Boy, it didn’t take the “Sad Hams” long to come out! Why anyone would belittle anyone or any group trying to do something good is beyond me. Excellent presentation and ideas. I’m in the process of coming up with something similar for our area. Small town with a few hams, but no club. And it’ll probably stay that way. But all responsible for the wellbeing of our community. I was thinking along the same lines with the equipment, a few differences because of no financial backing. On antenna’s, I was thinking of the same j pole, an end feed, and a vertical. Was happy to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Great presentation. Was solar charging of the batteries considered? Relying on gas generators has its own set of problems (fuel, noise, RF interference, maintenance, etc) .
While it's sort of understandable why organizations like this build go-boxes, I'll be perfectly honest in saying I think go-boxes are, in almost every use-case, an absolutely horrible idea. I'll give you three reasons why: First, every go-box project I've ever seen takes a perfectly manageable amount of kit and weight, and immediately turns it into a two-person lift. Second, that perfectly manageable amount of kit and weight that one could walk with, once placed in a transit case, is only transportable by vehicle. Third, all that kit always looks super squared-away and dress-right dress in a transit case: gathered and velcro'ed wires, inputs run on the opposite side as the outputs...an engineer's wet dream -- until the first time the operator has to troubleshoot a problem. Relying solely on generator power is not a recipe for success, either. Generators require gasoline of propane (... or diesel): this will almost always be problem in a disaster. Also, generators require maintenance at every short intervals -- many small generators require service every 100 hours, for instance.
Not to mention saying Winlink is essential. It’s not essential in my opinion. Requires a computer, extra power consumption, lots of extra cables to interface to the radio, and lastly typing is nowhere as fast as picking up a microphone and speaking what you need to convey as well as you have to hope the transmission is going be decoded on the other end in the 1st shot.
The problems you address are valid, not just of radios but of any kit. Luckily the solution is simple: actually use your equipment, find what works, and leave out what doesn't. Go kits aren't bad, but often the implementation is
The last thing professional emergency personnel need is having to take care of a bunch of old, overweight, out of shape guys with radios, interfering in professional emergency operations. Please stay home and play with your radios.. leave it to the pros..
Not what the Govt. of Alberta thought at all when High River flooded in 2013. Amateur radio was called to action as all infrastructure went down and there was zero communication and a military that needed time to mobilize. Hams were vital for the safety of Albertans. Then, and now. 73
@@stevendewolfe4592 Well perhaps they didn't have a professional emergency system in place. Hopefully they do now. How did a bunch of people with radios become vital to people in dire need? People need to become self sufficient and learn how to be prepared for an emergency, like a flood, tornado, hurricane etc. None of it requires having an HF radio system, to tell what, another ham 2000 miles away, what?? Amateur radio is fun, I get it, but leave the emergencies to the pros.. Stay out of their way. A good professional emergency system that is funded properly doesn't need a bunch of hams with portable antennas, running around in the middle of a disaster.
Boy, it didn’t take the “Sad Hams” long to come out! Why anyone would belittle anyone or any group trying to do something good is beyond me.
Excellent presentation and ideas. I’m in the process of coming up with something similar for our area. Small town with a few hams, but no club. And it’ll probably stay that way. But all responsible for the wellbeing of our community. I was thinking along the same lines with the equipment, a few differences because of no financial backing. On antenna’s, I was thinking of the same j pole, an end feed, and a vertical. Was happy to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Very nice presentation.
Enjoyed the excellent presentation. Good information and I learned a lot. Thank you.
Great presentation. Was solar charging of the batteries considered? Relying on gas generators has its own set of problems (fuel, noise, RF interference, maintenance, etc) .
It’s silly how the “well akshually” people come out of the woodwork so fast.
While it's sort of understandable why organizations like this build go-boxes, I'll be perfectly honest in saying I think go-boxes are, in almost every use-case, an absolutely horrible idea. I'll give you three reasons why:
First, every go-box project I've ever seen takes a perfectly manageable amount of kit and weight, and immediately turns it into a two-person lift.
Second, that perfectly manageable amount of kit and weight that one could walk with, once placed in a transit case, is only transportable by vehicle.
Third, all that kit always looks super squared-away and dress-right dress in a transit case: gathered and velcro'ed wires, inputs run on the opposite side as the outputs...an engineer's wet dream -- until the first time the operator has to troubleshoot a problem.
Relying solely on generator power is not a recipe for success, either. Generators require gasoline of propane (... or diesel): this will almost always be problem in a disaster. Also, generators require maintenance at every short intervals -- many small generators require service every 100 hours, for instance.
Not to mention saying Winlink is essential. It’s not essential in my opinion. Requires a computer, extra power consumption, lots of extra cables to interface to the radio, and lastly typing is nowhere as fast as picking up a microphone and speaking what you need to convey as well as you have to hope the transmission is going be decoded on the other end in the 1st shot.
The problems you address are valid, not just of radios but of any kit. Luckily the solution is simple: actually use your equipment, find what works, and leave out what doesn't. Go kits aren't bad, but often the implementation is
The last thing professional emergency personnel need is having to take care of a bunch of old, overweight, out of shape guys with radios, interfering in professional emergency operations. Please stay home and play with your radios.. leave it to the pros..
lmao ok kid
Not what the Govt. of Alberta thought at all when High River flooded in 2013. Amateur radio was called to action as all infrastructure went down and there was zero communication and a military that needed time to mobilize. Hams were vital for the safety of Albertans. Then, and now. 73
@@stevendewolfe4592 Well perhaps they didn't have a professional emergency system in place. Hopefully they do now. How did a bunch of people with radios become vital to people in dire need? People need to become self sufficient and learn how to be prepared for an emergency, like a flood, tornado, hurricane etc. None of it requires having an HF radio system, to tell what, another ham 2000 miles away, what?? Amateur radio is fun, I get it, but leave the emergencies to the pros..
Stay out of their way. A good professional emergency system that is funded properly doesn't need a bunch of hams with portable antennas, running around in the middle of a disaster.