ENTERTAINMENT
December 7, 2001 | STEVE CARNEY, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
WASHINGTON--Think of ham radio, and the image that crops up may be of a '50s whiz kid building his own receiver, or a retiree tapping out Morse code in some darkened room: at best an antiquated hobby. After all, why bother, when you can chat with someone a world away using the Internet? But that's the thing, amateur radio enthusiasts say; an Internet chat can't compare to an actual conversation with a new friend in a foreign country.