In the era of the Internet and easy international voice communications, operating an amateur radio setup would seem like a thing of the past. But that’s not the case.

Ham radio, as it is most often called, is alive and well in the Cayman Islands, and it serves not only as a passionate hobby for a couple of dozen residents, but also provides an important communications link in times of emergency.

Although the word ‘ham’ for amateur radio operators was a slur when it was first coined in the early part of the 20th century - along the lines of a ‘ham’ or bad actor - the term is now widely used without any negative connotations.

Back in the mid-1970s, Dr. Joe Jackman was a ham radio operator here in the Cayman Islands. He said he and Frank Scotland were the main two people operating amateur radios at the time.  Jackson, who is originally from Montserrat, said he became involved in ham radio through the Boy Scouts back home. When he moved to Cayman in 1974 he brought his hobby with him, partially as a pastime.

“There was nothing to do in those days. There were no TV or radio stations, so I spent my time on ham radio,” he said. “It kept me out of trouble, too.”

Ham radio allowed Jackman to stay in touch with friends from the Eastern Caribbean and to make new friends all over the world.  He said there was one man from Tennessee he would talk to almost every night, sometimes for hours.

Since ham radios can transmit and receive all over the world, Jackman said he would sometimes get up in the middle of the night so he could talk to people in places in the Pacific Ocean like Japan and Australia.

“There was one man from Australia with whom I became quite friendly,” he said. “When I stopped [transmitting] for a while, he actually called on the telephone to check if something was wrong with me.” 

Many people he talked to didn’t know where the Cayman Islands were. At least once he made contact with someone from islands he had never heard of.

“The man said he was from the Chagos Islands. I had to look on a map to find the Chagos Islands were in the Indian Ocean.”

The farthest contact he ever made with the ham radio wasn’t even on earth.

“I spoke to the guys on the way to the moon,” he said, speaking about the Apollo 11 mission back in 1969. Jackman said that it had been announced that the astronauts would be trying to reach ham operators on earth on their way to the moon.

“A lot of people were trying to reach them,” he said. “I was sent a certificate [documenting the contact].”

The hobby grows

As the years passed, more people got involved in ham radio operation in the Cayman Islands. Some of the other early ham radio operators in Cayman were Gurney Panton, Ron Sefton, Roger Corbin, Les Anstead, Alan Kimble, Bill Banks, Gordon Jacobus, Mike Trickett and Jack Hollingworth.  In 1979, eight resident hams got together to form the Cayman Amateur Radio Society. The number of members has grown to more than 20, according to current Society President John Darby.

Darby, who’s been a ham operator for more than 30 years here in the Cayman Islands, says he still gets on the radio every day, usually in late afternoon or early evening.

Besides the social aspects of the hobby, there can also be a competitive side. Contesting, sometimes known as radiosport, is a competitive activity conducted by ham operators.  Darby said the contests usually run from 7pm on a Friday until 7pm on a Sunday and that the object is to try and make contacts with as many other amateur radio operators as possible.

“It’s not uncommon for operators to make between 3,000 and 5,000 contacts over the weekend,” Darby said.

Jackman said that some of the early contesting helped “put Cayman on the map” as people made contact with operators here.

All ham operators have to get a licence in order to broadcast. The licences only cost CI$20, but Darby said it’s not just a matter of paying the fee.

“You have to sit a test, and it’s not an easy test you can breeze through,” he said. “It takes about six weeks of study for most people. If you’re Einstein, you might be able to do it in two weeks, but it could take others three months.”

Those that are successful at the test get a licence with a prefix that depends on where their station address will be. ZF1 is for Grand Cayman, ZF8 is for Little Cayman and ZF9 is for Cayman Brac.

The main rules for ham licences are that they cannot use the radio for commercial purposes or for the benefit of any social, political or religious organisation.  Hams can only speak or otherwise send messages to other hams.

Local ham radio operators aren’t the only ones who obtain licences here in the Cayman Islands.  Darby said licensed ham radio operators from other countries can get a reciprocal licence here simply by paying the annual fee. These reciprocal licences allow visiting hams to operate from Cayman while they are visiting the island, using the prefix ZF2.  Many of these reciprocal licensees come to Cayman specifically to operate during a contest, usually using the Cayman Amateur Radio Society building as their operating station.

Ham headquarters

The Cayman Amateur Radio Society got a permanent club shack in 1990 on Andrew Eden’s property in Savannah on the road to Pedro/St. James. Eden, who has been an active ham radio operator for more than 30 years, is on the radio regularly, talking to people from all over the world.  Like most hams, Eden keeps a log of all the contacts he makes.

When hams visit from overseas, which is fairly regularly, Eden usually meets them.

“It is one of the tourism factors you don’t hear about,” he said.

Eden also travels to ham radio conferences, including one in Ohio called the Dayton Hamvention that draws more than 2,000 amateur radio operators.

Like most Caymanian men of his generation, Eden spent time at sea and he took his ham radio equipment with him aboard the ships on which he served. Eden said he talked on the ham radio from the ship every day, often to people back here in Cayman, to help pass the time and to alleviate the loneliness of life at sea.  When Category 5 Hurricane Allen passed close to the Cayman Islands in 1980, Eden was on a ship off the coast of Africa.  He was eventually able to reach Jackman to find out everything was fine back home.

Over the years, Eden has put a lot of money into his ham radio hobby.

“It doesn’t have to be expensive, but the longer you’re in it, the more you tend to spend - just like other hobbies,” he said.

Hams in hurricanes

Without a doubt, one of the most highly attended rap sessions at the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando in March was one that dealt with amateur radio operations. Hams came from miles around to attend the half-day session, which provided them a chance to hear about the importance of their hobby during hurricanes.

Julio Ripoll, the assistant director of the amateur radio station WX4NNHC located in the National Hurricane Center in Miami, explained the role of ham operators.

“We fill the gap between technology and old-fashioned communications,” he said, adding that ultimately, one of the goals of the station during a hurricane situation is to help save lives.  During hurricanes, ham operators at WX4NNHC scan the ham radio frequencies for other ham contacts at sea or in various US and Caribbean locations for updates on weather conditions and impacts.

Although the Cayman Islands does not have anything similar to WX4NNHC, the local ham operators always play an important information role during hurricanes, often reporting data directly to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The reports from hams often make their way into the advisories issued by the Hurricane Center, as they did during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

“Reports from ham radio operators and the Cayman Meteorological Service indicate that power is out throughout the island,” said the National Hurricane Center back then.

“Numerous buildings have lost their roofs. Water up to two feet deep covers the airport runway, and water as high as five feet is flowing through many homes.”

Besides becoming a valuable news source, the ham operators also enable communications to worried friends and relatives. Jackman said that during Hurricane Allen, Grand Cayman was unable to communicate with Cayman Brac, even by ham radio.  However, he was able to make contact with a woman in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was then able to make contact with someone in Cayman Brac, who relayed the message that Cayman Brac had not fared badly during the storm.

For his efforts during Hurricane Allen, Jackman received special recognition from then-governor Thomas Russell.

Ham operators can also serve as valuable relay stations for disasters in other countries.  After the strong earthquake in Guatemala in 1976, Jackman relayed information he was able to receive from the Central American country on to other countries that couldn’t make contact directly.

Eden has actively transmitted during several hurricanes, including Hurricane Ivan, during which he transmitted for all about a couple of hours.

“All my antennas came down,” he said.  “But as soon as the worst of it passed, I was out of my house putting up temporary antennas.”

Eden’s bunker-like station in his home has a concrete roof and battery power, allowing him to communicate when electricity fails.

Local ham Kern Owens was able to transmit throughout Hurricane Ivan and afterwards, giving important weather updates, refuting reports of fatalities and providing the outside world with information on what was happening in Cayman.

With much of Cayman’s telecommunications capacity severely reduced or out completely, it was old-fashioned ham that saved the day.

“When everything else fails, ham radio is still operating,” Eden said.