By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

He may be an “amateur,” but Bill Santelmann is no novice to radio. The founder of Brooksby’s Radio Amateur Group has 53 years of experience under his belt and has connected as many as 1,000 people from around the world—in one weekend.

Radio amateurs, or hams, are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate radio equipment for personal or public service use. They are known as “amateurs” because they do not receive compensation for their radio use, not because they are inexperienced. Santelmann has a working station set up in his Brooksby apartment home.

Now Brooksby’s Radio Amateur Group (BRAG) is setting up its own station on the sixth floor of Canterbury Court, one of Brooksby’s residence buildings.

Bragging rights
BRAG has been meeting regularly for more than a year, but the only station at Brooksby was Santelmann’s, run from an almost invisible antenna he secured from his apartment home balcony.

Now, with help from Brooksby’s administration, BRAG’s licensed members will be able to put their equipment and knowledge to use in a shared facility. BRAG’s station will be complete once the vertical antenna has been installed on the Canterbury Court roof and ventilation has been put in the station’s room, which was previously used for storage.

“Brooksby has been very cooperative,” Santelmann says. “I have noticed that a lot of people have had interest in amateur radio during their working lives, but didn’t have the time to get into [it]; and now they have the time. We want to make it possible.”

Sunny forecast
A little help from the cosmos will be making it possible for BRAG to maximize the use of its antenna. The station will use both shortwave and long wave frequencies, which carry sound waves to different parts of the world.