Ham radio...for those involved in disastor area

[93turbohatch]

My friend has convinced me to get me a ham radio license. After the last storm blew thru this was his way of communication with some of his family members and friends. I'm in...who else is?? I figured if you got trapped you could let people know with this way of communication.

 

[n8thegr8]

I have a license but never got a radio. I've been thinking of getting a handheld or a portable after these storms, but I'm not sure how well one would work in a shelter. I would think in a concrete shelter in the city you might could hit a repeater, but I'm not sure about the steel shelters. Anyone tried it?

 

[Poke78]

My friend has convinced me to get me a ham radio license. After the last storm blew thru this was his way of communication with some of his family members and friends. I'm in...who else is?? I figured if you got trapped you could let people know with this way of communication.

It depends (a standard answer in anything radio, BTW) because if you are in an underground shelter, your signal would not travel very far. This would also apply to an above-ground fabricated steel safe room. If you're just under some debris, that would improve your signal's ability to get out.

Next, if you're depending on a repeater to help your signal, there's a chance the repeater may have been affected by the storm, too. Better signal = being able to work multiple repeaters, not just the closest one. OTOH, if you are planning on simplex/direct communications with just handheld radios, that will be at a significantly reduced range. Higher powered vehicle-mounted radios improve the chances of simplex/direct communications.

Bottom line, there are lots of variables -- nothing is a given, no certain facts until proven by actual field conditions testing.

 

[Blitzfike]

I've been a ham since the '70s, worked my share of disaster communications and enjoyed the hobby quite a bit. Each year there is an event called field day in which hams are supposed to set up their equipment and siimulate operations as you would in a disaster. Visitors and guest operators are always welcome at field day sites and it is a good way to introduce prospective hams to the hobby. Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, being on the 22-23, 2013. If I can remember, I will post locations around the area that are hosting field day sites. The tornados that swept through the area in the past few weeks showed the vulnerability of our cellular system. The big communications companies size their equipment for normal usage plus a little. They don't spend the bucks to have enough spare circuits to handle everyone trying to make a call at once. Just imagine the result of a larger disaster on the cell network. Ham radio is still a viable link to provide emergency communications between police and fire dispatch and units in the field with hams riding along. We have done this in the past. In one disaster we provided Packet Radio (a digital format using computer terminals) to relay sensitive information such as victim names etc to keep them from the scanner enthusiasts until family notifications could be made. I would encourage you to jump in and enjoy the hobby. I work more HF, usually from a remote woods campsite than anything else today. Blitzfike

 

[pen25]

if your concerned about getting out when your in a shelter you can fab up a passive repeater antenna. basicly it is two antenna's connected via wire. or you can use the vent as a means of raising an antenna. i know in a couple of steel buildings where cell reception was crappy we installed several passive antenna repeaters.

 

[m.rehme]

I have been studying to get my license , how does a person find out where and when they can take the test?

 

[cjjtulsa]

It's something I've always wanted to do, and tried studying about 20 years ago, but was always too ADD to get the Morse code down.

 

[m.rehme]

I didn't get mine before because of the Morse code, it is not needed now.

 

[oneof79]

I didn't get mine before because of the Morse code, it is not needed now.

I got the 5 wpm morse test, then almost passed the 10wpm test. I then discovered computers and totally forgot all about ham radio and let my license expire. I always think "maybe one of these days I'll get back into it" but never do. It kinda takes the appeal out of it when you don't have to study morse code to advance.

KC5YTJ (expired)

 

[Blitzfike]

There is no Morse Code requirement anymore for any class license. Here is a link to the ARRL website listing testing locations. Just plug in the info and read..
http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session
Blitzfike