Using these found bits of artistic ephemera, Gregory tells well researched, true stories of good Samaritans, political drama, invasions, isolated tribes in distant lands, and murder! "Hello World" is the story of a fascinating subculture: a multi-generational, international community of intelligent and helpful super-nerds.

It's a book for everyone--your dad, the engineer and your sister, the artist and your boyfriend, the history buff. It's a book to remind yourself that (believe it or not) the internet is not the end-all be-all. Not many books allow you to reach this deep in the intellectual grab bag. It's an unlikely mix of mail art, technological geekery, world history, screenprinting and photography, all of which is wrapped up in the biography of Jerry Powell, an ordinary man who had an extraordinary obsession with amateur radio that spanned 70 years.

Jerry would read the New York Times every day and then fire up his ham radio to contact folks living in the places across the world where the daily news was unfolding. Although ham radio is primarily a hobby, it's serious business. Ham radio operators have to pass rigorous FCC tests to get the privilege of going on air.

The FCC expects these amateur operators to function as an emergency backup communications system during weather or national emergencies. During the chaos and catastrophe of 9/11, cell phone service was shut down and ham operators worked around the clock to communicate information to police, fire, and federal relief groups.

You’re probably wondering why anyone in the 21st century would still be interested in ham radio when we have the all-powerful internets. Alas! Ham radio is used to reach really remote towns and villages, like Thorsmork, a Nordic natural reserve in Southern Finland that’s tucked away between giant glaciers and glacial rivers that make it impossible to reach (except by experienced guides on horseback) Ham radio is the only way to contact people there! In our Facebook-obsessed lives, we forget that the majority of the people on this planet don’t have and have never used a computer.

Historically speaking, ham operators have been equally at the disposal and the mercy of the government. During World War II, the FCC tried to stop the spread of misinformation over the airwaves by outlawing all contact between American ham radio operators with international amateurs. Then they forced all American hams to sign a loyalty oath, verifying that they were U.S. citizens. This sounds a little bit crazy, but even today, California requires its elected officials and public employees to sign loyalty oaths in which they must "support and defend the United States and the state constitutions against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Um, yeah. The story of Jerry Powell's hobby unearthed all this, and more.

Spanning the entire book is a time line that runs along the footer of each page, which helps put context to the history of the communications and helps you appreciate how long and rich Jerry's life was. In the back flap of the book, there is a fold-out world map that charts the origin of each SQL card in Jerry's collection, a remarkable visual aide.

I picked this book up at the library because its author Danny Gregory is a favorite artist of mine. "Hello World" is brilliant, although, it's nothing like any of Danny Gregory’s other books. His books "Everyday Matters" and "An Illustrated Life," and "The Creative License" all feature his beautiful drawings and watercolor illustrations, a talent he developed on his own in his forties. His books are about inspiring each of us to connect to the creative drive within ourselves. You can read and see his work on his blog: http://dannygregory.wordpress.com/



　

[Powells.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will the internet replace the need for ham radio? Not according to life long ham radio operator Jerry Powell. More than an old-man's pastime, ham continues to flourish in parts of the world where electricity and phone lines are nonexistent. It connects the world in ways other media cannot; from Howland Island to bombed out Iraq to Topeka, Kansas. Designed by infamous Paul Sahre - another ham operator (who knew?).
Recommended by Amy



Author Danny Gregory went to a flea market and found a ring binder containing 369 colorful and cryptic-looking postcards. Intrigued, he bought the collection and did some investigating. These cards were ham radio QSL cards, which are postcards that hams send to one another after they make contact over the airwaves. This particular collection once belonged to a man named Jerry Powell, an aeronautical engineer who died at age 93 in 2000. Jerry was a lifelong ham radio enthusiast — his earliest QSL card is from 1928. Hello World: A Life in Ham Radio won't teach you how to become a ham, or show you new ham radio techniques. Its not a technical book at all. Instead, this book is about Jerry Powells life as seen through his lifelong hobby, and its a compelling and absorbing read, even for readers who aren't hams.

All QSL cards are unique. They feature the call sign for a radio station, and includes cryptic notes on the conversation, the kind of radio equipment used in this connection, and little personal touches that reflect the ham's personality. Each QSL card is either made by or for the ham, and it's very much like a picture postcard from that region. Some cards look like regular tourist postcards, and others are hand-drawn, or feature photos of the ham with family or, more commonly, in their radio shack.

Hello World was designed by Paul Sahre, a well-known illustrator. His design work in this book is amazing and carefully organized so both diehard ham radio operators and novices can appreciate Jerry Powell's worldwide ham radio contacts over the course of his lifetime. All the pages are adorned with colorful QSL cards with detailed annotations for many of them. There's a fold-out map of the world with little dots for all of the ham connections Powell made worldwide, so readers can cross-reference the QSL cards in his collection. There's also a chart graphing the number of QSL cards that Powell received per decade. 1940-1949 was his most prolific period, with 98 contacts.

Hello World is a wonderful book for ham radio fans, graphic design geeks, or anybody who wants to learn more about this secret society. Carole Reichstein, Powells.com

[CF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe its my eternal boy scout or my family history that leads me to this topic of HAM culture and history but this book is more reflective then most philosophy books I've read .There is a euphemism in HAM culture for death which simply states,"until his key goes silent". This statement alone gives this book four stars. Hello World centers around Jerry Powell, an ameteur radio operator that started in his youth and that lasted 70 years. This visual history of a life lived on the ionosphere isn't just about scientific gear you don't understand (though it's in there) or a forgotten pastime. HAMS had to pay attention to the cycles of the earths atmosphere, cosmic happenings, weather, stratosphere, ultraviolet, refractions....it's endless the concerns of a HAM. Jerry Powell took the NY Times and searched out the current events around the globe to find communications with those who were living it. When we use our technology now, we don't consider a single thing except maybe how fast we can move on to something else. Maybe I'm old-fashioned at heart. Maybe I want to be more present in how I live my life. These shared postcards amongst people who were seeking connection and understanding of distant cultures is a humanistic approach I think our culture lacks. I long for 24 square inch pieces of paper, sent by mail that are designed to represent my identity. I think of the letters and postcards I've written and how my history has almost stopped since those days. I want to put something down in this life. Make it count. Make it loud and tactile. Sometimes you have to move backwards to find out how to move forward with intention and ernest stride and this book gave me such that path.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gregory got interested in ham radio after finding a scrapbook of QSL cards, the postcards hams send each other to confirm they talked, at a flea market. They're graphically appealing, usually with a picture or something about the place where the ham lives, and information about the call. This book is both a history of one man's multi-decade hobby, and of radio and amateur radio in general. It's interesting and the cards are fun to look at.

I was mildly frustrated that they didn't explain why it's called "ham radio" until pretty far along. Wikipedia has this: "The term "ham operator" was commonly applied by 19th century landline telegraphers to an operator with poor or "ham fisted" skills. Early radio (initially known as wireless telegraphy) included many former wire telegraph operators, and within the new service "ham" was employed as a pejorative term by professional radiotelegraph operators to suggest that amateur enthusiasts were unskilled. In "Floods and Wireless" by Hanby Carver, from the August, 1915 Technical World Magazine, the author noted "Then someone thought of the 'hams'. This is the name that the commercial wireless service has given to amateur operators...""

There are also various folk etymologies including one that the first radio station had the call letters HAM, etc.

Anyway, I enjoyed the words and pictures and it was a good read on hot days and when I had a cold and couldn't read something more demanding.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The authors of this book should be commended for their tribute to a man and a passion. The story of how they became Hams and how they found Jerry's information is phenomenal. I do have to say, though, that the book is clumsy. Physically, the book is printed on something akin to card stock or even thicker material, which makes for hard page-turning. The binding is rudimentary; by the time I finished the cover had fallen off. Lastly, the book is about 65% white space on pages; it reads like a family photo album; with the best parts being the 5-6 supplementary informational pages that are few and far between. The QSL cards are interesting to look at, but as I pressed on through the book, they became boring and repetitive.
I did enjoy the book and reading the stories, and I understand that it must have been an intense undertaking because without Jerry around, much of the background was probably tremendously difficult to piece together. I am glad that I have read it, and been introduced to ham in such an enthusiastic way.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is charming as hell. Basically a survey of ham radio operators with lots of pictures of the little cards with their ham radio ID on the front. They get them from each other in the mail, so most ham operators have a million little cards from around the world. So it's partly a collecting hobby, which I didn't realize.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating portrait of a man’s life told through a collection of QSL cards (postcards exchanged by amateur radio operators when they make an on-air contact). The design of this book is superb and is probably only interesting to folks who are interested in ham radio or historical artifacts of subcultures. I love how the cards were laid out against a timeline of world events to give context and the fold-out map was useful in demonstrating that he really did reach every “corner” of the globe. Very interesting read for me, as I love reading about the history of technology, admiring personal artistry (as expressed on the cards), and am just getting started in ham radio. 73s, KJ7CTU

[Doc Kinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was not what I thought, but it was not horrible because of that.

It turns out to be the life of one Amateur Radio Operator told through his QSL card collection, presented in full color, with annotations, in the book.

If you like QSL cards and collections of them - and there are many hams that do! - I recommend the book. If you are after a somewhat more conventional history or biography, this is not the book you're looking for.

[Risa]

i only want to read this because there is the one episode of the Addams family where Pugsley has a ham radio in the attic and the US thinks there is ome kind of spy signal coming from the Addams house. I won't tell you how it ends. But it made me ponder ham radios and since i am radio lover, it seemed like a god fit....maybe.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for graphic design reference. The story about Gerald (Jerry) Powell’s hobby, not even that- his lifelong passion and field of interest: the ham radio is insightful, informative and a great read.