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Amateur Radio Braces for Hurricane Isabel
TaxSlave writes "Amateur Radio operators in North Carolina and elsewhere in the projected track of Hurricane Isabel are getting ready for action. ARES has been activated in many areas, and hams are recommended to be ready. NC ARES has an information page for the storm and Hurricane Watch Net has a good info page as well. Even outside the major storm area, hams are posted at shelters which are filling up with storm refugees."
around the rest of the country, to relay Health & Welfare traffic during the aftermath.
./ effect!
Some other frequencies of interest:
14.265 MHz [USB] Salvation Army SATERN net.
7.232 MHz [LSB] Tarheel net [daytime]
3.923 MHz [LSB] Tarheel net [after 7:30 pm]
3.907 MHz [LSB] Coastal Carolina net.
The nice thing about radio is, as long as you're only listening, it doesn't suffer from the
First, here is some background info.
Second, study up for the 35 question multiple choice exam using the Now You're Talking book.
Third, take your test.
Then get some gear - you'll be the one helping out in the next disaster in your area!
K9JRW
Depends on what kind of aerial you're talking about... if you mean 2meter, 440, etc, then yes... a tall tower (typically for a repeater, and that might not survive the hurricaine) facilitates communications, since these bands tend to be line-of-sight.
However, if you read the article, you'll notice they are using the 80-meter band, which is NOT line-of-sight. Tall antennas are not as critical... you can rig up a dipole with some wire after the storm passes, and get passable reception.
aerials, schmaerials... a true ham is a master at jury-rigging stuff, including antennas.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
no
unless a trucker is in trouble.
it's unusable with legal equipment because the truckers are pushing 50000 watts out of a VERY shitty amp and splattering ALL OVER the nearby ham bands. Legal is 4 (yes FOUR) watts. 12 if using SSB. try outtalking 50000 watts with 4 watts. not going to happen.
de w4axe
And the hams that need the info have long ago been setup and no longer NEED to access this info. Besides, I have accessed this just now and it seems to be holding up to the slashdotting. I am actually kind of surprised that they are still up if these servers are in NC. It appears landfall is now happening. You should not worry about the slashdotting affecting the disaster relief. They're ok!
Gorkman
CB is limited by FCC regs to 4 watts (I think) whereas licensed hams are limited to 1500 watts. We have dozens of bands to choose from and are able to pick a band with local, regional, or national/worldwide characteristics that will work best for situation. Many Hams are volunteers and train for emergencies, allowing them to work right alongside FEMA, Red Cross, National Guard, local government and local emergency management. Hams are usually the first communications on the scene of an emergency and often the only reliable communications for the first half or more of any disaster. Hams repeatedly garner praise from served agencies after the emergency is passed. You don't typically hear similar things CB'ers. Nothing wrong with them. In fact, there's lot's of CB's that have gone the extra step and gotten a ham license, and some have become active volunteers. My $0.02
Most hams have radios both in the house and in the car, plus a selection of handhelds. Those that typically volunteer keep a bunch of batteries charged up for all their handhelds, maintain car chargers and alternate power sources, and etc. They are darn good and ready for this kind of thing, especially a hurricane they've seen coming for over a week.
I've heard this rumor many times, but have yet to see it.
Most of the truckers I see/hear have legal radios
but antennas that look good rather than work well.
When I tune my HAM mobile to ch19 I rarely hear anyone more than 20 miles away, about the same range as a 5 watt FM HT.
On some other hand, I guess the less noisy bands go on forever don't they? I've only heard as far away as spain in my mini-van, but this is my first year.
73 de N0SX
As far as your main point goes, though, right on! It is even better made than before, as you don't need any code whatever to get started.
73 de KG4WWN
Little Brother, watching the watchers
50KW??? Ok , 5KW I could just about belive but not only would a 50KW AM amplifier be almost the same size as the trucks engine but it would pretty
much kill any electronic equipment within a few hundred meters including whats in the truck itself! Sounds like an urban myth to me.
The Novice license is no longer available. Existing Novices can continue to operate.
The Technician license grants nearly all privileges above 50 MHz, but Techs are only allowed to operate HF (below 30 MHz) if they've passed the Morse Code test, and then only Morse Code at low power (and one phone allocation on 10 meters) in a few small slices of spectrum.
General class licensees have some privileges on all amateur bands, including voice, data, and video where it's allowed. Extra Class operators have full privileges.
Here is a good summary of the license classes and operating privileges.
And don't let the test scare you off. Any self respecting geek ought to be able to learn the test material in a couple afternoons.
I got my Novice license at about age 11. I'd stayed with Technician class for years, then they dropped the 20 wpm code requirement for Extra. It took me about 8 hours of studying to prepare for the test and I passed with a 96%.
If you're reading slashdot, and you already use things like FRS radios, there's no excuse for not getting a license and earning the ability to use REAL equipment.
Plus, you can run higher power 802.11b. =]
N1VG
Here is some quick general info I normally hand out.
t ml
m l
/ /www.arrl.org/arrlvec/2003Technician_graphic s.pdf
There are 4 current classes you could get. To get one, you need to one
before it, ie if you want general, you need to have tech and tech + morse
first.
Technician
Technician + Plus morse code
General
Extra
The test is only $10 and lasts for 10 years. to renew, you just have
to fill in some paper work and send it into the FCC.
The test is 35 multiple choice questions.
The Technician class Syllabus is here
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/tech-syllabus.h
To find a testing center in your area.
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.pht
Question pool for Technician class (I printed these out and read over them twice and was able to pass the test)
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/tech2003.txt
http:
Online Practice test
http://www.qrz.com/testing.html
Even a light bulb can be used to make contacts around the world.
I would like to point out that getting the gear needn't be expensive. These people have handheld 2-meter sets that cost less than most gamer-grade video cards. My 2-meter handheld, a Yaesu VX-5R, retails for $250 and Yaesu often has it on sale for around $200. It puts out 5 watts (sufficient for all the local repeaters), will do 6 meters and 440 as well, has a wide-ranging receiver, and isn't all that much bigger or heavier than my cell phone.
That will be sufficient for you to get into your local ARES net to prepare for emergencies in your area.
Someone you trust is one of us.
There are 4 current classes you could get. To get one, you need to one before it, ie if you want general, you need to have tech and tech + morse first.
Technically you only have to pass the test for the class before it. So if you want general, you only have to pass the tests for tech + morse and general. Which you can easily do in an afternoon.
You don't actually have to pass and be issued a tech license, then a tech + morse license, then a general license. I just wanted to clarify that since I didn't think the parent post was clear on that.
People care if their cell phones work during a crisis *today*. This is nothing new, and it's not likely to stop being important tomorrow.
We (as in the human race) have been using microwave links to transmit phone data for decades now. How they handle bad weather is very well known, and I'll bet a few minutes of google searching will find you lots of data on that.
(From what I've found, the error rate goes up in very heavy rain, but the links continue to work. Of course, if the wind knocks the tower over, pulls the dish off or knocks out power, it's going to break.)
WiFi does use microwaves to transmit it's data, but the name `WiFi' itself limits you to networks based on IEEE 802.11 specifications. If you're not using 802.11 specifications, it's not WiFi ... it's something else.
Cell phone data is not routed over WiFi networks to any signifigant degree now, and this isn't likely to change in the future. Phone companies do use similar technologies, but they don't call it WiFi.
And that's why what happens to WiFi during a storm isn't *that* important in the grand scheme of things.
Recall, 2.4Ghz is in the microwave region. Your cup of coffee is warmed up in the microwave oven because water absorbs microwave energy like a sponge.
Now, an infared LASER. That might work...
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
"Hats off to you people & thanks for the wonderful job you do!"
n c= 1//
/ te lecoms/regulatory/publiconsult/powerline_communica tions/text_en.htm
Do it as long as you can, because the very existence of ham radio is endangered. Powerline communication uses the entire shortwave spectrum and is being hailed as the only way to ensure a nationwide coverage of internet access. The telco and energy industry pushes the issue with the FCC right now and as things stand, the entire shortwave spectrum will be completely useless for any wireless service, be it ham radio, shortwave broadcast or other emergency service that need the shortwave frequency range.
Take a look at:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/08/2/?
Same, by the way, in Europe:
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics
It's been a nice hobby for me during the last 25 years, but as things stand it won't last another 25 years.
You might want to inform your congressman about the issue and tell him that in a couple of years hams might be unwilling to provide emergency services when ham radio as a hobby has systematically been sacrificed for the industry's greed for a useless technology.
See http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gc i341011,00.html and http://www.co.fort-bend.tx.us/county_services/OEM/ citizens_band.htm
Actually you cannot transmit offensive messages over ham bands, that is the realm of CB'ers, who tend to be loathed by hams. Ham radio requires a licence for operators, CB bands do not.
:-) Posted too many AC comments :-)
Finally I was bothered to find an old nick...didn't realize I had one at my current email address
Even cheaper: buy a used radio on EBay, or visit a local ham store or ham swap meet. The gear you find may not be the latest and fanciest, but there is a lot of good, serviceable gear out there. My 2m handheld is a Radio Shack HTX-202 - big (by modern standards), heavy (ditto) and ugly (in the eye of the beholder... :-),
but it's built like a tank and it works very well.
Unlike other radio services, we hams can build our own radios. Hardly anybody does anymore. Sad.
...laura VE7LDH
Well the written rule is that you're never supposed to use more power than you need to get the intended communication through.
That said, I believe the 2ghz range limits are 1500w. Its been a while since I had to memorize those charts, though, so it might be less than that. Most frequencies seem to be 1500w, though.
Thats twice the power and nearly the same frequency as your microwave oven, though. You probably don't really want to be doing that.