Ham Radio Fills Communication Gaps In Nepal Rescue Effort 141
itwbennett writes: Amateur radio has stepped in to fill communication gaps in Nepal, which is struggling with power outages and a flaky Internet after a devastating earthquake on Saturday killed over 5,000 people. Though 99 persons have ham licenses in Kathmandu, about eight use high-frequency (HF) radios that can transmit long distances, while another 30 have very high frequency and ultra high frequency sets for local traffic, said Satish Kharel, a lawyer in Kathmandu, who uses the ham call signal 9N1AA. The hobbyist radio operators are working round-the-clock to help people get in touch with relatives, pass on information and alert about developing crises.
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Re:Once again (Score:5, Insightful)
No, but if you're trying to work on a relay in the US and there is broadband interference it is still an issue. That said, I don't thing consumer powerline networking is going to be very widespread, thanks in no small part to the ARRL's effort.
Further, this is why you do need to 'advertise' when amateur radio is used for public safety purposes. We are still fighting a rear guard battle and anytime the public (and our wonderful legislators) see the service as beneficial it slows down the attempts to limit amateur radio's spectrum and rights.
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Actually, the FCC is now proposing that amateurs share those LF spectrums that BPL uses as experiments BY HAMS have determined they can co-exist just fine. In fact, Hams are getting more frequencies now than they have ever lost. http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-seeks-to-assign-entire-amateur-portion-of-160-meter-band-to-primary-status-to-amateur-radio-serv is just one of several similar articles the ARRL has reported on recently. Please don't keep up the BS argument that we're losing our bands and privileges wh
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What gets me is that ham AR callsigns in general are significantly size constrained -- we're talking a standard of 5 letters and a digit, with some of those having reserved meanings, limiting the namespace. Sure, you have up to three letters appended as a location code as well, but this is still a restricted namespace.
But then, the airspace is also limited, so I guess we're lucky that there are enough dedicated hams around, while not so many that we run into significant issues that increased population de
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Actually, the FCC is now proposing that amateurs share those LF spectrums that BPL uses as experiments BY HAMS have determined they can co-exist just fine.
Citations? At one point, even with notching, it was ridiculously easy to kill a BPL signal with just a few watts. So I'd love to see the data.
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Do you think there is much powerline networking going on in Nepal right now?
We get that a lot. When they were trying to ram Broadband over Powerline ( BPL ) down AMerica's throats a few years ago, we heard a lot of "Well when you are needed, the power will be down, and you'll have clear conditions then. Running digital signals over an exposed line makes for an antenna, and it generates a lot of interference.
Problem is communications takes practice, and is a learned skill. Propagation is different on different frequencies and at different times of day and year. If you never get t
Re:Once again (Score:5, Insightful)
While you do have a good point, I think that any disaster that requires ham radio for communication would also likely have taken out the local power grid leaving consumer power line networking inoperable.
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It's not the powerline networking in Napal that is a problem. It's the powerline networking here that is. It's over loads the receivers front end and makes it near impossible to receive the signal from Napal. That is why powerline networking is bad. The typical transmitter in an HF rig is 100 watts. Put that 100 watts in to a good yagi antenna and you can send a signal any where in the world. Even with powerline networking your signal will get out. By the time that signal gets to it's destination it
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I send signals around the globe with 5 watts. 100 watts is for the guys that have crap antennas.
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A good hill is the best amp.
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A good amp is the best antenna. A good hill is the best amp.
Until everyone does it.
We used to hear about how spread spectrum was the cure for interference. Seems they forgote what happened to the noise floor whne a lot of people were using SS.
So when everyone is running a California Kilowatt, all things will be reset.
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I've only managed to go about 50 miles at 5 Watts on 2m, but I haven't really made a point of trying for range either.
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Not freak weather, that is tropospheric ducting. It actually happens a lot more often than you think.
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Not freak weather, that is tropospheric ducting. It actually happens a lot more often than you think.
Just not when you need it. Kinda fun though.
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Very true. I do some PSK31 usually between 5 and 15 watts. Should get on the air more often but like you said, I have a crap antenna. No seriously. Since I moved I haven't been been able to get a decent antenna in the air. Stuck with a crappy OCF dipole at 20 feet. I think the spaghetti I had last night would work better.
Re:Once again (Score:5, Interesting)
There are in general two kinds of operation of ham radio. First is local communications - local rescue groups using hams to help communicate and coordinate between groups on the ground and HQ.
There's also the longer distance communications - these guys get the signal out so someone in an area not affected by the disaster can pass on messages and whatnot. Think more along the lines of "I'm safe and sound" type messages being passed on to family.
The problem is power line broadband basically makes the long-distance communications less reliable. I mean, given Nepal's economic conditions, sending out "I'm safe" messages usually mean transmitting to India, where the infrastructure works fine. Powerline broadband would be working as well, which means your message will not be received because the receiver can't hear your message over the noise.
Power line networking or broadband generally affects long-distance HF communications more so than short-range VHF/UHF comms. And that's bad because short range would mean the power and infrastructure is down so it's not a problem. But you want to pass your message to places unaffected by the disaster where there IS working infrastructure, and then you have interference.
And that's the beauty of ham radio that blows people's minds away - it's not just about people talking to people in a city, but around the world - it spans the ability to talk to people from your neighbourhood or city to around the globe. Most people are fascinated because most of them only see extreme short range communications - a few miles at most for a cellphone to the tower, to a few tens of feet for wifi and Bluetooth. Telling them that it's possible to actually go around the world on wireless...
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It's still important to protect the bands in-between disasters.
You want hams to have working equipment ready to go when the disaster strikes. Very few are going to go through the work and expense of obtaining and maintaining equipment that they don't even get to use. Just keeping the bands interference free enough that hams get to talk to one another means that they will be turning their radios on regularly and know when something needs fixing.
You also want the hams themselves to be ready for the disaster.
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Power line networking is the least of our problems on HF. A more serious problem is the huge number of broadband noise generators in every modern home. Computing devices like computers, phones, and tablets are the starting point but far from the entire story. Microcontrollers are being put into EVERYTHING these days - if it has a digital display, control buttons, and/or a remote control, it probably has one or more microcontrollers in it. Most modern electronic gadgets have switching power supplies. We are
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Packet is still alive and well, but everyone I know has switched to APRS (a protocol that sits on top of AX.25). HF packet is slow, but it's there. 300 Baud doesn't pass a lot of data. I'd rather rely on packet via satellite than packet over HF. The successful HF modes (AMTOR, SITOR, etc) have forward error correction to cut down on bad data... the packet network just has to repeat everything until it's understood.
W1BMW
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There is also Pactor which is used extensively by the WinLink 2000 system. It is a fairly fast protocol (relative to what you get with other HF data protocols).
The only downside is it requires a proprietary TNC (ie, modem) which is not cheap.
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There is also Pactor which is used extensively by the WinLink 2000 system. It is a fairly fast protocol (relative to what you get with other HF data protocols). The only downside is it requires a proprietary TNC (ie, modem) which is not cheap.
The Winlink users have poisoned the wells though. It's not as bad as it used to be, but many of them would just open on a frequency, and kill everything else. Thhis was especially problematic with the low bandwidth low power modes like PSK31.
And there were several cases where an unattented station kust locked up and transmitted garbage for weeks. They need to prove tehy can get along with the neighbors now, and there's that little matter of proprietary software. A lot of Hams use Linux or OS X. And being
Mesh networking (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mesh networking (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the real benefit from amateur radio operations is that they are trained to work as a team. The reality is that the vast majority of the gear used in emergency communications are modern, reliable, commercial rigs that the operators could no more fix internally than you can fix your computer. They don't train to McGuyver the radios, they train to set up command and control links and practice working with interfaces with the Internet and government systems.
That way, when the shit hits the fan they can plop down in their chair and do something useful. Yes, you can get a field station running with a length of wire and a car battery and there are lots of ham radio operators who delight in that sort of thing. But organization and teamwork is the real key to effectiveness and that is why amateur radio has been embraced by governments world wide.
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RaDAR - Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio.
we make a game out of it by having impromptu events where a large group goes out and tries to get to a hard to reach location without power or anything else, erects antennas and then tries to contact as many other members on that event. It's great fun.
That game Saves peoples arses during emergencies.
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The reality is that the vast majority of the gear used in emergency communications are modern, reliable, commercial rigs that the operators could no more fix internally than you can fix your computer.
It is questionable if the "vast majority" of the gear in use is commercial gear. I'd bet that the majority is amateur gear, just because it is so much easier to deal with than the commercial gear. For example, most commercial gear requires programming software just to change the frequencies in the radio, while ham gear allows user selection much more easily. Yes, many hams, especially in the US, buy used (or new) commercial gear if they are involved with public safety groups, just because it is easier to c
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Forgive me, but i can not tell which side you are landing on.
Most Hams (at least in the US) build their shack so in the event of a large scale disaster, they can still get on the air. They often have backups of everything, so if their tower does go down, they pull out their backup, and erect a vertical dipole, or run a dipole wire antenna between trees. As for power... well the hobby made a point from the beginning of building the all the equipment so it uses 12 volt power systems which can be found in any
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Why do they do this? because they know that the large telecom companies are too damn cheap to set up their networks in a way for them to be bullet proof.
Because the public is too damn cheap to pay for 100% availability of telecom systems. You wouldn't pay what it would cost to have 100% available cell service during disasters, or any other public infrastructure for that matter. And governments don't pay for 100% capacity for their public safety communication systems, either, for the same reason. The public wouldn't put up with the taxes they'd have to pay to get there.
A five channel trunked radio system can handle five simultaneous users (ten when Phase I
As a result of the efforts of hams (Score:1)
A hundred elderly Indian hams received emergency relief shipments of Geritol. A hundred more Indian hams were complaining about the sense of entitlement the lower castes had for expecting any emergency relief at all, while another few hundred Indian hams jammed the nets because it happened to be a day of the a contest and they were yelling at the emergency nets for operating on "their" frequency.
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All of which had nothing to do with an earthquake in the country of Nepal. Nepal is not India. Go look at a map!
Side Note (Score:1)
Be careful if you're a HAM, locally I was able to find the name, address, and other information of callsigns with a simple look up.
In this case not a big deal but be aware that anyone can look you up via your callsign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Interesting, see which country has the most.
Other than that kudos to these people as they are often the last working line of communication.
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http://www.qrz.com - Show up at the address listed for me... they might tell you where I've deployed to if they say anything at all.
W1BMW
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zimmerman, mark d
716 druid hills rd
temple terrace, fl 33527
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When should I tell the people that live there now when to expect you?
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Still missing the point...
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I really have noticed people who were looking for me, standing outside of the mailbox store looking confused.
What was that? You're breaking up (Score:2)
Ham [static] Fills [static] Gaps
It sure does.
Good troll by Stikypad (Score:2)
This is normal. (Score:3)
Ham radio fills in the gaps for ALL natural disasters. Katrina it was a huge aspect of communications.
This is not new, this is what ham radio does.
Only 8% HF Ops? (Score:1)
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According to a US ham who was operating in Nepal a few years ago, the government wasn't issuing ham licenses for at least 10 years and ham equipment is very difficult for the locals to get. It's not like here where there is a local VE exam almost every week and a basic HF rig can be bought for $600 and delivered in a week.
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It's actually pretty easy to prompt a visit from the army if you pop up on frequencies where you are not expected, in some countries. Never mind any nice citizen-consulting sunshine-respecting mostly-independent part of the Executive Branch like FCC. Guys with guns come.
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Surprising that so few hams in Nepal are setup for HF operations. I wonder how many HF ham stations there are in the U.S. One can't tell by license class. I know that in a real emergency my QRP FT-817 is not going to be the most reliable but until I can fork out for some bigger solar panels and batteries to run an amp, 5 Watts is going to be what I've got. With morse code that's enough to work the world, sometimes. Beats the hell out a walkie talkie.
I've been a licensed ham for almost 20 years and don't do HF because I don't find it to be very fun or interesting - making a contact 1000 miles away has lost its allure (to me) in the internet age. I do participate in local disaster drills using VHF/UHF, but am not really interested in HF to get out of the area. Though my club dues do help pay for their HF equipment, and I'm glad that we do have members interested in HF. I can run a VHF/UHF crossband repeater from my car for an unlimited time thanks to so
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We need a way of keeping hams in practice (Score:2, Insightful)
Although everybody appreciates the amateur service's value in disasters, ham is slowly dying in the US because it is perceived by the public as falling behind compared to the more popular commercial communications technologies. What I would like to see is for ham to be assigned a legal commercial niche that it can occupy as an incentive to buy gear and revive the experimental edge that the service has long been renowned for.
How about Internet service in rural areas? Allow hams to offer commercial interconne
Re:We need a way of keeping hams in practice (Score:5, Insightful)
There are more licensed hams today than ever before. Part of that is because we modernized the licensing rules and don't have a Morse code test any longer (for which I take partial credit). And they already have a commercial niche. Most of them have jobs. Many of us got those jobs because of the skill we developed through Amateur Radio. In general they pay as well or better than offering ISP service to the boonies.
We don't want to see commercial use of those frequencies, even if such use would help some folks get more equipment, because if that happened, there would not be room for Amateurs any longer.
You should consider that all of the ham HF frequencies together are smaller than one WiFi channel. And they have global range. So, if you offer a good bandwidth signal to some home in the boonies, you have potentially used up that freuquency for the whole world!
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What I would like to see is for ham to be assigned a legal commercial niche that it can occupy as an incentive to buy gear and revive the experimental edge that the service has long been renowned for.
What possible commercial activity using ham radio could trigger experimental activities? Given the ability to experiment now, how could allowing commercial ham usage improve that?
How about Internet service in rural areas? Allow hams to offer commercial interconnect from fiber and other wired broadband to the scattered users who have difficulty getting ISP service any other way.
Cool. Consume the available ham frequencies with people selling ISP services. What a great way to promote ham radio.
The connectivity we would get from this type of commercialization is, furthermore, exactly what would help the most in time of disaster.
I hate to tell you, but infrastructure in the ham radio world requires a great deal of dedication and commitment. You will find a few people who will do it for fun, but a lot more hams USE the infrastructure than
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Although everybody appreciates the amateur service's value in disasters, ham is slowly dying in the US because it is perceived by the public as falling behind compared to the more popular commercial communications technologies.
Homeowners' associations trying to eradicate it with antenna bans don't help either.
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With the rise in satellite television and the appearance of eight zillion satellite dishes, I thought that local regulation of them got slapped down because they fell under the FCC's domain and were exempt from local regulation.
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What tweak13 said: gubmints can't shut down hams, but contracts can. And if you don't like the provisions of the contract, you have the option of building your house in a subdivision where they don't have an HOA. I believe there are some in Mississippi.
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http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301
I attempted to bring up this issue for discussion but it got turned down. The HR-1301 Bill addresses the rest of antennas that weren't covered by the prior bill which allows satellite dishes and OTA antennas to be erected in restrictive HOA lands.
Amateur Radio operators really need this bill in order to work with the HOA powers that be in order to work out a compromise concerning HF/VHF/UHF antenna restrictions.
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Allow hams to offer commercial interconnect from fiber and other wired broadband to the scattered users who have difficulty getting ISP service any other way. HF radio would be a candidate technology.
HF frequencies would not only suck at this due to their wildly-varying (by time of day, solar activity, weather, etc.) propagation characteristics, but they wouldn't get you enough bandwidth to support anything recognizable as internet service. Seriously, the various HF bands are on the order of a couple hundred kilohertz each. A single Wi-Fi channel is 22 megahertz wide. Just how well would a single worldwide shared-media 128K wireless network work?
Besides, interested parties can already do this with Wi-Fi
Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
Do we really need a story about ham radio after every disaster?
Yes. Because it's great to hear about geeks helping people. And it's wonderful to see technology used in positive ways. I love seeing people being nice to one another. These are heroes: not the assholes shooting. Any asshole thug can pick up a gun or bomb, but it takes skill, kindness, and bravery to help people you don't know to contact others.
We need to see and hear more of this in the violent shitty World.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm ham licensed as well, and this kind of news is a really important aspect of the hobby. There are lots of folks out there who would like to take our radio space and sell it off and it is important that we keep reminding folks that when things get ugly we keep working.
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F---ing A.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Informative)
In the mid-west storm spotters, ham operators, and other volunteers coordinate with sheriff's departments to get relevant information to the national weather service and out to the pubic during times of severe weather. Tornado season is a particularly busy time for them and they are appreciated.
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Hell yes..!!!!!!!!! its relevant and very contemporary.. people whom speak pout about these types of things are jealous. They just spent millions of dollars and wasted man hours building a infrastructure that doesn't come close to the reliability of RADIO and the tech behind it..
Bitches just wanna bitch, because they were bored, they tried to re-invent the wheel, came up with something elliptical in stead of round, resulting in ya it works until you put a load on it, then the imperfections begin to surface
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I've actually broken down on the Interstate w
Re: Again? (Score:3)
This is why having multiple different means of communication is important in case of emergencies. You mention cell service being down or spotty, but amateur radio is not immune to unavailability either. There are many places in the US (and the world), where you will not be able to reliably reach somebody with ham radio (especially VHF and UHF, but even HF if you're limited in what you can carry or conditions are too bad). In some of those places, phone service may work fine.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think we do, but why? It's educational for the younger audience. I would have never known of ham radios and their usage during disasters if not for slashdot. We get new and young readers now and then. It's good for them, but maybe not for you.
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Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hey Sparky.. you don't like an article?? easy fix... Dont READ it... Some of us like to hear about ham radio being used for critical stuff... geez.. What a specail snowflake.. just because he doesn't like a story, nobody else here should be able to read it either.... .
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Do we really need stories about rescue efforts after every disaster?
No, but some of us like the news - even that which you find repetitive. I find it interesting that, with all of the modern technologies now available, old-fashioned ham is still useful. Every time a disaster happens, even more time elapses and ham gets even older - and so the news is even more interesting. To me, this is just as anachronistic and interesting as if amateurs were using hot-air balloons to effectively deliver rescue supplies.
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Do we really need stories about rescue efforts after every disaster?
No, but some of us like the news - even that which you find repetitive. I find it interesting that, with all of the modern technologies now available, old-fashioned ham is still useful.
Good reply. But Ham radio has definitely kept up with the times. While the old radios still work - and it's a subset of the hobby, the new stuff like the Software Defined Radio transceivers like the FlexRadios, http://flex-radio.com/ [flex-radio.com] and the various digital/soundcard modes are nothing short of amazing. Geek-A-Licious!
Disclaimer: I'm a zealot.
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Anyone who is into PCs and amateur radio (or interesting tech in general) that doesn't own at least one RTLSDR dongle should dig the 10-15 dollars to get one out of their couches and start fiddling around with it and the open source software for them. The coolness factor aside, the future uses for them...and the possibility that what they can do now may be restricted in design later because of their flexibility...make these little things a must-have, and soon.
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How is this insightful? It's someone moaning about the fact that they don't like a type of article. The only insight here is StinkyPad is a whiney little bitch.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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You are exactly right. One thing though, it's "Ham" or even "ham". It's not an acronym. Thanks!
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Do we really need people bitching about every damned story?
Nobody ever promised you a pony or that you'd never see a story you weren't personally interested in.
You're free to not read it. You're also free to stop kvetching about it.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Informative)
Ahhh....an egocentric comment by a confirmed cellular addict.
I spent two years on a sailboat in the canals and fjords of Chilean Patagonia and Argentina. I have been south of every automobile, paved road and street light in the world. Most of the time we were 100 miles or more from the nearest cell phone tower (and road). Sat phones are unreliable at these latitudes (about 55 degrees south) because the satellites are in more or less equatorial orbits. And the Chilean navy wants to hear from you twice a day when you are in Chilean waters. The only tool that will work is a single side band HF radio. When connected to A PC via a specialized modem, this setup can send and receive emails from anywhere in the world. My transmitter is only rated at 100 watts and yet it routinely communicates with stations that are more than 3000 miles away. I have contacted Europe from the Pacific Ocean. "Hobby"?!? For those of us who are really out there, amateur HF radio is the communications lifeline.
P.S. Could the submitter of "Again?" make an attempt to explain to me what "official radio communication" means?
73's
KR6AS
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A small monohull is also a lot cheaper than a house, at least in most of the developed world. Even a fairly nice "yacht" (which just means "private non-business vessel") is probably affordable if you can sell your house. My parents have lived aboard for 13 years now, and their 48' (14.5m) catamaran cost significantly less than their house near Seattle.
It's actually really annoying when people assume that yachties must be rolling in dough. Most have very little income, so even though the lifestyle is cheaper
Re:Again? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hams were absolutely crucial because we could move in and quickly setup and operate additional equipment. I know times have changed....but every time I look at the state's disaster readiness plan hams would be needed again.
I think you are over estimating the ability of official channels to be ready to function on their own for weeks at a time.
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Also, when a disaster strikes the cell networks are usually the first to go down. The older towers can't handle the sudden massive sp
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Technically, making transceivers work when there are 30 of them in vehicles next to each other can get difficult. People wonder why you can buy a dual-band walkie talkie for $60 but the one in the police car costs much more. If it's well engineered, the one in the police car has some RF plumbing that isn't in the $60 walkie talkie.
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The one on the belt of the police officer also has a few other things that make it much more expensive. First, it's more rugged than the $60 ham version; it has to be, because it is carried many hours a day and because people don't handle their working tools as carefully as they handle their personally owned equipment. Second, it has features for secure communication that aren't in the ham radio - they CAN'T be, ham radio has to be open to all listeners by law. Third, many commercial radio systems have a fe
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Hell, sometimes they're hard pressed to even get in position, let alone operate. Hams have the advantage (if you want to call it that) of more than likely already having hot-damn eager people in place and ready to rock and roll.
StinkyPad is probably non-tech but interested in geeky stuff and doesn't have the background or exposure to be aware of this sort of stuff.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, because everyone not affected seems to assume that stuff like the Internet and cellphones will kill ham radio. Yet I'm pretty sure that while in normal circumstances you could get access to the Internet, and yes, the vast majority of people have cellphones, well, guess what? That stuff's not working now, so now what? Bit hard to use the Google or Facebook "I'm safe" feature when you can't get online now...
Call a friend, or text? Pretty hard when the towers are overloaded and maybe even in states that would appear to work, but not.
And that's a problem because people assume that because in the normal case it's not needed, it's obsolete. I'm sure a lot of people on /. wonder about AM/FM radios given that you can stream Pandora and other stuff off the internet.
And yes, ham radio is often official radio communications methods - many rescue groups use hams to provide communications between teams on the ground and HQ, or even to provide a way to tell someone else outside the country to relay messages onwards. And local government also often uses hams for emergency communications - the ham radio infrastructure may often be better than what their official radios have.
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I was downtown for 9/11 and the last big blackout.
I can tell you from experience that the cell towers overloaded or had lost power within an hour of the planes hitting and almost again instantly when the power went off in the big blackout. During the blackout some cell tower installs were powered from building generators, but there was no where near enough to handle the volume.
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9/11 was especially bad because most of the telecommunications infrastructure for Lower Manhattan - landline, cellular, and internet - was in the World Trade Center. So were the primary broadcast sites of most of the TV and FM radio stations in New York City. (Some but not all of the broadcasters had backup sites in New Jersey.)
Putting so many of our communication eggs in one basket may be dangerous, but it is also appealing for economic reasons; building a separate tower for each broadcaster would be a lot
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No, we're all soulless sacks of meat, fuck the other guys on the other side of the planet, we'll never meet 'em, so fuck 'em. Preach it, StickyPad!
Ham radio = SysVinit. (Score:2)
Doesn't it make you even a little bit happy to hear that in a fucking shitty situation some good is happening?
It's also a warning - don't write off old tech prematurely.
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Yes, because it gives a counter point to the technophiles who'd rather see that spectrum re-purposed for other uses.
We need the same story run for the POTS system after disasters, for the same reason.
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Re:Again? (Score:4, Informative)
You may think so, but I assure you that your impression of amateur radio's place in the scheme of things is sadly wrong. Think of them more like rabid Maker's hooked on radios instead of Arduinos and 3D printers. They aren't random people yelling breaker, breaker into a CB. It's a very technical hobby. Some might have just a transceiver and an antenna. But others have setups that look more like a satellite comm center. The people who dive into emergency comms do so with as much seriousness dedication as any EMT, fireman, or policeman. They're more like the guys who chase tornadoes. They go _to_ the trouble.
But don't misunderstand their purpose. They don't do this just for emergencies. Radio is a way of life for many of them.
Sure, "the communicate by any means" is still there. However, amateur radio operators provide vital communications to coordinate rescue and relief efforts all over the world, way more than just providing "I'm alive" messages. They've been doing it for over 1000 years. Ham operators happen to be sprinkled around all over the world, so they might already be there when bad shit happens. The operators have networks, procedures, and contact in place for emergency situations.
Ham radio's activity in this regard is officially recognized in the US and most other countries.
In the US, MARS (DoD program), ARES (civilian org, "ARRL"), and RACES (DHS program). All three deal deal with the use of amateur radio to provide emergency/disaster services.
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Ye Gods.. Listen, technical hobby it may be, some hams are technically minded, but not all of them are (back in the day, most/all of them were),
Oh boy , here we go, let's play the Ham radio is doomed game, and we'll stereotype each other. Quickly tell us about how Ham radio is dying.
We have the misfortune of having a couple locally who are little better than the stereotypical CB'er of old.. they shouldn't even be allowed access to license exempt PMR equipment let alone what they do have,
So what? You got a couple Hams who are not living up to your demands of what makes a Ham. Is there some sort of speciall way to think and act test?
Here's a dirty secret about most modern Hams, they buy their equipment and have little real idea as to what the fecking things actually do inside, and the majority of the ones who do know what the business end of a soldering iron looks like (unlike our local two muppets) slavishly follow the various mod diagrams to be found out there like electronics equivalents of script kiddies...that's the limit of their technical abilities.
Here's another di
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You're way more eloquent than I. Thank you.
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The non technically minded hams can also be valuable in emergency communications. Sure, you need somebody to keep the ham repeater, internet link, or whatever going. But you also need people out in the field with radios, talking to people, taking their stories, and passing information along to friends, loved ones, and authorities. Those people don't need to know how their radio works to do their service. They need to know how to USE their radio, even in times of stress and heavy demands. They have an import
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We regret any discomfort your stupid fucking post has caused us.
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Do we really need a story about ham radio after every disaster? I'm sure it's being used, but not to the extent of official radio communication. "People communicating by any means possible," is not news.
Actually yes, we do. In today's world, people seem to think that in an emergency, you just use the smartphone. Which of course is one of the first things to fail in a disaster.
It's also important for people to understand that Amateur Radio is not some guy in Idaho yapping about overthrowing the Guvmint with like minded weirdos on their 1950's tube radios.
My Software defined radios are marvels of electronics and computers melded together. Our digital modes are used to send and recieve forms and files. T
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I'm not trying to downplay the role of amateur radio communications - I am a shortwave radio buff. But I've heard people on the news talk to survivors in Nepal using telephones. Apparently, there is some landline or satellite communications to Nepal available. Just saying.
That's the case in any disaster - some traditional communications are working, but not in all areas. Even Satellite has limited capacity, it works when a few hundred, maybe even a few thousand disaster workers are using it, but if a significant fraction of the population start using their satellite phone, the system is going to be overwhelmed. Ham Radio is also capacity constrained, but with many ham radio users being trained in disaster communications, organized health and welfare messages can still be s
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There are indeed satellite phones in Nepal, but they are extremely rare given the number of people that have them vs. the number that don't.
Also, if you think the cell network can get overloaded in a hurry, you should look at the bandwidth budgets for those type of satellites. In disaster areas, sat phones have the same issue of 'network unavailable' when the birds are trying to pass more calls when they have bandwidth for. All commercial systems are allotted frequencies in one particular band or another an