When Glen Cuoco first took up ham radio operation as a hobby, it was so popular that you had to get a licence to participate. The Radio Society of Bermuda (RSB) had so many members they had their own clubhouse in Pembroke.

Today the clubhouse is long gone and membership has fallen to about 50 members, only a dozen of which are active.

“It is hard now because of the Internet,” said Mr. Cuoco who actually makes a living through the Internet as a webmaster. “People can communicate with one another over the Internet. They have web cams on their computers and talk back and forth. With ham radios you have to get a licence.”

At present the radio licence requires some radio theory, basic electronic understanding and the ability to do 13 words a minute of Morse code. But throughout the world, ham radio operators are trying to loosen the requirements to attract more people to the hobby.

“The basic electronic understanding is so that if something goes wrong you can make sure that you are not causing interference to your neighbours,” said Mr. Cuoco. “We are trying to drop the Morse code requirement. No one really uses Morse code for emergencies now. That was the reason you had to do Morse code then, because that signal would get out when a voice wouldn't. We are trying to drop that to make it a little easier for people to get on board.”

“When we first got on we had to make 500 contacts with Morse code before we could talk to anyone on the microphone.

“That is still on the books, but we are trying to get that changed. It is about trying to get the time to go in and work on it.”

However, Mr. Cuoco still doesn't want to see radio licences handed out “willy-nilly”.

“It is a hobby, but we need to protect it,” he said. “We don't want to get people involved who won't appreciate and will ruin it. There will always be some kind of exam, probably radio theory and maybe a five word a minute Morse code requirement for the full licence.”

He said many clubs of all types are suffering from low membership, because people prefer to stay at home.

“We do have trouble getting younger members,” he said. “The Internet has really been the main problem, plus the Morse code. It took me six months before I could do it. It is like learning a new language. But I did it then and I can do Morse code to this day. A lot of the fellows who did it then, disposed of it immediately. Today I can copy it, but I can't copy it as fast as I could.”

Mr. Cuoco's typical radio contacts might include two guys in Hawaii driving to work, a man in the United States wondering what hotel to stay at in Bermuda, or a guy on a space station.

“I have had a contact with a Russian fellow on the Mir station,” said Mr. Cuoco. “That was probably my most memorable one. They had ham operators up in space shuttles. The first guy who went up I heard him and couldn't get back to him. It was amazing, I couldn't get to him when I called him on the microphone.”

Mr. Cuoco scrambled to make contact again, but couldn't. Just as he was about to give up the man on the Mir station called him back over the microphone.

“He wanted to talk to me,” said Mr. Cuoco. “That was great. You only have 20 to 30 seconds to talk because Mir was moving so quickly. We just exchanged names and said hello. By that time it was on its way past us already so we didn't have a chance to talk.”

But RSB is not all fun and games. They do serve a useful purpose to the community. Over the years Mr. Cuoco and other Bermuda ham radio operators have helped emergency services at events like Race Weekend and the Santa Claus Parade.

“I have a few people who are out on bikes that can go throughout the course and they report back to me,” said Mr. Cuoco.

He might help with everything from an accident to a sudden, urgent need for toilet paper at a pit stop along the way.

Sadly, even this aspect of ham radio operation is being phased out by higher technology.

“It has become more sophisticated over the years whereas before we did everything,” he said. “We told race officials who was where. They never had communications for that. Now they are much better equipped. They have their own radios. People have cellphones.”

It used to be that a ham radio operator would have to be stationed in each St. John's ambulance, but now Mr. Cuoco just sits at a desk with his radio, the St. John's radio, the race committee radio and the Police.

“We have everything covered for emergencies,” he said. “That is what we are there for now. They can do their own reporting and they have become more sophisticated.”

In his spare time he is also an entertainer and has a band called ‘The Travellers'. He is the lead singer and plays the keyboard. He use to play the drums but he got “tired of lugging them around”.

Mr. Cuoco said ham radio is a hobby for people who love people. Over the years he has made friends around the world and helped to attract many visitors to the Island during the heyday of tourism.

“In the beginning of 1976 I started talking to a fellow in New Jersey,” said Mr. Cuoco. “Every Saturday and Sunday we would get on and talk on the same frequency. That has now become known as the Bermuda net. People know it all around the world. If anyone wants to come to Bermuda and they have questions that is where they usually find us on a Sunday morning. We make a lot of friendships that way. It is a great hobby.”

Every country has its own radio call letters to help easily identify callers from those countries. Bermuda's ham radio call letters are VP9.

“I could legally talk to people all around the world, and any time of day because there are different frequencies that you can use,” he said. “Everyone speaks in English. There will be people who speak in broken English. The ones who don't speak English, you can't talk to. The Morse code comes in handy for that. Morse code uses a lot of abbreviations. Report is ‘RPT', for example. That is for everyone to use. So it is a common language. I have talked to a lot of people who you have to listen to very carefully to hear what they are saying. Sometimes it is really difficult.”

Many people that Mr. Cuoco makes contact with are looking for a postcard size card called a QSL.

“There are bunch of Q codes that mean things,” he said. “QSL has to do with chatting with somebody.”

Mr. Cuoco has collected so many QSL cards that he actually has hired someone in Maryland to manage them all.

“There use to be an annual worldwide Bermuda contest sponsored by the Department of Tourism,” he said. “The winners of the ham radio contest would be flown in from Europe, America and England.

“We would talk to thousands of people during that contest weekend,” he said.

“People would get on the radio because they knew they could win a trip and nobody else could do that. We had the best prize in the world. Unfortunately, with everything the way it goes they cut things out, they didn't want to pay for all these trips again. We had to cut it down to Europe and North America. And then one year they didn't want to do it at all.”

He said you have to be a people person, otherwise there is no pull from it. “There is no other reason to be involved,” he said.

“I have a lot of guys who say, if you are in this area come and stay with me. They don't know if I smell bad or look ugly. That is how it is - a brotherhood. We share a common interest.”

If the RSB has suffered from the Internet it has also benefited. The club has an informative website www.bermudashorts.bm/rsb .