We live in an era of communication unprecedented in recent history. Through our phones we can literally talk to people around the globe anytime we want for practically free! But as we wrap up our series on preparing for times of crisis, I want to share briefly about developing an alternative communication option that we can use for our families and communities. In this episode I give some personal updates before describing a little about Ham (or Amateur) Radio and why my wife and I recently got our licenses and several radios in order to have a more resilient form of local communication.
Links for Ham Radio Resources:
Getting Your License:
Basic Radios we Purchased (Amazon affiliate links)
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Excellent podcast, thanks. I wanted to add that the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) has most of the capabilities of ham radio, at least at the entry Technician ham level, but with some additional benefits. In both cases, you are using short wavelength FM radio that needs to be pretty much line-of-sight communication. This means that to talk over distances of more than a mile or two, you both have to be on hilltops or one party needs to have an external antenna mounted atop a house or tower. Both ham (Technician class) and GMRS can do this, and both can use high power transmitters (up to 50 watts for GMRS). And both services can make use of repeaters.
A big advantage of GMRS is that to get you and every member of your immediate family can get licensed with a single $70 application to the FCC. No exam required. Also, some very reasonably priced units are available. So your wife and kids and parents can all keep GMRS walkie talkie or car/truck units with them.
Also on GMRS – – unlike ham radio, it seems OK to use GMRS for business applications.
FYI, here is a list of existing GMRS repeaters in Alabama: https://mygmrs.com/repeaters?name=&location=&state=AL&frequency=&output_tone=&input_tone=&type=&ori=&travel=&sort=State&step=25 . I don’t think any of these hit Coosa County.
Some local communities get together and set up a repeater for general/emergency usage.