Day: February 4, 2012

Woke up this morning to no internet, phone, and spotty cell service.

This is the second time in 3 or 4 months this has happened.

Yet again, someone cut a fiber-optic cable which has left the entire town without communication except for those of us with Ham radios.

Just heard a call for an ambulance up at Mountain High, a lady was injured on the slopes up there. But since the phones and 911 are down… it’s the Ham radio operators that are making sure that communications to emergency services are being maintained. I’m sure that the lady being hauled off the mountain doesn’t really care about how the ambulance got called. She’s just happy to be going to the hospital.

There are all kinds of people who say unkind things about Ham operators. Yet it’s that Ham operators in this town that are making sure people who need help are in fact getting it. The CERT team is checking on older folks.

There are even people that say Ham radio is dead, and the spectrum that has been reserved for Ham operators should be re-assigned (Meaning SOLD) by the FCC to “More useful Purposes” (Meaning a business that will charge everyone to use those frequencies.)

Hum, let me think… Uhhh My little radio works without computers, or special processing.

I know that I can get at best… about a 25 mile range with my little handheld. More often it’s just a few miles depending on terrain. BUT and this is the really important part…

Normal phones are dependent on computerized switching systems that they can be rendered useless once the connection to the telephone system computers is gone.
(Note this wasn’t always the case… At one time mechanical switches, and/or human operators kept the phone system up & running even in an emergency. If there was a copper connection, Then you could reach someone. It might have only been an operator but they’d relay the message to police or fire or whatever.)

Not so anymore…

The more complex a system becomes, the more inherently fragile it is.


Cell Phones are often dependent on a cell tower having access a land line. It’s even possible for you to have 5 bars on your cell and still not be able to dial a number. All the bars mean is that the cell phone is close enough to the cell tower that the phone and tower are communicating but the cell tower may not actually be able to make a connection to the phone network.

Also it’s important to note… NOT ALL CELL TOWERS have battery or generator backup. If the power goes out, these towers will be turned off, which means your cell phone will be useless.

Which leads to this conclusion.

There is and always will be a place for Ham radio operators.

Even if you’re not personally interested in getting an Amateur license yourself, take a look at that big radio antenna in your neighborhood and realize that person may be YOUR ONLY means of contacting help in an emergency. And you know what? Even if you hate each others guts… that radio operator will relay an emergency call for you.

So when your HOA says they want to ban Amateur radio antennas or that they want to forbid Amateur radio operators completely… Take a moment and consider what you’d do in an emergency.

If you hear of the FCC fighting with Amateur operators over selling frequencies, pay attention. Congress and the FCC may be selling off the only way to co-ordinate emergency response when the phones and cell towers go down.