From Peter we get this . And remember during 9/11 cell service and most radio communications were disrupted by the fact that the Twin Towers were where the antennas for the cell companies and the public service departments (Fire, Police and other emergency services) were located. Bob Hejl, W2IK whose excellent page on AOL Hometown has been taken down by AOL when they took down their Hometown site, was one of the first HAM Radio ARES Responders to the scene. I'm hoping he can get his page restored, as it was his personal experience of working Ground Zero providing the necessary communications for Emergency Responders as all other forms of communication were disrupted.
In an emergency your Cell phone may not work. If you have FRS or GMRS radios, you are limited to 1-7 miles of range if that, and with everyone else possibly trying to use the same airwaves, you could have problems communicating. Other types of communications you may be able to try, Citizens Band radio's are limited in power and range and once again, the large numbers of other people clogging the bands will make it difficult to communicate.
So what are your options that will allow you to communicate anywhere from 1 miles to over 100 miles and even further?
HAM Radio. For less than 400 dollars you can get 2 mobile radios with power supplies and antennas that will allow you to communicate between your vehicle and your home up to 40-60 miles away without using a repeater, and is not dependant upon the infrastructure such as phone lines. If you lose power at your home a car battery with a small solar charger can keep you communicating. In your car, you already have a battery which can be recharged by your engines alternator. Or you can add a small solar charger to it, to charge the battery without wasting your fuel.
Now waitasec, you say, you need a license to use HAM radio. Yes you do. However the test for a Technician level license costs less that 17 dollars and isn't that hard to obtain. And with that license you are allowed to use 10 meter, 6 meter, 2, meter, 1.25 meter, 70 centimeter and much higher bands of the radio spectrum depending on how much money you wish to spend.
Example from my own personal experience. During the Evacuation for Hurricane Rita, I was sitting in my driveway in my pickup truck talking to another HAM radio operator who was 140 miles away. We were both using the high power setting on our radio's (mine was 45 watts) and we were able to communicate rather well. I found out that the highway was a parking lot with people running out of gas and just abandoning their cars in the middle of the highway and started walking. He also relayed information from another HAM operator who was even further north as to which gas stations had gas, which exits were open and if the feeder roads were blocked or open. I talked to several HAM operators south of me, down by the Rio Grand Valley, and acted as a relay of information for them. Not once did I use a repeater, as the repeaters were being used by the local ARES teams to back up the DPS repeaters.
What magic did I have that allowed me to do this? None really, I had a decent radio (Realistic HTX-212) with a GOOD antenna, (HamStick) The flat ground between all of us helped our signal propagate well and give us the range. The Hams to the north were actually on a higher elevation than I was which gave me the 140 mile range, and the HAMs to the south of me were on the same elevation as I was allowing me to hit between 60-100 miles.
The CB I have in my truck I was lucky if I could even talk 2 miles. The band was filled with people just talking, yelling, cussing and in general getting nothing communicated. Normally on a good day around here I can talk 10-20 miles on it, on a bad day I wonder if I'm even getting to the end of the street.
What are the differences between the 2.
HAM Radio, the one I used was a VHF FM radio putting out 45 watts at high power. This is a line of sight, means of communicating. As long as I have a clear line of sight, no big tall buildings or hills in the way, my signal will travel along the ground a long way.
CB Radio, is limited by law to 4 watts HF AM radio. Which means that even the semi truck next to me on the road can block my signal in that direction. And with only 4 watts of power you aren't pushing your signal very hard to really get heard. Yet there is such a thing as skip which will allow your signal to go further by bouncing on the ionosphere, however with only 4 watts that isn't a whole bunch of power to reach the ionosphere reliably. So you really won't be able to talk very far unless the conditions are very good.
You can see the differences between the 2. Also with HAM radio there are many repeaters which will take my signal and rebroadcast it at a higher power giving me even further range. Many repeaters have battery back up systems backup generators and some have solar back up to charge the batteries for even more redundancy.
So if there was another terrorist attack, or a natural disaster, such as a severe winter storm or an earthquake which knocked out power and communications, how would you let your loved ones know that you are ok? How will you check on them if you are on the road?
Many people take for granted Cell phones, the internet and their home phones. I don't. I have HAM radio's in my house and vehicles and I have back up batteries to run them if necessary.
What do you have?
Mark
The Replica Prop Forum
Very cool site I am also a member of
3 comments:
Very informative blog, thank you.
Some family members and I have been debating the issue re emergency communications in light of both Rita and more recently Ike. We live in the Harris-Liberty county areas (the eastern portion of the eye went right over my home).
I have not found CB channels to be that crowded on the east side of the Houston Metro. There's no doubt that 19 and sometimes 21 are packed (which is actually quite entertaining during my commutes), but I also spend a great deal of time scanning vacant channels.
Also, I don't know any CB users who limit themselves to 4/12 watts for AM/SSB. Do you? Just this morning on my way to work I was traveling south 146 in Mont Belvieu hearing a trucker ask for directions in Channelview and when I was past Baytown I was conversing with a trucker southbound on East 610 heading toward 225. Both these drivers were approximately 15.2 to 16.5 miles away at the time. Clear as a bell. I realize linears are technically illegal, but how active is FCC enforcement of archaic regulations against those not frying their neighbors' TV sets?
Regarding your example of discovering open gas stations, it isn't feasible to travel much further past neighboring communities (e.g., 10 miles). For natural disasters like Rita/Ike, I'm already stocked up on fuel to get me at least through the first few days of generator use, and for terrorist attacks, too distant travel may not even be possible. For Ike, I was already getting gas in Humble-Atascocita by the second day, and had plenty of gas still in stock.
With the lower relative cost and universality of CB versus Ham with no difference in close-range capability, why wouldn't a CBA for EMERGENCY communications come out in favor of CB over Ham?
I'm challenging you to respond not because I'm an avid CBer (I really just started experimenting so as to report back to other family), but because I want to make sure this is the way to go before I start investing more seriously and convincing family members to do the same. Please feel free to email me at Texreiver@yahoo.com.
Thanks for your input.
P.S. Let me bring up a side issue that in talking to other non-hobbyists is apparently an issue (read: obstacle) -- HAM arrogance. That's ironic as I have a professional education and my populist attitude invites others, like HAM operators, to complain to me about the arrogance of others in my profession.
I understand where you are coming from Before I became a HAM operator I was very heavy into CB, and I did use a linear from time to time. One thing about a linear though is the more power you push through, the more channels you bleed over. I had several friends who were pushing 300- 500 watts through the antennas on channel 6 and I could hear them on channel 19 while I was 5-6 miles away. At the time I was living in St. Louis and if you look up the key up contests, you know they originally started there. CB in St. Louis at night was almost useless for communication beyond 3-5 miles because everyone had an amp and was walking over everyone else. That is one of the reasons I got interested in HAM radio. I could get a 50 watt 2 meter radio for the same cost as a top of the line Cobra 148GTL that I still would have had to modify and add an amp to to get the same range as a radio shack HTX-212 with a good antenna. Plus add in the repeater function and I was sold on HAM radio. I had other interests and still do. QRP or low power CW (morse code) radios can transmit hundreds of miles on 40 meter band using a 9 volt battery for power, putting out as little as 1/2 a watt of power. That really got my interest going.
I do also know what you are saying about some of the "snobbery" of HAM radio operators against CB operators. All I can say is that not all of us are like that, and many if not a majority of us would enjoy helping anyone interested in becoming a HAM op to obtain their license to become HAM ops.
Up in the houston area though you have several GMRS repeaters which if you fill out your paperwork and send it in with your license fee will allow you to use the GMRS repeaters in your area no test involved just paperwork and fee. A GMRS radio though setup to use the repeaters though does cost considerably more than a CB or a basic HAM radio.
I have also been interested in setting up a little radio system for the family for when the grid goes down. I currently have a bid in on a 2m radio on e-bay, but I am almost hoping to get out bid on it. I had forgotten that when I got some cheap FRS/GMRS radios I got my GMRS license. FCC rules limit content on HAM bands. Rules are much looser on GMRS. I am now looking for a couple of 5 watt portables and 25-50 watt mobile for my truck in the GMRS band.
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