Emergency Preparation Starts with most Basic Step

Being prepared for an emergency can start with the most basic steps. In fact preparation can start the moment you open the box to that new radio you just purchased. How many of us really study the manual that is included with our radios? Really don’t we get to the point that we can program the repeaters that we want and then the booklet is tossed into the drawer with the manual from our Betamax we purchased in the 80’s?

On September 8th, 2011 at 3:38 p.m. the San Diego area was cast into an eleven hour blackout that originated in Arizona. During this time communication links were stressed to the max as public service agencies struggled to keep their radio systems functioning. In some situations amateur radio repeaters dropped off the map when emergency generators failed.

In the San Diego North County CERT Team scrambled to help with the few remaining repeaters. In all this mayhem would you be in a position to reconfigure the channels in your radio? Are you prepared to program simplex channels as amateur radio operator’s move to line-of-site communications?

Often hams have become reliant on software packages to program their complex radios, but in time have lost skills that might be needed in the darkness of a prolonged emergency situation.

In actuality our ability as amateur radio operators to function in “real world” situations is dependent our understanding of the radios we own. Don’t fall into a mindset that your radio won’t fail you if you don’t understand the complexities of these microchip driven radios.

Break out the owner’s manual on occasion and review the operation. At the very least know where that prized manual is located. Remember that “on-line” version you downloaded won’t be available.

Submitted By: Fire Captain Mark Grow (KG6LI) CVG Coordinator