emergency communication

[7echo]

I have read a lot of threads here and have some questions-

What is the best option for a radio with the ability to contact someone in an emergency situation? It seems a lot of you all use 2 meter for communication with buddies on treks, but I have read that if you use ham for emergency there has to be someone listening. If you are out in the boonies alone, what do you depend on? I have read about SPOT(only one way comm) and sat phones(kinda expensive).
One scenario- We live in a coastal area that may evacuate during a hurricane. When we evacuated several years ago it was chaos. A normal 4 hour drive turned into 15 in some cases. What would be a good option during something like that to get information?
I am located in coastal Georgia, if that matters.

Thanks

 

[jh504]

I am interested in this thread as well. I am familiar with the 800mhz system we use with 911 and I would like to add something above CB to my rig.

 

[7echo]

700 mhz?

I have read comments on the future of 700s-maybe becoming a public safety frequency? Any news on this as well?

 

[kellymoe]

I have a SPOT and a HAM. True there must be someone listening to the HAM but if you dial in a repeater there is a great chance someone is listening. There are some serious HAM geeks that do nothing but listen for radio traffic. I have been in the middle of nowhere in the deserts and mountains of California and called out on various repeaters and 99% of the time I get a response. I have a hand held 2m and a mobile 2m and thankfully have not had to use them in an emergency.

The SPOT lets my wife and friends follow my progress on backpacking and road trips via the tracking function that uses Google Maps. It also has a help function which you can customise and the signal only goes out to the people you choose. I customised my to tell the recipient that I am not in a life threatening situation and most likely need help due to mechanical failure and to send a friend out to help me. The 911 function alerts a international response center who sends the info to local search and rescue and EMS providers who will come and get you. This function also lets you customise a message that is sent with the alert. I customised it to say that I am a firefighter paramedic with 20 years experience and would not use this unless something is very wrong. I also explained that my son has a severe peanut allergy and asthma and come prepared with epinephrine and advance airway equipment.

I dont go on any trips without either device, especially if my family is along.

 

[1leglance]

There are 2 very different senarios in play here..
1) You are out on your own on a trip or something and have an emergency..
SPOT- can reach out to friends if it is not life threatening or Search & Rescue if it is..
HAM - if you can reach a repeater then more than likely someone is listening..if you are a general or extra class then you can use HF and again more than likely someone will be listening and be near a phone to call in help

2) There is an area wide emergency like Flooding, Hurricane, Fire or such...SPOT isn't much good here as your friends will more than likely be bugging out also...
Here is where HAM shines...Not only can you keep in touch with your family across a wide area (especially if they are HAM's also) but HAM's come out of the woodwork when there is a crisis, ARES & RACES are 2 national programs where HAM's join in to help. You can join a local group and learn more so that you will know how things are gonna go in your area and even help out. 4wd guys are of tremendous value since you can get places and be a point of contact, service repeaters and more.

So in the end I would have both devices.....
SPOT so in normal times friends and family can track you and help out if there is a problem..
HAM so in normal times you have better trail comm, better comm in an emerg and more...

Keep us posted on what you end up doing

 

[mountainpete]

I have read comments on the future of 700s-maybe becoming a public safety frequency? Any news on this as well?

700 mhz is a ways off...

(hijack) Google "white space internet". That's coming up fast and uses the old VHF TV frequencies.

 

[soonenough]

(hijack) Google "white space internet". That's coming up fast and uses the old VHF TV frequencies.

Thanks for the tip; this was a good read: http://blogs.computerworld.com/big_vote_fcc_approves_white_space_internet_broadband

 

[jh504]

Thanks for the tip; this was a good read: http://blogs.computerworld.com/big_vote_fcc_approves_white_space_internet_broadband

That is exciting considering a lot of us run laptops in our rigs. If it does come online could that mean internet anywhere you could get a TV signal?

 

[gary in ohio]

I have read a lot of threads here and have some questions-

What is the best option for a radio with the ability to contact someone in an emergency situation? It seems a lot of you all use 2 meter for communication with buddies on treks, but I have read that if you use ham for emergency there has to be someone listening. If you are out in the boonies alone, what do you depend on? I have read about SPOT(only one way comm) and sat phones(kinda expensive).
One scenario- We live in a coastal area that may evacuate during a hurricane. When we evacuated several years ago it was chaos. A normal 4 hour drive turned into 15 in some cases. What would be a good option during something like that to get information?
I am located in coastal Georgia, if that matters.

Thanks

They way you use the word emergency ham radio is NOT the radio for you. You want a wireless 911 service and that is not ham radio. Granted 2m is great and may bring emergency help, but you can rely on someone being at the other end of the radio 24x7.

 

[mountainpete]

That is exciting considering a lot of us run laptops in our rigs. If it does come online could that mean internet anywhere you could get a TV signal?

Not a direct comparison, but the potential is yes. A single tower could cover a huge rural area for very little cost. Think of it as wi-fi on super steroids. It's still a ways out, but since Google and Microsoft are both behind whitespace Internet the R&D is happening fast.

 

[Borrego60]

I went with a ham radiosI have a Yeasu ft8900r quad band radio with the chip mod and that opens up a lot more tx and rx freq range. Love the radio small remote control head and it also can be used as a repeater. I have never been out of touch of some repeater somewhere. hope picture loads. hame radio is on the bottom.

 

[Borrego60]

Sorry try this

 

[Rallyroo]

That is exciting considering a lot of us run laptops in our rigs. If it does come online could that mean internet anywhere you could get a TV signal?

Not really. The tv antennas transmit at hundreds to thousands of kilowatts hence why you can receive the signals from far away. Your laptop will still need to be able to transmit back data and the current WiFi antenna transmits at 100mW or less.

Good example is why cell phones work better outside a building than inside.

 

[fetus]

I had an accident while travelling in my Jeep out near Cuddeback Dry Lake. I hit a deep rut in the road while driving at night. Sheared the suspension arm off at the axle.

I had a 2m ham radio with APRS and a Nextel cell phone. I was 12 miles east from the 395 and 10 miles north of Highway 58. I used my cell phone to call for help and get a buddy with a trailer to get me out of my predicament. I relayed to him my coordinates and used an ACR strobe and chemlights to mark my location, as it was quite dark when he arrived at 2200 hrs.

SPOT is a neat little device. Though with the mass marketing and purchasing, I'm wondering how many "Crying Wolfs" there are going to be. I think PLBs should be a last resort and all efforts to self rescue should be exhausted before starting a full blown SAR operation. We should always carry enough supplies and gear to survive for a 24 hours at least. I haven't invested in a PLB but if I do, it will be an ACR device.

In my experience, when using ham radio equipment is that the 2m and 440 repeaters either have no activity or are tied up with guys ragchewing with no breaks in between for other traffic. I have a portable HF rig (Yaesu 897) but have yet to set up a mobile HF system.

 

[Borrego60]

I had an accident while travelling in my Jeep out near Cuddeback Dry Lake. I hit a deep rut in the road while driving at night. Sheared the suspension arm off at the axle.

I had a 2m ham radio with APRS and a Nextel cell phone. I was 12 miles east from the 395 and 10 miles north of Highway 58. I used my cell phone to call for help and get a buddy with a trailer to get me out of my predicament. I relayed to him my coordinates and used an ACR strobe and chemlights to mark my location, as it was quite dark when he arrived at 2200 hrs.

SPOT is a neat little device. Though with the mass marketing and purchasing, I'm wondering how many "Crying Wolfs" there are going to be. I think PLBs should be a last resort and all efforts to self rescue should be exhausted before starting a full blown SAR operation. We should always carry enough supplies and gear to survive for a 24 hours at least. I haven't invested in a PLB but if I do, it will be an ACR device.

In my experience, when using ham radio equipment is that the 2m and 440 repeaters either have no activity or are tied up with guys ragchewing with no breaks in between for other traffic. I have a portable HF rig (Yaesu 897) but have yet to set up a mobile HF system.

If you are a ham then you should know that emergency traffic has priority over anything else. Belive me the rag chewing will stop.