Emergency Communications

[piper]

I am an amateur radio operator. In my ward they are always talking about emergency preparedness and food storage etc. which I support 100% and encourage it. But I have found that when I mention emergency communications I get some blank stares and something about a block captains and a calling tree. I just moved to where i'm at recently, so am just getting involved in the local ARES/RACES groups which, fortunately are quite active here. But I am curious do any of you have active emergency communication discussions in your plans?

[siouxz72]

I'm a staunch believer in smoke signals! in all seriousness, that is a very good question piper and not one that I've thought about. Now I need to make some calls.

[brut4c]

Piper, I can only speak for our stake but am sure others had the same thing but were sent a ham radio which I was told every ward would get. We assigned a new calling as operator who would be responsible for getting fcc cert. etc. It was my understanding this was to be a church wide program but have not verified that.

I think the program got scrapped due in part to the fact that the radio they provided would be worthless without power not to mention the repeaters must have power. If things got so bad as to require these radios they would likely be useless anyway.

Communications are Hugely important in my way of thinking and it would behove our members to look into the matter. I am not a hamm guy but I think there are some radios that would fit the bill but not sure on the cost.

If we are not going to have a comms plan then we need to have an air tight emergency plan for each ward and that plan needs to be known by others well outside their area.

You know as well as I do though that there are only a hand full of members willing to even give this stuff any regard whatsoever.

Best regards

[piper]

I'd heard something about that program. It's really too bad if they scrapped it. We always set up so that our radios can be operated with battery power. Repeaters aren't even necessary always. It is sad that only a handful will work for something like this.

[brut4c]

I just had a sit down with our stake pres. I asked him about our Hamm radio program and found out that church head quarters has stated that we are NOT to install comms in the buildings.

[WANDERER]

It would probably be best if it were highly portable.

[brut4c]

I agree completely however the radios that were purchased were not portable at all.

[stltraveler]

I know that my stake and several of the surrounding stakes have implemented a program of their own. It's a purely voluntary program which does not announce it's affiliation with the church, it's more of a dedicated support network. They conduct routine classes for the Ham licensing as well as weekly 2m radio nets and monthly HF nets to the various church storehouses.

All in all it's a great program, it's appears to be steadily growing from what I have heard. I've just now moved back to my home area on a more permanent basis and will be looking into their activities.

I can tell you from experience that you can achieve long range communications very easily and effectively using HF radios with very small footprints. I routinely talk to both coasts as well as maritime vessels from my Jeep while in transit from one facility to another. 100 watts goes a long way with a decent antenna and the right frequency band selection.

[wy0mn]

Good thinking Piper.
My rigs are solar/wind powered at the cabin.
I've never seen, or heard of, a ham radio that was incapable of portability! They all, except hand-helds, require 12 volt direct voltage; the same as most autos. Even hand-helds have mobile chargers, the same as cellphones & laptops.

[dalepres]

I think the program got scrapped due in part to the fact that the radio they provided would be worthless without power not to mention the repeaters must have power. If things got so bad as to require these radios they would likely be useless anyway.

I've been a ham operator for 40 years. I can think of probably a hundred ways that a radio can be used in an emergency with very little power. I have communicated around the world on less than 5 watts power. And VHF/UHF without a repeater can still be useful.

Consider that a person is evacuating a flooded or uninhabitable area with a battery powered radio. There are no reachable repeaters with power. He leaves home but cannot pickup anyone on the radio. He turns it off to save the battery until a day later he hits a fork in the road. In one direction lies more destruction. In the other is humanity and help. He doesn't know which way to turn. Now he turns on the radio and perhaps he gets an answer. He's 20 miles closer to humanity than he was when he left home yesterday. He gets an answer that helps him choose the right path and saves him from certain destruction.

Do radios represent certain help or certain survival in any disaster? Of course not. But then, neither does having a full pantry.