Correspondent photo / Maurita Hoffman
Oliver, left, and Amy Lacey are amateur, or ham, radio enthusiasts. Oliver has been involved with radios since he was a kid, while Amy picked up the hobby through Oliver.

No, wait — sorry. They’re amateurs, actually. Ham amateurs. Not experts. “Hamateurs,” if you will.

That’s still not right? Hold on. They’re…both? Experts on the amateurisms of ham?

.-. .- -.. .. — .-.-.- / …. .- — / .-. .- -.. .. — .-.-.-

Dots and dashes? What? Oh wait — yes. Morse code. “Radio. Ham radio.” That makes sense.

The Laceys are amateur, or ham, radio operators who live in Niles. Amy grew up in Youngstown. Oliver hails from Bristol, England.

Although their relationship has grown around the analog, the beginnings of their relationship are digital — they met on the internet. After Oliver crossed the Atlantic to come to the United States, he said Amy was “the reason to stay in the U.S.”

Now, he manages a Jimmy John’s in Niles, and she works for Masonry Material Plus in Youngstown, but the couple spend their free time together indulging a hobby which allows them to talk with people around the world.

Oliver and Amy came to ham radio by different routes.

As a kid in England, Oliver and his friends played with CB radios.

“Just a lot of fun, talking to each other,” he said. “If there were snow days, I found out about them on my ham radio before we heard it on the regular radio.”

He remembered the day “we picked up a transmission from America,” adding, that was when he decided he “could do more stuff with radios than CBs.”

In 1991, Oliver obtained his first ham radio license in England. Later, he attended Brunel University in England, studying radio communication, engineering and radios. In 2016, he came to America and earned his first American license in 2017.

Amy, however, had no interest in radios growing up or when she first met Oliver. She said she eventually came around because he was “so passionate about how they worked and what you could do and how you could reach people.”

In 2022, Amy obtained her “technician” class license, the FCC’s entry-level ham radio license. And, in 2023, Amy and Oliver earned their “extra” class licenses, the third and highest level of ham radio licensure.

Each enjoys different aspects of the hobby.

Oliver likes to build things — “to see how things work,” he explained — and he especially enjoys building antennas.

“I don’t build them to sell, I build them because I enjoy it,” he said. “It’s fun.”

He uses regular, easily available supplies for his antennas. He noted he made his “hex beam” antenna from “cheap Walmart fishing poles.” He added that it “is a directional antenna” used for long distance communication.

“As far as range is concerned, it can cover the entire planet — depending on atmospheric conditions,” he explained.

While Oliver enjoys the technical side, Amy finds the competitiveness of the hobby more to her liking. She said she enjoys contests or marathons designed to see who can contact as many operators as possible in a specified time period.

“It’s only bragging rights,” Amy said. “There’s no prize, but it is fun.”

She said it is nice to reach out to radio operators in different areas, but added, “I don’t think too much of the locations. I just want to talk to as many people as possible.”

Oliver said the radio was a way to communicate before the internet, and added that the use of ham radios increased during the pandemic, “to keep in touch with others.”

He said there still are a lot of local conversations — people checking up on each other, talking about gardening, etc.

“In ham radio lingo, this is called ‘rag chewing,'” Oliver explained. “I don’t do much ‘rag chewing.’ I’d rather find new frequencies or find an operator far away. I’ve talked to people in New Zealand, Africa, Ireland, Kansas and the Dominican Republic.”

His list of contact points numbers in the hundreds.

Amy is a member of the small group of female ham radio operators.

“In 1931, there were 86 female operators and 18,000 men operators,” she explained.

Now, according to arrl.org/fcc-license-counts, there are nearly 750,000 licensed ham operators in the U.S., and only 15% are women. Of that number, “only 7% have the amateur extra license,” Amy said.

Even though each enjoys the hobby in their own way, they still have plenty to do together. They both agreed attending ham radio-related events affords them the opportunity to enjoy radios as a couple.

Both Laceys love attending “hamfests,” which are like swap meets. There, they can meet other operators and find radios and other equipment.

“It’s fun to see what is out there, the recent technology,” said Oliver.

Both enjoy “hamventions” as well, which are large amateur radio conventions.

One of the largest, in Dayton, attracted over 38,000 radio enthusiasts this year. Oliver said attending a hamvention is an opportunity to catch up and “learn new ideas and be together with people who enjoy radios like we do.” He added, “of course, it’s a chance to get some new equipment.”

In addition to shopping and checking out new gear, Amy volunteers to help those planning on taking the licensure test. They both agreed, attending the Hamvention affords the Laceys the opportunity to enjoy radios as a couple.

Another chance to spend time together enjoying their hobby is through an app called “Parks On The Air.” It “promotes emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks.” The app shows parks that encourage operators to visit and use their portable equipment. Amy said going to state parks and broadcasting is a great way to “explore parks around us while being able to go camping and enjoy our hobby outdoors.”

Both are trained severe weather spotters through the National Weather Service’s SKYWARN Storm Spotter Program, but they quickly added, “we are not tornado chasers.” Oliver said that initially the FCC gave amateur radio operators permission to operate so that “they could be used for emergency communications,” like during severe weather events.

He suggested anyone who wants to get started in ham radio operation should check out the internet to find local clubs, including the Western Reserve Amateur Radio Club (W8WRC), www.w8wrc.club and W8VTD Warren, www.w8vtd.com. According to Oliver, both clubs hold monthly meetings. He suggested the National Association for Amateur Radio, www.arrl.org, as a reliable source of information for licensure testing requirements.