Following the 1912 disaster of the RMS Titanic, which was exacerbated by inept radio operators, the United States Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912. Expanding on the Wireless Ship Act of 1910, the act required all seafaring vessels to maintain 24-hour radio watch and keep in contact with nearby ships and coastal radio stations. 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... The New York Herald reports the disaster. ... The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ...
Being ratified by 29 nations, the act set a precedent for international and federal legislation of wireless communications. It was followed by the Radio Act of 1927. Wireless is an old-fashioned term for a radio receiver, referring to its use as a wireless telegraph. ...
The birth of amateur radio and radio in general has mostly been historically associated with various experimenters.
At the conference, the familiar amateur radio bands of 80, 40, 20 and 10 meters were established by treaty and international radio callsign prefixes were devised.
Amateur radio operators who are involved in emergency communications often belong to a national or local emergency club, such as ARES and RACES in the United States, AREC in New Zealand, RAYNET in the United Kingdom, WICEN in Australia and Hamnet in South Africa.
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