In natural or man-made disasters, ham-radio enthusiasts put their hobby to work.
There’s a sense of urgency in the air at a Virginia nuclear power plant. Everything within at least a five-mile radius is at immediate risk due to a critical meltdown. One of the emergency responders opens the envelope she’s holding, scans its contents, and announces the bad news: “We just lost 911 and the cell towers are overloaded.”
There are some groans, but the team of amateur radio operators knew this was a possibility, and they’re prepared. They have their radios at the ready to coordinate evacuations, making sure that no shelters are overwhelmed and that evacuees arrive at the right locations. Two detach themselves from the rest and make their way over to the lead coordinator. They’re acting as the points of contact for all emergency services, which means they’re responsible for relaying information about everything from fires to urgent medical care to illegal activities.
It’s no small task, especially when there’s a nuclear meltdown in the background, but this isn’t the first time these radio operators have tackled a problem of this scale: Similar disasters happen every two years, after all. This time, it’s an earthquake that caused a cooling tower to fail. Sometimes it’s a terrorist attack, or perhaps a hurricane. Fortunately, none of these are real disasters: They’re Simulated Emergency Tests (SET), mock disasters that radio-operator groups use to show the typical emergency players—police, the Red Cross, FEMA—that when the worst happens, these hobbyists can be an essential part of the response…READ MORE
Rick Peterson, WA6NUT, in Colorado, is promoting FreeDV plus Video, a digital voice-plus-video application for HF. According to Peterson’s QRZ.com pro... Read more
Samhoo is delighted to formally launch Digital Trunking Portable SPH6000 product serial, which is fully compliant with ETSI DMR Tier 3 & PD... Read more
The President of Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) has announced they received $108 million from Amazon for 4 million amateur radio TCP/IP a... Read more
AN AMATEUR radio ham operator from Hutton who has been taking to the airwaves since the 1920s has celebrated his 100th birthday. Fred Crockford, who t... Read more
On February 20 (UTC), Alaska’s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will launch its first scientific research campaign since the fac... Read more
Dear Fellow Ham, Just a quick note to let you know about a very fun, short (4 hour) contest happening this weekend. It is the North American SSB Sprin... Read more
The Marquesas TX7T DXpedition, sponsored by the Can-Am DXpedition Group, moved on to Hiva Oa on November 6. Operation is scheduled to continue until N... Read more
The AIR BOSS antenna launcher was designed to launch a light fishing line over trees in order to create temporary antenna for ham radio operators. Sin... Read more
After 2-1/2 months of intense negotiations, ARRL has reached an agreement with the Community Associations Institute (CAI) — the national association o... Read more
ARRL 630-Meter Experiment Coordinator Fritz Raab, W1FR, has proposed an informal band plan for the pending 472-279 kHz band. Raab said that once US ra... Read more
The New ColibriNano takes USB dongle SDR receivers to a new level. This is a direct sampling, high quality SDR receiver covering 100 kHz to 55 MHz wit... Read more
MFJ-1886 Loop Antenna Dig out previously unreadable signals and track down annoying sources of interference with the MFJ-1886 HF Receive Loop Antenna!... Read more
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Video Demonstrates Digital Voice Plus Video “Teleconferencing” Scheme for HF
DMR portable SPH6000 Serial – Samhoo
Sale of amateur radio AMPRnet TCP/IP addresses raised $108 million
Brentwood radio ham is still taking to the airwaves at age of 100
HAARP Experiments to Get Under Way on February 20 UTC, Reports Invited
NA SSB Sprint: 4 hours of radio fun this Saturday!
Still Time to Work TX7T in the Marquesas Islands
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ANTENNA LAUNCHER – THE AIR BOSS DEMONSTRATION
ARRL Reaches Agreement with Community Associations Institute on Parity Act
Band Plan Proposed for Eventual 472-479 kHz Use
ColibriNANO USB SDR Receiver
Review of MFJ-1886 Rx-only Antenna
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