JJ ) writes:
William wrote:


Many, many, many, many, many people claimed to have successfully used
their cellular telephones fleeing from the Twin Towers. It was in the
news.

Post 9/11, sales of cellular phones skyrocketted. It was in the news.

That is why the cell network was no good for any emergency assistance
communications, it was people overloading the network to call someone to
say they got out alive, calling everyone they knew to turn on the TV,
ect. The cell network can't be counted on for emergency aid in such a
crisis as everyone wants to use their phone for non emergency aid type
calls. That is what I meant when I said in my post that cell networks
tend to become overloaded so that they are practically useless for
emergency aid, so of course there were many, many, many people making
calls, that is why the network was overloaded - DUH. And the
skyrocketing sales of cellular phones after 9/11 will assure that in the
event of another such disaster, the network will be even more overloaded.

That holds for virtually any "service".

Electric companies do not want to invest in too much equipment that will
sit idle most of the time, so they can have problems when there is a sudden
temporary surge in useage. But such surges are uncommon, so it would be a
waste to have capacity at all times to deal with them.

The phone companies do pretty well most of the time, but on peak days,
like holidays, they may suffere a lack of bandwidth. Again, it's not worth
having that much bandwidth available at all times when it would usually sit
unused.

Many ISPs offer "unlimited" hours, but if everyone tried to get on for
all those hours, it would break down. Likewise, they will not have a phone
line for every single user. It works because not everyone uses as much
time as others, and not everyone wants to call in at the same time.

And that's where amateur radio comes in. Emergency preparedness is
always a gamble. Do we spend money on something that will see little
or no use, just in case of an emergency, or do we spend the money on
necessities, and risk not being able to handle emergencies?

If there is an "auxiliary" who have their own radios (saves money)
and has some ability in using those radios (saves staff) then that
money does not have to be spent "just in case". If there is never
an emergency, hams will go on because their interest is not primarily
in providing emergency communication. It is a hobby, which means they
should get more practical use with the radios than if they took a training
weekend once a year. They want the radios for their hobby, so they gladly
pay for the equipment.

But just as an electric company can usually buy power from another company
on the grid when there is a surge in demand, amateur radio is there to
draw on when an emergency comes up that cannot be handled with regular
equipment and staff.

Michael VE2BVW