... Ham Radio is technical but not incomprehensible. It is widely misunderstood by many. But one of the main pillars of Ham Radio is that it does not operate on 120 Volt home current. it operates on 13.8 volts DC. Which means that a Ham Radio will operate on a well charged Car Battery. So thence another good reason to be an operator is not just for Hiking and being outdoors, but it is very handy when the lights go out at home. The same radio you would take on a hike could not only save your arse in the woods but it might do the same thing in your own backyard. For instance, the major snowstorm we had a few weeks ago not only knock out power for multiple days, but cell towers were down too not to mention the internet. The only point to point effective communication was via Ham Radio.
Be aware the above video displays the upper crust of Ham Radio operators. To effectively accomplish what I have described above one does not need to take it to the level these guys have. The correct handheld for field use with maybe a simple booster antenna for home-based operation is all that is needed. One can easily set them selves up for easily less than half the cost of a the latest greatest cell phone. ...
I didn't know HAM worked on DC not AC; but that helps a lot to understand its importance. Last year I met a guy in a parking lot on the AT in Mass, with a big antenna on his box van and a HAM radio inside. He was there to test things in the field.
I followed that video link, and YouTube recommended this video by WMUR from January of this year, about a rescue in Pittsburg from Dec 4 2022.
Their car went off of Magalloway Road, and one of the two was injured. They had no cell service, but did have a handheld HAM radio. (Presumably lacked a satellite communicator). Their call for help was picked up by the Mount Washington repeater, and another operator in Vermont heard it and helped to launch a rescue, saving their lives.
The signal was very weak, making voice transmissions garbled, so they used the talk button to make a click sound to indicate "yes" in response to questions.
I see this rescue was discussed here in the thread "Ham Radio assisted Rescue" from mid-Dec 2022, but I didn't see this video there (probably as it came out later).
