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December 29th 04, 08:54 PM

In article , PAMNO
(N2EY) writes:

KA4NMA was in an accident recently and used his handheld on two meters
to call for help.

And I thought that there was no use for the things since we all have
cell phones now.

Who said that?

What *has* happened is that cell phones do much if not most of the 911-type
reporting that we hams used to do.

Really? "Hams used to do the 911 communications?"

I don't think so. That's a fantasy brag far above the membership
agitprop of the ARRL.

Hams did SOME emergency calling in the distant past, but it was
rather minor even in the past half century compared to all the other
forms of communications available to citizens.

Particularly in metro areas.

Really? I live in a "metro area." Greater Los Angeles (counting the
82 other communities besides L.A. city) has a population of 10
million. There has been NO dependence on amateur radio for any
emergency communications for decades, not prime, not secondary,
not even tertiary level in decades...and that includes the huge harbor
facilities of San Pedro - Long Beach and all the marinas up and down
the immediate coast. USCG depends on the VHF radios of the
maritime life here for life-saving efforts just as they do in other
coastal and inland waterways.

The above example is the exception that proves the rule.

Nothing is "proved" other than resourcefulness of human beings
faced with any sort of emergency.

About three years ago a teenage girl heard a call for help on her
FRS handie-talkie, an action acted upon that resulted in a half
dozen mountain climbers being rescued quickly in the state of
Washington. That was in the state newspapers with some
exposure on the national press.

By your "exception logic," FRS radios are "vital to emergency
communications." Tsk, and FRS isn't licensed radio, either!

You should really confine your fantasyland imaginings to your
lulls between "Type 7" radio contacts...and remember that
amateur radio is basically a HOBBY activity done for fun, not
some heroic life-saving "service" to the nation.

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