emergency communication

[kellymoe]

No doubt they would stop and help, I think they live for the opportunity for their hobby to pay off in that kind of situation. Their are lots of people monitoring repeater sites just waiting for traffic. On several occasions out in the desert I have dialed up a repeater with no traffic and after calling out have received responses from folks who go about their day with their radios tuned to local repeaters.

I think the SPOT is a great device for the money and gives my wife peace of mind letting her know where I am during my trips. PLB's are great but many are not going to want to spend that kind of money for basically a single function device. I read recently that the PLB's are more reliable but that was from the seller of the PLB. With a SPOT even if the 911 signal does not get out my it will at least tell the searchers my last known location before the signal was lost. I am sold on the SPOT, it's not the be all end all of emergency devices but it is a great addition to a emergency kit.

 

[fetus]

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

True.

 

[jh504]

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.

So it really doesnt matter how strong the tower is because you are limited by your computer?