Ham radio enthusiast tunes in daily
Don Calbick reaches over to tune his ham radio inside his Moses Lake home. Calbick has enjoyed the hobby since age 14.
MOSES LAKE - At each sunrise, Don Calbick communicates with people worldwide with his ham radio.
Calbick, a retired Moses Lake High School math teacher, started his hobby at age 14.
It's when he used to tune in broadcast radio and pick up stations in New Jersey.
His radio had shortwave coils, Calbick explained.
He and a friend exchanged Morse code over their radios.
Back them, many broadcast stations didn't come in until after sunset. When the sun went down, the two teens hooked up a wire between their homes and sent Morse code.
Calbick didn't know Morse code, but worked from his notes and later learned it.
He also got into Morse code with Boy Scouts, as he had to do five words a minute to earn a merit badge.
After his teen years, he stuck with his hobby into his latter years.
"I've been married to it for almost 50 years now," his wife, Cynthia Calbick, said.
She hears the lingo and attended ham radio club meetings with her husband.
His hobby has worked well for the couple, as it always gave her time to do the things she was interested in doing.
"It's a huge interest for him," she said.
Cynthia said when she meets ham radio operators in person, a long list of filters is cut off. It's because over the air, ham radio operators don't discuss politics or religion. They are also prevented from singing, selling items and swearing.
She found Don's hobby extremely useful when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980.
She was visiting the Tri-Cities with her troop of 21 Girl Scouts and wasn't able to get home to Moses Lake for five days. Roads were closed and there was limited visibility from the ash.
On a radio that picked up shortwave, Cynthia and the girls heard exactly what roads were closed.
She knew she could trust the information was accurate and not exaggerated.
Don's hobby also helped exchange students living in Moses Lake 40 years ago, before cellphones and the Internet were available.
To communicate with their parents back home in Australia and Brazil, the students knew to find a ham radio operator: Don.
"I used a handle a lot of birthday messages or Christmas messages, Don recalled.
The hobby provided Don with opportunities for prizes.
He spelled "Oklahoma" with call signs and received a coffee mug as a prize.
He's also learned more about other countries.
Before the breakup of the Soviet Union, people could go to a clubhouse and transmit.
"There were very limited things they could say," Cynthia recalled.
It's a tip-off when ham radio operators only discuss what kind of gear they have or how well they can hear you.
This means "it's really tight," Don said, referring to a country's openness.
"When you try to work something like Iran, forget it. Syria, the same way," he commented.
The only way he received postcards from other ham operators in Afghanistan was from a US military members overseas.
King Hussein of Jordan was a ham radio operator, but Don says he "never did work him."
Don also explains how English is the number-one language globally because it's the language operators use.
There are about 300 people in the world with contacts in as many countries as Don, he said, referencing a DX (distance) Century Club Year Book.
He estimates there are between 60,000 and 70,000 ham operators in the US. About 2 million people operate ham radios worldwide.
Cynthia explained how communication is the purpose of ham radio operations.
"In an emergency, he can still communicate around town and throughout the state," she said.
Although the use of cellphones reduced the amount of ham radio messages, it still has its place in case of a disaster or a power outage.
If cellphone calls cannot go through, Don's equipment can be operated with batteries.