Ham operators Sumita Sahi and Pranav Sahi

Forty-seven-year-old Pranav Sahi is an “old man” now. No, he hasn’t joined the club of oldsters, rather it is his membership to the elite group of ham operators that has added this sobriquet to his name.

As things go in the ham world, all male members are known as OM (old man) and the women operators are known as YL (young lady), irrespective of their age.

Sahi is among the five ham operators in Patna, who recently got licence from the ministry of communication.

With the addition of the five operators, Patna now has 10 ham operators, who don’t need cellphones or Internet for communication. They can interact with other ham operators from across the globe. The only thing they need is a wireless radio set and a base station. The operators can also access satellite networks for communication, which common people can’t.

The 10 ham operators of Patna are members of Society of Radio Amateurs, a club formed in 1990 to promote Citizen’s Band (CB) radio and ham radio. “The ham radio technology uses certain dedicated frequencies ranging from 500kHz to 500mHz. It reaches out to hams across the globe. At present, there are around 16,000 ham operators in the country but in Bihar the number of such enthusiasts is only 40,” said Sahi, the president of the Society of Radio Amateurs.

A licence is not required for CB radio but for ham operators it is a must. “Licensing is a complicated process. One has to clear a written examination conducted by the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination wing (National Radio Regulatory Authority) of the ministry of communication. Then he/she can apply for the licence to the ministry of communication. Police verification is also done before it goes for inter-ministerial clearances. The home ministry finally issues the licence.”

Sahi said he was happy to get the licence because it helps him in assisting people during disasters. “Our association has initiated talks with the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority. On Wednesday, ham operators associated with our club, would present a mock drill before the authority officials on how our services could be utilised in disaster management programmes,” he said.