By G. Meyer and P. Hedlund, TME

William “Radio Bill” Hopper has been a radio hobbyist since he was a young boy. At age 9 he obtained his FCC license as an amateur radio operator. He made it a lifelong passion.

Now, at age 89, he is still smart as a whip and serving as what is called “an Elmer” in the ham radio world, which is an elder mentor—sort of our local yoda—who shares knowledge that can open the world of ham radio to Mountain Community residents.

Hundreds of thousands of amateur radio hobbyists in the United States, and over a million women and men worldwide, are proud to call themselves “hams.”

Ham radio operates in the 3 to 30 MegaHertz (MHz) range of radio frequencies, which function within wavelengths of 10 to 80 meters. They have unlimited reach and can communicate around the planet or into space.

When disaster strikes a community, among the first utilities to fail are critical electronic communications, both land lines and…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

“Radio Bill” Hopper

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This is part of the August 30, 2019 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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