This redundancy and skill set is paramount.<p>In a past life as a Police officer in a very remote and isolated town, we had a fibre cable severed which took out all telecommunications (fixed/internet/wireless - the works).<p>Besides myself, not a single office knew how to work the HF radio, which was our only lifeline to the outside world thanks to a broken sat phone.<p>Moral of the story is don't get complacent and forget how to use old tech, when the unexpected wipes out modern methods.
I live in an area [0] prone to severe weather and especially violent tornadoes. The local Skywarn [1] repeater is probably the best source of immediate first-hand information when things get bad. There's usually at least a few storm chasers out following the storms, and reports from various places in the area help you get a real feel for how bad a particular storm is.<p>Moreover, the repeater is monitored by all of the local TV and radio stations as well as the city EMA (Emergency Management) and the local National Weather Service office.<p>I'm not licensed (yet, it's on my to-do list for this year), but I still have a small handheld that I tune in whenever the weather is bad. Ham radio is still very much alive.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Alley" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Alley</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN" rel="nofollow">https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN</a>
One of the issues around amateur radio operators is their age. I have a friend who, at 55, was the youngest member of his local ham radio club. It's just not a hobby many people pick up any more.
Something about tech I learned when I worked on container ship autopilots: always have a manual failover! The highest layer of abstraction invariably fails due to its complexity and you’ll need to be able to use the next layer down the stack... all the way to rudder control by hand.
How capable are the satellite communication devices (Iridium, Inmarsat, etc) in a disaster? Do the satellites get overloaded easily?<p>They aren't that expensive any more, you can get a phone for around $500 and basic plan for $50/month.<p>Or you can get a satellite communicator (mostly meant for hiking in the backcountry) that can only send an SOS message or text message for ~$300 for the device and as little as $12/month for a basic plan with a few SMS's included.
Seperate but related, I hope it draws attention to the fact that FM receivers should be a legal requirement in mobile phones. Even if just for emergency purposes
It’s amusing to me when they market 5G network like it’s going to be a big help to emergency workers. They even have a scene of firefighters battling a forest fire. 5g has a range of 1000 feet in perfect conditions. Nobody is going to be using it in a forest fire, unlike amateur radio and HAM.
When I was a bicycle messenger 13 years we used two way radios, celphones weren't reliable enough. They still use two-way radios out there today.<p>When it's clear that civilization is going to collapse, I'll figure out how to use grampa's old ham radio equipment.
Ham radio volunteer and emergency communications is an awesome way to serve the community.<p>It's also 99% of the reason why I got into electrical engineering and landed in the career I'm in. It's still a fun and technically relevant STEM hobby.<p>de NØSSC
This is particularly amusing to me, after the “amateur radio is obsolete” sentiment expressed by the general public and FCC when a portion of the spectrum was scheduled to be reallocated to unlicensed commercial use last year.<p>Raw voice, or even morse code, will always have value in emergencies; but it’s easy to forget and ignore that when everything is calm.<p>EDIT: Clarified that the bands were not sold, but up for re-allocation for commercial use.
I admire the WICEN volunteers. Sending messages across oceans with a AAA battery is not easy, and a community will only need to do that once in anyone's lifetime. But, on rare occasions like the Indian Ocean tsunami, when a continental-scale catastrophe destroys whatever didn't fit in anyone's pocket, that capability is really useful to have. You have to respect the people who keep organising to make it available through the decades where nothing happens, and organise effectively enough that things work when they need to.