OSAGE COUNTY — At a farmhouse near Frankenstein, Amateur Radio operators from the Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club of Jefferson City gathered last Friday for FUNXPEDITION 2025, a special Halloween event held since at least the 1980s. Gary Zeilman (call sign K0WYN) has been a longtime club member and has hosted it since 1992.  Frankenstein is especially unique for local radio operators because it is the only Frankenstein in the United States.

“We have a great time every year,” Zeilman said. “All of these guys are dedicated to ham radio, and we love talking to people all over the country and the world.”

In years past, enthusiasts have also used the Frankenstein Community Ballpark or parish hall to contact operators from just about everywhere.

“I remember working stations in Germany and Sweden last year, and we can often get into the Balkans when conditions are right,” said Kent Trimble (call sign K9ZTV) of Jefferson City, one of the longest-running ham operators in the group. “Russia, South America, Europe, Hawaii, and Alaska are always a thrill. Japan and Asia stations are sometimes available, depending on sunspots and propagation — how radio waves propagate around the Earth.”

Each Halloween, up to 25 people come together and take turns working the radios. One station sends and receives Morse Code signals, while another uses voice to make contacts.

“Amateur Radio (euphemistically called ‘Ham Radio’) is really a hobby of a thousand hobbies,” said Trimble. “On the surface, it may appear as one interesting entity, but there’s so much more to it than that. The Amateur Radio community has its own satellites with a sizable group communicating through their repeaters. Other enthusiasts specialize in bouncing signals off the moon and back, while others are interested in antenna designs, electronic circuits, amateur television, message handling, or exploring new digital modes. The International Space Station carries Amateur Radio equipment and many astronauts are licensed hams.”

“If you wanted to pursue every aspect of ham radio during your lifetime, you wouldn’t have enough time to do it,” said club president Bryan Braunschweig (call sign W0ESE) of Jefferson City, who has been a member for 20 years. “A new activity gaining popularity is the merging of Amateur Radio with hiking. Operators take battery-powered radios into the field, throw antennas into trees, and participate in activities called Summits-on-the-Air (SOTA) and Parks-on-the Air (POTA).”

English is usually the language of choice when communicating with foreign stations, but on Morse Code, a set of specialized signals known as Q-signals convey common thoughts which transcend language differences.  “All Amateur Radio operators are eager to exchange call signs, signal reports, locations, and first names,” said Braunschweig.

“Whether it’s English, French, Lithuanian, or Swahili, the world is such a globally interconnected planet that it becomes essential that we have a common language of some kind,” said Trimble. “Winston Churchill joked about the United States and Great Britain being two countries separated by a common language. That was a very good insight. So many things can separate us, but if you’re going to have some kind of unification worldwide, you’ve got to speak the same language.”

Further, Trimble noted that ham radio exists to foster good will and bring nations together in a humanitarian way. “We don’t talk politics and we don’t talk religion,” he said. “Outside of that, we’re free to talk about most anything. But the bulk of our communicating is about the hobby itself, its technology, its equipment, and the condition of the ionosphere.”

Braunschweig added that the purpose of all Amateur Radio clubs is to have good fellowship and learn from each other.

Trimble noted that the term “wireless” is often misunderstood today.  “Cell phone companies talk about their products being wireless, and users, especially young people, think that what they hold in their hands is wireless communication,” he explained. “It’s only wireless from the phone to the nearest cell phone tower, and then it’s all connected via the infrastructure of telephone cables. And that infrastructure, as we all know, can fail. Amateur radio, however, is truly wireless. Our radios are connected to an antenna in our back yard. That antenna sends our signals to somebody else’s antenna in their back yard. There is no infrastructure or telephone wires between those two antennas, which may be continents apart. That’s why they say Amateur Radio is the mode of last resort when all else fails. From the very beginning of radio itself, in the first decade of the 20th century, governments throughout the world have recognized the importance of having a pool of trained, experienced, and dedicated citizens to provide that ‘last resort’ communication capability.”

In the event of an emergency or catastrophic event, ham operators have the ability to communicate needs, conditions, and updates to authorities.

“Should local power go out,” said Trimble, “we’ve got generators as a backup. We energize them, get on the air, and maintain communications through a weather net, disaster net, or point-to-point.”

A good example, Trimble added, was the heavy snowstorm in February of 2011 that dumped 17 inches on the area. “Dozens of hams throughout the state activated what is known as the Missouri Emergency Services Net (MESN),” he said. “One of the stations that checked in was the Highway Patrol. We had hams throughout the state reporting road conditions to the Highway Patrol for many hours. That sticks out in my mind as just one example of the public service aspect of amateur radio.”

Many operators are networked with the national Skywarn program, who call in updates during severe weather events from their vehicles using mobile radios.

“We talk to a net control operator,” Braunschweig said. “We report what we’re observing. The net control station aggregates that data and sends it directly to the National Weather Service. Due to the topography of our area, their radar is not always as accurate as they would like it to be.  They don’t always have a way of knowing exactly what is occurring here in the Missouri River valley. If there’s hail, how big is it? Are there clouds with a rotation? Are there wall clouds that can spawn severe storms? Having people trained in what to look for is a valuable public service that we as Amateur Radio operators have an opportunity to provide.”

Trimble said ham radio is sometimes confused with citizen-band radio, Family Radio Service, or GMRS.

One difference is broadcast range capability. “Our technology is more sophisticated than all of those capabilities,” said Trimble. “For example, citizen-band radio is limited by FCC regulations to five watts. We are allocated up to 1,500 watts.”

The term “amateur” has a specialized meaning in radio. It means communication that is non-commercial, done without monetary remuneration. All ham radio operators in the USA must be citizens of the United States and operate under a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission upon successful passage of license examinations, which it administers. Any service rendered to the public by Amateur Radio must be done without any fee being charged.

“We’re doing our annual ‘Halloween FunXpedition’ for fun,” said Braunschweig, “but we’re learning skills and fostering goodwill. We come here once a year, erect portable antennas, set up our equipment, make contact with any station that calls us, and enjoy lots of good food throughout the day.”

Special Event stations may request short-term call signs from the FCC. In keeping with the spookiness of the night, the Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club’s call sign is always W0O and operators give their names as “Igor,” “Vlad,” “Dracula,” etc. Confirmation of contact is through the exchange of “QSL cards.” Each year, W0O creates a new design, which many hams are eager to add to their collection.

Trimble noted the hobby has been nearly a lifelong pursuit for him, having been licensed since 1960 when he was 15.  “It’s a great hobby for retirees,” he said. “I’m 80 years old and still studying magazines, journals, and experimenting with different antenna configurations.”

He earned his ham radio license after an interesting happenstance. “I was working on a Boy Scout signaling merit badge back in 1957, and our advisor was a WW-II Signals Intelligence man,” said Trimble. “One evening he offered to show us Scouts his Amateur Radio station. We didn’t know what a ham radio station was, but six or seven of us piled into his station wagon and headed to his house.  When he opened the door of his “radio shack,” turned the lights on, and threw a bunch of switches, I took three steps into that room and said to myself, “This is for me!”

Radios were large and heavy back then, not miniaturized transceivers as they are today. “Everything ran on vacuum tubes that glowed and gave off marvelous electronic smells when they warmed up,” said Trimble. “Everything was also rack-mounted, from floor to ceiling. I was just blown away. Our instructor started sending Morse Code and told us to start copying. We had been learning it from a reel-to-reel tape machine. But when Morse signals started coming through the air-waves that night, booming out of that big 12-inch speaker, it was just sheer magic. I feel sorry for our young people today. They’ve got their noses in their screens all the time and have no idea of the opportunities for insight and learning available to them were they to interact with older generations.

“Fellowship is an important aspect of amateur radio,” Trimble continued. “It gives us lifelong friends. It is also wonderful for those with handicaps.”

An organization in Golden Valley, Minn., called Handi-Hams works with those who are blind, hearing-impaired, in wheelchairs, or otherwise handicapped. “It is a support community that has been around for decades doing wonderful work — all through Amateur Radio,” said Trimble. “They’re keeping their minds alive by operating nets, building kits, doing electronic repair work, and encouraging each other. It’s a wonderful hobby from a lot of different viewpoints, and open to anyone.”

The Mid-Mo Amateur Radio Club meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Cole County Sheriff’s Office (350 E. High Street, Jefferson City).  Anyone interested in becoming a licensed Amateur Radio operator is most welcome to attend.