Goa, May 8 -- Amateur radio or ham radio is practised by more than 22,000 licensed users in India. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in1921 and by the mid 1930's there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Once the late PM Rajiv Gandhi waived the import duty on wireless equipment in 1984, numbers picked up. As of 2007, there were more than 16,000 operators in the country. In Goa, too the numbers are gradually increasing. As of 2024, there are around 20 hams in the State and the number is increasing by one or two every year.

For the young Amey Pandit his interest in radio astronomy led him to ham radio. A ham operator since 2015, prior to that he was a short wave listener. Anyone who is interested is called short wa...