Posted: 2/18/2011 10:46:41 AM EDT
|
Hi everyone,
I need your help to find the best plan for my wife and I in the event of an large scale disaster/emergency where the cell phones wont work. We work about 30 miles apart and if something were to happen I would like very much to be able to communicate with her if nothing else just to make sure she was alright. My wife and I are both studying to get our ham licenses and are looking at a set of HTs. Neither one of us are very tech savvy or looking to get into amateur radio as a hobby this would strictly be for emergences but that might change in the future. My plan at this point is to program in about 5 local repeaters and then lock the HTs into memory mode so they can not be accidently changed (mostly for my wife) hopefully creating a very simple "channelized" radio that is as close to foolproof as possible. In the event of an emergency will those 5 repeaters I programmed be jammed to the point of being useless for my wife and I to check in with each other? As I said we are about 30 miles apart at any given time but we are mostly "line of sight" with each other. Is there a chance we would be able to communicate with the HTs without the use of repeaters? I am totally new to amateur radio so please excuse my ignorance. Thank you for your help! |
|
30 miles is really outside typical HT range. And radios you never use are about as useful as a rifle you've never fired.
What you should really do is draw out some emergency plans. Things that could happen (in recognizable terms) and what to do in response. I.e., Blackout longer than an hour, or any blackout that affects battery powered electronics: return home. Fireball in direction of home, or otherwise can't return home: leave a note on your desk at work and head for an alternate shelter, perhaps Aunt Floe's house or a red cross designated shelter. But leave a note so the spouse will find it. Riot outside her office or an active shooter: follow local emergency procedures if useful, seek high and locked shelter, keep a nose out for smoke, call 911, etc. Etc., etc. Try to keep things simple and intuitive, and write them down on paper in her purse. |
|
Quoted:
This.
30 miles is really outside typical HT range. And radios you never use are about as useful as a rifle you've never fired. The truth is you have to be a radio operator when times are good to have a chance of success when things go south. Find out what the capabilities of your equipment are well in advance of the incident. Is 30 miles simplex with HTs possible? Maybe, but probably not. What repeater has the better antenna and height to get the max range? That is your go-to machine. What is the next best? Is a base station a better solution? If I'm out of range can I check into a net and have traffic passed? Nothing but PTT time can answer those questions. However I do applaud you for taking the step toward being prepared. We can help you sort it out. |
|
For that kind of distance I would consider mobile radios and good antennas first. But even that is dependent on terrain and height of at least one antenna. Is your AO urban or rural? What is the terrain like, is it mostly flat or is there half a mountain between the two locations?
To give you some idea of how much it can vary, I can easily go more than 30 miles with a 2 meter handheld set at 2.5 watts output, with an antenna that's about 2 inches long. That's with the help of a repeater and standing outside where I have a clear view of the repeater tower on the horizon and flat terrain around me. Hitting that same repeater with the same radio just a few miles farther away and from inside a building is impossible. Without a repeater, I do good to reach a guy here in the next town over about 10 miles away with a 75 watt radio and a 5 foot long antenna on my roof. But he's in a pretty built up area and down in a hole as far as terrain goes. Another guy here local is about 5 miles from me in the other direction, and I have no trouble talking to him directly (no repeater) with an 18 inch indoor antenna and 10 watts. But he's out in the country with nothing around him and my antenna has a clear shot in that direction. It's partially in the shadow of the house in the other direction where I have trouble. Those kinds of factors are why it's hard to give any kind of useful estimation of what you'll need. Don't let this discourage you, just realize it will take some experimenting. |
|
I talked to a friend via simplex (direct, no repeater) via my truck radio. He was using only a few watts from his HT, feeding a yagi 50' up on a tower.
At 2m frequencies it is all antenna height. You can make up somewhat for lack of height with power (mobile) but the higher the better. Height and antenna are the problems with HT's (handy talkies). Your local repeater may or may not be operable after an emergency, depending on the nature of the emergency. If the tower is knocked over due to an earthquake, antenna or feedline damage from a hurricane, lack of power (does the repeater have an emergency generator or other backup power?). These are all factors in whether or not a repeater will there for your use in such an emergency situation. Best to have some backup plans, as mentioned above, on where you will go in such a situation. For example, if there were a fire, my kids all knew to gather and stay in my neighbor's front yard, unless for some reason that was unsafe. There was a fallback for the fallback, too. Don't let any of this discourage you, just take it all into your plans, and plan accordingly. |
| Definitely spend time operating before an emergency. Depending on your local areas, repeaters may tied up in emergency management operations during a disaster. Spend some time on local machines to get to know the groups. Some machines will be unavailable to you due to ARES or RACES operation. Best to know that info before you need it. |
|
Quoted:
I need your help to find the best plan for my wife and I in the event of an large scale disaster/emergency where the cell phones wont work. We work about 30 miles apart and if something were to happen I would like very much to be able to communicate with her if nothing else just to make sure she was alright. That is how the wife and I got into radio as well. We started out with two VX7's and learned what we could with simplex and with the local repeaters. The repeaters are OK but if you can run your own xband repeat you will end up with a very convenient and reliable system which is what we use daily. It all depends on how high your house site is in relation to where the two of you drive during the day. If the site is high and has line of sight to both regions, you will get reliable coms. You can check this with a handy path profiler that I think was recommended by someone on here previously. As another option you can run xband repeat from one or both of your vehicles to HT's. |
I'm in the same boat (not to mention the same state, UT). A group I associate with (Polite Society of Utah) is in the process of having a group buy as well as help for preparing for the test. The nice thing most don't realize is here in Utah we have plenty of mountains/high terrain which would help boaster signals more than any tower. From my place on the hill I have almost a perfect shot to the homes to many of my friends and family so a directional antenna would probably work great (from what little I have read). Email me if you want to know more about the group or the group buy. For the first time I would be interested in getting to speak to some in this forum via HAM radios as I learn this fine hobby. 
|
|
My plan at this point is to program in about 5 local repeaters and then lock the HTs into memory mode so they can not be accidently changed (mostly for my wife) hopefully creating a very simple "channelized" radio that is as close to foolproof as possible.
Put a couple of simplex frequencies into memory, too. The National 2 meter Simplex Frequency (also referred to as the calling frequency) is 146.52 MHz. There may be other simplex frequencies used and controlled by various clubs; they are likely to be helpful. In this way, if the local repeaters are unusable, you may be able to have someone relay a message between you and your wife. As A_Free_Man pointed out, on VHF/UHF, the altitude of your antenna is all-important. Does she (or you) work in a high-rise building? Even a few stories up can make the difference between getting in contact or not. In my experience, during emergencies, the repeaters are usually controlled by someone acting as a net controller. You may check in and out of such a net* as you need. Ask permission to join the net, explaining your situation. If she doesn't answer right away, wait for her; she may show up later. Set this procedure up beforehand with your wife. Last tip: Get an add-on battery pack for your HTs. By this I mean something with which you can add an external battery (AA, C or D cells). This will extend the usefulness of your HTs by enabling you to buy backup power for them. *If it is an 'organized' net, i.e. RACES or ARES, they will have their own traffic priorities. Find out if they are handling official traffic; if they aren't doing so, they'll likely allow you to call your wife. |