I forgot the HAM frequencies

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As I've posted before, I have a HAM , but no license because I will never use it unless it' a SHTF and I need to find my daughter.

I've noticed that my fellow preppers don't have license either. It seems that Hams will be handy. I guessing you guys just agree that a license is unnecessary and just a way to be tracked by the govt
 
Ham guys are super serious. I have everything I would need to operate a Ham radio in an emergency, except the radio itself. (Deep cycle batteries, antennae, inverter). I've thought about getting a license off and on over the years. I just haven't been able to figure out what good it would do me in an emergency. I suppose I should look around the site at some Ham discussions, maybe there is a legit reason to have one post STHF.
 
Squirtgunsquirter said:
Ham guys are super serious. I have everything I would need to operate a Ham radio in an emergency, except the radio itself. (Deep cycle batteries, antennae, inverter). I've thought about getting a license off and on over the years. I just haven't been able to figure out what good it would do me in an emergency. I suppose I should look around the site at some Ham discussions, maybe there is a legit reason to have one post STHF.
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As I've posted before. I bought two of the Baufeng hand held units. One for me and one for daughter. I studied for the test, but then decided against it since inwont use it until SHTF. Got them on Amazon. Got the extra, longer antenna too
 
Also, in my area, I tried hard, but couldn't find any mentors or even anyone willing to talk to me about it. Did find a group in East Tennessee that has a fb page that I joined just to keep tabs. Moat of the technical crap they talk about, I don't even understand.
 
Yeah, when I bought my 12V power supply I got it at a radio shop, the two old drunk guys in there were super rude, You a Ham? No? Oh then F you lol.

I had a cb in my car when I travelled for work, all over the country, and I only ever picked up anything on the Ham bands twice? And then it was gibberish.

I definitely have better things to spend money on. Ham is WAY down on the priority list.
 
Squirtgunsquirter said:
Yeah, when I bought my 12V power supply I got it at a radio shop, the two old drunk guys in there were super rude, You a Ham? No? Oh then F you lol.

I had a cb in my car when I travelled for work, all over the country, and I only ever picked up anything on the Ham bands twice? And then it was gibberish.

I definitely have better things to spend money on. Ham is WAY down on the priority list.
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The thread isn't that interesting. Some guy who used to post her had given me some frequencies to program so that I would be able to find someone in case of emergency. I forgot them, but then found where I had written them down so I wouldn't forget . Lol I just say "as I posted before" So that others don't think I have dementia and am repeating myself.
 
In the 1979 Jackson Mississippi "Easter Flood", I was on a Red Cross Disaster Action Team based out of the Regional Red Cross Headquarters in Jackson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Easter_flood

The telephone circuits were all jammed so phones were useless. The Emergency Operations Center flooded knocking out the central dispatch, so police and fire radio were useless for a while. Chaos reigned supreme. One of the radio stations learned of the location of a shelter only because someone who worked at the station happened to drive by the shelter and see it, and they then proceeded to broadcast the location of the shelter. Even after they set up a temporary EOC, things were so chaotic the local government and emergency services were in total disarray.

We had ham operators on the team. We sent ham operators to the EOC, and then the temporary EOC, all the shelters, and headquarters, and anywhere else we needed communications. WE had full communications when NOBODY else did.

Do not for a second discount the importance of communications in a disaster!!!
 
But that was useful because it was a disaster in a tiny slice of an otherwise fully functioning system. Ham would be useful for exactly what you describe, no doubt.

But if its not going to get better in a week? A month? I imagine it would be something nice, to hear a different human voice, but I just cant parse how its any use if there's no gas at the gas station, and it's a bad idea to go across town, and the National Guard is out and about, or even abandoning their posts to take care of their own...

What do you say? "Yeah, abc123, things look like shit here too." Or is to be able to find out if things are great somewhere else? "Ok, abc123, I'm on my way".

Could you find out in advance that a bridge was out? A roving gang was in a certain area? People are getting rounded up and housed for their own safety?

I'm not saying Ham isn't useful now, it is, it is the fallback communication for exactly the situation you describe.

Hey, I could be totally wrong on my attitude toward Ham. Comms are important.
 
Being able to hear news will be both a morale and security booster. I was supposed to take the test last month but got busy with work and missed it that day, but will take it before long. Studying for the test questions wasn’t hard either. The main reason I want to get licensed pre shtf is to learn how to use the radios a little better. I’d rather not try learning how to communicate when I really need to.
 
Squirtgunsquirter said:
What do you say? "Yeah, abc123, things look like shit here too."
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You are obviously not planning on having friends or relatives you need to communicate with.

Sure, if you don't have anyone you need to talk to, then no point in talking.

Even at the BOL now, cell reception is so spotty we have to communicate by text message, and hope it eventually goes through. If the cell service goes down, radio is the only way. And it's too many trees to use CB or even FRS.

How about

"Arthur, poachers coming in on the northwest side headed your way."

"Danny, I fell and broke my leg at the Big Cypress"

"Paul, a tree fell across the sign-in board road about a quarter mile in, can you come help me move it?"

"J.P. I got stuck on the south side near the east end - need help."

"Glenn, I ran into some marauders at the catfish tower, I'm holding them off for now, but I need backup."
 
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Friends, either with me or too far away, although I suppose you could get a message across country through repeaters.

My mind can be changed on this. I'm not taking some sort of principled stance against Ham. I just try to imagine how it work post SHTF, and its not easy. I have zero experience with it.

I guess its the nuts and bolts of what you would use it for that I don't get. Human contact sure, but is that it?
 
I got mine because I would freak not being able to contact my daughter and she's only 15 or so miles away. Yep, I'm one of those moms.
 
well, after very little research, looks like the way to go for me personally, if I were going to do it, would be a mobile base, with a handheld. The mobile I could bring inside and use on my 12V power supply (probably, but a different power supply would be no big deal), I could run 1/4 wave antennae pretty stealthy, and now I just need to figure out the range I could get. Guys talking about 100 miles by driving to a hilltop, but If I could get 30 or 40 I would be happy. Now I need to find out the range on the handhelds.

Robin, I will move this to another thread, I didn't mean to hijack yours. Sorry.
 
Squirtgunsquirter said:
well, after very little research, looks like the way to go for me personally, if I were going to do it, would be a mobile base, with a handheld. The mobile I could bring inside and use on my 12V power supply (probably, but a different power supply would be no big deal), I could run 1/4 wave antennae pretty stealthy, and now I just need to figure out the range I could get. Guys talking about 100 miles by driving to a hilltop, but If I could get 30 or 40 I would be happy. Now I need to find out the range on the handhelds.

Robin, I will move this to another thread, I didn't mean to hijack yours. Sorry.
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Don't have to move it. This thread has been dead for a long time.
 
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