In the wake of Wednesday's I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, their cellular phone network became absolutely overwhelmed as everyone was trying to call family and friends.
While I do carry a cellphone (which I only turn on when I am making a call away from home), I carry my ham radio handie-talkie and have it hooked up and on when I'm in my truck. It not only is a good thing to have in an emergency, but it also keeps me company as I usually have several fellow "hams" to talk to while I'm enduring my nearly 40-mile one-way commute from the office to home. Oh, and ham radio doesn't charge you for "minutes" or put restrictions on when you can use them. All you have to have is a ham radio and a license to operate it.
On the
Atlanta Radio Club's Yahoo! Group, a fellow ham shared an
article on the Minneapolis cellphone network jam. One of the comments on this article even provided a great
blog from GeekDad on the importance of ham radio.
The Amateur (Ham) Radio Service is one that prides itself on being there when all other communication methods fail or otherwise become overloaded. Imagine that you are in a "life-or-death" situation such as the bridge collapse and your cellphone is not getting out. Well, if you have a ham radio mobile VHF unit like I do, then chances are, you can get through via a repeater and there will be another ham operator there to help you get the message to emergency personnel, loved ones, etc. In other words,
a ham radio may save your life and/or the lives of others when the chips are down.
To learn more about ham radio and how you, too, can become a licensed ham radio operator, visit the
American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) website. If you are (or become) a licensed "ham" and are in the Atlanta area, you can usually find me on the
Atlanta Radio Club's W4DOC repeater (146.82 MHz) during the afternoon rush hour. There are a lot of great folks who use it and I'd love for you to join us if you can. My "ham" callsign is KC4AZO.
Oh, one more thing... my wife Mary now has her own website called "Mary's Fun Stories".
Please click here to visit it.That's all for now. Thanks for reading, please visit often, and "73" ("Ham Speak" for "Catch Ya Later")!!!
