Ham Radio Operators Are Heroes In Oregon 326
An anonymous reader writes "We all know the impact that Ham radio can have in emergencies, but that often slips by the public and the authorities. Not so in Oregon, where a day after getting inundated with torrential rains and winds and suffering from the usual calamities those cause, Oregon's Governor called the local Ham radio operators heroes. When discussing how the storm affected communications, the governor stated: "I'm going to tell you who the heroes were from the very beginning of this...the ham radio operators." Kudos to the Oregon Ham operators for helping out in a bad situation, and getting the recognition they deserve."
Not Just In Oregon (Score:5, Interesting)
Hopefully much of this thread will be kudos for Ham radio operators around the world. A lot of them use their powers for good more often than you might think.
- Greg
Re:Not Just In Oregon (Score:5, Insightful)
There's no definitive answer on the matter, but it goes back to the days when ham radio operators had better sets than the old Navy radios (in spark-gap radio days). Amateur radio operators had more efficient radios and were more powerful than the "professional" radio sets at the time, when a Navy radio operator would try to use the frequency his set was tuned for he may hear some guys "hamming it up" on the air. After a while the saying was commonplace and the term "ham" stuck.
Officially it's known as Amateur Radio, but most people just refer to it as ham radio.
"And now you know the rest of the story, good day!"
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Another variation is that it's a self-deprecating qualifier. "Ham" as in "Ham Fisted". One's "fist" is the distinctive keying pattern a person has when keying Morse code, and a "ham fist" would be one who's a bit awkward at the key.
Some of these guys were real artists. Try keying "beesnest" in the middle of some text with a speed key. It'll put you off your rythmn, but some folks wouldn't even blink.
Morse is still relevant in b
Re:Not Just In Oregon (Score:5, Funny)
There are various stories about the origin. (Score:3, Interesting)
No one truly knows where the term originated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio [wikipedia.org]
73 (yes only 73,
Re:Not Just In Oregon (Score:5, Informative)
There are many unsung heros among the ranks of Amateur Radio operators.
Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Interesting)
Nowadays they've watered it down so that it's extremely easy to get the licenses. In addition, with the Internet you can basically walk to your computer and email the person you just talked to halfway around the world.
Anyway, in my experience the people left on the airwaves are all at least 60 years old.
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Insightful)
The barriers to entry that kept the hobby purist worked a bit too well.
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Interesting)
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Purist or Elitist? I've got a General license and I find that particularly on the internet, old hams are dickheads. They act as if we new hams are invading their private paradise, and instead of assisting and community building, they bitch and moan and howl about how ham radio is turning into CB, and how the sky is falling. Those old farts still on the air are just as crotchety as you'd expect, whining about how all the new hams are walking on their amateur band lawns.
About 20 years ago a friend was the
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Interesting)
PSK31 (Score:3, Informative)
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My belief is you're seeing the same sickness which has infected almost all levels of society. And IMOHO, it seems to get worse with the current generation. The current generation is all about "me" and all feel entitled. And if you don't play their game of giving to them, then you're not worth spit so why should they do anything for anyone else.
In other words, I don't see wha
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Insightful)
Guys like me (50 years old) don't care to, or are able to, do 5 WPM in Morse code. And as far as that goes, learning Morse never made sense to me anyways, not since the advent of the PC. Hell, I've had an Icom 735 for over 25 years without a license. I like to lurk.
So how do you attract new blood to an activity that's waaay too geeky to begin with? Kids aren't going to bother learning Morse when they can use a program to do the same thing - why would they bother?
So faced with either keeping the hobby "pure" and watching it die out as the oldtimer's keys go silent, or conceding to reality and making membership more attactive to younger folks, which would you choose?
But you're right, it's definitely not the same as it was 20 - 30 years ago.
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, disasters strike in many different ways. It's conceivable that there might be an occasion where the only viable communications medium you have is boolean (a carrier wave with no microphone or modulator circuit, or hammers and pipes in a cave-in, or whatever.) If that's the case, it's Morse or nothing.
Ham radio operators pride themselves on being able to communicate when absolutely nothing else works, and the world is crashing down (or blowing up) around them. Morse is another tool in the toolbox.
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Informative)
Funny how I've seen PSK-31 (a digital mode) work perfectly without a detectable (to my Field Day trained ear) signal. Morse may be better than voice... but a computer can outdo a human ear.
Note that I say this as a computer scientist and as a ham radio operator myself. I'm not suggesting that Morse is obsolete or useless... just that it's not automatically the best thing ever. The wonderful thing about this hobby is that it breeds innovation. From the earliest days of ultra-wide-bandwidth spark gap generators to a complete packet transceiver the size of an Altoids tin, the world of amateur radio, and the amateurs that have built it, is nothing short of amazing. However, if we really want to bring life back in this hobby, we need to stop all the infighting and think. We need to look at each operating mode honestly and attempt to appreciate the merits and the shortcomings of each of them. For every great thing you can name about the code, I can name another mode that does it better. But that's not what the hobby is about.
In response to the article, good on the Oregon hams, and congrats to them for getting recognized. They deserve it.
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Only because you brought it up, I will point out that packet transmitters will likely not survive an EMP. Digital transmitters, receivers, and decoders will be useless from that moment forward. Even transistor-based analog radios will be destroyed. The induced current will cause semiconductors to fry themselves out in everything from mainframes to iPods, and cars to refrigerators, regardless of their power
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He is not saying that Morse code should not be used. Rather that the users should not be required to LEARN morse code. Morse code can remain the encoding for transmission but the device can provide the a less arcane interface like a keyboard and a small display for the operator.
Yeah but its pretty embarrassing that aircraft pilots have to learn CW and radio operators do not.
I never got my radio license but I am glad I learnt morse code. And Braille for that matter. Its handy to know.
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or rather, tapping out
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Have you ever noticed the dit-dit-dit dah-dah dit-dit-dit of some phones' SMS alarms? Well, that's what it is -- Morse for "SMS".
See? You're still using it.
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Absolutely. Morse code also has the advantage of being usable on a wider range of frequencies, which cannot always be modulated effectively to voice, but can exist as a carrier and travel great distances. This is why bands like the 80 and 160m bands are morse code only. Also, you can scrape together enough parts from broken electronics or from junk (really) to make a radio transmitter capable of generating a carrier wave with no modulation, but even though an FM transmitter is also pretty simple to build, i
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:4, Informative)
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Plus, if I'm trapped, I want to be able to tap out messages kids today will understand: "Z0mg, r u there? Needz h3lp, legs broken. S3nd hlp n hookers.
Try sending an emoticon over mor
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For a fairly well documented account, check out some of the histories of code breaking that was going on in WWII. The Allied radio operators who were intercepting German messages were able to recognize many individual German radio officers just by the pattern of their dits and dahs. This was especially helpful in
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That's because, as a fallback, nothing really beats CW/Morse Code for efficiency. The bandwidth for a CW transmission is 500 Hz. And it'll get through in conditions where SSB or FM voice transmissions won't.
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For shortwave, knowledge of radio propagation and atmospheric conditions, good antenna design and particularly good Operating Practice are way more important IMO.
Low bandwidth, high noise resistance (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Informative)
The code-free tech license is in bands that are for all intents (near Canada/mexico border would be the exception) are US only.
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The code requirement for license to operate on radio bands that are considered long distance is mandatory by the treaties that setup a global radiospace for ham radio.
The code-free tech license is in bands that are for all intents (near Canada/mexico border would be the exception) are US only.
I'm sorry but that's just wrong. It might have been true at some point but it's certainly not true now. Most of the European countries have dropped Morse completely -- the US was one of the last holdouts. (Probably not the last, but definitely up there.) And the Morse requirements for commercial/marine radiotelephone operators licenses are gone too. There's no international pressure to learn it anymore -- most of the impetus to retain Morse in the U.S. was coming from the ARRL, basically from old Hams who
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The treaties that kept "No-code" off the HF bands went away 4-5 years back, and last year, the USA dropped code for ALL license classes.
I'm a "slow code" extra - and know of a few "no-code" extras
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Unfortunately, this came a few decades too late. We did not get an increase in new people becoming hams. A lot of existing hams upgraded their licenses, but the overall number of radio amateurs is declining today. New hams are not enrolling in sufficient amounts to replace those with expiring licenses (who are probably mostly dead).
Bruce
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A vast majority are, but ham radio was the "cool" thing when they were younger, now we have these new-fangled computers and Internets with it's tubes and everything. All the old-school hackers were hams. In the 70s and 80s they all moved toward computers. There's still a subset of younger hams (I'm 27 and almost always younger than anyone I meet on the air.).
Also of note is the fact that Morse code was dropped from ham testing almost a year ago. The jury was out on whether licensing would pick
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Perhaps that's because they've had their houses since before subdividers began putting a stop to amateur radio with covenants against antennas.
rj
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Nah. I guess ham radio is just too boring for todays youth. Kids these days already have the Internet. Why bother with a slow, unfashionable, quirky medium that requires expensive equipment and training, when you can just drag your notebook to somewhere with wi-fi, and use fresh and fashionable GUIs to talk to someone who is actually your age (and not a boring ham-radio-geek)?
I'm sure the geeky boys did flint-knapping 10000 years ago. The world has moved on. No matter how much you simplify the requirement
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The thing is, I can talk to and email people around the world without first contacting them using a radio. That is, I think, the fundamental change that's hurting ham radio as a hobby. Things like this article, which talks about the usefulness of ham in emergency situations, is what might motivate me to get into it... talking to people around the world is not anything to wr
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ham radio license requirements (Score:2)
To me, the true ham is a technically capable individual that has the skill set, equipment and ingenuity to see himself through a situation like the upper west coast has seen recently.
I can see requiring someone who wants to get a license to build their own transceiver, but I'm glad they got rid of the Morse code requirement. Maybe require it for higher licenses but not for beginners.
FalconRe: (Score:2)
Amateur radio license (Score:2)
I got my first Ham license back in the 1980s. Back then you had to be able to do 20wpm morse code to get to the highest license.
Morse code is what held me back from getting my license. I was able to build my own transceiver but was bad with Morse code. I was glad they got rid of the requirement for Morse code.
FalconRe: (Score:2)
The thing about email is you have to know who you're going to contact. It's kind of hard to duplicate an experience of discovering who's out there or the randomness of reaching someone totally unexpected, living very far away. I suppose voice chat rooms come the closest to this experience (Paltalk & Yahoo Messenger), but they do rely on an infrastructure that would l
Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:5, Informative)
Why bother going through the center of the Earth when the ionosphere can easily bounce radio waves.
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Yes they do. People have been using them for ages. Obviously they aren't perfect, but I sure would prefer to have a satellite phone to a smelly ham-operator.
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Re:Ham's day is over, probably (Score:4, Interesting)
Sat-phones also don't work particularly well in storms or heavy cloud cover, nor do they work at sea (see above about ground stations). In short, they're fairly useless in just about every situation where you'd need them the most. Ham radio has no such restrictions - there's always a way to get a signal through. If I were going to the boonies and had the choice of a radio or a sat-phone, I'd take the radio every time.
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New form of file sharing! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:New form of file sharing! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:New form of file sharing! (Score:5, Informative)
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I said I preferred D-Star, not that I operate D-Star or even own a D-Star capable radio.
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I love how 3 of us gave the exact same link to wikipedia...
Re:New form of file sharing! (Score:5, Informative)
Myself, I stick mostly to slow but useful 1200 baud AFSK on VHF. When you're passing things like short text messages, telemetry, and position reports, you don't NEED huge amounts of speed. What you need is a system to get the most critical information to where it will do the most good. And 1200 baud has a big advantage in that you can use it over damn near anything that'll pass a voice signal. You can fit an entire modem and protocol stack in a $2, 8-bit microcontroller, too - no fancy ASICs or DSPs needed (see my link below).
As for the long-distance HF communications people usually associate with ham radio, there's PSK-31 which is a very robust and efficient mode designed for keyboard-to-keyboard use. It's slow, but works when almost nothing else does. It can be encoded with the above-mentioned MCU (I do that for propagation beacons and such) but most people just use a sound card and PC.
Pactor III and other modes give you speeds suitable for email on the HF bands, and they're used for that quite a bit.
Ham radio in emergency situations is less about fancy toys, though, and more about having people with the training and knowledge to be able to use them, and to improvise when things go wrong. That's another reason I stick with relatively low-tech stuff - I'd rather build low-cost devices that can be kludged into doing all sorts of useful things than to focus on finicky, expensive, cutting-edge stuff that's going to fall apart when the fecal matter hits the air circulating device.
Yes, there are a lot of crusty old guys on the radio. But keep in mind that ham radio is what nerds did BEFORE computers and Slashdot, and a lot of them remember that spirit, even if they've fallen behind the curve a bit in technology. There's also a growing number of young hams developing exciting things like GNU Radio, and the open source philosophy is increasingly prevalent in the community. I'm certain that in the next decade open source will be THE major driving force in the hobby.
In the end, it's really just a return to the hobby's roots. There's always been a great deal of information sharing and experimentation, but much of that spirit has dwindled in recent years because of the aging population and the increasing complexity and manufacturing costs associated with modern gear. Open source software, plus DSP, FPGAs, fast computers, and software-defined radios, as well as increased ease of collaboration and access to contract manufacturing are swinging things back the other way.
Think of it this way - a weekend's worth of dedicated cramming can get you a license that grants access to some rather large chunks of spectrum, often with relatively little in the way of restrictions on how you use it. That's the sort of resource that corporations spend millions for - look at the 700 MHz auctions going on now. That license gets you a huge radio frequency playground that's not only wide open for experimentation, it NEEDS active experimentation and exploitation or it will be taken away and auctioned off to the corporations. Don't wait for Google's Android to save wireless communications from the likes of AT&T - go develop an open replacement for a proprietary mode (start with Pactor III or D*Star's AMBE codec), or start a solar-powered 802.11b backbone, or SOMETHING.
Hell, just to make things interesting - I'll send one of my OpenTracker+ [n1vg.net] kits, free, anywhere in the world, to anyone with a Slashdot account that already exists as of today who gets a license before the end of February 2008. It may not be everyone's thing, but A) it's free and B) it comes with source code. Email scott@argentdata.com.
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On the other hand, it turns out that 802.11b channel 1 is within the ham band. This means that, as a ham, you can use t
Packet Radio (Score:5, Interesting)
It's called Packet Radio [wikipedia.org], and has been around about as long as the internet itself. In fact, one of the first demonstrations of TCP/IP's versatility was the connecting of a satellite network, a packet radio network, and the ARPANet. This happened back in 1977.
Peace of mind (Score:5, Insightful)
Dan East
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Hey, it could have been 99% of most Americans. Stressed husband, stressed wife, running late might lose reservation at the inn, wife bitching about how he didn't/wouldn't stop for directions, him saying, "I am pretty sure this is the right way to go" but feeling bad because
Re:Peace of mind (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, having a basic radio could have saved James' life. So could have a GPS, or if the gate had been locked, or if he hadn't decided to leave the car, or if his family had taken the train. Anybody can think of dozens of ways he could be alive. Tragedies like this are always the result of a long sequence of events going wrong -- if any had gone right, it would have been avoided.
That's not at all specific to ham radios, though. Ham radios aren't magic, and won't solve every crisis. It's just the nature of tragedies.
It's still a mess (Score:5, Informative)
I live in Oregon, and let me say, things are still a huge mess around here. Although I personally didn't need rescuing (although someone I know did!), I must say that the HAM operators are an invaluable asset in an event like this. On the coast, communications are still spotty, if existent at all. There was an article in the Oregonian [oregonlive.com] today about how some places on the coast don't even have 911 service, since all of the fiber links for phones are out, and the 911 center doesn't have power anyway - the gas for the generator ran out. It's situations like this where HAM radio operators are particularly useful.
It's still a mess out here. Lots of roads are still closed - Interstate 5 is closed in Washington, effectively cutting off all transportation between Portland and Seattle. Thousands of cars, and most importantly, trucks, travel[ed] this highway daily. The train tracks are closed too, so there's no amtrak or freight trains. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens... things are improving, but in no speedy fashion.
I'm a Hero! (Score:4, Funny)
Goddess, I just wish there would be a natural disaster and a cute girl for me to save
Re:I'm a Hero! (Score:4, Funny)
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Oh Sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh Sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
I was actually thinking the same thing. I mean, I'm all in favor of a new form of broadband to promote competition, but IMHO wiping out HAM to do it just isn't worth the price. Frankly, I wouldn't mind a few states including a few weeks of basic HAM instruction as part of the standard high school curriculum so that people are more aware of an incredibly important resource in emergencies.
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Why would you think that a government would take significant steps to preserve such a medium? So that
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Note, I'm not saying we do not today rely on hams, only that new technology should be introduced to obviate it.
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Another hundred year flood ? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is basically a repeat of what we got in 1996 which I believe was rated as a hundred year flood -- so within 10yrs we have another event. Wonder how all this maps into the whole climate change picture.
And yes - thanks to the Hams for helping out as they always do. In any major disaster where public communications infrastructure will be damaged --- independent radio operators can make critical connections
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Golf Oscar Oscar Delta Juliet Oscar Bravo! (Score:3, Funny)
kudos as well.. (Score:3, Informative)
Good job! (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty easy to get your license, too. About a week's worth of studying will get you on the air. The ARRL [arrl.org] (American Radio Relay League) has a ton of info about getting licensed.
It's exciting that you can IM someone through the internet and have it appear in a couple milliseconds........but how about sending a transmission through the air to someone on the other side of the world at the speed of light using something half the size of your laptop and an antenna as long as that crazy cat-5 wire you have stretched across 3 rooms?
73 de KB3OOJ
Re:Good job! (Score:4, Informative)
Even better... sending that transmission using less than a watt of power through a homemade antenna to the other side of the world.
73. W9QNY
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I hear they are pretty fast too - and smaller still.
Re:Good job! (Score:4, Insightful)
Some people value that, *especially* in emergencies like what we're talking about here, when ham radio became literally the *only* method of communication available.
Thanks to the Hams!!! (Score:4, Informative)
Much of the communication is out due to drowned central offices, soaked cables, power outages, and such. Even the remaining working cell towers are in serious trouble, seriously overloaded, and communications is very spotty.
20 miles of Interstrate 5 are closed, with a several hundred mile detour over a mountain range, and the highway will likely be closed for a week, possibly more. Some parts of it were ten feet under water yesterday, and there was a lot of damage to the highway and it's foundation.
In conditions like this, hams with mobile or portable radios, or with emergency generators are often the ONLY communication to the outside.
http://flood.dothelp.net/ [dothelp.net] has a lot of information about the damage, rescue efforts, pictures, etc. (The server itself is OUTSIDE the disaster area.)
Thanks to the hams!!!
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Tomas
The hobby is growing (Score:3, Informative)
A good 1/3 of our members now are under 30. With such a young crew we can invest in and easily learn cutting edge technology to further assist the population in a time of need. We actually run asterisk based voip, video conferencing, instant messaging and of course email between our EOC's (emergency operation centres). Connectivity is done by way of 11Mbps wireless data on the 2.4ghz amateur radio band (non-802.11). We also make use of low speed packet based systems on VHF/UHF for your basic email (winlink: http://www.winlink.org/ [winlink.org] ) and message handling.
In my old HAM Club... (Score:2, Insightful)
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If I did 1 degree beamwidth, I could get some pretty impressive distances too. He probably wasn't doing 5W on an omni.
Also, EME these days is done over the internet to coordinate times. Also required is a computer with cw detector through the sound card.
Not Just During Disasters (Score:4, Interesting)
The Code is here to stay (Score:2)
1.) It takes skill and dedication to master the code. You can't buy that, you need to invest into it. Take a look at this guy:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=dj1yfk&search=Search [youtube.com]
2.) You are missing out most of the real DX
3.) Simple set ups can work miracles. Case in point: Last night I set up a 30 feet fibreglass pole on my balcony and talked to guys in Oregon, British Columbia and Wash. State. From Europe with 100 Watts.
4.) Point to point communications requires no addit
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2) Well, maybe not if the "new" one became the "real" one. Which it will, considering the old farts getting past their "best before" date.
3) I am talking to you across half the world right now. Without a 30 feet fibreglass pole.
4) Point to Point communication only work because so few poeple are using them.
5) See goatse.
And your last line just shows what a narrowmindet reta
Boy Scouts (Score:4, Interesting)
Thanks, guys! (Score:3, Interesting)
I have never heard of it, and I realize it may be a false assumption that one does not exist, but I am wondering if FEMA has an official process for calling up Ham Radio Opers to help as part of their disaster plan....
73
N2JBE
Proud to be part of the greatest hobby on earth. (Score:3, Interesting)
Another example of the use of amateur radio use in disasters is during the tsunami in 2004. Amateur radio was used to carry messages using low power battery operated equipment using morse code. Morse code uses far less power to put out a useful signal then voice and other modes. A lot of information was passed using 5 watts of power and code.
Morse is still useful and Army MARS (Military Amateur Radio System) is going to start using morse again on their nets. I hope Navy MARS does too.
A 'Know Code" HAM (www.fists.com) - Straight Key operator (www.skccgroup.com) - Navy MARS operator.
And most people laugh at them them (Score:3, Insightful)
I work Mounted Search and Rescue, (horse back) and have hauled their equipment to the tops of mountains for them so they can set up comms for the area.
I have also had HAM's make a radio call to another state just to make an emergency phone call. So its real good seeing this kind of press for them.
When all else fails.... (Score:3, Informative)
Many people hear the term "Ham Radio" and can only imagine a long-bearded nerd wearing headphones and shouting "CQ" into a vintage microphone. While that may be an accurate description of some hams, it's but the tip of the iceberg. I personally know hams ranging in age from 6 to over 100, and the individual interests cover the entire spectrum of available operation modes... CW (morse code), RTTY, PSK-31, Packet, SSTV, AM, FM, SSB, the list goes on and on. There are hams in just about every profession imaginable.. students, lawyers, physicians, truck drivers, programmers, home makers, teachers... again, the list seems to never end. Much, if not most, of the communication technology that is taken for granted these days can be traced back to amateur radio and/or amateur radio operators who've applied the knowledge they've developed as hams. Equipment in use today ranges from single vacuum tube transmitters, to microprocessor controlled marvels.. my own shack has a transmitter from the 50's beside a receiver from the 40's, beside a Kenwood TS2000X that covers amateur radio bands from 1.6 MHZ up to 1.2GHz on all modes... about the size of two stacked laptops. Vintage or state-of-the-art, there's plenty of enjoyment to be had. With less than 100 watts of power, I've talked with hams in more than 130 countries from my SUV. No matter where I am, I can communicate with friends and family anywhere in the world... even where there's no power, no cell towers, no visible satellites (oh yes.. there are ham satellites too... and plenty of 'em).
The ability to communicate globally without commercial infrastructure is the key to amateur radio's real value to the world community. When large scale disasters occur, the commercial infrastructure is often impacted. Power is lost, phone lines go down, cell circuits are jammed (until their backup power fails.. then they disappear), simply checking on the welfare of friends and family in the affected areas could be impossible if it were not for amateur radio and the hams that diligently maintain equipment and train to become proficient communicators. From a Red Cross shelter that needs supplies, to a sailboat taking on water hundreds of miles off shore... ham radio has saved the day countless times.
Ok... now that I've spit-shined ham radio, it's only fair to acknowledge the other side of the coin. Ham radio operators are human beings... and as a result of that, there are hams that truly deserve to wear the "Ass Hat" on a daily basis. I've run across foul language, bad attitudes, malicious interference, complete lack of respect and all of the other unfortunate manifestations of today's society. There's no escaping this in ham radio, CB, the Internet, the local pub, school, work... it's a part of living and interacting with other human beings. For these situations I can only offer the suggestion of changing frequency... there's plenty of spectrum for everyone if you're a little patient.
I'm in my late 40's now and have been a ham since my high school days (give or take a year or two). I've tested for technical knowledge, morse code proficiency and operating regulations... I hold an Extra class license... I'm the Emergency Coordinator for my county affiliated with ARES, RACES and County EMA, I'm an ARRL VE and I help proctor license examinations every month. I've had the pleasure of checking the "PASSED" box for new hams as young as 6 years old as well as for folks more than twice my age. My significant other is a coded general class ham and she loves everything about amateur radio. It really has so good much to offer that the bad things pale in comparison. I have no problem with the elimination of the morse code requirements.. most of the new hams that have been able to pass the test as a result are fine operators and contribute immensely to the community (some fall into that other category.. remember... humans) and while I encourage them all to learn mors
Flood Pics and Info (Score:4, Informative)
Here is a site just put up by the folks there:
http://flood.dothelp.net/ [dothelp.net]
Links to lots of pics and such.
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Tomas