Legendary rock drummer Alex Van Halen is no stranger to the airwaves. The perrenial hard rock pounder has enjoyed decades of frequency modulation popularity as a founding member of the band that bears his namesake.
No longer concerned with the politics of top-forty airplay, Alex has embraced the incredibly popular HAM Radio pass time in a big way.
"It's just crazy how you can connect with people from all over the planet! It all started with a small receiver my physical therapist gave me. (laughing) At first, I thought it was some kind of cruel joke...like some kind of medic alert bullshit. I was like, I can use a fucking phone man...are you calling me stupid? He assured me that it was simply a way to occupy my time. Eventually, I started messing around with it...like talking to truckers and stuff...the rest is history. There's a whole world out there."
"After a few months, I decided to get one of the big antenna things...then another receiver (laughing)...I spent alot of money. By that time, I was far enough along to sit up in a chair, and met some dudes from Romania that had neck pain.
Fucking Romania! I was talking to Romania! Those guys were a wealth of information, not to mention the networking hookups
.
Just the other day, I was talking to some dude from Thailand. I'll be going over there in a few weeks to check out his accupuncture clinic. (laughing) He's got a fucked up voice, but seems pretty smart!"
AVH is currently working on a beginners' HAM radio book, to be published mid 2006.
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