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

"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.

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

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.

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

"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

In article om, "Dee D.
Flint" writes:


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.



Like many other actions in Society today, you would have to think
" Would it hold up in court "??

- Probably once, during a power outage.. In a real emergency; no problem
Then again,
Drinking a Six Pack & Screaming .. Whatever ! !
... again & again

- Wil probably put you in orange, picking up litter on a highway...

When there is an immediate threat to life or property, anyone can legally use
anything to summon help. I'm talking about things like a heart attack or fire
here. On the high seas, it would be a Mayday call.

I don't think it's practical, though, to carry an unauthorized ham rig or
police radio for an emergency that will probably not happen. But use of an
authorized person's radio, when that person is incapacitated, is okay.

By the way... Cingular service in the Galveston area is still overloaded. I
guess the Houston hub continues to be busy.

Bill, K5BY
T2GB040061