Skip to content
Menu
Western Colorado Amateur Radio Club
  • Club Events Calendar
  • Club Nets
  • Club Repeaters
  • Meetings, Contacts and Membership
  • Get Licensed with the WCARC
  • Club Members Area
Western Colorado Amateur Radio Club

Why Ham Radio? – …911 lines are currently down

Posted on August 30, 2021August 30, 2021

We all get the questions from time to time about why we do Amateur Radio.  There are lots of good answers and 101 ways to enjoy the hobby.  One big one, that always stands out is, Emergency Communications.

It can be surprising how often you do need an alternate form of communication.  Just two weeks ago we lost land lines, cell and Internet down in Gateway.  It lasted almost 6 hours.  Luckily there was no emergency but it still came in handy for me, working from home.  I just turned on the HF rig, fired up Winlink and sent an email to a couple of people I work with that my Internet was down and I would follow up with them when it returned.  So at least they don’t think I am ignoring them.  But if a family member or a neighbor was injured, I could get help.  No one else down here has that ability.

Then today, you see another example.  “Hurricane Ida lashes Louisiana, knocks out New Orleans power”

How about this Notice on Twitter form the Orleans Parish in Louisiana:

Our local emergency services do their best to have a rugged and stable line of communications.  No matter what we do, there is something that can bring that down.  Even then you still hear “The cell towers stayed up and working but you couldn’t call anyone.”  That is because they were over loaded and emergency calls get priority on all cell towers.  So the Fire Department might always be able to use the cell tower but you cannot.

So remind anyone that questions the use of Ham Radio as anything other than a hobby.  That way when the systems are down, they know who’s house to drive to so they can still call for help or contact loved ones!

Be safe.  Be Ready.  Be an Amateur Radio Operator.

73, John, WJ0NF

 

WCARC Ham Fest

weeks
0
0
days
0
3
hours
0
4
minutes
0
6
seconds
0
0

Club Pages

  • WCARC Facebook Page
  • Club Nets
  • Oatmeal Net
  • Beginners Guide to Repeaters
  • AREDN Forums – Hosted by Mesa County ARES
  • 2020 Ham Shack Slideshow
  • DXCC Field Checking
  • Silent Keys
  • Tailgate Deals

Information on Licensing

  • ARRL – Getting Licensed
  • Get your FRN – FCC Registration Number
  • License Exams in Grand Junction, CO
  • Find Exam Locations Outside of Grand Junction
  • Ham Radio Licensing – MOTA

Related Sites – Information

  • DX, Contesting & Events
    • DX Summit
    • Grand Mesa Contesters
    • Skywarn Annual Event
    • WA7BNM Contest Calendar
  • Learning & Instruction
    • AA9PW Morse Code & Practice Exams
    • ARRL Books and Manuals
    • Phonetic Alphabet – Standard ( ITU )
  • Reference Sites
    • ARES Mesa County CO – Region 9 District 4
    • ARRL – American Radio Relay League
    • Colorado ARES
    • Mobile Amateur Radio Operations
    • QRZ.COM
    • Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services
    • RF Safety Calculator
    • UTZ & Current Time
    • Worldwide Repeater Directory
  • Weather
    • Grand Junction Weather
    • Solar Ham
    • Space Weather

Reference Documents

  • 2020 Mike the Headless Chicken – W0M – Event Logs

Categories

  • ARRL
  • Club Events
  • Club Information
  • Ham Articles
  • Ham Radio Information
  • News
  • Other Events
  • Tailgate Deals

All that technical stuff

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

It's time for Winter Field Day!

weeks
-13
-3
days
0
-4
hours
-1
-7
minutes
-5
-4
seconds
0
0

Recent Posts

  • WCARC HAMFEST – August 13th @ 9am
  • 2022 Field Day Location – Minor Change
  • Field Day 2022 – June 25th and 26th
  • Call Sign Name Tags Available
  • Want to go QRO? Check out the Amp in the Tailgate Page

WCARC Pages

  • WCARC Facebook Page
  • Club Nets
  • Oatmeal Net
  • Beginners Guide to Repeaters
  • AREDN Forums – Hosted by Mesa County ARES
  • 2020 Ham Shack Slideshow
  • DXCC Field Checking
  • Silent Keys
  • Tailgate Deals

Swap Meet

Important Links

  • ARRL – Getting Licensed
  • Get your FRN – FCC Registration Number
  • License Exams in Grand Junction, CO
  • Find Exam Locations Outside of Grand Junction
  • Ham Radio Licensing – MOTA

Helpful Links

  • DX, Contesting & Events
    • DX Summit
    • Grand Mesa Contesters
    • Skywarn Annual Event
    • WA7BNM Contest Calendar
  • Learning & Instruction
    • AA9PW Morse Code & Practice Exams
    • ARRL Books and Manuals
    • Phonetic Alphabet – Standard ( ITU )
  • Reference Sites
    • ARES Mesa County CO – Region 9 District 4
    • ARRL – American Radio Relay League
    • Colorado ARES
    • Mobile Amateur Radio Operations
    • QRZ.COM
    • Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services
    • RF Safety Calculator
    • UTZ & Current Time
    • Worldwide Repeater Directory
  • Weather
    • Grand Junction Weather
    • Solar Ham
    • Space Weather

Categories

  • ARRL
  • Club Events
  • Club Information
  • Ham Articles
  • Ham Radio Information
  • News
  • Other Events
  • Tailgate Deals

Archives

  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017

WCARC Visitors

Visitors since September 2017

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF)


This News Feed is not curated by the WCARC and is only presented for your convenience.  Items have not been reviewed, approved or in any way filtered for content.

RSS Amateur Radio News

  • An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.
©2022 Western Colorado Amateur Radio Club | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes.com