Sorry this is so long winded or keyboarded. I had mentioned before why I carry my radio equipment and why I took the EMT training I took. I came across a woman with the badly shattered foot (I found out later that she had 5 broken bones) about 3 miles from the trailhead. Normally it would be an easy walk, but not with a shattered foot. We had a very difficult time getting help for her. That’s what started my search for a reasonably reliable communication method in the backcountry. I also do a lot of solo hiking and camping so for me the radio stuff is part fun, part entertainment, part challenge, and partly because of past experiences with people I have come across who have been injured. It allows me to talk to friends in NH. I can relay messages back to family in CT. I can participate in contests involving radio communications to keep my skills up to snuff. I can make sure no searches are started because I decide (or need) to spend an extra day or two out in the woods. I can also initiate a search or rescue because someone is hurt and their friend is coming down the trail to get to a phone because their cell phone doesn’t work in this area saving possibly hours of time. This has happened twice. It allows me to communicate with the search team because many of them have Amateur radio operators in their groups. It would allow me to talk to Medical Control (i.e. a doctor) if I am treating a medical patient to allow treatments that I wouldn’t be allowed to do otherwise. It allows me to monitor the National weather service to find out what the weather will be couple of days down the road, sorry, trail
. It can be used to beacon locations to the internet during search and rescues so command people can know the exact locations of search teams and the areas that they searched. Caveats do exist.
I have used repeaters to talk to people. I have bounced signals off satellites (AO27) to talk to people. I have talked direct and I have talked by bouncing signals off of the ionosphere. I have talked by bouncing signals down inversion layers in the troposphere. I have listened to the noise that meteors make as they cross the sky and confirmed that radio signals bounce off the ionizing trail that they leave in the atmosphere. I have listened to the music of the Aurora. I also enjoy amateur radio because of the wide variety of people involved in the hobby. I have made equipment that tracked balloons launched by school children and followed its path through the sky from hundreds of miles away or over the internet. I have seen pictures from other amateurs who have launched balloons high enough to see the curvature of the earth (100,000 feet). I personally know amateurs that were involved with the recent launch of the first privately launched rocket to reach outer space and reach a speed of Mach 5+. Zero to 4200 miles per hour in 2 seconds.
Unlike cell phones and FRS/GMRS radios that require no thought to use and they either work or don’t work. You have options with amateur radio. I can use HF and/or VHF and/or UHF. I can use FM, AM, CW, SSB, PSK31, RTTY or a variety of other modes. I can use up to 1000 watts on most bands. I have never used more than 100 and out in the backcountry I use 5 or less but, I can change my antennas which can effectively boost the strength of my signal (Effective Radiated Power). An option not available for FRS radios fixed at 1/2 watt output and non removable antennas. A lot of what amateur radio is about is knowledge. Picking and using the right tools, for the task at hand, to do the communications task and alternatives if the primary method fails.
I always carry my HT radio because I own no cell phone. I have no need for one. It is not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes and with a little skill allows me to talk just about anywhere in the Whites or Adirondacks which in turn allow me to get messages where ever I need. In CT and NH I can even make phone calls with it for free. OK, not totally free. I think it is $30 dollars a year in CT, free in NH. The technician class license is not difficult to get and there is no Morse code test. There is a large network to help you study for the license and it opens a lot of doors to knowledge about technology, communications and information and of course it allows you to communicate around the world, literally. Like most things though it depends on how much effort you want to invest. My 15 year old son recently got his license. My 13 year old is working on his. You will have to ask specific questions or look yourself to find out all the things that can be done with amateur radio. I have just touched on a few.
73, (Means best regards in radio talk)
Keith
N1XTK
By the way. Thats N one X T K, not N eye X T K. Small difference but critical.
