Sleep Is For The Weak

I was asked by a member of http://ingunowners.com to teach a class on Radio Communications.  He is the organizer of a mutual support group that has the primary role of helping each other out during an disaster, natural or otherwise.  When he asked me to put together the class he explained that he sees communications as something that is almost always overlooked by these kinds of groups.  He recognizes we as a society rely far too heavily on our cell phones to communicate.  During and after 9/11 cell phone service was very unreliable in part because of the damaged infrastructure, and secondarily because of the flood of people all trying to use the system pushing towers well beyond capacity.  After Hurricane Katrina I saw a photo that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  It was a concrete slab foundation, with a large pole coming out of the ground an a large bundle of wires.  There was no debris anywhere in close proximity to that foundation.  Before that storm the building that was standing there was a multi story Telephone Company Central Office!  Even reliable POTS phone service doesn’t work so well when the entire CO has been demolished.

In preparation for the class I spent some time thinking about what other forms of radio communications could be used by a family or like minded group of geographically linked individuals.  I came up with Citizens Band Radios (CB), Family Radio Service (FRS), General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), Business Radios, and Amateur Radio (HAM).

Below is the Keynote presentation I used during the class.

By clicking this link  you can view the presentation in it’s entirety. If you have any questions please use the comment feature.  I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks to: tidewatermuse for the image