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During Blackout, Ham Radio Shined
Mark Cantrell writes "An interesting bit on AP through Yahoo today. Seems that ham radio (which recently had a bit of backlash here on Slashdot from a few people thinking it was useless, outdated technology), really shined through during the blackouts. When the power went, ham radio operators, using battery backup power, were able to help coordinate emergency workers while the cell phone networks were overloaded. For anyone wondering why interference due to power line broadband is considered a bad thing, well, there ya go."
LOL, If cell phones ran on Windows, we'd have an international crisis, and some primitive species of Ape would take over the world. I love old technology. When Windows breaks down, I have my non-failing copy of dos that fits on a floppy. Too bad my floppy drive broke :-(
Help Fight SPAM today!
mean that ham radio freaks will try to cause blackouts?
Ham prerequisites: Must live in the basement at mom's house. She must smoke and wear hair in curlers while in a bath robe. All day. Your profession must be getting beat up at school. Junior high, preferably. Forget about bedding women, or even owning a vehicle. If, by chance, you do own a vehicle, it'll be the Dodge Omni that mom bought and passed down to you. With it, you spend vast amounts of time carting your neighbors to the check-cashing place so they can get their welfare money.
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Incorrect grammar. Should have been "...Ham radio shone."
But see, the "eliteness" expressed by most HAM operators is precisely the thing that turns many of the rest of us off to it.
I once had the opportunity to purchase a hand-held 2 meter HAM radio dirt cheap, and thought I was really going to enjoy getting into a new hobby with it. (I love communications, and already spent a couple years playing around with CB radio.) I quickly decided to forget about it, and sold the portable. The conversations I overheard on it were largely older, retired guys spending hours talking about their latest fishing trip, or doing endless tests as they tried different antenna configurations on home or mobile transmitters.
(In other words, slightly less interesting conversation than I usually heard from the average truckers on CB.)
Despite this, these people seem to think they're really something special, because they took all those exams, paid the required fees to the govt., and now carry various licenses to operate their equipment.
I understand their perceived need to keep the HAM airwaves free of clutter and overuse, but nowdays, I think most people would just use their cellphones and be satisfied. This is still a hobby with plenty of barriers to entry (expense, knowledge required on how to use the equipment, etc.).
I didn't feel like I should have to jump through a bunch of govt. mandated hoops just to use a piece of radio equipment I already purchased. (And man, it's annoying hearing people always announcing their HAM callsigns!)
Sorry, but it wasn't for me. And by calling CB radio "a toy", you further illustrate my point about HAM's attitude problems. CB radio is certainly not just a toy. In fact, where I live, a local AM radio station monitors CB channel 9 for anyone asking for emergency help, and patches you through to the fire/police/ambulance as needed. It serves a very useful purpose.