
Amateur radio skills prove useful during bushfire emergencies - jimmcslim
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-01/amateur-radio-skills-prove-useful-during-bushfires/11903200
======
Dicey84
This redundancy and skill set is paramount.

In a past life as a Police officer in a very remote and isolated town, we had
a fibre cable severed which took out all telecommunications
(fixed/internet/wireless - the works).

Besides myself, not a single office knew how to work the HF radio, which was
our only lifeline to the outside world thanks to a broken sat phone.

Moral of the story is don't get complacent and forget how to use old tech,
when the unexpected wipes out modern methods.

~~~
jstummbillig
While you make a good case for radio, there have to be cut-off points, at
which techniques must be considered obsolete, not to burden educational
systems and students unnecessarily in perpetuity.

While having the skill is a 1 or a 0 (either you know how to use a radio with
some proficiency or you do not) the use cases for older/simpler technology get
fewer and fewer gradually.

At which point can a system no longer afford to support technique x? Of
course, it depends on the system but you are probably not going to wait before
the probability hits 0 if you care even slightly about being efficient – but
it's never an easy call to make.

~~~
mrspeaker
Of course that's true - we probably don't need to start re-teaching the
abacus... but I'm careful about getting too complacent. When everything has
been going well for a long time it's tempting to think this will continue
forever. But one, say, global pandemic can bring everything down - and some of
our modern conveniences can be gone... possibly for centuries.

An interesting (programming) talk by Jonathan Blow on the subject of losing
knowledge! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-
SOdj4Kkk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk)

~~~
lozf
> we probably don't need to start re-teaching the abacus...

I get where you're going but concerning the abacus, I respectfully disagree.

I'm guessing you haven't seen the way some young Asian kids start using a
Japanese abacus (Soroban), and after a few years have built a mental model of
it enabling them to perform mental calculations -- faster than with a
calculator.

Most of the good videos on YouTube seem to have disappeared, but some short
snippets remain.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_abacus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_abacus)

~~~
syshum
I was recently in a line at the store where a person paid using cash, a rare
thing these days. The Cashier, mid 20's person, could not even tabulate the
total amount handed to them in their mind to enter that total in the computer
to get the change amount. Ended up handing it back to the customer using "how
much is there"

I wept for the state of public education, basic addition is lost skill it
seems

~~~
throw0101a
> _I wept for the state of public education, basic addition is lost skill it
> seems_

What does this have to do with "public education"?

They could have been taught it in elementary school, but if they were in their
mid-20s, then it would probably have been over a decade since they were tested
on it even in secondary/high school.

And that skill would have atrophied with non-use on a day-to-day basis.

~~~
syshum
basic addition is not a skill that atrophies. We are talking the most basic
math there is, adding whole numbers. 1+1 = 2, or in this case 50+20+1+1+1+5 =
78

~~~
throw0101a
> _basic addition is not a skill that atrophies._

The evidence you provided suggests otherwise. :)

I'm sure the person can still add, but it's a bit slow(er) without practice,
they got frustrated, and so handed back the change.

------
peckrob
I live in an area [0] prone to severe weather and especially violent
tornadoes. The local Skywarn [1] repeater is probably the best source of
immediate first-hand information when things get bad. There's usually at least
a few storm chasers out following the storms, and reports from various places
in the area help you get a real feel for how bad a particular storm is.

Moreover, the repeater is monitored by all of the local TV and radio stations
as well as the city EMA (Emergency Management) and the local National Weather
Service office.

I'm not licensed (yet, it's on my to-do list for this year), but I still have
a small handheld that I tune in whenever the weather is bad. Ham radio is
still very much alive.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Alley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Alley)

[1] [https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN](https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN)

~~~
swalberg
Since you're planning far ahead for the exam, have a look at writing both
Technician and General in the same session. I took (just) my Tech a few months
ago and several people at the session did both. After studying for General I'm
kicking myself for not doing it myself. There's a lot of overlap and a lot of
it is pretty intuitive if you have a science background.

~~~
smabie
What happens if you use the ham radio without taking the test? Like, what’s
the point of this whole system?

~~~
peckrob
To clarify, you can _listen_ without a license. You just cannot broadcast.

~~~
tzs
That said, a ham radio license can actually help legally with some listening.

Some US states have laws against having and/or using a scanner to monitor
police or emergency services frequencies while driving. For example, in New
York you cannot equip a motor vehicle with a receiver that can receive
frequencies allocated for police use. There are similar laws in Florida,
Indiana, Kentucky, and Minnesota.

The FCC, however, has ruled that Federal law preempts state laws in this area
in the case of a licensed ham radio operator using a radio that can
incidentally receive frequencies outside of the ham bands.

For example, I have a Kenwood TH-F6A [1], a handheld transceiver for the
144/220/440 MHz ham bands. In addition to those ham bands, it can also receive
on 0.1 - 1300 MHz (minus some bands in there assigned to cell phones). Since I
have an Extra class ham radio license, I can go ahead and listen to police
frequencies that fall in that range even in my car in those five states.

[1]
[https://www.kenwood.com/usa/com/amateur/th-f6a/](https://www.kenwood.com/usa/com/amateur/th-f6a/)

~~~
throw0101a
> _listen to police frequencies that fall in that range even in my car in
> those five states._

Haven't most services switched over to encrypted Public 25? How much is still
accessible?

------
flashman
One of the issues around amateur radio operators is their age. I have a friend
who, at 55, was the youngest member of his local ham radio club. It's just not
a hobby many people pick up any more.

~~~
chrisseaton
I don't understand what the hobby is now.

What's the skill they're doing? Operating a radio? Is the skill voice
procedure that's the skill? Or is it maintaining the physical radios? These
days any radio I use is basically a full micro-computer, so you can't just
jump in there and start soldering like a transistor setup from decades ago.

I suppose setting up and siting some unusual antenna geometries is still a
skill.

~~~
qtplatypus
My housemate who is a ham is designing, building and programing a micro-
computer based SDR portable transmitter.

~~~
xrayarx
Hi there! Could you please give us his call sign and a link to the project.
Sounds very interesting.

~~~
qtplatypus
His callsign is VK4SQL but he hasn’t published anything about the project yet.
Though hen does intend to.

~~~
ngcc_hk
Hope you can publish it here as interested. Just got the sdr up

------
softwaredoug
Something about tech I learned when I worked on container ship autopilots:
always have a manual failover! The highest layer of abstraction invariably
fails due to its complexity and you’ll need to be able to use the next layer
down the stack... all the way to rudder control by hand.

------
Johnny555
How capable are the satellite communication devices (Iridium, Inmarsat, etc)
in a disaster? Do the satellites get overloaded easily?

They aren't that expensive any more, you can get a phone for around $500 and
basic plan for $50/month.

Or you can get a satellite communicator (mostly meant for hiking in the
backcountry) that can only send an SOS message or text message for ~$300 for
the device and as little as $12/month for a basic plan with a few SMS's
included.

~~~
closeparen
Always on party line PTT is a very different thing from PSTN voice calling,
although some satellite networks do offer the former. PTT is indispensable in
a real-time group coordination scenario, but can’t support in depth
conversations or (usually) long distances. You want both.

It’s also basically impossible to receive a call on a handheld sat phone
unless you schedule a time to be pointing the antenna at the sky.

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dav43
Seperate but related, I hope it draws attention to the fact that FM receivers
should be a legal requirement in mobile phones. Even if just for emergency
purposes

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3fe9a03ccd14ca5
It’s amusing to me when they market 5G network like it’s going to be a big
help to emergency workers. They even have a scene of firefighters battling a
forest fire. 5g has a range of 1000 feet in perfect conditions. Nobody is
going to be using it in a forest fire, unlike amateur radio and HAM.

~~~
testis321
5G works perfectly fine on same long distances as 2G/3G/4G did.

But it adds a dedicated frequency range for emergency services, so when shit
hits the fan, and everybody is calling everybody, the emergency workers can
still communicate.

Compared to TETRA, pretty much everything is an upgrade.

~~~
simonblack
_so when shit hits the fan_ ....

... the infrastructure that mobile phones and the internet depend on, will be
non-operational.

It's 'wonderful' having a laptop or mobile phone when those things have
nothing to connect to.

Spend a bit of time in places where your phone says 'no coverage' and you'll
understand just what a great paper-weight it can be. <grin>

~~~
testis321
Nah, usually it works, just the calls don't get through.

Even after the Boston bombing, the people there couldnt get/take calls,
because the network was flooded with other people calling.

Mobile networks _survive_ most of the "shits hitting the fans", but usually
the sheer amount of calls to/from that area makes them useless for emergency
communication (unless you get a dedicated channel... or have "QoS" set up very
very well)

------
Fricken
When I was a bicycle messenger 13 years we used two way radios, celphones
weren't reliable enough. They still use two-way radios out there today.

When it's clear that civilization is going to collapse, I'll figure out how to
use grampa's old ham radio equipment.

~~~
adrianpike
You might want to do it early - it's so much easier to learn with the wealth
of the internet to help you. I'm a huge fan of
[https://hamstudy.org/](https://hamstudy.org/), I've gone from zero to making
my own gear and playing a lot with gnuradio in a little bit of time. It's
really fun stuff. :)

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kawfey
Ham radio volunteer and emergency communications is an awesome way to serve
the community.

It's also 99% of the reason why I got into electrical engineering and landed
in the career I'm in. It's still a fun and technically relevant STEM hobby.

de NØSSC

------
falcolas
This is particularly amusing to me, after the “amateur radio is obsolete”
sentiment expressed by the general public and FCC when a portion of the
spectrum was scheduled to be reallocated to unlicensed commercial use last
year.

Raw voice, or even morse code, will always have value in emergencies; but it’s
easy to forget and ignore that when everything is calm.

EDIT: Clarified that the bands were not sold, but up for re-allocation for
commercial use.

~~~
HenryKissinger
I'd like to learn Morse, but I'm concerned that my skills would quickly
atrophy if I stopped practicing.

~~~
Johnny555
You probably already know this, but for the information for anyone else
interested in becoming a Ham, you don't need to learn Morse to get an amateur
radio license - that requirement was dropped in 2007.

In all of the disaster drills or other ham volunteer events I've participated
in (like providing radio support for a race in an area with little cell phone
coverage), Morse was not even a part of it -- it was all VHF/UHF voice
communication.

That's not to say that morse is useless or completely unused, but don't feel
that you have to learn it to become a ham.

~~~
melling
I think Morse code was dropped in the 1990s.

I got a license without Morse code back then. Never really use it though.

I always thought packet radio might be interesting, but no one in my local
group was interested. Did it ever become popular.

~~~
samplatt
Packet radio doesn't support encryption to any meaningful specification, and
also is intolerably low-bandwidth for any real-world applications outside
things like instrument telemetry.

~~~
testis321
What about communicating during a disaster? ..as in the article?

------
thisrod
I admire the WICEN volunteers. Sending messages across oceans with a AAA
battery is not easy, and a community will only need to do that once in
anyone's lifetime. But, on rare occasions like the Indian Ocean tsunami, when
a continental-scale catastrophe destroys whatever didn't fit in anyone's
pocket, that capability is really useful to have. You have to respect the
people who keep organising to make it available through the decades where
nothing happens, and organise effectively enough that things work when they
need to.

------
ken
I’m pretty sure the Ragnar Relay uses ham radio volunteers to call in
finishers. I don’t know if there’s any technical reason for it.

------
dsd
I feel like amateur radio is dying not because it's old, but because
regulation blocks it from staying new.

~~~
metaphor
> _...regulation blocks it from staying new._

What do you mean?

~~~
brians
You’re restricted to relatively narrow bandwidth, and to no crypto. It’s great
for experimenting with the radio tech, but not for designing the next WiFi.
(But you can use unlicensed spectrum for that)

~~~
viraptor
Why would it prevent you from designing a new wifi? The encryption is a
software layer on top of the physical signal. You can design it skipping the
encryption step.

------
dsd
Radio is very decentralized. I wonder if that could be a nice avenue for
modernizing the hobby.

~~~
viraptor
You may be interested in [https://othernet.is/](https://othernet.is/) and
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Packet_Reporting_S...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Packet_Reporting_System)

~~~
dsd
I hadn't heard of othernet. APRS is cool and ripe for disruption.

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ngcc_hk
The story about nasa and Russian Mir with The 80 years old ham radio operator
Is good.

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rado
Progressive enhancement

