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World Radio Day: Mumbai's ham radio enthusiasts share how they stay connected
Updated On: 13 February, 2024 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Shriram Iyengar
On World Radio Day today, we reach out to a group of people who are moving away from the bustle of social media to tap into the old-world communication system of ham radios, the community and presence in the city
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Dhruv Banatwala often uses his ham radio to connect and speak with listeners across the globe
Communication is one of the primary needs of human existence. Even as the digital overdose of social media is forcing some of us to rethink the overcrowded networks around us, a small group of people continue to use and propagate one of the oldest surviving ‘social networks’ in the world — the ham radio.
For Vile Parle-resident Jayesh Banatwala, it has been a daily practice for the last three decades. A commerce graduate, his first introduction to the ham radio was through the weird antenna jutting out of his neighbour’s home. “He was in the merchant navy, and would often use his radio to listen to dispatches,” Banatwala remarks. The founder and secretary of the city’s Mumbai Amateur Radio Institute (MARI), he explains, “It is a unique form of communication. All you need is curiosity about technology, an inclination and some knowledge of protocol.” It is just an evolution of the basic telephone-on-a-string toy you had as a child, he says.
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