HAM Radio Club & Ground Station Segment

Have you ever wondered how a radio receives signals from the FM broadcasting station? Have you ever fancied the idea of talking to astronauts in space or receiving images from them? If you are inquisitive about how things work out in wireless communication, then you can get all your answers at the Ham Radio Club.

Ham is a hobby that can be pursued by anyone who owns a transceiver like handheld radio or Baofeng (more commonly known as walkie talkie). A Ham radio operator can talk to other Ham radio operators across the world and even receive signals which can be deciphered later using a simple application to convert them into images or voice or morse code.

Ham radio operators prove to be the last hope of rescue authorities at the time of disasters when all the cellular connections get disrupted and contact could only be established with the help of Hams. The contribution of Hams is of great significance in such times and can’t be ignored. The HRC wants to promote amateur radio as a hobby in IITB and assist students in exploring this field. We conduct a lot of interesting talks as well as hands-on sessions like How Things Work sessions, Satellite Tracking sessions, Antenna Making sessions, FM Transmitter Making sessions, etc.

Apart from amateur radio, the HRC is also working on the setup of a completely autonomous Ground Station Segment at IITB. A GSS is like the brain of satellite communication and is a fundamental requirement of any satellite mission. There have been numerous scenarios where a satellite team wasn’t able to track its satellite due to reasons like the satellite not being completely in the visible sky of their GSS or due to some hardware or software defect, and then the signal from their satellite was received by another ground station at some other location. A good network of ground stations around the world working in coordination would be a cardinal asset to the space research community of the planet. To contribute to this target, the HRC conducts a Ground Station Workshop (GSW) every year for students from other institutes who want to establish a satellite team and GSS in their college. The workshop guides them on how to initialize the team, whom to approach for help, and what sources to look upon when stuck. The workshop also focuses on how to manage a team in a way that it doesn’t become static and keeps working to achieve its target in the long run. To add to all of this, insights on how to enter the world of Ham radio are also provided to encourage the ham culture in the world.

Stay tuned for all updates about the upcoming events of Ham Radio Club.