Well, if Ahmad Husaini was with you, chances are you’d still feel safe. After all, he is one of the country’s amateur radio operators. And unlike handphones where connectivity is dependent on location, radios can be used to establish contact with almost anyone, anywhere in the world.

Ahmad is a member of the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters’ Society, a group founded in the 1950s. Today there are 13,000 members, a far cry from the 300 they started off with many years ago.

If you want to see just how fascinating this hobby is, perhaps a quick glance at Ahmad’s home in Rawang suffices.

A large antenna sits atop his terrace house, and just beyond the porch, Ahmad huddles over his radio set-up in a small room, turning dials and flipping switches, completely immersed in his hobby.

This is his own little radio station, from which the man, with the call sign 9M2HUS47, communicates with fellow radio operators from all over the world.

It is a unique hobby and a regulated one; to legally operate a ham radio, one must possess official certification.

Regardless, Ahmad, who picked up the hobby in 2014, is still as excited about it today as he was back then.

“I was introduced to the hobby while I was in a car club. We often travelled in convoys and would communicate via radio,” he told FMT Lifestyle.

Curious as to how radios worked, he joined a Selangor amateur radio club.

“There are many different aspects to this hobby,” he said. “One of these is to communicate with foreign radio operators. Another is satellite hunting. This hobby is vast in its scope, really.”

According to him, the fun of the hobby is getting to meet people who may be trawling through the radio waves as he does.

“I have been able to speak to fellow amateurs overseas, like in Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and even in Europe and in America!”

The short wavelengths and low frequencies of radio waves mean they can pass through physical obstacles easily while travelling great distances, unlike handphones.

One famous incident in which amateur radio operators helped save lives was the Tham Luang cave rescue of 2018. In this incident, Thai radio amateurs established communication lines between rescuers and the boys trapped inside the cave.

The extent to which radio waves can travel is so great that astronomers often utilise them for deep space exploration.

It is also no coincidence that radios are often handy during natural disasters, with a simple setup capable of functioning when phone lines are down.

That said, the tools of the trade do not come cheap. “To take up this hobby, you do need to put in some financial investment,” said Ahmad.

Antennas, cables and radio equipment cost a pretty penny, with better quality radios coming with heftier price tags.

Ahmad’s primary radio, for example, was purchased for RM6,800, while his secondary radio cost RM5,500.

Every radio operator generally needs four pieces of equipment. These are the radio itself, a power supply, coaxial cables and an antenna.

Is learning how to operate a radio difficult?

“It’s actually quite easy,” said Ahmad, adding that most modern radios are high-tech enough to make life easier for operators.

With his young kids playing video games in the next room, the question of whether they will inherit their father’s hobby remains.

“I hope so! So far, I haven’t seen any interest from them yet, but maybe one day I will train them to use the radio.”

That said, Ahmad wants them to take up the mantle the formal way, by sitting for the certification exams and getting their own call signs.