Robert

First of all, go have a chat with your local EC/RO.

A lot of amateurs feel that they can contribute in an emergency by being
prepared to operate portable or mobile without commercial mains power. This
is one dimension, but unless you are connected to your local ARES/RACES
organization, and understand the procedures, your primary contribution is
likely to be delivering coffee. When there is a serious problem of some
sort, there just isn't time to train folks that want to help. You need to
be connected with your local folks well ahead of time, so you can learn just
what has to happen in the event of an incident. If you don't know who your
local EC is, contact your SEC (k5mwc at arrl.net) to find out.

VHF packet can be an inportant component of emergency response, we use it
extensively up here, but it will be totally useless unless it is a component
of YOUR county's plan. This is another reason you want to get with the
local folks and understand your local infrastructure.

The suggestions about a junk laptop are pretty good. If you are using a
TNC, it doesn't take much in the way of a computer to operate packet. If
you are looking at a used laptop, I would take care to find one with a
decent battery. For many old laptops a replacement battery will cost more
than the laptop.

The TNC is an expensive bit and it's a pain to carry around yet another box
for portable operation. Of course, one advantage to you is that with the
TNC, there's probably no need to leave your Mac behind. There are now
software only packet implementations, but if you choose this route, you will
want a little beefier computer. It doesn't need to be some killer machine,
just something that will run Windows 98 reasonably well. I would look for
something like a Pentium II, although you probably could get away with a
Pentium. It needs to have a decent sound card built in, many early laptops
didn't so look at this. For use with a TNC, you are just as well off with a
386/486 type of machine, which are amazingly cheap these days.

If you intend to do a bit of experimentation, you may want to avoid the
newer NT/W2K/XP machines for the time being. They throw a lot of roadblocks
in the way of some of the ham software, and it's probably worthwhile waiting
until the software catches up before jumping on that bandwagon. However, if
all you intend to do is packet, MixW does work reasonably well in the newer
environments.

Hope this helps..

...

"Robert" wrote in message
om...
I am new to Ham Radio. I am very interested in APRS and Packet radio.
As I start to build my ham shack and complete my vehicle for RACES
what is some good advice for me? I work mainly with Mac computers in
the design and graphics area so I am currently shopping around for
cheap PCs to install in my Ham shack and an old laptop for the vehicle
to do APRS. I listened to some interesting conversations on VHF
concerning the above subjects but as you would know it is not the
complete picture. So if you were starting out in too this two fields
of Ham radio what advice would you give if you are an Elmer to a
newbie. I am interested in buying used equipment when possible.

regards,
Robert
KD5YHY