Bone In The Throat

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.

OOoopps!

I forgot to enter the super special secret code from Verizon again.

This code has to be entered so that they will let me see my bill online.

This is one of the little annoyances they DON’T mention when you switch to online bill paying. We’re concerned about your online privacy.

I can pay the bill online… I just can’t see how many phone calls were billed to my account from 976 Chinese Slut.

I requested the super special secret code a few weeks ago. For my safety and security Verizon has to send the super special code by mail, and once again they sent it. I forgot to enter the first one too…

In the shuffle of life, when the super special secret code finally gets to the house a week or two later… It’s just not at the top of my priority list. So now I’ve requested two super secret codes and forgotten to enter them prior to their expiration. Ooopps.

I’m having the same problem with a certain bank. I just want to log in to make sure that they have some cash to pay a bill.

Recently they forced me to change a password for my online protection. I forgot about the password change and last month entered the password wrong a couple of times. Then I remembered the change and logged in successfully checked the balances and logged out.

This morning, I entered the old password once then remembered the change and entered the New password.

I’m still locked out of their site. It seems like the wrong password count is over the life of your password instead of resetting the count once you get it right.

So here I sit waiting for them to send me an e-mail with the super secret identification number so that I can reset the password to something equally forgettable and start the cycle all over again.

I havent even finished my first cup of coffee yet.

All of which leads to the point.

Why am I living in service to Banks, Phone companies, Utilities, and the 150 other web sites all demanding that I maintain user IDs and passwords? Wasn’t technology supposed to free us from drudgery? Now I’m as much a record keeper as I ever was.

I’ve swapped Invoices and statements for user ids, passwords and ever changing user agreements.

We value your privacy, and for your protection and inconvenience we’re absolving ourselves from any responsibility arising out of our loss of your data or your exposure to identity theft. Thank you for being our willing patsy… If you have comments or concerns dial 800WHOCARES.

I miss the good old days… Statements, envelopes, stamps, writing checks!

Is this a sign that I’m getting old?

Time for the second cup of coffee….