(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..


And your point is...?

I'm not really sure what you're getting at, but my point was that it
is reasonable to assume that everyone has a TV and a phone, for
example, but we're not yet at that point with cellphones. Close, but
not there yet. Of course, I would say that, as I don't have one.

The level of use of ham radio is not particularly relevant to the
discussion, except in that there are clearly enough of us to help out
in an emergency.

OK, Alun, lets look at it another way.

We agree that cellular phones can be useful in an emergency.

We agree that not everyone has a cellular phone, maybe only 1/3 of the
US population.

We know that there are very, very, very few amateur radio operators
per capita in the US population.

We can conclude that most people have better access to cellular phones
in an emergency than they have access to amateur radio.


Possibly true, so long as the cell towers are still standing.

Alun wrote in message . ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..


And your point is...?

I'm not really sure what you're getting at, but my point was that it
is reasonable to assume that everyone has a TV and a phone, for
example, but we're not yet at that point with cellphones. Close, but
not there yet. Of course, I would say that, as I don't have one.

The level of use of ham radio is not particularly relevant to the
discussion, except in that there are clearly enough of us to help out
in an emergency.

OK, Alun, lets look at it another way.

We agree that cellular phones can be useful in an emergency.

We agree that not everyone has a cellular phone, maybe only 1/3 of the
US population.

We know that there are very, very, very few amateur radio operators
per capita in the US population.

We can conclude that most people have better access to cellular phones
in an emergency than they have access to amateur radio.


Possibly true, so long as the cell towers are still standing.

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?

(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..


And your point is...?

I'm not really sure what you're getting at, but my point was that
it is reasonable to assume that everyone has a TV and a phone, for
example, but we're not yet at that point with cellphones. Close,
but not there yet. Of course, I would say that, as I don't have
one.

The level of use of ham radio is not particularly relevant to the
discussion, except in that there are clearly enough of us to help
out in an emergency.

OK, Alun, lets look at it another way.

We agree that cellular phones can be useful in an emergency.

We agree that not everyone has a cellular phone, maybe only 1/3 of
the US population.

We know that there are very, very, very few amateur radio operators
per capita in the US population.

We can conclude that most people have better access to cellular
phones in an emergency than they have access to amateur radio.


Possibly true, so long as the cell towers are still standing.

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back up...

Alun wrote in message . ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.

(William) wrote in
m:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.


I wasn't talking about our towers, though, was I? I have one I've never put
up. The point is that, for example, we can communicate in and out of a
disaster area on HF SSB, for example, without needing a tower. Doesn't
happen every day, but that's something to be thankful for.

Alun wrote in message . ..
(William) wrote in
m:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.


I wasn't talking about our towers, though, was I? I have one I've never put
up. The point is that, for example, we can communicate in and out of a
disaster area on HF SSB, for example, without needing a tower. Doesn't
happen every day, but that's something to be thankful for.

True enough. People might be able to use cellular phones to do the same.

(William) wrote in
om:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
m:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back
up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be
months or years if they're ever replaced at all.


I wasn't talking about our towers, though, was I? I have one I've
never put up. The point is that, for example, we can communicate in
and out of a disaster area on HF SSB, for example, without needing a
tower. Doesn't happen every day, but that's something to be thankful
for.

True enough. People might be able to use cellular phones to do the
same.


Exactly. Might or might not.

"William" wrote in message
om...
Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
m:

Alun wrote in message
. ..
(William) wrote in
om:

Question: Are there more cell towers in America than there are
Amateur Radio Licensees?


Don't know, but if we fall over in an eartquake we just get back
up...

Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.


I wasn't talking about our towers, though, was I? I have one I've never
put
up. The point is that, for example, we can communicate in and out of a
disaster area on HF SSB, for example, without needing a tower. Doesn't
happen every day, but that's something to be thankful for.

True enough. People might be able to use cellular phones to do the same.

Probably not though. The cell phone system is only set up to handle normal
levels of usage. It gets bogged down when traffic levels rise dramatically
as they do in emergencies. If any cell sites are lost in the emergency that
either cuts off that area from cell service entirely or further overloads
the system. In the case of 9/11, calls placed via landlines and/or cell
phones took 30 minutes or more to get through and some did not get through
at all.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

William wrote:


Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.


Even if my tower should fall over, I can string up antennas and be back
on the air in hours of not minutes. Can you do that with your cell phone?

JJ wrote in news:
:

William wrote:


Hah, funny one. I've seen amateur towers fall over. It can be months
or years if they're ever replaced at all.


Even if my tower should fall over, I can string up antennas and be back
on the air in hours of not minutes. Can you do that with your cell phone?



Of course he can't