WEST LIBERTY, Iowa — Succulent swine was not the topic of conversation for Hamfest participants — and it never is.

The annual amateur radio, or ham radio, convention in West Liberty celebrated its 25th year, with more than 500 participants and vendors scattering the Muscatine County Fair-grounds in trailers and truck beds to talk shop and buy and trade equipment for the 100-year-old technology.

The $5 ticket proceeds are split between the Muscatine Amateur Radio Club and Washington Area Amateur Radio Club, both hosts of the event. The Muscatine club uses the money to fund its non-profit operations, support next year’s Hamfest and assist in funding a scholarship to Muscatine Community College.

Tom Brehmer, Hamfest coordinator and Muscatine Amateur Radio Club treasurer, has been active with ham radio for 20 years after getting his feet wet in broadcasting as a radio station employee at WOC in Davenport.

“It’s a free chatroom,” Brehmer, 45, said of ham radios. “You can meet people from all walks of life. We have operators who are priests, work in government, mailmen, security guards — you name it.”

Some famous ham radio operators include the legendary TV anchor, the late Walter Cronkite and Joe Walsh with the band, The Eagles, Brehmer said.

Brehmer got his start with CB (citizen’ band) radio, which he calls a “gateway drug to ham radio.”

“I like to talk,” Brehmer said. “I like using voice communications.”

Dave Mayfield, 48, of Moline, has been interested in ham radio since he was a little boy.

“I was just always into radios,” Mayfield said, adding that he often restored vintage equipment. “It’s been around a really long time. If you look at any company – Apple or Microsoft, for example – most of the people making that technology are ham operators.”

Ernie Jensen, 56, of Janesville, said his interest stemmed from the CB radio as well, but now keeps up with trading CB and ham radio equipment. He’s been attending the Southeast Iowa Hamfest for seven years.

“I was interested in radio but didn’t have the ambition to study all the codes,” Jensen said.

In the early days of ham radio licensing, operators needed to know Morse code, something Mayfield said he knows but the Federal Communication Commission has since removed from its requirements. The licensing test is a multiple-choice test, open for anyone who wants to operate a ham radio.

“There are a lot of clubs in Iowa,” Jensen said. “In fact, Cedar Rapids has the highest number of radio operators per capita in the United States.”

Brehmer said an estimated 750,000 people are licensed ham operators in the U.S.  with more than six million operators worldwide. Brehmer said there are 6,000 licensed amateur operators in Iowa alone.

Amateur radio is not just for chatting with folks halfway around the world, although Brehmer and his cohorts have done so many times. It’s also used for technical and emergency communications.

During the June 2008 floods, Brehmer said it was amateur radio operators who helped get information about shelter occupants and needed supplies when other communications like the Internet were exhausted or shut down.

Amateur radio operators are also approved by the National Weather Service, Brehmer said, and many can provide updates to the NWS for funnel clouds or threatening weather.

“When you have a flood or a storm, the power goes out and cell phones may not always work,” he said.

Brehmer said one of the best aspects of the ham radio is it can be used by anyone – from young people to seniors thanks to evolving technology. Computer and voice-to-text programs make the ham radio accessible for people with hearing impairments, and video broadcasting makes it more interesting beyond voice.

“It’s worldwide,” he said. “It has kept the hobby alive.”