Erroneous Prepper Frequency Lists

Many “emergency frequency lists” showing up on the internet are a hodgepodge of frequencies scraped from various sources and assembled into what looks like a credible list. Most of these frequencies are not authorized for use by the general public. Some of these frequencies are useful, but too many are misleading and perhaps even dangerous. … Read more

The Future of Emcomm

Here comes Starlink! I’ve been reading a number of reports from the areas affected by the two major hurricanes (Helene and Milton). The North Carolina experience is particularly interesting because people have experienced the loss of communication and electrical service for several weeks. I can imagine this same thing happening in other parts of the … Read more

FRS3 For Colorado Backcountry

The Colorado Search and Rescue Association is promoting FRS (Family Radio Service) Channel 3 as “the default during backcountry search and rescue (backcountry SAR) emergencies.” FRS channel 3 is the same as GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) channel 3. There is more GMRS info here. To keep things simple, no CTCSS (“privacy code”) is used…carrier … Read more

Don’t Mess With The Field Day Rules

Given the Chinese/Wuhan/COVID virus situation, many hams are anticipating a change to their ARRL Field Day operation. I’ve also seen a number of proposals to modify the FD rules to allow for a different kind of operation. I appreciate that kind of thinking outside the box but I think it is misguided. One of the … Read more