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Groups like the American Radio Relay League have fought against this for a long time, as well as recently, too. There's talk of notching the BPL, and is done some places, but not everywhere. Since the feds took over the developing ownership rights of the spectrum with the FCC, it's their responsibility to ensure BPL providers aren't interfering with licensed spectrum users.

Groups like the American Radio Relay League have fought against this for a long time, as well as recently, too. There's talk of notching the BPL, and is done some places, but not everywhere. Since the feds took over the developing ownership rights of the spectrum with the FCC, it's their responsibility to ensure BPL providers aren't interfering with licensed spectrum users.

Groups like the American Radio Relay League have fought against this for a long time, as well as recently, too. There's talk of notching the BPL, and is done some places, but not everywhere. Since the feds took over the developing ownership rights of the spectrum with the FCC, it's their responsibility to ensure BPL providers aren't interfering with licensed spectrum users.

Many amateurs or hobbyists have faced this dilemma in their own personal (and professional) work spaces for centuries nows. Two groups I know a little about are wood workers and machinists, who have written dozens of books and articles about this subject, in both the general and specific case.

0. Safety equipment: dust masks, goggles, safety glasses (with side protection), gloves (nitrile, latax, neoprene), hearing protection (ear muffs, ear plugs), and as needed!
1. Tools
2. Storage / management of those tools
3. Hard copy (dead-tree) documentation, it is being rapidly moved online thanks to cheap and compact computers and laptops, but much older reference material is still in old-school paper form (which can be handy) (example references to collect: ARRL Handbook, Art of Electronics, Machinery's Handbook, Woodworking Basics, Understanding Wood, Wiring Simplified)
4. Commonly used materials (lumber, hoses, holes clamps, fabric, sheet metal, dowels, nuts & bolts, wood and metal screws, etc.)
5. Parts (in anti-static containers for any static sensitive parts like CMOS ICs)
6. Labelling tools
7. Log / Lab notebooks . These should be paper-based, though can be complimented with online documents, a honest to goodness hard copy lab book is essential.
8. Chemicals
9. Large, easy to read clock
10. Test equipment: rulers, tape measures, calipers, digital multi-meter
11. Plenty of AC mains circuits and outlets. Preferably with a separate circuit for lighting versus wall outlets. - Avoid extended use of extension cables, and excessive use of power bars.

And time.

310,570,000 - US population - Wikipedia
As of June 30, 2010, there are 694,346 licensed Amateur Radio operators in the US - http://www.arrl.org/news/first-half-of-2010-sees-upswing-in-new-amateur-radio-licenses


That is 0.2%, much closer to the original REALLY small number. To reach the 10% number, each person must be in range of at least 500 people which isn't that difficult.

The Amateur Radio Relay League has a legal team whose sole purpose is to represent amateur radio operators in policy and legal issues. Their newsletter details a few of the ongoing regulatory situations, including recently suggested encroachments on the 2.3Ghz and 430Mhz amateur frequencies, which can be used for both short- and long-distance communication. The traditional HF frequencies (160m through 10m) are generally left untouched by the FCC, and sometimes expanded. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Spectrum%20Defense%20Matters%20Newsletter/Spectrum%20Defense%20Newsletter%20Number%20TWO%20for%20the%20WEB_indd.pdf

Addendum: It looks like the broadband plan calls for 500mhz of spectrum to be allocated between 225mhz & 3.7ghz. This _might_ impact amateur radio frequencies, but those frequencies would all be UHF or higher that are impacted.. Big whoop. As far as I can tell, hams are delighted by the fact that this plan will not be using BPL, which causes QRM to HF bands. http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-releases-em-national-broadband-plan-em

If you could build a 1 kW handheld, you're free to use it.

Maybe. In 1996 Amateurs came under the jurisdiction of RF exposure limits, so a 1kW handheld, depending on frequency, would likely put you over the limit. I don't know for sure that the exposure laws pertain to yourself or just others, come to think of it.

There are a pair of exceptions to requiring an evaluation:

"However, the FCC presumes that certain stations are safe without an evaluation. Those are:

        * Amateur stations using a transmitter power of less than 50 W PEP at the transmitter output terminal.
        * Mobile or portable stations using a transmitter with push-to-talk control."

So if your 1kW handheld uses a PTT, you'd be exempt from a mandatory evaluation, but would still be required to be in compliance.

If you could build a 1 kW handheld, you're free to use it.

Maybe. In 1996 Amateurs came under the jurisdiction of RF exposure limits, so a 1kW handheld, depending on frequency, would likely put you over the limit. I don't know for sure that the exposure laws pertain to yourself or just others, come to think of it.

There are a pair of exceptions to requiring an evaluation:

"However, the FCC presumes that certain stations are safe without an evaluation. Those are:

        * Amateur stations using a transmitter power of less than 50 W PEP at the transmitter output terminal.
        * Mobile or portable stations using a transmitter with push-to-talk control."

So if your 1kW handheld uses a PTT, you'd be exempt from a mandatory evaluation, but would still be required to be in compliance.

I spend a good bit of time in Colorado hiking and biking in places where there is no hope of cell coverage. If I'm going somewhere off the beaten path, I toss my HT into my pack- the extra weight isn't noticeable, and while I have no illusions about being able to hit repeaters from a remote valley somewhere, it sure doesn't hurt to bring it.

http://www.arrl.org/news/injured-colorado-skier-uses-amateur-radio-to-summon-help

On a similar note, you can purchase the ARRL Repeater directory for about $10, I keep a copy in my truck, but it fits real good in a backpack pocket too. It has almost all the repeaters in the US and Canada.
http://www.arrl.org/shop/The-ARRL-Repeater-Directory-2010-2011-Pocket-sized/

My recommendation would be to contact the local Ham clubs in the areas you plan to frequent. You may find that there are a number of repeaters in the area you are going to be in.
http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club

I would encourage you to become a Ham, I have enjoyed the hobby for the last 8 years. Most Hams worth their radios would gladly sit down and have a conversation with you about whether or not becoming a Ham and getting a radio up in those mountains is worth your time.

You can still do a lot with 5 Watts of power on VHF.

KD7PUA

I also live in Colorado.

It may (or may not) be worth noting that after spending some millions of federal dollars to expand coverage for emergency providers (law enforcement, fire, etc) in the last few years, there are still significant amounts of the mountain terrain that do not have coverage on those frequencies. There are likely to always be places that you can hike to where there's no coverage of any sort, including satellite except for brief periods.

OTOH, in an emergency situation, local repeaters may not be necessary. This story describes a case where the emergency broadcast was received by a ham more than 100 miles away, apparently without benefit of a repeater.

There are so many ways that a ham can make contact from anywhere on the planet that it's staggering.

While VHF/UHF repeater coverage in Colorado is excellent because most of the repeaters are on top of mountains, you can also find a lot of places in the back-country where you can't hit a repeater because some @#$%^ mountain is in the way ;)

You could also communicate via satellite. There are ~20 amateur radio satellites currently operating.

Then there are the "traditional" methods using HF frequencies.

The Amateur Radio Relay League (the national ham group) runs an exercise annually that focuses on various modes of operating in the field. Hence the name, Field Day. Unfortunately, it was last month.

But the ARRL or a local ham club will be a better resource than random ramblings here. Check them out (or find a local club) at arrl.org.

In this case, I have to disagree with you. While enhancing the commercial services sounds good on paper, we've seen how good they are at managing themselves under normal use, in urban areas: read AT&T service. Imagine how that would be in rural environments where they have no financial gains to be in. Look at coverage maps of the US of all the major carriers, especially on the 3G/4G protocols: they exist in the population centers. There are still places you won't get EDGE or GPRS, and barely get voice. They also require a fair amount of infrastructure to operate properly; they don't run in a vacuum. As to things like FRS... yeah, doesn't even compare.

Now, Amateur Radio... Joe with his HT is stuck on a back trail, but has signal to a repeater, 20 miles away, which is on-grid, but with batteries and generator for days. What infrastructure exists in the HAM world is primarily all run by volunteer or local emergency auxiliaries, for the cases when the primary infrastructure goes kablooie. HAMs can setup and tear-down their comms in short order for whatever job needs done. It's too bad you didn't have this kind of commentary last week, as you should have stopped by Field Day and seen what is involved, and why it is. http://www.arrl.org/field-day

2) Broadcast is forbidden with a few exceptions. (Repeater IDs, for example. APRS is also kosher. Broadcasting anything like a "radio show" is not. In the digital age it's a bit grey, but in general sustained transmissions are not kosher, but brief bursts (IDing, position reports) are OK.

You're missing the one big exception to the "no broadcasts" rules--the ARRL (the US amateur radio operator organization) has special license from the FCC to run W1AW, their broadcast station, which transmits only on things that are of interest to hams: morse code practice, radio propagation bulletins, ham radio rules changes, etc.

Very possible. Wifi occupies 2.401 to 2.473 GHz. There is a Ham band occupying 2.390 to 2.450 GHz (see lower right corner). You could try looking for a house with a bunch of antennas and/or dishes on it and ask nicely what he is up to.

No.

The distance measurement you're using (millimeters, portions of the meter) is not an energy measurement, it's a wavelength distance used to measure frequency (usually peak-to-peak). Hertz (or cycles per second if you're old enough to remember that) is another measurement that is directly related to wavelength distance: the smaller the wavelength, the higher the frequency. Ham radio guys know this because they transmit on 160 meters thru 23 centimeter bands, which if you knew anything about what you were spouting, you'd already know. Wattage is the proper measurement for the amount of energy being produced.

And FFS, wattage is not measured in photons, it's measured in watts, or portions of watts, such as a milliwatt. You look like an idiot when you do it wrong.

Really really really wish I could find some middle-ground...there are tons of excerpts on hundreds of websites for specific electronic applications, but even 'beginner kits' such as those from Adafruit and the like do not give detailed WHY's...but only how to solder the thing and perhaps make it do something nifty...

The columns that have been running for the past couple of years by H. Ward Silver, N0AX in QST might fit that bill. See http://www.arrl.org/hands-on-radio and http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-s-Hands-On-Radio-Experiments/.

Really really really wish I could find some middle-ground...there are tons of excerpts on hundreds of websites for specific electronic applications, but even 'beginner kits' such as those from Adafruit and the like do not give detailed WHY's...but only how to solder the thing and perhaps make it do something nifty...

The columns that have been running for the past couple of years by H. Ward Silver, N0AX in QST might fit that bill. See http://www.arrl.org/hands-on-radio and http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-s-Hands-On-Radio-Experiments/.

Since we're all assuming you're in the UK, join the RSGB, the Radio Society of Great Britain. Their website offers local information, tutors, and a lot more, including a good bookstore. Plus, their monthly magazine, Radio Communication (RadCom) is a wonderful entry into wireless electronics. IMHO, it's far superior in technical content (both beginning and advanced) than QST, the publication of the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League, which siphons some of its technical content off to its sister publication for experimenters, QEX.

Since we're all assuming you're in the UK, join the RSGB, the Radio Society of Great Britain. Their website offers local information, tutors, and a lot more, including a good bookstore. Plus, their monthly magazine, Radio Communication (RadCom) is a wonderful entry into wireless electronics. IMHO, it's far superior in technical content (both beginning and advanced) than QST, the publication of the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League, which siphons some of its technical content off to its sister publication for experimenters, QEX.

Try this:

Understanding Basic Electronics

It's the first of three books designed for hams, or people who want to become hams. Although it won't help you get your license, it will at least help you understand the test questions better and give a decent grounding (pun not intended, but happily accepted) in electronic fundamentals without too much advanced math.

73, KJ6BSO

http://www.arrl.org/ click on Licensing, then Getting Started in Amateur Radio.

The resurgence of American amateur radio equipment companies is one of the great untold stories recently. I mean, one still has Japanese industry stalwarts Icom and Kenwood, who led the Japanese domination of the industry in the 1970s, but even Yaesu was bought by Motorola a few years back. The real news, though, is the new, innovative startups, doing state-of-the-art, truly wonderful designs, with simultaneous high performance, high quality, and reasonable prices. Companies like Elecraft and software-defined radio pioneer FlexRadio Systems come to mind, producing products unmatched by any of the mainstream companies.

It's a refreshing change.

No, you cannot access the internet over ham radio, not legally. The internet is a commercial infrastructure, and commercial use of Amateur Radio frequencies is illegal.

While it is widely believed that no commercial traffic is allowed on the amateur bands, this is incorrect. In 1993 the FCC issued a report significantly broadening what is allowed in terms of commercial traffic. These changes are reflected in the current regs. Please see Part 97.113. Commercial traffic which benefits either the operator or his employer are prohibited. Requesting a web page which contains advertisements is just fine. Ordering a pizza online is just fine too (although using SSL is not). You can even email some friends about that old rig you are selling for $50 due to an exemption in Part 97.113(a)(3). Sending instructions to your stock broker or notifying a business client you'll be late, on the other hand, clearly are not OK.

You won't find ham gear or information in your local hobby shop (or at the anachronistically-named Radio Shack, which doesn't sell much in the way of 2-way gear other than cell phones.) However, you can find a lot of information about ham radio at We Do That Radio or the The American Radio Relay League as well as a Google search, Wikipedia, etc.

This book from the ARRL has information on low profile antennas, including ones for apartments. http://www.arrl.org/catalog/order.php3?ocat=Antennas%2C+Transmission+Lines+and+Propagation&owords=&item=9744

visit http://www.arrl.org/, they have some introductory books available there.

even better do a search on "Clubs" and find one or more close to you and
attend some meetings. hams are always happy to recruit new people into the hobby.

if you want to dig deeper check out: http://www.eham.net/ and http://www.qrz.com/ - visit the forums on both sites for all kinds of info.

The Amateur Radio Relay League is a great spot to start. They are the largest Ham Radio organization in the country.

Another good site with basic info is the How Stuff Works page

These links will give you a good spot to start. Best of luck!

Also, low-level clearances (Secret, for example) are basically just a criminal background check and a quick sweep over the government databases to make sure you're not someone /obviously/ bad. There'd be no reason whatsoever to stick in "are you gay?" to that level of check.I agree with you completely.

However, it would be nice if we could even find out what is included in the background check.

As an example -- I am an amateur radio operator who would like to be of assistance in a disaster to help organizations like the American Red Cross. However, the haughty management at ARC, a couple of years back, took it upon themselves to mandate the imposition of a very intrusive background check on all employees -- and on all VOLUNTEERS.

It is a three-part check -- criminal, credit and LIFESTYLE.

What is that in aid of? They refuse to say what is included in the lifestyle check, beyond saying it's "not limited in scope". And you can be damned sure they will not tell you on what basis you may be rejected. They've obviously been sucked into the current DHS hysteria and think they can just lay on requirements and expect those affected to just knuckle under and accept their crap without question.

The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) is a nationwide organization which covers issues affecting radio amateurs. As a result of the ARC's decision, the ARRL found it necessary to caution amateurs that they should carefully consider what they are giving permission for if they sign up as a volunteer. In further negotiations, the ARC apparently backed off the lifestyle requirement for people volunteering for seven days or less. (Pretty minor disaster, huh?).

Here is a link to the ARRL statement on this issue

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/RC-Background-Checks0610.pdf

The ARRL takes no position recommending any specific action to be taken over this issue beyond cautioning potential volunteers to carefully consider the details of what they are authorizing. The link includes the high-handed language insisted upon by the company to which the investigation has been outsourced.

Note that the doc is dated son\me two years ago. To the best of my knowledge, the situation has not yet been resolved to the point where the ARRL will sign a final MOU for co-operation with ARC.

A later doc explaining the ARRL position, after further negotiation, is at http://www.arrl.org/announce/ARRL-ARC-bg-check.html. Despite the ARRL backing down, the investigating company still asserts that you are consenting to investigations of unlimited scope.

Raw intransigence, if you ask me.

Also, low-level clearances (Secret, for example) are basically just a criminal background check and a quick sweep over the government databases to make sure you're not someone /obviously/ bad. There'd be no reason whatsoever to stick in "are you gay?" to that level of check.I agree with you completely.

However, it would be nice if we could even find out what is included in the background check.

As an example -- I am an amateur radio operator who would like to be of assistance in a disaster to help organizations like the American Red Cross. However, the haughty management at ARC, a couple of years back, took it upon themselves to mandate the imposition of a very intrusive background check on all employees -- and on all VOLUNTEERS.

It is a three-part check -- criminal, credit and LIFESTYLE.

What is that in aid of? They refuse to say what is included in the lifestyle check, beyond saying it's "not limited in scope". And you can be damned sure they will not tell you on what basis you may be rejected. They've obviously been sucked into the current DHS hysteria and think they can just lay on requirements and expect those affected to just knuckle under and accept their crap without question.

The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) is a nationwide organization which covers issues affecting radio amateurs. As a result of the ARC's decision, the ARRL found it necessary to caution amateurs that they should carefully consider what they are giving permission for if they sign up as a volunteer. In further negotiations, the ARC apparently backed off the lifestyle requirement for people volunteering for seven days or less. (Pretty minor disaster, huh?).

Here is a link to the ARRL statement on this issue

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/RC-Background-Checks0610.pdf

The ARRL takes no position recommending any specific action to be taken over this issue beyond cautioning potential volunteers to carefully consider the details of what they are authorizing. The link includes the high-handed language insisted upon by the company to which the investigation has been outsourced.

Note that the doc is dated son\me two years ago. To the best of my knowledge, the situation has not yet been resolved to the point where the ARRL will sign a final MOU for co-operation with ARC.

A later doc explaining the ARRL position, after further negotiation, is at http://www.arrl.org/announce/ARRL-ARC-bg-check.html. Despite the ARRL backing down, the investigating company still asserts that you are consenting to investigations of unlimited scope.

Raw intransigence, if you ask me.

Obviously, you're concerned.

Measure how much RF is blasting through there. A field strength meter or possibly a spectrum analyzer will be very helpful with this pursuit.

Don't trust the MPE guidelines (if you did, you need to base it off the "uncontrolled exposure" side, only far more conservative), because they want you to die a gruesome painful death.

Measure first, build your Farraday cage, measure again, improve your Farraday cage... ad nauseum.

Troll. Since when was ham radio all about providing disaster comms?

I'm sorry, you must have missed the memo.

Ham radio has long been associated with disaster relief. In the early days (perhaps up through the 80s), ham radio operators were often the "first responders" in a crisis. I'm merely pointing out that this is no longer the case. Ironically, one of the reasons why this is true is one you bring up yourself: "It's all about radio." Unfortunately, ham radio has not kept up with technology (except for small pockets of operators). And this is the main reason why ham radio has been left behind.

I am giving up the mod points from this thread by posting, but thought you might be interested in something else:

Forget both CW and RTTY. Use PSK31. It uses less RF frequency bandwidth than CW and is a quite common modulation on HF (low frequencies such as 1.838.15 MHz/160meters) right now.

There is also a version that includes error correction: QPSK

Here is a comparison between RTTY and PSK31: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/psk31/index.html

PSK31 uses 16 times less transmit power than a CW station.

The difference between a CW filter of 500 Hz and the bandwidth of PSK31 of 31 Hz (10*log(500/31) db = 12 db) is 12 db, which demonstrates that a CW transmitter must transmit 16 times more power than a PSK31 transmitter to achieve the same signal to noise ratio. Therefore, a PSK31 station can operate at 16 times less power than a CW station.

Cite: http://www.larkfield.org/pdf/psk31.pdf

There is also a slower implementation that is less prone to interference; these versions operate at 10 and 5 baud (PSK10 and PSK05, respectively). Seems very slow, but for simple critical communications, there are fast enough.

Here is what PSK31 sounds like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PSK31_sample.ogg

Ran across PSK31 a few months ago and was fascinated by the ingenious insight put forth in the specification.

Just thought you might want to know...

I wonder, do you guys have a trade group of sorts? Is there some sort of International HAM Radio operator organization?

Not so much international but each country generally has it's own group. Here in the U.S. the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) is the general amateur radio advocacy/lobbying group.

As an aside, where would be a good place to get started on lurnin 2 HAM?

Well, the aforementioned ARRL has an entire section on their Web site for new hams, that might be one place to look. The best way to start learning, though, is to find your local amateur radio club (the ARRL site will help you do that) and attend a meeting. Tell them you're interested in getting your ticket and they'll point you to local classes and other resources that are generally free or very low cost. Pretty much any ham will go out of his/her way to help someone else get started in amateur radio.

BTW, the entry-level (technician) class license is very easy to get--no more Morse code required.

73, and hope to hear you on the bands some day

KJ6BSO

I wonder, do you guys have a trade group of sorts? Is there some sort of International HAM Radio operator organization?

Not so much international but each country generally has it's own group. Here in the U.S. the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) is the general amateur radio advocacy/lobbying group.

As an aside, where would be a good place to get started on lurnin 2 HAM?

Well, the aforementioned ARRL has an entire section on their Web site for new hams, that might be one place to look. The best way to start learning, though, is to find your local amateur radio club (the ARRL site will help you do that) and attend a meeting. Tell them you're interested in getting your ticket and they'll point you to local classes and other resources that are generally free or very low cost. Pretty much any ham will go out of his/her way to help someone else get started in amateur radio.

BTW, the entry-level (technician) class license is very easy to get--no more Morse code required.

73, and hope to hear you on the bands some day

KJ6BSO

This was posted on the the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/ on the 18th, 5 days ago.

Disabusing someone of a naive or selfish notion is not snide, although it might be slightly painful to hear.

I'm sure there are plenty of places in the world who could use some professional expertise.

Yes, but such expertise is provided through organisations with transnational connections and volunteers either training on an ongoing basis for emergencies, e.g. ARES, or providing their services for extended periods.

The Peace Corps., as far as I'm aware, involves dedicated volunteers working abroad for extended periods, with financial benefits for the groups it targets such as student loan deferment. It is in no way whatever a substitute for a week's holiday. You are quite right, however, that IT volunteers exist.

if you didn't have cell service or a way to communicate, the chances of being rescued go down.

Which is precisely why I mentioned the military and amateur radio emergency societies, such as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service in the United States. These guys do routinely help out in national disasters, and occasionally with international contacts, but they do so through having spent a generous proportion of their free time in self-training exercises so that they are useful during such emergencies. Relief efforts will be co-ordinated through the society, unless of course you find yourself in an emergency, in which case you will put your training into practice.

I do, of course, encourage geeks to get involved in amateur radio. I am fairly new to it, and do not yet have the skill to get involved in emergency exercises, though I would like to reach that stage. I am just not going to pretend that offering a Spring break week each year is going to put me in that state. Professional readiness for emergencies involves ongoing training and exercise.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/14/11290/?nc=1

The FCC is not necessarily always trustworthy, IMHO. They were scolded by a federal court when they tried to force adoption of BPL because they "...failed to satisfy the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA') by redacting studies on which it relied in promulgating the rule and failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its choice of the extrapolation factor for measuring Access BPL emissions." [ source ]

The long and short of this story is that the FCC wanted BPL deployed, and was (according to two federal judges) apparently willing to suppress factual data to 'get it done' regardless of the harm it would do to Amateur Radio - you remember those guys that provide emergency communications when the fancy trunked systems die in emergencies? Yeah, them.

The judges said (quoted from the above article) that "...the Commission redacted individual lines from certain pages on which it otherwise relied...there is little doubt that the Commission deliberately attempted to 'exclude [ ] from the record evidence adverse to its position'"

The FCC is not necessarily always trustworthy, IMHO. They were scolded by a federal court when they tried to force adoption of BPL because they "...failed to satisfy the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA') by redacting studies on which it relied in promulgating the rule and failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its choice of the extrapolation factor for measuring Access BPL emissions." [ source ]

The long and short of this story is that the FCC wanted BPL deployed, and was (according to two federal judges) apparently willing to suppress factual data to 'get it done' regardless of the harm it would do to Amateur Radio - you remember those guys that provide emergency communications when the fancy trunked systems die in emergencies? Yeah, them.

The judges said (quoted from the above article) that "...the Commission redacted individual lines from certain pages on which it otherwise relied...there is little doubt that the Commission deliberately attempted to 'exclude [ ] from the record evidence adverse to its position'"

Sure: In an emergency can I cobble together something to send out a communication that doesn't involve me fabricating a processor?(...)

For any infrastructure, there should be at least the possibility of a contingency plan that could operate using 1940's technology... ideally with a fail-safe involved as well. Anything else is bound to come back to haunt us sooner or later.

If you're interested in communicating with people over long distances with extremely simple technology, I seriously suggest you look into getting a ham license. It's not very difficult, and you can make yourself useful when other communications networks are down. See http://www.arrl.org/ for further information.

73 de OH8HTH

Got one, thanks :) (Though I rarely make use of it...) I'm also involved with the local CERT team and am trying to find time for work with ARES and other civil defense/emergency communications teams... "When all else fails" indeed.

KI6IIE

Sure: In an emergency can I cobble together something to send out a communication that doesn't involve me fabricating a processor?(...)

For any infrastructure, there should be at least the possibility of a contingency plan that could operate using 1940's technology... ideally with a fail-safe involved as well. Anything else is bound to come back to haunt us sooner or later.

If you're interested in communicating with people over long distances with extremely simple technology, I seriously suggest you look into getting a ham license. It's not very difficult, and you can make yourself useful when other communications networks are down. See http://www.arrl.org/ for further information.

73 de OH8HTH

Got one, thanks :) (Though I rarely make use of it...) I'm also involved with the local CERT team and am trying to find time for work with ARES and other civil defense/emergency communications teams... "When all else fails" indeed.

KI6IIE

Sure: In an emergency can I cobble together something to send out a communication that doesn't involve me fabricating a processor?(...)

For any infrastructure, there should be at least the possibility of a contingency plan that could operate using 1940's technology... ideally with a fail-safe involved as well. Anything else is bound to come back to haunt us sooner or later.

If you're interested in communicating with people over long distances with extremely simple technology, I seriously suggest you look into getting a ham license. It's not very difficult, and you can make yourself useful when other communications networks are down. See http://www.arrl.org/ for further information.

73 de OH8HTH

Sure: In an emergency can I cobble together something to send out a communication that doesn't involve me fabricating a processor?(...)

For any infrastructure, there should be at least the possibility of a contingency plan that could operate using 1940's technology... ideally with a fail-safe involved as well. Anything else is bound to come back to haunt us sooner or later.

If you're interested in communicating with people over long distances with extremely simple technology, I seriously suggest you look into getting a ham license. It's not very difficult, and you can make yourself useful when other communications networks are down. See http://www.arrl.org/ for further information.

73 de OH8HTH

The guy's call sign is AF4KK:

http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fcclook.php3?call=af4kk

I've seen this car in person at Dayton.

Well, he serves a purpose. At least when I'm traveling in my Grand Marquis with 2 dual-band VHF/UHF antennas, a cell antenna, and a HF Screwdriver, I don't feel so bad.

Now if everybody would stop SLOWING DOWN when I pull up.

The FCC allows transmitters below a certain power level, and transmissions on certain very high frequencies without license. There is a PDF doc on that, and a discussion on the ARLL site which shed light on this.

Not all transmitters need be licensed, not even all operated, although if they are commercial products they must be registered. That's why some devices have the legend This product does not emit any RF at power levels or frequencies regulated by the FCC instead of an FCC number.

There's a ton of detail at those two links which clarify that there are some unregulated areas, although they are not where you would use them for blocking cell phones.

ARRL also gave some notice about possible health risks related to ham radio activities. It seems that risks associated with strong RF fields should not be underestimated, indeed.