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Communication During Blackout
I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of
how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 00:12:21 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. In truth, a hot rodded cb would work wonders. ========== "Being diabetic is alot like having an un-invited guest at a picnic, who keeps pointing out the potato salad may have gone bad."--W.B. Willis "Destiny has a strange sense of humor..." K. Honeycutt ---------- http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe/psychedelic.htm http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe/slinkypage.html "He not busy being born is busy dying..." B. Dylan ======================= |
"mad amoeba" wrote in message . net... I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. You need a license if you want to transmit legally. The Amatuer Radio Relay League has some information on getting licensed. Here's a couple of pages you might find interesting: http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html http://www.remote.arrl.org/news/stor...8/15/102/?nc=1 Frank Dresser |
In article , mad
amoeba wrote: I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. This is not true. There were long lines to use payphones, and most home and business phones worked. Cellular phones didn't work either. This is also mostly not true. Most cell systems were overloaded, but the carrier signals were largely still operating, due to back up batteries and generators. --Tim May |
were i am none of the public phones worked and most of the cellular phones
didnt worked either--ie verizon. "Tim May" wrote in message ... |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 00:53:44 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
were i am none of the public phones worked and most of the cellular phones didnt worked either--ie verizon. "Tim May" wrote in message t... Just to clairify in my mind, neither analog nor digital [CMDA, etc] ? Rather limits the usefulness of mobiles if a mere power failure can take them out. However, is 2 metres any better? erniegalts "_Magna est veritas et praevalebit"_ (Truth is mighty and will prevail). {erniegalts} {Australia} {misc.survivalism} |
Tim May ) writes:
In article , mad amoeba wrote: I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. This is not true. There were long lines to use payphones, and most home and business phones worked. I wasn't in the blackout area, but one thing I heard on the radio here was that people did suffer from lack of phones, because they had only cordless phones, which of course need power from the AC line. They couldn't use those phones, and likely some/many thought the phone lines were down. Only people who had real phones, that get their limited power needs from the phone line, would know that the phones were in fact running. I know cordless phones are pretty widespread at this point, but I have no idea how many households have nothing but a cordless phone. Even if phone systems weren't working, one of the things to remember is that other things come into play in an urban area. If the phone doesn't work, then you have your neighbors to talk to. If the phones don't work, then emergency systems will come into effect, so there will be means of getting welfare traffic out. For that matter, emergency systems will come into play to handle local emergency calls. I think it's a bit of a myth to suggest that amateur radio is a means for the individual to keep in communication during an emergency. Amateur radios place in an emergency has always been in terms of organized help. So hams work with the Red Cross to supply non-emergency communication to get around faults and blockades. It's not the place for "help me" messages, it's the welfare messages "I am fine, don't worry" or maybe even "I won't be coming this weekend, the airports are closed" things that might be important but not of high priority. And if the emergency warrants it, hams can supply local communcation as an auxiliary to emergency services. So in some cases, hams could be a way of providing some sort of replacement for phone lines, with them placed in important points where it's known people can get to if they need to communicate. It's also quite organized, and those hams working in such public service work prepare for emergencies. Ham radio is not a utility, so unless the emergency framework is in place, someone getting a license "in case of an emergency" may not find it all that useful, because as mentioned the familiar people you want to talk to likely aren't licensed, and in an emergency one might find the bands crowded with the organized communication, and for instance, someone doing phone patches may not feel like dealing with some guy off the street. In a rural area, I suspect the benefits of amateur radio to the individual may increase significantly, but then that's the case when there's no emergency. And if someone is interested in emergency work, then it probably is worthwhile getting a ham license, because that will mean one more person who can help out when an emergency comes up. Michael |
Wired telephones worked well for contact of distant family during the
blackout as long as they have hardwired phones on the other end. Too many cordless units lack base units with battery backup. I ran my house on a 5kw generator until the power came back. The first 30 minutes I ran the radios and computers on a 2000 VA UPS N2UBP |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 00:53:50 -0000, "core_dump"
wrote: Delphic wrote in : In addition, it is more powerful (5+ watts). Can be modified (although void warranty and in illegal) to transmit out of its designed bands (Ham). AFAIK, it's legal to modify ham radio equipment if you have a license, just not to transmit there. This is true. |
i have both cordless phone and an old type phone in my house where the
handset is connected to the base station. Neiher one was working. If I had to contact either cops or amublance i would have no way of doing that except of standing on the street and waiting for the cop car to pass by. That's why i asked the question of how one would keep a line of communications if the regular ones were out. "Michael Black" wrote in message ... Tim May ) writes: In article , mad amoeba wrote: I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. This is not true. There were long lines to use payphones, and most home and business phones worked. I wasn't in the blackout area, but one thing I heard on the radio here was that people did suffer from lack of phones, because they had only cordless phones, which of course need power from the AC line. They couldn't use those phones, and likely some/many thought the phone lines were down. Only people who had real phones, that get their limited power needs from the phone line, would know that the phones were in fact running. I know cordless phones are pretty widespread at this point, but I have no idea how many households have nothing but a cordless phone. Even if phone systems weren't working, one of the things to remember is that other things come into play in an urban area. If the phone doesn't work, then you have your neighbors to talk to. If the phones don't work, then emergency systems will come into effect, so there will be means of getting welfare traffic out. For that matter, emergency systems will come into play to handle local emergency calls. I think it's a bit of a myth to suggest that amateur radio is a means for the individual to keep in communication during an emergency. Amateur radios place in an emergency has always been in terms of organized help. So hams work with the Red Cross to supply non-emergency communication to get around faults and blockades. It's not the place for "help me" messages, it's the welfare messages "I am fine, don't worry" or maybe even "I won't be coming this weekend, the airports are closed" things that might be important but not of high priority. And if the emergency warrants it, hams can supply local communcation as an auxiliary to emergency services. So in some cases, hams could be a way of providing some sort of replacement for phone lines, with them placed in important points where it's known people can get to if they need to communicate. It's also quite organized, and those hams working in such public service work prepare for emergencies. Ham radio is not a utility, so unless the emergency framework is in place, someone getting a license "in case of an emergency" may not find it all that useful, because as mentioned the familiar people you want to talk to likely aren't licensed, and in an emergency one might find the bands crowded with the organized communication, and for instance, someone doing phone patches may not feel like dealing with some guy off the street. In a rural area, I suspect the benefits of amateur radio to the individual may increase significantly, but then that's the case when there's no emergency. And if someone is interested in emergency work, then it probably is worthwhile getting a ham license, because that will mean one more person who can help out when an emergency comes up. Michael |
again it wasnt true in my case. Me and my relative all have at least one
hardwired phone and i could not use the phone to contact them from the 4:10PM on Thursday till about 7PM on Friday. "Steve Stone" wrote in message ... Wired telephones worked well for contact of distant family during the blackout as long as they have hardwired phones on the other end. Too many cordless units lack base units with battery backup. I ran my house on a 5kw generator until the power came back. The first 30 minutes I ran the radios and computers on a 2000 VA UPS N2UBP |
I know that there are several providers and most of them were out. I might
be wrong about Verizon but most of the cellular phone were out of action which was my point. Because if that's why most people have cellulars so that no matter where they are or what happens they can contact their family etc. But now as far as im concerned cellulars are not reliable. "Big AL" wrote in message . net... Wrong Verizon cellular worked great in Manhattan during outage. Made and received 16 callsi in 3 hrs..No busy signals or others. All calls came through and we initiated without problems! "mad amoeba" wrote in message . net... I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 00:12:21 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. Find the local ham club and discuss what you are looking for with one of them. In my area, you could listen to emergency services. However, non of them have gone to trunked systems. During catastrophic events such as hurricanes and ice storms, we provide interagency communications where there is no common frequency. For example, we have ridden with the National Guard picking up people stranded in homes when those people called 911. Since normal protocol for us it to establish a presence at the Emergency Communications Center at the request of the County Emergency Manager, a ham could call for help if needed. Several repeaters in the area have battery/generator backup, so loss of power is not an immediate matter for concern. I've seen us without power to the repeaters for up to two weeks and we kept them going. So, if you were in my area I'd say to go for it. However, ham radio is not government sponsored. All of those repeaters are installed, maintained, and supported by the hams who use them. Therefore, conditions vary a lot from area to area. For example, my home town has one repeater and it's at a hams home, maintained by him, and has no back up power supply. There are three hams that live in the area. He and his wife are two of them. The radio that you are looking at is way underpowered for simplex communications between two units. I'd look at a used two meter mobile and keep my scanner. You can pick up an older used two meter mobile for less than $100. I have a lot of advice and opinions, but I'd rather defer to the local hams in your area who know the specifics of their systems. Give them a call. Most all hams love to help someone get into the hobby. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:03:05 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
i have both cordless phone and an old type phone in my house where the handset is connected to the base station. Neiher one was working. If I had to contact either cops or amublance i would have no way of doing that except of standing on the street and waiting for the cop car to pass by. That's why i asked the question of how one would keep a line of communications if the regular ones were out. Doesn't surprise me all that much that digital or analog mobiles wouldn't be working, but would think that landlines should have been. I would expect my landline phone to work for at least 12 hours on a power failure, and if it didn't would be asking a lot of questions if it wasn't. If cannot reliably use a telephone for police, fire, or ambulance coverage what the hell good is it? Better to have a good CB or amateur radio transceiver. Other than emergency use and dialup connection for internet many people could easily get along without a phone. Not difficult to get an amateur license these days now that the code requirement has been wiped. Anyone who knows a bit about radio should be able to study the regs and pass an exam allowing VHF operation on 2 metres, and the "general class" [ or "full call" ] exam is not that much harder. Passing thought: Don't assume that everyone with an amateur license is going to advertise the fact. If reveal call letters, then name and address is trackable. Very dangerous to reveal true name and address on misc.survivalism, as there are people on misc.survivalism who will not only accuse you of criminal activities but even make death threats. This warning especially applies to anyone outside of the USA whatever their citizenship. Take it from me. Been there, done that. May be able to offer more info by email of don't think it is an entrapment excercise. Maybe better for anyone outside the US to post questions on the misc.survivalism group and see how they are answered. If anyone would like to check my past posting history on the misc.survivalism newsgroup it is easy enough to do by checking through advanced group search in "Google". My earlier posts were from another pseudonym, " I stand on my previous record of useful posts no matter how some on misc.survivalism are now falsely accusing me. If any reader who is contemplating posting on this group has any doubts they might like to ask my accusers for any proof of their libellous statements. Am also willing to answer genuine email enquiries. "Michael Black" wrote in message ... Tim May ) writes: In article , mad amoeba wrote: I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. This is not true. There were long lines to use payphones, and most home and business phones worked. I wasn't in the blackout area, but one thing I heard on the radio here was that people did suffer from lack of phones, because they had only cordless phones, which of course need power from the AC line. They couldn't use those phones, and likely some/many thought the phone lines were down. Only people who had real phones, that get their limited power needs from the phone line, would know that the phones were in fact running. I know cordless phones are pretty widespread at this point, but I have no idea how many households have nothing but a cordless phone. Even if phone systems weren't working, one of the things to remember is that other things come into play in an urban area. If the phone doesn't work, then you have your neighbors to talk to. If the phones don't work, then emergency systems will come into effect, so there will be means of getting welfare traffic out. For that matter, emergency systems will come into play to handle local emergency calls. I think it's a bit of a myth to suggest that amateur radio is a means for the individual to keep in communication during an emergency. Amateur radios place in an emergency has always been in terms of organized help. So hams work with the Red Cross to supply non-emergency communication to get around faults and blockades. It's not the place for "help me" messages, it's the welfare messages "I am fine, don't worry" or maybe even "I won't be coming this weekend, the airports are closed" things that might be important but not of high priority. And if the emergency warrants it, hams can supply local communcation as an auxiliary to emergency services. So in some cases, hams could be a way of providing some sort of replacement for phone lines, with them placed in important points where it's known people can get to if they need to communicate. It's also quite organized, and those hams working in such public service work prepare for emergencies. Ham radio is not a utility, so unless the emergency framework is in place, someone getting a license "in case of an emergency" may not find it all that useful, because as mentioned the familiar people you want to talk to likely aren't licensed, and in an emergency one might find the bands crowded with the organized communication, and for instance, someone doing phone patches may not feel like dealing with some guy off the street. In a rural area, I suspect the benefits of amateur radio to the individual may increase significantly, but then that's the case when there's no emergency. And if someone is interested in emergency work, then it probably is worthwhile getting a ham license, because that will mean one more person who can help out when an emergency comes up. Michael |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:39:14 GMT, erniegalts
wrote: On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:03:05 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote: Not difficult to get an amateur license these days now that the code requirement has been wiped. Anyone who knows a bit about radio should be able to study the regs and pass an exam allowing VHF operation on 2 metres, and the "general class" [ or "full call" ] exam is not that much harder. General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. http://www.arrl.org/pio/hamlic.html |
Bob Brock wrote:
General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. http://www.arrl.org/pio/hamlic.html He's also in Australia, which, to my knowledge, isn't governed by the US FCC. I got my Tech license recently, and plan on taking SKYWARN classes in the spring. The blackout has made me decide to accelerate my purchase plans for a mobile radio. Handhelds are more portable, but max out at 5w of transmit power, where most mobiles are 50-55w. In a life-and-death emergency, anyone is authorized to transmit on any frequency or any band to try to get help, even if they don't have a ham license at all. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 06:54:36 GMT, Hagbard Celine
wrote: Bob Brock wrote: General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. http://www.arrl.org/pio/hamlic.html He's also in Australia, which, to my knowledge, isn't governed by the US FCC. Well, to the best of my knowledge, I didn't use the term FCC. The IAU set the morse requirement. However, just to set the record straight, let's look here. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2000/03/30/1/?nc=1 South Africa, Australia to Adopt 5 WPM Morse Test for Full HF Access BTW, ernie was giving advice to someone who was impacted by the recent power outage. I don't think it reached as far as Oz. So it doesn't matter if he was talking about the NE US or Oz, he was wrong. However, you will find that when ernie is wrong, he never acknowledges that he has made a mistake. He simply moves to another thread and starts over. I got my Tech license recently, and plan on taking SKYWARN classes in the spring. The blackout has made me decide to accelerate my purchase plans for a mobile radio. Handhelds are more portable, but max out at 5w of transmit power, where most mobiles are 50-55w. You can pick up an amplifier for a few bucks to get you to the 25-30 watt zone. Going to 50 watts will only give you a 3 db gain. I've got one laying around here somewhere that you could have if I can find it. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 06:54:36 GMT, Hagbard Celine
wrote: Bob Brock wrote: General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. Not required here for some years now, at least for what you are calling a "Technician license" which covers 2 metres and is useful for communication in that band. Are you going to call me wrong on this issue??? Please advise. erniegalts http://www.arrl.org/pio/hamlic.html He's also in Australia, which, to my knowledge, isn't governed by the US FCC. I got my Tech license recently, and plan on taking SKYWARN classes in the spring. The blackout has made me decide to accelerate my purchase plans for a mobile radio. Handhelds are more portable, but max out at 5w of transmit power, where most mobiles are 50-55w. In a life-and-death emergency, anyone is authorized to transmit on any frequency or any band to try to get help, even if they don't have a ham license at all. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 07:51:40 GMT, erniegalts
wrote: On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 06:54:36 GMT, Hagbard Celine wrote: Bob Brock wrote: General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. Not required here for some years now, at least for what you are calling a "Technician license" which covers 2 metres and is useful for communication in that band. Are you going to call me wrong on this issue??? Please advise. Which issue do you want me to call you wrong on ernie? The first piece of inaccurate information that you posted of this metamorphisis of it? On your initial statement, yes you were wrong. In case you forgot this was your initial statement... "Not difficult to get an amateur license these days now that the code requirement has been wiped. Anyone who knows a bit about radio should be able to study the regs and pass an exam allowing VHF operation on 2 metres, and the "general class" [ or "full call" ] exam is not that much harder." |
"mad amoeba" wrote in message . net... I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. In our area (Detroit and suburbs), the phones are powered by the phone companies and were not out. Apparently the phone companies do have some type of backup power. However, if all a person had was a cordless phone, then it did not do any good since those have to be plugged in to external power to operate. The non-cordless variety doesn't need that. After swapping my phone over, I was able to call my daughter to check to see if she was OK since she was stuck at a friend's house until gasoline pumps were operational. Cell phone coverage here was erratic either because of overload or because the cell sites lost power too without sufficient backup power. My best means of tracking the situation was ham radio. I got a lot more detail on exactly where and when power came became available and where and when it would be possible to get gas for the car and generator. Commercial radio broadcasting did not give very good or timely information on these aspects of the situation. They would state that "power is back on in parts of xxx" with no further detail. Via ham radio, I was able to find out what parts were back up so I could assess whether to go try to find gasoline or wait a bit longer. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:03:05 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
i have both cordless phone and an old type phone in my house where the handset is connected to the base station. Neiher one was working. If I had to contact either cops or amublance i would have no way of doing that except of standing on the street and waiting for the cop car to pass by. That's why i asked the question of how one would keep a line of communications if the regular ones were out. snip well,... I guess i can add this question. is your wired phone attached to Cable? i understand that in alot of metro areas, the cable companies are now offering phone service across their lines. I don't know anything about the equipment but this could be a issue if the power goes out. My cordless phone has a place for a 2nd batter to be charged for the handset. in the event of a power outage, I can still use my cordless for upto 3-4 hours. and I have my cable connection on a UPS,.. plenty of time for me to use my laptop (which i can make iNet calls on if needed) to notify anyone of need.. being a Ham - I look for equipment i can run off of 12v. I have a 12v drill that i can power my PDA from, charge my cell phone, and work with if needed. Push comes to shove,.. got the battery in the truck too. |
"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
You need a license if you want to transmit legally. Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig without a license if there were no other way to communicate that someone was injured or other "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham rig would be a nice backup in such cases. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 15:32:40 GMT, Delphic
wrote: well,... I guess i can add this question. is your wired phone attached to Cable? i understand that in alot of metro areas, the cable companies are now offering phone service across their lines. I don't know anything about the equipment but this could be a issue if the power goes out. Cable has a small box for translation with very limited backup battery. Once power goes to either the head end or the VOIP translation box.. you are screwed. There is also sutff like Vonage and the other voice over IP "appliances" you attach to your broadband connection for phone service, however VONAGE over something like DirecWay satellite would be a good emergency backup, as long as you could provide your own power. With vonage, you can pick the 911 PSAP, so you can even dial 911, and it ends up in the right jurisdiction. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:07:07 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote:
I know that there are several providers and most of them were out. I might be wrong about Verizon but most of the cellular phone were out of action which was my point. Because if that's why most people have cellulars so that no matter where they are or what happens they can contact their family etc. But now as far as im concerned cellulars are not reliable. Perhaps not reliable for the "average" person. Verizon kept a percentage of capacity in reserve for public safety, and the new public safety phones have priority, so will knock "no priority" calls off the tower if they place a call. |
My best means of tracking the situation was ham radio. I got a lot more detail on exactly where and when power came became available and where and when it would be possible to get gas for the car and generator. Commercial radio broadcasting did not give very good or timely information on these aspects of the situation. They would state that "power is back on in parts of xxx" with no further detail. Via ham radio, I was able to find out what parts were back up so I could assess whether to go try to find gasoline or wait a bit longer. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE If this is the case then why doesn't one of the local amateur radio operators make themselves available to the local news anchor, much like cellular users report traffic problems on a normal day, and that way the generalpublic could be better informed. Bill Main |
Bob Brock wrote:
Which issue do you want me to call you wrong on ernie? The first piece of inaccurate information that you posted of this metamorphisis of it? On your initial statement, yes you were wrong. In case you forgot this was your initial statement... "Not difficult to get an amateur license these days now that the code requirement has been wiped. Anyone who knows a bit about radio should be able to study the regs and pass an exam allowing VHF operation on 2 metres, and the "general class" [ or "full call" ] exam is not that much harder." The code requirement for the Technician class license was removed a long time ago. Ernie was right. Take your head out of your ass. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 14:53:28 -0400, "Ralph Mowery"
said: Bob Brock wrote: General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. Not required here for some years now, at least for what you are calling a "Technician license" which covers 2 metres and is useful for communication in that band. Are you going to call me wrong on this issue??? I can't remember a time whem morse code was ever required fot the *tech* class licence. I have some HAM study books from back in the 60's and even back then (in the U.S.) there was no code required for the *tech* class. A few years ago the code requirment was lowered to 5wpm for *all* classes. IIRC, this was done in order to get more people into HAM radio and to help uncrowd the 2m band. And IIRC, once you pass the 5wpm code test for the *general* class licence you are no longer required to take anymore code tests for the *extra* class licence. They did away with the *advanced* class, IIRC. Here's a question....Who these days gets the *novice* class licence ? Why didn't they get rid of the *novice* class instead of the *advanced* ? YOu remember wrong. I was licened as a Tech in 1972 and there was a 5 wpm test for that license. Not sure exectally when but it was in the late 80's or eairly 90's that the code requirement was removed from the Tech class. As far as your question , there are no new novice class licenses or advanced class. Only the Technichian, General, and Extra are being issued now. It is still possiable to renew the other classes. All the above is for the US. I'll accept that. My books must be wrong. I wasn't sure about the novice class, my study books still has it listed as a class one can still get. |
"Markeau" wrote in message ... "Frank Dresser" wrote in message You need a license if you want to transmit legally. Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig without a license if there were no other way to communicate that someone was injured or other "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham rig would be a nice backup in such cases. You would have to be very certain that they would agree that it constitutes an emergency serious enough to do so. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
Markeau ...
^ Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig ^ without a license if there were no other way to communicate ^ that ... "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham ^ rig would be a nice backup in such cases. A radio tuned to your local police department would get quicker help. Frank |
"North" wrote in message ... I'll accept that. My books must be wrong. I wasn't sure about the novice class, my study books still has it listed as a class one can still get. What is the title and publication date of your book. If it is out-of-date or in error in this area, there could be other problems with the book. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
Frank wrote:
Markeau ... ^ Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig ^ without a license if there were no other way to communicate ^ that ... "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham ^ rig would be a nice backup in such cases. A radio tuned to your local police department would get quicker help. Come up on a cop freq? That's not *all* you'll get. |
I'll accept that. My books must be wrong. I wasn't sure about the novice class, my study books still has it listed as a class one can still get. Things change over the years . I think the major change was in April of 2000. Not sure about the date, but For current info you may want to go here for the current classes of license. http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.html Throw the books away and get a new set as they appear to be out of date. The question pool has also changed somewhat in the last year or two. |
"Markeau" wrote in message ... "Frank Dresser" wrote in message You need a license if you want to transmit legally. Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig without a license if there were no other way to communicate that someone was injured or other "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham rig would be a nice backup in such cases. In the real world? They don't often act without a complaint. Who'd complain? Even if somebody complains, they don't seem to knock themselves out on enforcement. But I'm not close to the situation. I'm not a ham, I'm just watching from the sidelines. On the other hand, if you do want to get a ham rig, I don't see any reason not to get the license. Proficency is the bigger part of preparedness. Practice, practice, practice. In an emergency situation, it pays to have radio operator's and communication skills which are second nature. Frank Dresser |
It has always been "my understanding" that in a "true emergency", you can
use any form of radio communications, without a license. However, not too long ago, an amateur radio operator, involved at the scene of a very serious life, or death, situation, used his modified HT, to summons help from the local police. Later, they tried to do everything short of executing him for his actions! Go figure? Bill Crocker "Markeau" wrote in message ... "Frank Dresser" wrote in message You need a license if you want to transmit legally. Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig without a license if there were no other way to communicate that someone was injured or other "emergency" help was needed? Seems like a mobile ham rig would be a nice backup in such cases. |
Most all the hand-held amateur radio equipment, is almost useless without
the aid of a repeater station. I don't know how many repeaters are backed up by emergency power supplies. I would hope most of them, but if they're not, don't plan on reaching anyone more than a couple miles away. H.F. equipment, on the other hand, is usually at least 50~100 watts, and has the ability to reach extremely long distances, without the need of a repeater. When you think about it, standard C.B. radio equipment should do well, providing there is someone available on the other end. Bill Crocker "mad amoeba" wrote in message . net... I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of how would one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were out. Cellular phones didn't work either. So the only way of receiving informaiton was by radio. My old Sony wm-gx670 did quite nicely. But what if I would need to communicate with my relatives or even cops to let them know of an emmergency. If telephone/cellular/internet are not available what are my other options? Let's say people I want to communicate with are more than several miles away in an urban area. That makes CB radio useless--right? So then as far as I understand using ham radio is my only option. With that you can either get in touch with your relatives directly, provided they have ham radio as well, or you can call some person in an area without blackout and tell them to call police/ambulance etc if that's what you need. Not knowing much myself about scanners/shortwaves/hams myself I want to ask you guys with more experience if the below piece of equipment is what I need. As far as I understand this is an handheld ham radio which also functions as a scanner and can also receive on a shortwave band. So it will allow me to communicate with people far away even in urban setting, it is portable and it will also allow me to monitor news as well as police/firefighters etc. Am I right? Yaesu VX-2R http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0176.html the price is kind of steep but for all-in-one product I would be willing to pay it. |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:03:05 GMT, "mad amoeba" wrote: i have both cordless phone and an old type phone in my house where the handset is connected to the base station. Neiher one was working. If I had to contact either cops or amublance i would have no way of doing that except of standing on the street and waiting for the cop car to pass by. That's why i asked the question of how one would keep a line of communications if the regular ones were out. snip Interesting. My phone, an old type, worked just fine. Some places I did not get an answer and some numbers, when first tried, I got a recording that all lines were tied up. Only lost power for about 5 hours., took a nap for most of that. JonquilJan Learn something new every day As long as you are learning, you are living When you stop learning, you start dying |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 04:07:28 -0400, Bob Brock
wrote: On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 07:51:40 GMT, erniegalts wrote: On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 06:54:36 GMT, Hagbard Celine wrote: Bob Brock wrote: General Class license still requires a Morse Code test. Morse has not been "wiped." It has however, been lowered for the two higher class licenses from 13 and 20 wpm to 5 wpm for both licenses. Morse is not required for the Technician license which give full priviliges on VHF/UHF. So, once again ernie, you are wrong. Not required here for some years now, at least for what you are calling a "Technician license" which covers 2 metres and is useful for communication in that band. Are you going to call me wrong on this issue??? Please advise. Which issue do you want me to call you wrong on ernie? The first piece of inaccurate information that you posted of this metamorphisis of it? On your initial statement, yes you were wrong. In case you forgot this was your initial statement... "Not difficult to get an amateur license these days now that the code requirement has been wiped. Anyone who knows a bit about radio should be able to study the regs and pass an exam allowing VHF operation on 2 metres, and the "general class" [ or "full call" ] exam is not that much harder." Don't know the siatuation there, Brock, but the requirement has been wiped here Wireless Institute of Australia - WIA Victoria Morse code watch updated July 10 2003 Morse code requirement ends - Morse code watch closes It is official! The ITU at the World Radiocommunications Conference has removed Morse code as a mandatory requirement for amateur licences below 30MHz - effective 5 July, 2003. Radio administrations around the world that previously supported the removal of the code requirement are now moving towards implementing the ITU decision. Demonstration of code proficiency is no longer an internationally required qualification for an amateur licence though a radio administration may still require it. Some radio administrations are expected to take virtually no time to end code tests, or maybe a few months, while the bureaucratic processes elsewhere may take longer. More at: http://www.wiavic.org.au/mcw/ erniegalts |
On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 10:25:21 -0700, Trooperdude Trooperdude in rec.radio.scanner - :
There is also sutff like Vonage and the other voice over IP "appliances" you attach to your broadband connection for phone service, however VONAGE over something like DirecWay satellite would be a good emergency backup, as long as you could provide your own power. I hope this was suppose to be a joke, cause it is funny as hell trying to imagine VOIP going on through a DirecWay. |
And in the end the governments of the world will sell off the bands. Thanks to all the loosers! Heck, It will give the cranky old farts more time to complain about their hemorrhoids on the internet. |
Offbreed ...
^ Frank wrote: ^ Markeau ... ^ ^ Would the FCC prosecute someone for using a ham rig ^ ^ without a license if there were no other way to ^ ^ communicate that ... "emergency" help was needed? ^ A radio tuned to your local police department would get ^ quicker help. ^ Come up on a cop freq? ^ ^ That's not *all* you'll get. You'll get the same if you came up on any frequency you aren't licensed to transmit on. Cop frequencies are no different, except that you'll get help faster. Frank |
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